First Week Of A New Year

I am thinking that we are starting 2015 off with a great bang!

Typically, I don't buy into the sprint method of life, or running (because if you see me running, you so better start too--it would be that scary!)--I am more of a "pace" kind of girl.  Ok, no, I am more of a "we'll get there when we get there" philosopher combined with a lot of panicked "why haven't we gotten this done yet?!!"  Yeah. That's me.

But, I figure a little run of positivity for the new year can't hurt, right? Maybe it will mean a a nice long paced endurance race for the next 12 months. (Ha! Probably not, but who knows ;)

Day 1 

 2015 Win: Relaxation

I got nothing.  Daddy watched football ALL day long!! We are left overs and chilled.  It was very much no productive, but very relaxing and nice to wind down before everyone heads back to the grind! Oh, and we watched the Rose Parade, that was Gracie's favorite part.

Day 2

2015 Win: Making Reading A Priority (& Fun)

Mommy took Thomas and Gracie to the library this morning since daddy had to go back to work. Actually, each of us picked a place to go. Thomas picked the library, Gracie picked the mall (surprised are you?), and I picked Goodwill (surprised are you?! ;)

Usually Thomas randomly pulls books off the shelves, and then insists on taking them home and never reads them.  Today though, he was excited to seek out special books and we read several of them in the library before we left. And, one of them he read almost the whole thing BY HIMSELF!  Learning to read has opened up such fun and big doors for our little man!

Day 3

2015 Win: Doing It Yourself

Gracie and Thomas both built their Home Depot Workshop crafts (mostly) by themselves. Gracie of course is our little building expert, but Thomas rarely needs much more than a little help holding his wooden project together while he nails.

Gracie has done more than 50 Home Depot projects now, and they had the pins to celebrate that this time.  I believe she earned 50 back in September. She hopes to get 75 before she is too old to participate.

And, while Gracie shined at Home Depot, Thomas decided to shine at trying something new--Roller Skating! You can read a whole blog post on this outing on my blog here, or Grace's blog here, but ultimately you have to know Thomas rocked it--and loved it!

And, while we are bragging about doing things by yourself, and for yourself, our whole family took the first week of the new year to head back to the gym.  It is my least favorite place on the planet, but I went. And, Gracie is now doing her own workout on her own! (She doesn't like going either, but daddy makes encourages us both to keep going)

We wrapped up the long, busy day by challenging daddy to a game of Monopoly. I warned the kids that we don't play Monopoly with Daddy and he is ruthless, but they excitedly took him on.  The game lasted more than an hour, daddy made odd and devious side deals with just about everyone, and he of course won by a landslide.

Day 4

 2015 Win: Starting the Year Off With God

As Pastor Jay pointed out this morning, we now all have perfect attendance records at church.  While we typically try to make church a priority in our weekly schedules, we also need to be making God a daily priority in our lives and our children's lives--so I think that will be one of those things that we strive to do, teach, and lead by example this year.  Plus, we sang my all time favorite hymn today: Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing.

Day 5

2015 Win: Family Reunion

One of my biggest fears in life is that the people I love will forget me, or that I will forget just how much I love them.  Distance is quite a theme and a curse for our small family. So, you can imagine the blessing we received today as we sat down to share a meal with people who are far more family than friends.

Colette and Mallory, 2 of the 3 Mozingos who were are dear neighbors for 7 years were in Richmond for an event and they came to our home and let me cook for them and share in their company.

It has been so long since we all sat at the same table, I can't even remember it.  We have visited this wonderful family at least once a year when we return to Strasburg for apples or weddings or summer visits, but this was their first visit to our home. And what a precious one it was!  I can't think of a better blessing for 2015 than this two special ladies sharing time and love with us!

Day 6

2015 Win: New Challenges & New Beginnings

I got my wisdom teeth extracted today.  It has been a long time coming, and not just because I am 36.  I won't bang out all the gory details of how my tooth journey came to this moment, but I will tell you it was a personal victory, a long painful journey, and I am quite proud of myself for coming out on the other side.

Of course mommy being rather out of it (but oddly not in any pain!) made new challenges for daddy who had to work from home, get the kids off the bus (for only the 2nd time in his life), and take care of mommy and the kids for the remainder of the day.

That's when our Gracie stepped up to the plate.

I posted this picture on Facebook and remarked that I am often very hard on Gracie. She never seems to be grasping the lessons I am attempting to teach her in responsibility and other ways I attempt to groom her for adulthood.  And, then she cooks dinner for herself, daddy, and brother, cleans up from dinner, loads the dishwasher and runs it, cleans the kitchen and packs her brother's lunch and snack for the next school day--and I remember that she is always amazing, and I smile with a great deal of pride and thankfulness.

Day 7

2015 Win: Taking Time For Each Other

So yesterday I wasn't in pain, and today I wasn't in pain--but I didn't sleep last night and was exhausted, and then that pesky pain I was expecting yesterday decided to visit me at dinner tonight.

So, I made myself as comfortable as possible, and I invited the kids to snuggle with me.  Far too often I get so caught up in the day to day tasks around this house that I keep my time with them far to formal: homework, shower time, clean up, dinner, bedtime.  This afternoon we threw (most of) that away and we played games on my bed.  Thomas entertained me with Legos while Gracie got her homework done, but then we played the Olaf Trouble game and several hands of the new game we scored at Goodwill on Friday. It was a brand new never opened pack of Littlest Pet Shop Go Fish.

The animals on the cards are too precious--you just want to squish their adorable faces!  Needless to say, this new card game has been a hit with everyone, especially since it is easy enough for Thomas to understand and play.

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