New Year, New Me!

I'm surprised by all of the hate toward New Year's resolutions that I have seen over the past few days.   It's funny to me because it goes something like this - I hate New Year's resolutions, but here are mine...  Honestly, I don't really get it. It's just coming up with a list of goals that you hope to accomplish in the next year.  It's up to you how lofty you want to make them or whether or not you actually follow through.  Maybe it's the life coach in me, but I feel lost if I'm not working toward something.  And although I don't think it's necessarily essential to make a New Year's resolution, I do think there is something cathartic about starting fresh and looking forward to a new year.

For me, 2012 was...educational.  It was a twisty, turvey, and at times, painful journey, but I believe that it ultimately led me right where I needed to be.  I also feel like, for the first time in a very long time, that I'm on a clear path toward becoming my ideal.  I take great comfort in both of these things.  In thinking about my resolutions for the New Year, I am struck by how different this year is starting than prior years.  In the past, I'd set the typical "I want to eat less, exercise more, and organize my house" -type resolutions.  But not this year!  I'm already well on my way with those things.  (Yay me!)

But here's the big area that I plan on focusing on in the coming year (and beyond) - myself.  I have always been a caring person.  In fact, I have been known to give and give to those around me at my own expense.  Up until this last year, I was under the misguided belief that people were inherently good.  I did anything in my power for the people around me and I truly thought that, if the situation arose, those people would do the same for me.  I was wrong.  A chain of unrelated events occurred this year that nearly brought me to my breaking point and I needed to rely on strength from my support system.  There was a very distinct divide between those who were willing to support me and those that were far more concerned about themselves and their own selfishness.

This discovery made me realize that I needed to get the negativity out of my life.  I came to the realization that I was more concerned about the needs of others more than my own.  I was sacrificing myself for the benefit of my circle of trust - no matter how poorly they treated me.  Once this all became clear to me, I decided that it was time to focus my energy on the positive and uplifting people around me.  I need to make myself a priority and treat myself as well as I treat others.  I'm to the point now that I've let go of the hurt and anger - which is HUGE for me because I have a tendency to hold a bit of a grudge (I'll pause to wait for anyone who has heard the story of my 8th grade solo to stop laughing...).  Anyway, I now know that their loss is far greater than anything I'm missing.  Because I have come to accept that I'm a good person and a fantastic friend and everything that went down was in no way a result of a flaw in myself...other than choosing to associate with negative people, I suppose.  :-)

So, the short story is that my resolutions are to continue what I'm doing.  I want to continue to track my food, make getting some sort of daily activity a priority, continuing to streamline and simplify my house, continue to put some effort into my appearance, to focus my energies on the positive people in my life, to continue cutting the toxic people out, and to continue treating myself with the love and respect that I show to others.

As you can see, 2012 was a wild ride for me.  I am so excited to see what 2013 has in store.  Happy New Year to you and yours!

Our holiday in pictures

Jameson made a menorah at school and brought it home on the last day of Hanukkah   Russell had to work that night, but they sent candles home and all, so I really had no excuse not to light it!

Seeing Santa at Bass Pro Shop.  No one cried and two of the three are looking at the camera - not too shabby!  Oh and you can't see the giant hole that Delilah ripped in her tights in the van on the way there...unless I point it out!

Christmas with Gigi!

Notice the tiny fork in his beard.  He was using a dinglehopper.  My brother is weird, end of story.

Sledding with Papa Terry at his new house.  Everyone had a blast...that is, until Delilah got snow in her mittens.  "My hands is frozen!"

 

Let me reiterate...my brother is weird!

Milk and cookies for Santa, plus carrots for Rudolph.

Huh, the kids must have been good after all...Just couple things under the tree.  :-)

Love for the Bennetts from near and far!

...And to all a good night!

This time of year is often one of the most stressful for me.  In the past there has been added pressure put on me due to scheduling issues and other people's expectations.  Everything is further muddled by the fact that we work non-traditional hours.  So this year with Christmas on a Tuesday, I was worried about back-to-back-to-back celebrations.  But, much to my surprise, this holiday season went pretty smoothly!

Our holiday season actually started the weekend before, when we celebrated Hanukkah with Nannie, Papa, and the rest of the family.  It was fun because Jameson has been learning about Hanukkah at school, so he had an idea of what was going on this year.  We usually say that these get-togethers are a success if no one cries and I'd say this year was a success!  :-)

This weekend started with a trip to see Santa at Bass Pro shop.  It worked out pretty well.  We got there about 2:45 pm and were given a card to wait in the 3:00 pm line.  So we hopped in line.  We didn't have to wait too terribly long before the kids were able to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas - Jameson a "castle toy" and Delilah a "bicycle."  Afterwards, we dropped the two bigger kids off with some friends so that we could do a little Christmas shopping.

Saturday morning, we had family pictures with the Gordons.  I thought that Ephraim was going to be the difficult one, but it turns out it was Delilah who was going to be a bit of a diva.  Other than that, the pictures were fairly uneventful and I think we were able to get some nice shots.  Then we headed to Lincoln to celebrate with Russell's grandma and the rest of the crew.  It was a fun time, however as I saw Jameson cheat on "Pin the Nose on the Snowman", I suddenly realized that Jameson may have inherited my fear of failing.  He was far more worried about what would happen if he didn't get the nose in the right spot than having fun playing the game.  :-(  I'm going to have to work on that.

Sunday we had Christmas brunch at my Dad and Ione's new house.  After we ate and opened presents, the grand-kids (minus Ephraim), Papa Terry and Russell went sledding in the back yard.  The ladies - and Tyler )although he did eventually head out after a bit of teasing) watched, laughed and took pictures from the warmth inside.  The kids had a BLAST.  That is, until Jameson and Delilah flipped over in their sled.  Russell rushed a crying Delilah inside to me.  It was very hard to stifle the giggles as she exclaimed "My hands is frozen!" over and over again.  But, after a little hot cocoa from Mama O, she was good as new in no time!  On the way home, I dropped the bigger kids off with Aunt Ray-Ray so that I could finish up my last minute shopping.

Monday was Christmas Eve and as I have for pretty much every Christmas Eve since we bought the house, I hosted the celebration with my mom, brother and his family.  Kellie and her crew usually join us, but this year my kids developed a NASTY cough, so the L family decided it would be best to avoid that mess.  And this year, Russell had to work, so our celebration was quite a bit smaller than it has been in past years.  Nevertheless, we had a nice little evening.  Tyler, Nichole and the girls made the mistake of showing up early, so I put them to work!  We filled our bellies full of lasagna, opened some nice presents, and had some laughs.  Then it was time to get everyone to bed so the big guy could make his appearance!

Last year, Russell had to work over night, so this mama was Santa's helper until about 3 am.  Then -and I'm still not sure of the exact sequence of events- but as R got home from work, about 6:30 am, the kids were already downstairs or came downstairs, so they saw their presents from Santa before I joined them.  Talk about a major let down!  So, this year, I not only got to bed a *little* bit earlier due to having a second helper elf, but I instilled in Jameson that he needed to wait for me.  So, everything worked out great.  Everyone loved their gifts!  Jameson was even excited about his clothes!!  :-)  The kids got just what they asked for from Santa - Jameson the "castle toy," Delilah a Minnie Mouse bike, and Ephraim a jumperoo.  And what was my gift from the kids, you ask?  Why, their cold, of course!!  Wah!  So, I spent the rest of the day resting on the couch!  Haha!  But, overall it was a WONDERFUL holiday season.  And as usual, we were absolutely spoiled!  Thanks to everyone who spent their holiday with us.

Merry Christmas, from the elves!

Weekend Recap - Thanksgiving Edition

Ah, my first long weekend since I became “self-employed.”  It was so nice.  But, as you probably guessed, we were busy, busy, busy!!  The festivities actually started MUCH earlier than usual.  On Tuesday, I was able to volunteer at Jameson’s school.  They had a Thanksgiving program and I, along with 2 other moms, helped the kids to roll out, cut, and bake cookies for refreshments after the show.  It was so fun to see him in his element.  I swear I could sit all day and just watch him at school!

Jameson was sooooooo excited for his program.  He asked everyone he encountered if they were going to his “show” and if they said no, he would say “that’s okay, we’ll record it for you.”  Well, Papa Terry, Mama O, Cousin Alaina, Nannie Sandy, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Ben, and Aunt Becca were able to attend.  Let me just tell you, it was THE CUTEST thing that I have ever seen!!  And here it is for your viewing pleasure!!  After the program, we ate lunch at Pizza Pie Guys with Papa Terry, Mama O, and Cousin Alaina.  Then Wednesday night, Jameson attended his very first overnighter at the JCC.  Only, we weren't sure how he'd handle staying overnight (or how *I* would, for that matter!), so we opted to have him stay until 10 instead.  Then Russell and I took the chance to sneak away for dinner and a movie before picking Jameson up.  And after that, I had the AMAZING opportunity to drop off some gifts that a wonderful group of ladies and I pooled together to give to a friend whose daughter is going through some things.

Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving.  We had a wonderful, family filled day.  Just like we have done for the past few years, we had lunch with my family (Dad’s side) and dinner with Russell’s family.  We were treated to two delicious Thanksgiving meals.  We were able to catch up with some family that we don’t get to see very often.  All with very minimal drama – pretty good for two family get-togethers!  I feel very lucky to have so many wonderful people to call my family!

Friday was a recover day.  We relaxed, watched some football and ate anything other than turkey!  Haha!

Saturday we took family pictures with my friend Amy.  This was a reschedule.  We were supposed to do them earlier, but something else came up…  :-)  Anyway, I am thrilled about them!  We had a lot of fun without any major meltdowns – pretty impressive considering we had 5 people to keep happy!  I’ll post a few pictures once our holiday letters go out!

Sunday was another lazy day – soaking up the very last day of our long weekend.  Then, on Monday stuff got real.  We submitted the last wave of paperwork to daycare licensing.  So, it’s just a matter of time before we get inspected and we’re off and running!!  Eeek!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

From the Turkeys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

From the turkeys!

And the rockets red glare...

Well, we didn't celebrate Independence Day in our usual fashion this year. It was a pretty laid back affair this year...at least from our house. Russell works nights currently and his schedule is so weird. He works roughly 10pm-6am, so when he goes in at 10pm on Sunday, it's referred to as Monday. This works out nicely when he is scheduled to work holidays because he gets holiday pay, but is off around 6am on the holiday so he has most of the holiday free...minus sleep anyway!). Well, Russell was scheduled to work on the 4th of July, but we thought this would be perfect because he would get home at 6, sleep until noon or so and be ready for fireworks! But, because the 4th landed on a Monday this year, it was decided that the circle fireworks would be done on Sunday night since everyone had to work on Tuesday. And by that time, the day was full, so Russell couldn't take it off.

Unfortunately, Russell had to work that night, so he was pretty tame and had to leave before things got too crazy. Also, I wasn't feeling too well (I later went to the Dr. and had a sinus infection), so I didn't do a great job of representing my house...of course, that didn't stop me from drinking the bucket drink or dominating the Spoons table. :-)

Overall, it was a fun night, albeit on a smaller scale than past years, but it got me really excited for the annual circle party!!

Merry Christmas from the Elves!

We had a lovely Christmas at the *B* house! Santa was good to us! The kids have been playing with their "cars" (as Jameson says). Jameson got a Cars scooter and Delilah got a Little Peoples ride-on/walker toy. After opening presents, Papa Terry and Mama O came over for breakfast. We ate some yummy food...although, D is apparently not a fan of yogurt. She does, however, LOVE bagels.

Hope your Christmas was as wonderful as ours!

Let the Christmas celebrations begin!!

We started our Christmas celebrations at Papa Terry and Mama O's house. It is so nice to have EVERYONE together. Man, our family has gotten big! :-) It was a fun day. The kids played for a while until it was time to open presents. The kids were, of course, spoiled! But, the adult we're pretty spoiled too. We are all invited to go on a Disney cruise as a family as our Christmas gift this year. I'm pretty excited for that!! So, after we opened gifts, the kids all wanted to play with their new toys. Jameson was pretty engrossed in his new Percy train set. We took out annual "elf" photo. D wasn't too impressed:

This is a stage we're going through. Delilah isn't happy unless I'm holding her. Hopefully it passes quickly... :-) We all ate pizza for lunch and hung out for a while. Well, except Russell, who was napping - shocking, I know. Although, in his defense, he only got a few hours of sleep.

After we left Lake Manawa, we headed to Lincoln to celebrate with Russell's family. Jameson was so excited to show his trains to Gigi! We had a good time with the Lincoln family. We ate too much and laughed at all of the funny things that the kids did. The most exciting thing that happened while we were in Lincoln is that Delilah took her first steps!! She has been cruising for quite a while and I knew she would venture out before too long. So, Russell and I sat and tried to coax her to walk between us and the little stinker did!! Fortunately, Russell's uncle was filming at the time, so now I just need to get a copy for that tape!! Exciting stuff happening over here!

Thanksgiving Day

We had a good Thanksgiving. Last year, Russell was still in Texas for Thanksgiving, so this year it was nice to be celebrate as an entire family this year. And this was Delilah's first Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving round 1 was at Papa Terry and Grandma Onie's. They had quite the turnout! It was nice to see some of my cousins that I don't normally get to see! The food was delicious, although I'm not sure that Jameson ate more than a roll. We kept having to tell him to sit down. It's much harder to enforce the sit down until you're done eating rule when he's at another table! :-) Jameson was pretty happy to be playing with all of the kids, although Russell had to go in the toy room at one point to make sure he wasn't picking on the girls. However, Russell ended up falling asleep. Poor guy got woken up even earlier than usual so we could make it to my Dad's house in time.

Round 2 was at Nana Sandy and Papa Bruce's house. Another delicious dinner! It was nice to see the twins, but Rachel wasn't there because she was on a trip to Cancun! (Lucky girl!!) Anyway, at this dinner Delilah tried some actual turkey (I tore it up really small for her) and she ate a sweet potato (the WHOLE thing!!). So, she got to eat a little bit of what we ate! :-)

Overall, we had a good holiday! Now it's time to watch some football!!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun-filled weekend! Russell was in Texas for Halloween last year for Navy training, so this year was extra special. We started off our Halloween celebration on Saturday at Papa Terry and Grandma Onie's house. Aunt Erin, Uncle Tyler, Aunt Nichole, Hannah and Justice were all there. We had lunch and celebrated the October birthdays (Papa Terry, Aunt Erin, and Aunt Nichole). Afterwards, the kids got into their costumes and trick-or-treated through the house. Everyone went into a bedroom or the bathroom. Nichole and I took the kids around to knock on the doors to get their treats. It was really cute!

Then on Sunday we, of course, took the kids trick-or-treating. Graham Cracker (Grandma Debby) came over to hand out candy so that we could all go together as a family. I took Jameson last year, so this was actually his second year trick-or-treating, but we only went around the circle and up and down the street that our circle is off of - so maybe 10 houses total. This year we went around basically a whole block plus our circle. Jameson was in a weird mood. He woke up from his nap quiet. He was happy to be dressed up as Brobee, but didn't want us to take any pictures taken and he was pretty serious when he went up to the doors. I think the highlight of his night was when Spiderman answered one of the doors. He saw him when we were walking up to the house and he yelled and started running! I think overall he had a good time. And he's been asking to eat candy constantly since we got home. :-)

Now, about their costumes. Unless you have a kid about preschool-age, you probably don't have a clue who they are dressed as. Jameson was dressed as Brobee and Delilah was Foofa from the show Yo Gabba Gabba. It's one of Jameson's favorite shows! Here are the few pictures we were able to take:

Weekend Recap

Yet another busy weekend in the *B* household! Friday was basically prepping for our busy weekend. And that left me very tired, so I went to bed early. Saturday, Russell watched the Husker game and I went to the grocery store. I would have rather watched the game, but I needed to go and that was the best time. Then we went to Nana Sandy's annual Halloween party. We could only stay for a little while because Russell had to work. The kids' costumes weren't 100% ready, so I had them wear the Thing 1 and Thing 2 outfits that Nana Sandy bought them at Walt Disney World last year. They were a hit! Jameson ended up steal someone's walkers and running around with it for a good portion of the evening.

Sunday, Russell came home from work, slept about 3 hours and then we met Nana Sandy, Papa Bruce, and Aunt Rachel for brunch. Rachel came home for the weekend and we met up for brunch before she went back to school. Then we went to the Spooktacular at the Zoo. It was a ZOO! It was crazy!! We met Russell's old partner, Marc, and his family there. Marc's wife, Katty, and I went last year and it was nothing like this! We think it was colder though. The guys ended up talking so much that the boys really didn't get that much candy. Oh well, I'm sure they'll make up for it next week! Then we went to NFM to see Graham Cracker. She got to show the kids off AND we got some free popcorn and plastic storage containers. They were having some sort of VIP event! After that, I went to my freezer dinner exchange. It was held at my friend Kellie's house. I just took Delilah with me because Nana Sandy took Jameson to watch the Millard North dance team. So, after the exchange, D and I chatted for a while with Kellie and Maddie. It was a lot of fun. But, by the time I got home, I was pretty tired, so it was an early night!

Oh and of course, I did not take any pictures! Sorry!!

Circle Party 2010

So our annual circle party has come and gone. This year the theme was "Cinco do Circle." I know it doesn't EXACTLY make sense, but 5 was a big theme this year. There are 5 houses on the circle, it was our 5th circle party, and it was held on September 5th. Russell made a banner this year. He wanted to hang it from the street light, so that everyone who saw it knew what they were missing. I envisioned disaster when he told me he was going to free-hand it, but I was impressed that it turned out pretty nice! I designed T-shirts for the ladies and the kids and Russell helped me iron them on. And, well, to give you an idea of what THAT process was like...He said next year we will just have them printed. :-) But, I think they turned out pretty cute...especially for the price!

Like every year, the neighbors rented a bounce house. As usual, it was a big hit. It was fun to see the little kids in it. What a difference 6 months makes! At Jameson's birthday party, these kids weren't so sure what to do in the bounce house. But now, 6 months later, they were having the time of their lives! :-) Guess we'll be going back to Jumpin' Jax again next year!!!

We ate lots of yummy food, had a few drinks, and of course there was the firepit! This was the first circle party that I wasn't either pregnant or working, so I celebrated! :-) We played spoons, which is a circle favorite. I call it a success that we did not break a table! And we made it to breakfast, which was Russell's goal. We had a delicious meal of eggs and toast. After that, everyone was ready for bed!

Overall it was a good night and a nice way to bid farewell to summer. Unfortunately, no one told the kids that we wanted to sleep in this morning. So, we were up pretty early. The good news is we are both off today, so we have a day to lounge before it's back to work!

Happy 4th of July!!

Our 4th started with rain all morning, fortunately it cleared up just in time to start our festivities on the circle. Russell started the party around 3pm, when our neighbor, Jim, came over and they had a drink together. This year, we invited more guest than ever! We alone, had 5 couples and their kids. The chairs were lined up nearly all the way around the circle! Russell was quite the host. There were lots of friends, good food and hopefully everyone had fun (although I think some of us had MORE fun than others...).

Jameson wasn't his usual self. He was really clingy, bu he didn't act sick otherwise. He did go to bed around 9om, so he missed most of the big fireworks. :-(

The fireworks show was SPECTACULAR. They said next year, we're charging $5 admission. :-) Afterwards there as a haze over the circle, it couldn't have been good for our lungs, but we didn't have to worry about mosquitoes! Then, the guys got to shovel all of the debris into the middle of the circle and burn it in the fire pit (they've been looking forward to this all year!). We had a few surprises from the fire pit, but the funny thing is there was too much leftover! They didn't get it all burned before everyone went to bed! Oh and remember my comment about some of us having more fun than others? Well, Russell fell asleep in his chair in the middle of the circle! He didn't stay asleep long enough for the neighbors to marker him, but around 3:30am I had to tell him it was time to go inside.

We must have had lots of fun, because we didn't take any pictures!!