New Years Resolutions

I am not really one to make resolutions each year, because who really keeps them anyways. Last year I made the resolution to run a half marathon this Janaury - seeing that I am 7 months pregnant, that goal was shot a long time ago! I did start out very promising though!

But I guess I have to at least give it a shot. So my goals for 2009 are:
1. Read the scriptures with my children
2. Have Family Home Evening every Monday night (or at least every week) whether David is home or not
3. Take at least one picture a day - The 365 Project - to document my year, even the small moments, and to better my photography style

I really hope these are more realistic than ME running a HALF MARATHON!!! Come on, really?!?!? What was I thinking? So, now that I have written them down and shared them with my family and friends, they are real goals and I must be held accountable.

Our Christmas Update

Ok, so Christmas is finally over, although remnants of it still remain strewn throughout my entire house. My goal tomorrow is to get everything, including decorations, put away. I can't wait to get that "clutter" out of the way. David gets mad that I call Christmas decorations "clutter", but that's the way I feel about them sometimes.

Overall, I think we had a great Christmas. David may be feeling a bit cheated...I overheard him chatting with a friend on the phone about gifts they had gotten and he said "oh, I got a ladder..." But we had set a budget and I tried very hard to stick to it, in fact I did overspend a little, but David way overspent! I won't complain though, because I LOVE everything he got me. He is very thoughtful in his gifts. Or should I say, he strives to get everything I ask for, and he does a great job!

My most exciting gifts this year were a Girl's weekend away with two of my best friends to Vegas. We'll be going the middle of January. And David's mom got us and David's sister and husband tickets to see "Phantom of the Opera" in the city on New's Years day. She is watching the kids. I can't wait for both of these things!! I also got some other wonderful things that I love, but the most fun was wathching the girls with their presents.

Santa had a little accident putting together Carmen's new bike, so we had to return that today and get a new one. Target was out of bikes, so we went to Walmart and got a totally different one. Carmen didn't seem to mind that the new one wasn't a princess bike, although that was all she had asked for. She was just so excited that she had money left over to buy a horn to go on the handle bars! Aliza got a baby stroller and bassinet and loves playing with her babies. She also got a Tinker Bell costume that she has worn for the past two days. And together they got a doll house full of furniture that they are having a hard time sharing.

We also got a lot of new games to play. Which is a good thing, because David has decided we are getting rid of the TV!!!! I am still trying to negotiate something, because I at least have to have movies to keep my sanity. If Aliza can't watch ELMO it's the end of the world. So, today we did pretty good. Aliza got to watch Elmo one time and Carmen got to watch one movie. Other than that we kept busy with new games and new toys the whole day. We'll see how long we can make this last...

I'm posting a lot of pictures. There are pictures of the second Joy school nativity where Carmen got to be Mary, some more tile pictures that I made, some of the girls in their new dress up clothes, and Carmen making her own lip gloss.

Joy School Nativity

In preschool these past couple of weeks, Carmen and her class have been learning about service. So we prepared the kids to do "service" for the grandma's and grandpa's at the retirement home. They preformed the Nativity for them last Tuesday. Carmen was one of the Inn keepers and had to say "NO ROOM". The kids were adorable and did a great job. They sang songs and gave the residents Christmas cards they had made. I was so proud of her!

Tonight we are having a family Joy School party and the kids will perform it again for the Daddies to see. Except tonight Carmen gets to be Mary and she is beside herself with excitement. I'll post pictures of that later.

Projects

So, Carmen has been a little bored since the weather has turned chilly. I found her Polly Pocket dancing with the ice skaters the other day. She was really stretching her imagination that day. So, she has been doing a lot of painting to help pass the afternoon when Aliza is alseep and she has no one to torture. :)


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I've also worked on a few projects in the last few weeks. Mostly for Christmas gifts for family. I still have another tile print to make for myself, but I'm waiting for the picture to come for it. I also did some family portraits for my brother-in-law.

Surprise!

So my mom sent an email requesting me to update the blog! She said she has started reading all my friends blogs, people she doesn't even know, to try to stay updated with what I am doing!

So, I will post about a surprise David got me this week. He was so proud of himself for doing this and for the phenominal deal he got it for. He bought a new crib and dresser set for the new baby. We really needed something new, and this set is just beautiful. We were able to get them both for less than we would have paid for just ONE of them alone. So, I guess as soon as the holidays are over, I can officially start "nesting" and get the nursery set up for the new baby.

So, here's online pictures of what they look like, except our set is all white.

Lots of Pictures...

So, a few months ago we bought a little compact camera that I decided to keep in the diaper bag for those spontaneous "kodak moments". I realized yesterday that I've never downloaded any of the pictures off of it. So, here are pictures from before halloween.

The Pumpkin Patch - Finding the perfect one.

More pictures....

Carmen's Gymnastics Class

Our Trip to the Bass Pro Shop

Aliza on Santa's lap at our church Christmas party

Pleasanton Holiday Parade with some of our friends