Dear Self......

Dear Me,

It is January 2011 and I wanted to tell you how the year 2010 went for you! You had a terrific year financially (getting back on track) Mike has a great job now that he loves. He has stuck to eating healthy and exercising regularly, his health is great. The kids are one year older and doing great...Sam ,3, is finally potty trained (something you thought would never happen), and he is getting help for his speech development. Kate, 10, is the 4th grade now and loves to read so much, she is doing great in Math and progressing so much. Kailey,12, is now in the 7th grade and is quite the social butterfly, she is making the honor roll and is understanding Math more and more everyday.

Now to reflect on you....you had some great victories on the scale this past year.....you finally lost the 10 lbs you have been trying to lose for 3 years now. Only to put it all back on and then some. It is okay that you put it all back on because as you are pregnant with baby number 4. You waited so long to finally complete your family and your son will arrive in the next few weeks. You are all so excited to meet him. This will be the final addition to your little family, somedays you feel that you are spread so thin, trying to give enough attention to all the children. And let each and every one of them know that you love them more than life itself and that there is nothing you wouldn't do for them.Don't worry about it so much, all your children love you and they get so much love from you. You often wonder if your children resent the fact that they have to share your attention with their siblings? You are still doing daycare and loving it. Business is good, and you have a long waiting list of parents looking for daycare.

Even though you are pregnant...you continued exercising and walking with your friend Valerie. The whole family really got on board with eating better and walking nightly on the walking trails.

You and Mike celebrated your 14th anniversary. He is such a wonderful husband and father. He works so hard to provide for you and the children.

You were able to go on a family vacation last year as well, something you will always treasure and remember. You took the time to slow down as a mother, no rushing to and fro. You are sitting down with the children more and giving them more of your undivided attention. The girls and you are taking fun shopping trips together, making sure you spend one on one time together. You are trying really hard to help shape their self esteem and to help guide them through the adolescent years. You are doing a great job a mother, and the girls are growing up to be such beautiful young ladies. They are very responsible, caring, loving and honest girls, you are so proud of them.

You are in such a happy place in your life...you struggled so much as a family the past two years. You always had faith in the Lord, you just knew he had a plan for your family, and the plan he had was such a wonderful one. Everything you went through taught you a lesson...even though at times you did not know what lesson you would learn. I hope you have a great 2011.

Love Future Me


I know what you are thinking....I made a mistake and typed the wrong year. No, I did not make a mistake. I was working on The Monday Project: The future ME. Over at the Sisterhood of the shrinking jeans they challenged everyone to write a letter to their self about what happened in the year 2010. They wanted "future self" to write "current self" a letter, telling yourself what you accomplished in 2010 and what kind of a person you became. We were to blog in on Friday and link back to their site. I hope you enjoyed reading my letter. This is something I am going to print off and reflect on in January 2011. Head over to The Sisterhood of the shrinking jeans and read others letters. You might even enjoy writing one to yourself.

This face.....

This is face that nobody can resist. Our boxer puppy is such a handful, it is just like caring for a newborn baby...but so much harder. I can't leave him in the room by himself because he likes to chew on the woodwork!! He tries to eat the other dogs food, he chews on Sam's toys and chews on our shoes. I feel like I am taking him out to potty in the freezing cold constantly, and he still manages to have accidents in the house! But if I had to do it all over again...I would. He is such a joy to have around and the kids just adore him. Little by little and day by day he seems to get better. Who could resist this face?

Forgotten present

I guess you could say that your kids get too many Christmas gifts when .....Grandma finds a forgotten present weeks after Christmas is over. I knew exactly where this was, but I was thinking it was a birthday present for Sam's upcoming 3rd birthday. When asked about the gift Grandmas simply said "oh, I guess I forgot where I put that". Sam had fun playing with this new toy....until his older sister came home and claimed it for her own.

Raisin Cookies

Every Christmas season (or almost every Christmas season) my mom makes these delicious raisin cookies. It was a tradition that my Grandma started and my mom continues to this day. She still uses the very old cook book to follow when she makes these cookies. Most people would have written the recipe down in their own handwriting, but I think my mom likes to use the same cook book that her mother used. It is like she is channeling my Grandmother (who by the way was a terrific cook). This year she is a bit behind, but I say better late than never.

As I was taking these pictures to post my mother was dead set against me posting the recipe. I even took a picture of the recipe but like a teenager, I got caught! So sorry there is no recipe to go along with these delicious raisin cookies. You will just have to take my word, they are delicious.

Who doesn't love popcorn?

Here in Kansas City we have a popcorn shop called Topsy's. I really wanted a can of popcorn before the holiday season ended but that never happened. So just last week I was shopping with my girls and we wondered into a Topsy's and their popcorn cans were 50% off. Yeah!!! I know it is only popcorn, but I was so excited to buy some for myself. My favorite flavors are the caramel, cinnamon and cheese.

There is a science to eating all 3 of these flavors. No way would I ever put 2 or 3 different flavors in mouth at once. I have to eat each flavor individually and 1 kernel at a time. Savoring each one as I go. Yummy!!!1

You capture-a look back

This week You Capture is all about your favorite photos from 2009. It was so fun to look back and reminisce, we created so many memories this past year. Here are just a few of my favs.


my 8 year old made her first holy communion in April
Sam visited Thomas the Train in May

We played outside in the rain in August


Took Family pictures at the park in October



Added to our family with Bubba our boxer puppy in December

Can't wait to see all of your pictures from 2009.

Please no more snow..

Just as my kids go back to school for 1 day...they are home again. They called off school last night before the snow even started to fall. As I am posting the snow is falling down quickly. Our sidewalks are already covered and I am sure my hubby will have to pull out the snow blower again tonight. This makes 3 times in the past 2 weeks he has used the snow blower (and to think we were going to sell it a few months ago).

I am tired of seeing snow, tired of driving in snow, tired of my kids wanting to play in the snow (they have no snow boots, we never need them and this is the 1 year we really needed them), tired of taking the new puppy out to potty in the snow, I am just tired of snow. So I ask Mother Nature "please no more snow".

Bubba

An early Christmas gift came into our lives a few days before Christmas arrived this year. We have been wanting a boxer for a few months now, but the price and timing just weren't right. My children each received Christmas money from their Great Aunt, jokingly my husband said "we could by a boxer puppy with that money" Kate automatically agreed (she wanted a new puppy the most) Sam is too little to know the he even got money and Kailey knew right away there was no way she was spending money on a dog of all things...she had much more important things in mind to spend her money on...Makeup. Yes my 11 year old daughter is just like her Mommy..a makeup hog!!

Anyway back to Bubba, we looked on the computer and right in our area there were 3 boxer puppies for sale and the price was right. So at 10:00 that night we met Bubba and brought him home. He is so spoiled we love to hold him as he naps and play with him when he is awake.

He has truly stolen our hearts.