To my surprise

 Hi Friends and Family! 

This week we continued to cheer for our favorite team - what an exciting game even if we did lose. I've been struggling with what to write about this week because I knew I hadn't taken many photos to add to the blog.  Well, it turns out Sister had something else in mind. 

Imagine my surprise when I flipped through my photos and found these...

Oh my heart be still - this silly little girl was entertaining herself and I had no idea.  She got a hold of my phone while in the car and she knows how to unlock my phone and away she went with selfies. HA!!!   I'm in awe of how much this little one has grown. No longer the preschooler or even the new kindergarten student, but is truly becoming a little girl. She's past my hip in height these days- yikes! I think I'm going to be the short one of the family some day. Beyond physical changes, I see the social and emotional changes that go with growing up too.  She has already begun to stomp away and with attitude in her voice saying she just needs her own space. Oh dear - what will our teenage years be like. Cordova friends - you all remember Papa said he would 'be in charge when the kid turned 13 right?'

Other than a typical busy week we did find joy in finally getting a few inches of snow. We desperately need so much more, but we will take what we get.   

 

 May each day be filled with a busyness that does good for those around you and always remember to take time for yourself to relax and rest up!

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Painting - new hobby?

* * * * * 2016 * * * * *

Happy New Year friends and family. I hope in this new year you have set some goals for yourself. I'm still thinking about what my 2016 goals will be and plan to have them written down by the end of this weekend.  I think one of my goals is already taking shape in my life and that's having a little less stress about things not getting done.  Obviously deadlines related to work will still need to be met, but otherwise I'm trying to be more focused on being present in the moment with my family and friends instead of stressing about that 'stuff' that needs to get done.  

Another goal I have is to develop a new hobby this year.  Will painting be this hobby?

I'm not sure - but my friend, Anna and I attended a class one evening and came up with these creations as guided by our teacher.  I enjoyed the process but not sure it will become a hobby of mine.  I found my tendency of wanting things to be perfect festering during the process.  Hmmm... maybe this would be a good new hobby to help me continue to recover from perfectionism. 

The painting class did inspire me to do some painting in the house. Over Thanksgiving, my mom was visiting and giving me ideas for how to decorate the home. 

The before

and after

I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Papa even helped paint which made things go quicker.  With a shedding white fur dog - it's a shear miracle that there's not white fur dried on the wall!

Or maybe my hobby for this year will be to return to my love of photography.

This beautiful sunset was captured on my phone. I found that in 2015 over three fourths of my moments were captured on my phone and not with my actual camera. While there is nothing wrong with this, it just made me realize that I was not intentional about taking pictures. I lacked the effort of grabbing my camera, thinking about what exposure to use and taking the time to capture the moment.  While painting may not become my hobby this year, maybe learning more about my camera will and capturing nature at its finest will be my way of painting.

One other area that I know is a goal for 2016 is to be more aware of spending quality time with my family and in my marriage.  One way I thought of doing this was to create the date jar.

There are two different colors of 12 strips each in this jar. On the first of each month, we are going to pick a strip to see what our date activity for the month will be.  I'm actually clipping the strip to the calendar so that we visually see it and make an effort to do the activity at least once if not more throughout the month.  For January, the kids picked board game night and so did Momma and Papa. Even though we have plenty of board games to play, we made a family effort to go to the store and pick new board games.  Can't wait to see what our date idea will be for February.

As for this weekend, while Papa is away at a football conference, the kiddos and I will be rooting for our favorite team! Go Pack Go!