1st Grade

I know I'm late posting, but SO much has been going on, blogging had to take back seat! Here is Caden on the first day of 1st Grade. He really likes school and loves his teacher, Mrs. Preston! He reports that recess, lunch, and computer lab are his favorite things at school in that order. He also admits to liking reading and math.

outside South Breeze; he was so excited to start we were there 20 minutes before the school even opened

he's grown so much in a year!

so happy to finally start 1st grade!

my latest craft

This is the gift Caden gave is his teacher, Mrs. Preston, on the first day of 1st grade. It was fairly easy and fun to make! I love the color! I think I need one for my office.

used to be

This

 used to be a half full roll of perfectly good paper towels and not the cheap kind!

This

 used to be the clean floor of our computer room!

This

used to be our sweet kitty girl!

Caden says

Two really quick and funny Caden quoteables.

Anytime he's the first to finish something: "I'm a fast poke not a slow poke!"  Really?!?!

Tonight while sitting on the toilet, he announces to us, "I'm trying to bomb it out!"    Only a boy!

Introducing . . .

the newest member of our family! Meet Zoe. We adopted her from Caring Hands in February. I've been wanting a pet for awhile, but adopting her was Doug's idea and I was surprised. She is an orange and white tabby and about 6 months old now. She is sweet, cuddly, wild, ADORED by Caden, playful, energetic, full of purrs and "kisses" and she is always where ever we are.  Zoe cries when we go to bed (we keep her out of our bedrooms) and waits by the door for us each morning. She has two really awesome tricks ~ she plays fetch like a dog with her little stuffed toy and she jumps for her laser light toy. And by jump, I mean kitty has got some serious ups skills! We've gotten her to jump about 4 feet off the ground trying to catch the laser light. Caden is convinced she is his sister and he can't leave the house, go to bed, or pass by her without talking to her, petting her, and kissing her. For her part, Zoe is pretty tolerant of Caden's affections. She's been a welcome and wonderful addition to our family!

Zoe goes exploring

just a little R & R: she watches us come and go from this window perch on the back of our couch

flashback: monster truck show

Back in early February, our family joined Doug's brother and his family for a day out. We started with lunch at Old Chicago. Then we headed to the Monster Truck Show and topped our day off with fro-yo at Orange Leaf. Fun, LOUD, and yummy!!  Caden really enjoyed watching the monster trucks perform. We squealed and giggled and pointed and oohed and ahhed and asked for his ear plugs to be adjusted all afternoon!

Pre-show pictures: L to R and T to B: cousins by birth, buddies by choice; Daddy and Caden; brothers and their kids; my favorite sixes

L to R:  in order of their excitement level: Caden, Tegan, Jensen

Cousins ~ The Crew

He thought this was the greatest day!

Choosing topping at our new favorite: Orange Leaf

12 for 12 in 2011 {update #3}

1. I'm still working on catching up. I was further behind that I thought, but I should get caught up this week. I've  learned that if I want to reach this goal in 2011, it will be far easier to stay caught up. I've also learned that I really like having a guide to read through the Bible and really want to accomplish this goal. Also, there is lots of murder, deceit, and debauchery in the book of Genesis. It's WAY more than just the simple 7 day story of creation that admittedly was the only thing I knew about Genesis until now.
2. This will get done this week, I hope.
3. I did blog 3 times last week. All with pictures, but not all about Caden, so I think that's success.
4. I did exercise last week, but only3 times and couldn't go to Zumba sine it was canceled due to bad weather. Really missed Zumba class and really wished I had Zumba DVDs at home to use.
5. I also didn't read for pleasure this week. Sadly, I'm afraid I won't get my 2 books read in January.
6. Again, Doug tried a new recipe. He created a new version of his Chicken and Noodles. Seriously yummy, but since he's a pro in the kitchen and I'm tired when I get home from work and craving some alone time, I'm going to have to work hard this week to squueze in a new recipe that I actually make.
7. While our house certainly did not see its worst this week, it also did  not see its best in terms of cleanliness. It wasn't horrible, but we were lazy with chores and had to spend a couple of hours on Saturday getting caught up again. We both vowed to do better this week.
8. no movement on this front
9. took pictures of Doug on his birthday, our niece on her birthday, and of my first craft project
10. SUCCESS. See previous post. I know it was simple and I feel silly for admitting it, but this project made me feel like a crafter (I'm NOT by the way) and I felt very accomplished once it was hung on the wall
11. Not necessarily random, but I took a meal to friend who is going through some challenging health issues with her family and also surprised 3 women at work with pieces of cake this week. Kind = yes; Random = no
12. no movement here either

Well it seems I don't accomplish much on this list each week, but I'm pleased how much I think about it during the week and how I've posted updates (even though they make me sound lazy!) on my progress.

crafty {a little}

Completing one adult craft each month is one of the things on my 12 for 12 in 2011 list. I asked some of my craftier friends to give websites or blogs to look at for ideas. Amy directed to be to Eighteen25 which is a delightful blog written by 3 seriously crafty, creative sisters and the place that directed me to another creative blog called The Idea Room which is where this craft idea came from. You can get the specific details for this craft here. It's such a  neat site with lots of ideas I wish I was talented enough to steal. Amy also asked me to share pictures of my crafting adventures, so here is my first go. This was shockingly easy and turned out so much better than I expected. 

materials gathered and yes the cup was important for creating the 3" circle template

nearly finished

completely finished

my littlest Valentine holding my first craft project

because honestly he can NOT resist getting his mug on film (or memory card in this case)

hanging on the wall

This was simple. I did most of it while watching TV. Still, I feel accomplished and a teeny tiny little bit crafty!

on being an aunt

Of all my life roles, I think being an aunt is the most fun! I get hugs and kisses and sweet, "Wuv ooo's" from two really adorable little people, but I have no daily responsibility for them. I love that Caden has cousins he gets to grow up with. While, I'd love to give these two darlings another cousin some day, I'm thrilled to be their aunt forever. I can't believe my beautiful niece is going to be SIX tomorrow, but I love that she and Caden are the same age because we get to watch a boy and a girl going through the same stages, but so differently. Those two are glued at the hip when they're together. They love and fight with each other fiercely. I also love that Caden gets a younger boy cousin to love on and teach him how to be a "boy". I love watching Jensen and Caden play because they are both full of energy and love cars and sports. On one hand I'm sad because they're far enough apart in age that they'll never be on the same team together, but happy too because they will each get the chance to be in the spotlight as their name is called over the PA system at high school football games one day. Caden adores Jensen and Tegan and so do I!

TEGAN: beautiful, fearless, loves to dance, picky eater, good big sister, smart, sassy, loves clothes and fashion, 6 tomorrow

JENSEN: adorable, fearless, all boy, eats everything!, super sweet, goofy, silly, opinionated, tells you how it is, just turned 2

my favorite nephew; this totally shows his goofy side and his no non-sense attitude side

my favorite niece; one part tomboy, one part girly girl; all pretty!

I love you so much, Tegan and Jensen! I love being your aunt Sarah! I can't wait to spend Friday nights watching you play football, Jensen and Saturday afternoons shopping and listening to your stories, Tegan! Big hugs to you both!

33

Doug celebrated his 33rd birthday on Saturday! I planned a night out with our friends, Jeremy and Melissa. We ate dinner at Bravo's Italiani in Valley Center. We'd never been there, but I'd heard it was very good. It was delicious and definitely some place we'll go back to. After dinner, we headed to Orange Leaf for dessert. It was also super yummy and now I'd like to franchise and own my own in Newton. Then we headed to the Loony Bin to see a comedy show. It was a fun night celebrating my favorite guy! I surprised Doug with a teeny tiny plastic toy gun in a gift card case, a gun cleaning kit, and a silicone lined gun sock. I think he was a bit disappointed since he doesn't own a gun that needs cleaning or stored in a sock, until I kept handing him the gift card box repeatedly all afternoon. Finally, he got the hint, shook it and found the money to put towards the gun he wants ~ a .50 caliber Thompson center-fire muzzle-loader. Please nobody ask me what that is, unless you want the very basic answer of a gun Doug can use hunting. I had to practice saying the name of it several times before I remembered! Apparently it's a good gun to have because it extends your hunting season or something like that. Honestly, I'm so happy Doug is getting something he really wants for his birthday and that I'm helping him get it, but I start thinking about other things when he starts drooling, I mean, talking about hunting, guns, and the length of whatever season it is.

 

Birthday boy! Happy 33rd, Dougie!

12 for 12 in 2011 {update #2}

update installment #2 of 12 for 12 in 2011.

1. behind and need to catch up
2. also behind and need to write down my plan
3. 3 times last week, and there were funny things, so I deem that success
4. only twice on the treadmill for 50 minutes, plus hour Zumba class
5. sadly, not much got read last week that wasn't for work; need to pick up the pace or I won't finish 2 books in January
6. did try a new recipe (well Doug did, so maybe that won't count; Fideo (recipe from Melissa, yummy!)
7. did an okay job keeping our house clean; helped BIG time that Doug was off Friday and cleaned all morning!
8. zero progress
9. took some photos of Doug on his birthday, including one of us together which is very rare and some of me in my glasses try out, and of course some of Caden being well very Cadenesque
10. sadly, no progress this week on this front, but seriously need to get a move on as it is a time sensitive craft!
11. didn't do it this week, but did brainstorm a short list of possible recipients
12. way too cold to race or even think about it!

our (not so great, but best) attempt at a picture of just the 2 of us

boot juice

One afternoon this week after romping around in the snow, Caden managed to drag himself inside to warm up, leaving his boots by the door that leads from our kitchen to the garage. Fast forward an hour or so when Caden comes barreling into the kitchen for dinner and steps squarely into a small puddle of melted snow from his boots and starts squealing. Doug quickly asks him what's wrong and Caden angrily protests, "I stepped in the boot juice!"  Instantly a new catch phrase was born at our house and all week we've been careful to avoid the "boot juice".

Martin, green beans, directions

I'm going to replay the tape of part of our family's conversation at dinner tonight.

Caden: "We sang a song about Martin today."
Mom: "You sang about Martin Luther King?"
Caden: "yeah!"
Dad: "Who is Martin Luther King?"
Caden: "a king"
Mom: "No, he wasn't a king. King is his last name, like Livesay is our last name. Do you know anything about Martin Luther King?"
Caden: "No, I forgot."
Dad: "Is he white?"
Caden: "No, he's brown."
{insert some chuckles from mom and dad}
Mom: "Well, actually he's an African-American, Do you know what Martin Luther King did?"
Caden: "died." (totally deadpan serious; sorry for the pun there!)
{insert a few more chuckles from mom and dad}
Dad: "That's right, but do you know why he's famous? Why is he special?"
Caden: "I don't know. The song didn't talk about that. And actually, Mrs. Kirtley hasn't said anything about him yet."

OK, then. End of that particular conversation. If Mrs. Kirtley hasn't talked about it, then it mustn't be so.
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We had steamed green beans for dinner. They were yummy. Caden certainly thought so. He scarfed through his dinner, just so he could get seconds on green beans. As his mom, I love that he loves his veggies so much, but as a former child (and sometimes current adult) veggie hater, I also think it's kind of weird.
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After dinner, Caden got out a police car that was a Christmas gift yet to be taken from the box and used his child safety scissors to destroy the box and retrieve the car. As he freed the car, he immediately tossed me the folded up package of directions and said, "I don't need those. They're just the instructions."  Doug leans over to me with a huge grin and obvious pride in his voice and says, "He's getting to be a man. Look at my boy, throwing away the directions already! Way to go, buddy!"  Insert my eye roll and suppressed giggle, already recognizing how true that is. Caden has already learned so much about what it means to be a "man".

divo

Caden didn't use to like the camera much at all, but now whenever we have it out all we were hear is, "Take me a picture!" Which cracks us up! And all we see is a mostly goofy, sometimes cute, sometimes very sweet little guy! Which cracks us up too! But, we oblige with his penchant for hamming it up, nonetheless, because those green eyes and smile are just too much! All this posing and goofing had Doug calling Caden a "divo" tonight!

 

12 in 12 {2011} update #1

1. got off track, but am catching up and getting back on track
2. haven't made my list of topics with verses to match, but hope to this week.
3. posted twice this week, maybe not the best since there were no pictures, but it's something
4. yes! treadmill walked at least 45 minutes 3 times this week and did a 70 minute Zumba class
5. about halfway through my first January book, The Echo from Dealey Plaza; interesting, especially for a JFK Assassination buff and have  stack of books on my nightstand to get me through March, maybe April if I only get 2 read per month
6. haven't tried any new ones yet
7. we kept our house clean this week and it was so nice not having to spend the weekend doing a marathon cleaning session!!!  we'll be sticking to this chore chart we made!
8. no progress
9. no photos taken this week :(
10. bought the materials for my first craft! excited and a little nervous to start, but am hoping to get started this week
11. haven't had a good idea for this yet
12. asked my friend Melissa to join me for the Emma Creek Classic in April; baby steps on this one

long, hard week

Last week was a long, hard week. Hard to get up early, especially when I didn't sleep well or at all some nights. Hard to get back into the routine of work and school after Christmas Break. Hard to get back into the routine of chores. Hard to get a certain little person out of bed every morning.

But there were some bright spots in the week: trying my first Zumba class; spontaneous Friday night with friends; a super sweet and affectionate little man; and sticking to or making progress towards many of my 12 for 12 {2011} (update coming soon); a mostly positive progress report for Caden.

Hoping for an easier week coming up, starting with a yummy beef stew dinner that is smelling delicious in the crock pot right now and a prayer for the forecasted snow to skip over us.

12 for 12 in 2011

It's a new year and the time I always focus on "improving" myself my setting ridiculous (unrealistically unattainable) New Year's resolutions. While on one hand, I appreciate the opportunity and freshness that comes with the start of a new year and would certainly like to improve myself in lots of ways. BUt, on the other hand, I don't really care for New Year's resolutions much. I've found they often lead to feelings of failure, unhappiness, and self-loathing; not really they way I want to feel anytime, but especially not at the start of a brand new year filled with so much promise. 

I've tried other ideas to accomplish goals I have had or do have, but again I made them so big and so unrealistic that I failed, and then felt disappointed and angry with myself for failing. I know many don't need to self-impose reasons to feel inadequate and that often we are our very own worst critics. Sadly and ashamedly, I am one of those who tends to focus more on my short-comings than on the things I do well. I judge myself more harshly than I would ever judge another mom or teacher or wife or friend or fill in the blank title or role. 

All this brings me to my simpler (I hope) plan for 2011. I want to have goals. I want accomplish things. I want to be successful (in the ways I choose to define it, rather than by material trappings or others' definitions). I also know I need accountability to make the goals I have a reality in the coming year.

Thus, 12 for 12 in 2011. Twelve things I want to focus on for the twelve months of 2011.

1.  Read through the Bible completely. Thanks to Kendall's blog about it, I'm also using this site as a guide.

2.  Pray God's Word: One Week at a Time. Thanks to Brittney from the Poe Fam blog, I am joining in   

     Praying God's Word: One Week at a Time. I will continue to pray daily for the spontaneous things, but I 

     want to spend time intentionally praying scripture.

3.  Keep our blog current. No 8 month hiatuses.

4.  Exercise. I am aiming for a minimum of 4 x 45 minutes each week.

5.  Read. minimum 2 books per month. I welcome suggestions!!

6.  Try 2 recipes per month. Again, bring on your suggestions!

7.  Keep house clean. Doug and I have created a daily/weekly chore chart for ourselves. We are challenging 

     ourselves to maintain this so we don't ahve to have marathon cleaning sessions on the weekends when 

     we'd rather be doing other things on our days off.

8.  Work on organizing Doug's baseball cards. He has well over 10,000 and I'm working to get them all 

     sorted by first letter of player's last name and then alphabetizing them by player's last. This in an enormous 

     project and my goal for this year is to at least get them all sorted and into the appropriately labeled 

     ziploc baggie. I'll be working on this project for a few years, but I did begin last summer, so I have a start 

     already.

9.  Take more photos. Not jsut of the big events; I usually get those, but also of the little, ordinary, daily  

     things of life. I'm also aiming to take a posed picture of Caden each month to track his growth and change 

     over the course of the year.

10.  Attempt one adult craft each month. This could be interesting as I don't really see myself as crafty at all. 

       All you crafty types, please give me ideas!

11.  Do a random act of kindness each month. Watch out this could be you.

12.  Participate in at least one race. Right now, I'm planning for the Emma Creek Classic at the end of April. 

Because of the need for accountability, I plan to also post updates of how it's going each week. Based on the way our household runs, I count weeks from Sunday to Saturday, so I will likely post about the week on Saturday evenings or sometime on Sunday.

I'm eager to see where 2011 takes me and my family. I'm hoping having a simpler, written plan, helps me stick to it to see my goals realized come December 31, 2011.

Happy 2011! May your 2011 year be filled with challenges that make you stronger and wiser; laughter that makes you more light-hearted; love that makes you more complete; and joy that makes you more fulfilled.