Happy New Year!

This year I decided to change my New Year's resolution. Instead of having one or two resolutions, I would do 25! So after much thought on what I would like to change over the next year, here are my 25!
1. Lose 15 lbs, 10 of which by summer
2. Run the St. Louis half marathon in under 2 1/2 hours.
3. Oraganize the kids playroom
4. Put an extra $5000 into savings on top of our normal amount.
5. Double what we put into our Roth IRA
6. Attend Church every Sunday
7. Become more frugal with our money
8. Finish making over Adriana's room (she wants her room like Kit's from American Girl books)
9. Redo Andrew's room and put a big bed in his room (he is still in a toddler bed)
10. Redo Joey's room
11. Organize the storage room
12. Lose 50lbs of clutter from the house
13. Spend more time with my friends
14. Teach Andrew to swim this summer
15. Help family to all start eating healthier
16. Plant a garden with the kids this summer
17. Finish the landscaping
18. Get kids to eat more vegetables
19. Stain fence, deck, and swingset by summer
20. Get kids more involved with charities
21. Volunteer more at Church
22. Give up sweets again for Lent
23. Have more date nights with my husband
24. Learn how to use my sewing machine and set up an area for it
25. Spend more one on one time with each of the kids
So there it is, my New Year's resolution! I'm going to look back at it in July and see how much I accomplished then again next New Year's.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's and I can't wait to see what the new year will bring to us!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

I've been trying to hold out on a big snow to play in, but in St. Louis we just don't get many of those so I finally decided to get my workout in today and get the kids all bundled up to go outside to play. Of course I started with the older two and sent them outside to play then finally I got Joey all ready after already working up a major sweat! So the kids all decided they wanted me to pull them around on the sleigh for a bit.

So after building up another sweat, I decided to take a break and let the kids play themselves. Sunny wanted to join in on the action and thought it was great fun to try to get the kids gloves off their hands.

So after I scolded her she decided to find something else to do.

The boys decided that it might be fun to sled down the hill on their bellies instead of on the sleigh, yeah.......that didn't really work out!

Ahhhhh! Sunny finally got Andrew's glove and decided to run around the yard and tease him for awhile!

Now, of course the last one out is ready to be the first one in. So Joey and I went inside to make some yummy hot chocolate for everyone........you know the good kind with lots of chocolate and whipped cream!

Joey enjoying his hot chocolate before the other two come in.

Now, the older two are finally ready to come in after playing outside for quite awhile. I hope the hot chocolate is still warm.......hum, no complaints from them.

Now to let all the snow gear dry so we can do this all again soon!

City Museum!

Last night we got to spend the evening at the City Museum for an awesome price thanks to the kids Credit Union Bank. They rented the place out for all the bank members so it wasn't crowded and we also got a pizza buffet dinner included. This was only my second time at the City Museum and the last time we went Adriana was only 2 years old so it was so much more fun now that the kids are all older. The kids had an absolute blast! I took over 200 pictures but I won't bore you with all of them. Here is a few pictures of the evening. Also, we could get up to 10 tickets so we took my sister, Kaitlyn, her friend Paige, Jacob, and MawMaw along with us. We will definitely be doing this again next year if they have it again!

























The kids were completely exhausted by the time we left there and they were all passed out on the way home!

Christmas Day!

For some reason I was just not good at taking photos this year. I video taped Christmas morning at our house, but completely forgot to get pictures and I didn't get very many at MeMaw and PePaw's house either. But here is what I did get there.
The boys (Joey, Andrew, and Gabe) patiently waiting to eat dinner.

PePaw showing us the $3 he won on his scratch off ticket!

Our best attempt at getting the kids to sit down while presents were being handed out.

Angeline feeding Joey some chocolate.

Andrew and Gabe being silly sticking their tongues out!

Adriana showing Aunt Emily how to use her new DS game.

Aunt Emily with Adriana, Mikey, and Gabe.

Joey.....all these new toys and you just want to play with the old ones!

Thank you so much for the wonderful Christmas MeMaw and PePaw and please cut back on the gifts next year.......seriously these kids cannot handle too many more!!!!!

Milk and cookies!

Oh and of course, how could I forget........here is the milk and cookies the kids left out for Santa that they all helped make themselves! And a few carrots for the reindeer!

Christmas Eve night!

We have the tradition that on Christmas Eve Santa comes by our house and drops off our Christmas PJ's while we are at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house. So here is my best attempt to get a picture of the three very tired kids in their jammies.

Christmas Eve!

We always spend Christmas Eve at my parents house. And I'm not sure why, but this year I didn't get as many pictures (maybe just a little too much socializing going on as I only see my brother and sister in law every so often). So here is the few pictures I did get.
Adriana cheesing with her Aunt Jenny, who she misses soooo much and can't wait to see!

Joey riding on his new train he got!

Adriana with one of her many gifts!

Andrew opening one of his gifts up!

And I'm not sure what was going on with my camera in this picture, but here is a picture of all the grandkids (Kaitlyn 14, Jacob 10, Adriana 6, Andrew 4, and baby Joey 2).

Thank you so much again mom and dad for such a great Christmas!!!!! And next year, please cut down on the gifts.....I really don't know where to put two truck loads of toys!!!!!