Oh hey, there! Did I forget to write about the Atlanta trip? Well, we went to Atlanta for the holidays. The kids had a blast. It was quite fun. I did get to meet my new niece – pictures to follow – and we spent lots of time with aunts and uncles that my kids just don’t get to see enough of. So in a nutshell – great. We also went to Athens. J and I have a pretty big soft spot for Athens. So we always like to go there to see the town and walk around if we can. We took the kids on a nice day. R kissed random UGAs….

And C laughed at some fart jokes I told while under the famous UGA arches…

I am SUCH a professional. Seriously folks. The hubby buys me a big lens for the camera – and strangers actually think I know what I am doing and ask me (ha ha ha) for help with their own photographs, meanwhile, I tell my son fart jokes to get him to laugh so I can get a more natural smile. Fart jokes. It’s how professionals do it, I hear.

I hate the call each night as I am coming home from work, “hey, what do you feel like for dinner?” or “What’s around to eat?” I feel like the hubby and I spend a lot on food, but with no rhyme or reason. And that we end up making the same dinners over and over. I wanted to change that this year. I think with a little bit more planning our dinners can be better for us, more thought out, and less stressful. Even Sundays, the day we do our grocery run, are stressful and we buy the same food over and over. I can’t help it. It’s easy. I know how to make my standards and I don’t have to think about it much. I also know about how long each takes – so I know about when dinner will be served. No guesswork, no stress. But I get SO tired of eating the same dinners each day.

But making a change is hard work. So I am starting off slow.

Today I wrote a list of the dinners we make – whether I make them often or every few months, I included it on the list. This helped me feel better about my “standards.” Even if I feel like I am making the same things – shockingly I am not. I have about 25 different dinners I tend to make. (Who knew??)

Now that I have a list, I’ll make that my “Master List” and I’ll use it to help me plan 6 or 7 meals to make each week. This way, I can lesson the repeats and I hope find some new favorites. I’ll write my plan on the board each week so the husband can see his choices. (I tend to run them by him on Sunday while I formulate my shopping list and plan for the week, so he’s aware).

I only do 6 or 7 because we need to have leeway in dinners – leftovers, working late, stuck in traffic, tired, not feeling well, sick child, all reasons why we might have to go off plan.

To also help with this, we also downloaded the Groceries App for my iphone. This way, I can limit my wanderings around the grocery store. Not re-buy items we don’t need and hopefully spend better and wiser.

Future plans of mine include trying to add in new recipes for dinner. I would love to make more casseroles or crock-pot dinners. But I don’t know how or any good recipes (so send ‘em my way if you have them) and improve my cooking skills.

I plan to keep you updated through the year if we stick with it or decide we hate pre-planning and decided to rent a chef! (Ha!)

And you? What do you do with this question?

Welcome 2010. I could do a look back, but this time of year is when I start to feel blue, so I thought I would take some time to remember some sweet moments from 2010 so far.

• The light in the sky and over the lightly snowed on land was absolutely gorgeous this morning. It made me happy that I was actually up to see it and appreciate it on my way to work, even if all I had with me was my iPhone, I still got a reminder of the beauty!
• C jumps out of the car, turns slightly and flashes me a smile and a sly I love you sign as he heads into school. I am going through my last minute reminders “stay in green” “make good choices” “have a good day” and I hope he knows how much I love him.
• R talks non-stop about the fire engines and the ambulances and the lights and the siren, but he says “wer wer wer (siren sound)” instead of siren. If we happen to see one, he yells for me to follow it. I am grateful for this chatter that fills up my car and ears each night.
• Each night, I whisper to C and R, “sweet dreams are here to stay” and most nights the whisper it back. Do they know I would gladly fight away and demon or nighttime ghost that scares them? I hope they do.

So 2010 is here. I hope you are rocking it like me. Enjoy the little moments.

Monday Confessional

• I have not been keeping up with the Christmas Countdown as religiously this year. I think maybe the pressure to capture it to document it last year kept me on better track. But this year, we have done things, sometimes not in order, and sometimes not at all.
• We did make Christmas cookies! With no potholders! Who needs them?!?!?!
• Running does not come easy for me. I don’t actually like it much, but I feel like if I keep pushing the running will come easier. Not sure when.
• I like running music.
• I worked for over 15 hours in one day last week. Now I don’t want to go back to work.
• I am working on a way to casually drop that first part into every conversation with my boss for the next few days…just a casual mention here and there. “Oh you are traveling for the holidays? I would but I am so worn out from my 15 hour days…
• What? Not a good plan?
• I feel like I am not ready for the holidays and have completely avoided thinking about our upcoming travel to the Atlanta-area soon.
• I need to pack.
• Me and 3 other people. Soon.
• Damn.
• I can’t wait to meet my new niece! I think she is on the way today!

Well what’s yours? Come on, tell me what’s stressing you? What’s on your mind this holiday season?

That being said, expect posting to be light (even more so than now!) through the holidays while we travel and catch up with family and friends. I will be checking in here, but not sure how much posting time I will have!

Well, it’s that time of year again – if you can believe it. It’s already time to get ready for Christmas. One of the things that I like to do through the holiday season is take time to celebrate with the boys. We do this through our Christmas Countdown each year. Every year I have been trying new ways to do the countdown, and this year I am really happy with it. I hope that it lasts more than one year, actually. So here is the new Christmas Countdown, cover page:

Each day is numbered 1 through 24 and on the back of each card is a little folder with the days activity slipped inside. This lets me mix up the activities each year.

The inside of the front cover has a little elf I created reminding me to enjoy these moments:

As I know that all too soon, the kids will be too old, they won’t want to do the activities, will think that I am lame. But for now, they are having the best time.

This is C, working on making a chain for the tree, Day 1 activity.

So for now, I’ll take it. It’s just what I need to get me through this crazy month!

Oh and I’ll probably forget to post every day, but I will be updating my Flickr set as we work through our activities. So be sure to check here for updates! Enjoy your holiday season!