Live, Laugh, Love....here's to an AMAZING 2010!

Well Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone and 2009 is now behind us! I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to 2010! I'm ready to shed things from my life that no longer fit in to make room for ALL the wonderful, amazing things that are still to come this year! :o) I'm going to start carving out a little time for myself this year so that I can be a better Mama to my children, better wife to my husband, better daughter to my Mama, better sister to my siblings and a better friend to all. MY Mama is the most AMAZING woman I've EVER known in my life. She raised all 5 of us on her own because dad passed away April of 1989(I was 12), she watches our kids on a daily basis so we can go to work and know our kids are with someone we trust so we don't have to worry AND she still finds it in her heart to offer up at least one Saturday a month for her to watch our children so that I can at least have one day a month for myself. To do whatever my heart desires. This will probably consist of scrap booking, yoga, bubble bath, nappping,reading,maybe some writing if I'm inspired to do so(haven't written a thing in YEARS :() gardening, maybe the occasional lunch with a friend and crafts of some kind and I have wanted to try painting for some time now! I HAVE to allow myself to take her up on this offer and not feel guilty about it because having that time will allow me to be my best self for the people in my life that I love so much! My goal for 2010 is to have a more Zen home for our family!

Ray has had some issues with his sciatic and his back toward the end of this year. We think it started when we played golf in a charity tournament for a friend to get her sight back through surgery in China and we were horsing around and he fell out of the golf cart and with being super busy at work(being a hairdresser this is "busy season")standing on his feet for 12 to 13 hours days didn't help matters. He's been seeing the chiropractor weekly. Hasn't been released to go back to the gym yet, but he's been going strong losing his weight 63 lbs gone in 2009 and 20 more lbs to go in 2010. He is shedding what doesn't fit anymore....literally! He's shedding the weight and his bigger clothing. He looks great and I can't wait till his sciatic/back heals so he starts feeling great! He helps a lot around the house with the kids when he's home and does all the cooking for the week on Mondays so that I have it easier during the week with the kids. We give and take when it comes to managing our home. My old school BFF that was just down for a visit said that "I run a pretty tight ship, because even with two kids our home is tidy and organized." I'm VERY proud of that, I must say! :o) She does know that my husband does help. It has to be an effort from everyone in the home to make it work.

Olivia started walking this month.....YAY! Her at 15 months just 3 months before Nicholas started to walk. Nicholas liked to "help" Olivia walk when she was first starting by facing her and taking her by the hands walking backwards leading her to walk. The first time I saw this I was on the phone with Ray and I just stopped talking and watched them with a smile on my face. Told him I would talk to him when he gets home in a few minutes, took a picture of them and enjoyed that moment of sweetness! Though I'm missing the baby stages of both our children I am loving the fact that she is able to get around more independently and really play with her brother. He is enjoying her much more now as well. It's so awesome to see them laugh and play together. Although there are times when he doesn't want her near and playing with HIS toys. My BFF from school came down from Ohio at Christmas time with her two kids. She got to meet Olivia for the first time. We hung out with our other old school BFF that lives here in town for those two weeks. Christmas time came around and we went to see Santa. Nicholas told him all that he wanted and Olivia cried and wanted off his lap! After Santa we drove around to see all the beautiful(Nicholas' description of them) Christmas lights! One of the days before Christmas Nicholas was running all around the house while Olivia napped in the morning and all of a sudden he blurted out"YEEEEHAW COWBOYYY!" I stopped what I was doing and laughed SO hard....he cracks me up! Apparently he got it from his cousin Austin's Woody toy from toy story. He says it all the time now and well, now everyone in the house is saying it! :o) We made homemade Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve and enjoyed eating some of them before we took some of them over to the neighbors annual Christmas Eve party. Nicholas helped us set out the cookies and milk for Santa before he went to bed and when they got up in the morning he was WOWED by the sight that Santa had eaten the cookies we made, drank the milk and even left a thank you note! It was SO awesome :o) They both had so much fun finding the little surprises Santa left for them in their stockings and the gifts he left for them under the tree! Christmas was so Magical this year and will be even more so next year, because Olivia will be as into it as Nicholas was this year! We stayed home all day and played with all the toys. We went and had Christmas dinner at Nana's with all the family and had a few more gifts there from all the cousins that drew each others names. Then it was home and to bed. The next day we did about the same and had a relaxing day and that night had our first bonfire and roasted marshmallows for smores....YUMMY! Found out Olivia likes Marshmallows as much as Mama and Nicholas do! :o) The next day we went to Rays parents house for an Italian dinner, the kids Christmas presents from Granny and Papa and birthday cake for Ray! It was a nice celebration!

Last night was New Years Eve and we all stayed home. Olivia woke up in time to ring it in with us as Nicholas was sound asleep. Right now Nicholas is sitting at the table next to me playing with his spaghetti playdoh set, Olivia is napping and daddy is watching t.v. while food is cooking! Life is wonderful! Happy New Year to you all. Take care and be well. Don't forget to check out our memories from December. Here's to an AMAZING year to come.....2010!