Busy, busy, busy

Life is just too busy right now, but there doesn't seem to be a way to slow down.

 Which I know that we can all say this.

Our Family schedule this Winter other then school and work:

MONDAY

  Me - Work in Zach's classroom 8:30am - 12pm

  Darin - BSF in the evening

TUESDAY

  Me - Lead "One Thousand Gifts" Bible study 9:30 - 11am

         Weight lifting 12 - 1pm

  Free Evening

WEDNESDAY 

  Me - I decided not to return to BSF for the rest of this year

         Work in Elissa's classroom 8:45am - 12pm

  Church Small Group in the evening

THURSDAY

  Me - Weight lifting 12 - 1pm

  Kids gymnastics 5 - 6pm

FRIDAY

  Me - Running Group @ my house 9:30 - 10:30am

  Free Evening

SATURDAY

  Family Ski Day for 6 weeks (we leave by 7am and come home around 4pm)

   - I go half the time. The other half I'm boxing up the house, going to our church women's event and attending the Tacoma Home Show

SUNDAY

  Church

My "free" time is filled with getting our house ready to sell (All rooms have been decluttered, sorted and boxed except for our bedroom). It is so much easier to keep the house clean when you only have half your stuff out! We have already started making decisions on the materials for the remodel of our new house. It takes A LOT OF TIME to research designs and materials. Then I find out items I have decided on our the most expensive and I need to re-look and make a more cost effective decision. I'll be headed to the Tacoma Home Show on Saturday to get completely overwhelmed. :-)

Our evenings are filled with homework and more homework and then reading and more reading. We have added some family time to talk about our day, read a devotional and journal what we are thankful for that day. I'm trying to cultivate a heart of thanksgiving in myself and my family. To realize every day, hour, minute is a gift from God no matter what is going on. A challenge from the book "One Thousand Gifts", to write down 1000 gifts by the end of the year; which is only about 3 a day. I'm excited to keep this up and then look back at the end of the year. Zach is writing his own journal, as well as Elissa, so that will be a treasure.

I'm also getting us all ready and packed for our trip to Hawaii!

We leave February 8th for 14 glorious days!!

I just wanted to spend a few minutes to document what is going on right now and add a few Instagrams from this month.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Final Glimpses of 2012

  

LOVE these pictures of Santa we got at the Seattle Nordstrom's!

      

                                     Paddle boarding Mrs. Claus.                                    Christmas light tour!

Christmas Eve at Grandma's House

We found the kids snuggled up watching a movie waiting patiently for the time to open presents. So sweet!

They were all excited about the Star Wars that Zach got!

Elissa loved the American Girl doll bunk bed!

Grandma loved the wood canvas that Holly & I got for her. Holly took the picture & put the quote "A Grandparents house is where cousins become best friends".  It turned out really nice.

  

Darin & I scored from the Boyd's!

We won't mention the little incident of Chad having to drive all the way back home for a wild goose chase. :-)

Zach was buried in the back on the way home. LOL!

After our 9pm Christmas Eve service, we hurriedly decorated cookies for Santa.

  

Ratcheting batman wings I tracked down on ebay.

  

Meet Elizabeth (Lizzy), Elissa's (Lissy's) American Girl Doll.

  

The kids showing Nana how to play games on her Kindle Fire. Classic.

Then Grandma came over with her's and they were teaching each other. :-)

Zach brought Grandma the photo album of his first year. Sweet.

I always….always forget to get family pictures on Christmas.

  

ANNUAL SEATTLE WEEKEND

        

We look forward to this weekend all year long.

We think we have been doing it since the year we got married……10 years.

We always go to Benihana's one night and then try a new restaurant the 2nd night. This year we went to The Brooklyn. So, so yummy!

Great times.

The sunrise the last day of 2012.

Our New Years plans changed at the last minute.

Kirstin text'd that Payton had the flu. :(  We picked up the kids from Patty's and planned a Star Wars movie marathon with them. Come to find out, you can rent Star Wars on any of the streaming media. Then Elissa's next door neighbor friend called and asked if she could spend the night, so we let her. She went and had a grand time. We watched Return of the Jedi that was airing on TV with Zach and then went to bed at 10:30pm. I know, lame.

BUT I'm excited for 2013!

My word for 2013 is CHANGE.

I know there is a lot of change coming with moving to a new house and all the ups and downs of buying and selling that will come. I know that there is change in store that I'm not prepared for. I'm praying to go through the change this year with grace and thankfulness.

Happy New Year Everyone!!