Goals/Priorities 2012

Mark and I sat down at the end of October to think about what in the world we were doing with our lives!  I've always been a planner and a goal setter but life has been a whirlwind since having our second child.  It's been a reminder to me that we have to be really intentional with how we spend our time.  As I've said before this blog is a way for us to keep track of our family now and for future generations to read.  There is lots of room for growth in our lives and this is just a starting point. Here are a few goals written down so that hopefully we can be held accountable throughout the year. 

Mental/Emotional
Nicole - read 1 book per month

Marriage
Weekly date nights
Check up on goals monthly
Take at least one weekend trip away from the girls (May for anniversary or November for race)

Physical
Nicole
    Workout 3 times per week
 Mark
     Run 2-3 times per week
     Learn to swim
     Develop cross training regimen - weights/yoga
Together 
  Do relay triathlon (Nicole -swim/bike, Mark - bike/run ??)
  Each compete in 1 sprint triathlon
  Run 1/2 marathon together (November ?)

Service
Mark
   Serve on Missions Committee at church
Together
   Help to fundraise for the Habitat for Humanity Race
   Complete monthly service projects with Caroline (making cards for people, taking people cookies, etc.)
   Participate throughout the year - Great Day of Service, Angel Tree, etc.
   Be open to other opportunities as they present themselves

Spiritual
Nicole
   Daily devotion time with God
   Join Bible study group in the fall
Mark
   Read Bible daily
   Do daily devotion
Family
   Talk about what we are learning weekly
   Read the Bible with Caroline
   Teach Caroline hymns
   Memorize 2 Bible verses a month with Caroline

Christmas Light 2

Just an added note from another Christmas hymn tonight...O Come All Ye Faithful.  Faithful...I think that is what God wants from us.  Not perfection, just faithfulness.

Christmas Light

It seems that at many of the most joyous times of year there is always a small reminder of the sin and darkness of this world.  Small in that it's not some big glaring sin but those little parts of daily life that can easily cloud my view of the Light.  My own struggles with competitiveness, pride and self centeredness have reared their ugly heads once again.  While I am aware of these struggles, it is a constant battle in my head to keep my thoughts (words and actions too) in line with Christ's desires for me. 

Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (James 1:14-15).

My very favorite Christmas hymn brings me great encouragement...

Come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us,let us find our rest in thee. 
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King;
born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit, rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to they glorious throne.


Ultimately I am reminded of a verse that we recently taught Caroline, "I am the light of the world."  Jesus is Light and he has overcome the darkness of sin and death.  I know that as I continually fall flat on my face in my own sinfulness that Jesus is the one and only who can bring light and life. 

4 Month Check Up

I took Miss Elizabeth Lee to the doctor the other day for her 4 month check up.  I always wanted a longer name that could be shortened so we did Elizabeth and call her Libby.  However, I will admit that it's already a little "confusing" when they call her Elizabeth at the doctors office.  :-)

She is a happy, healthy girl.  She weight 15 lbs. 7 oz and is 26 inches long.  She is in the 90% for weight and I'm not sure on height but I'm sure it's up there too.  The doctor commented on what an easy going baby she is and I agree.  She giggled when the doctor was pushing on her belly and moving her legs around.  She's a sweet pea. 

I'm wondering if she is going to start moving around before Caroline did.  She rolled over for the first time last week and is always trying to get moving when we place her on her belly.

Caroline at 4 months                                                           

Libby at 4 months



It's amazing to me to see the differences.  They both have the cheeks but the coloring and hair/lack of hair cracks me up!

More Christmas!

The Christmas posts may never end!  We went Build A Bear the other day so that Caroline could help pick out a bear for Libby for her Christmas present.  We got Caroline a bear for her first Christmas and thought it would be fun to do the same for Libby.  She did a great job picking it out and helping to get it all ready.  It's now safely under the tree waiting for Christmas day.

Apparently they have been learning about Santa Claus and Rudolph at school, so we decided to make reindeer cards for her preschool teachers.  I'm a little obsessed with the handprint art.  It's so fun and easy and you can make so many things with a handprint - who knew!?!

Last night we took Libby, Caroline, Reagan and Kelsey on a little outing!

We went to dinner at Sweet Tomato.  The girls were sweet as can be.  They held hands the whole time we went through the line. 

Once we got some food on their plates they were as happy and quiet as they could be! 

After dinner we packed them all up in the car again and went to see the Christmas lights at Life University.  It's a drive thru light show and the girls were a little bummed that you couldn't get out but they still seemed to enjoy it.  I think we could handl 4 girls again soon.  :-)

Christmas Dress

We snapped some pictures before church the other day and here are a few of them.  No framers but still some sweet faces. :-)

Giggling Girls

Oh how I love these girls!

More Christmas Fun

This past week the girls and I spent a few days in Augusta.  We worked on a few Christmas presents, decorated our first gingerbead house and went to Lights of the South. 

It was a wonderful night to go because it was not too cold out.  There were tons of lights the girls enjoyed and it was fun because we got to see them all on a hayride!

We also spent a lot of time just hanging out. 

These two look like trouble!

Saturday was a big day.  We spent the morning baking cookies to take caroling, wrapping presents, skyping grandparents and getting Christmas cards sent out.  I finished up the last of the Christmas shopping too.  After all of the good times, Libby was worn out.  She has been on a new little sleep schedule lately and I am loving it.  She slept through the nights for 4 nights now!  8 PM to 6 AM!

This afternoon we went caroling with some folks from Sunday School.  We had a great time!  Caroline went with us and it was so fun to share the time with her.  She enjoyed pasing out her cookies and saying Merry Christmas to everyone. 

Little sweetie, Miss Kate went with us too!

After caroling we had a few folks over for dinner and then we passed out from too much Christmas fun!

Lately...

We had some friends over this past week that we miss dearly!  Britton and Caroline play so well together.  

I think their younger siblings could be friends too!

As I said in my last post, we are turning into a cookie factory.  We've made sugar cookies with peppermint kisses, reindeer cookies, and spritz cookies (reindeer snacks and pumpkin bread too)!  Since the spritz cookies required a "tool" Mark and Caroline worked on that together.  

Sarah and Reagan also brought over some goodies so that we could make Christmas trees!  We both agreed that all of our craft/food ideas from Pinterest have helped us to be better Moms.  :-) 

So many Christmas crafts left and so little time...

Cookie Factory

I'm beginning to think that Caroline believes our home is turning into a cookie/candy making factory!  She has always been a pretty good little eater but the past two weeks she has turned into cookie monster #2 in our home.  We have been doing our fair share of baking and she has been enjoying it.  It's become the norm to ask for candy at every meal.  Of course, we don't let her but she asks every time!  The other night we were getting ready for dinner and she told Mark, "Libby, candy in her pocket."  She repeated it a few times but we were preoccupied getting everything on the table and thought she was just proclaiming more love for candy.  

Of course, we were wrong.  It's a little hard to see with her striped pants but sure enough there was a little surprise in Libby's "pocket."

 

A sweet Christmas tree ornament (from Mark's childhood)ended up in her pants.  Caroline was very proud of herself and exclaimed, "Caroline did it!" 

Christmas Celebrations

All of the Christmas celebrating has begun. We're having a great time around here getting ready for Christmas. It has been such a joy to teach Caroline about Jesus' birthday and why we get to give and receive presents this time of year. Libby is just a little joy to have around as well. :-)

We went to the Garden of Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  The girls both really enjoyed it.  It's a rare occassion that I would say this but I think Mark and I would have enjoyed it a little more without them in tow.  It was super crowded and navigating a stroller and kids was a challenge. 

We picked our Christmas tree out one night.  I think some of my family think that we are crazy for buying a tree every year but we really enjoy the live tree and giving to a community organization that is fundraising.  Sometimes it's a local church, sometimes Young Life and this year the local high school band.  

The picture below was not staged.  :-)  I just had to post it because our night of decorating was so Norman Rockwellish unlike most of our life!  Mark put a fire in the fire place, we played Christmas music and Caroline decorated the tree like a pro!! 

She was so serious about it and knew just what to do with the ornaments.  

Every ornament she pulled out was her favorite.  I do think she liked a lot of them because last year we got all these great (non-breakable) animal ornaments.  



All of the new decorations have led to lots of new toys for Caroline and Libby.  Caroline mostly just loves to share the toys with Libby by piling them on top of her.  :-)

I'm looking forward to the coming weeks and many more celebrations!

Caroline's Jabber

Caroline has been learning new things and talking up a storm at home.  Here are a few of my recent favorites...

1) She has officially learned the word "favorite."  Picking out a utensil for meal time has become an event.  The other day she finally picked one out, walked over to the table and announced without being prompted, "it's my favorite."  Mark and I were so tickled.  She now uses the it whenever she pleases.  She even said football is her favorite which leads to number 2.
2) We watched a bit of the SEC championship yesterday on the computer and she was very into the "all fall down."  After every play she would say "all fall down."  Mark would then ask her if she thought they would fall down on the next play and she would respond very seriously, "Yes."
3)  She has been singing in bed a lot lately.  I love to turn the monitor on and hear her sing.  We've been working on some Christmas carols and yesterday as she laid down for a nap I kept hearing her say, "the stars in the sky, lay down his sweet head."  Away in a Manger - if you're confused.

Thanksgiving Day

I will admit that in the past I have let some of the craziness of the holidays get to me.  Not this year!  Thanksgiving snuck up on me so fast there was no time to feel the craziness.  We had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving this year! 

Caroline and I woke up early to go cheer on Daddy as he ran in his first even 10k!  He did a great job and beat his goal time!



Mark looks pretty good, even after 6 miles!

We arrived home to find Lindsay and Libby doing some planning for the Black Friday extravaganza.  We may have scored a "new" refrigerator since Lindsay and Brad got a real new one on the big shopping day!

One of the reasons that Thanksgiving seemed so wonderful this year is because everyone had their part in helping out. 



Caroline is getting to be quite the little chef too.  She helped make some chocolate chip cookies before everyone arrived!

We started one new tradition...writing things we are thankful for on our table runner.  We then write our name/year next to it and will pull it out again next year and add to it.  We were trying to write things unique to us or this year (Mom wrote about her Sew Divine business and Mark I wrote about the addition of Baby Libby to our family).
   

We also continued the traditions from Vern's family of doing puzzles together at the holidays.  The whole family took part in the 1000 piece puzzle and completed it in 24 hours.  I will admit that I contributed the fewest pieces.  

Other than that, we just hung out and enjoyed the company of family.  We watched my new favorite cartoon "Sid, the Science Kid." 

 

I'm beginning to consider a tv...

Yea for restful, fun family time!



Sisterly Love!

As a parent, dividing attention between two little girls can be a challenge at times.  I am glad to say that Caroline adores Libby and that makes it a little easier.  She is constantly talking to her, hugging and kissing her.  She says, "smile me" all the time.  Thankfully, Libby returns the love!

Mark's Birthday Weekend

Today is Mark's 39th birthday! We had a great weekend celebrating all of his years. :-)  Most of Mark's birthday weekend consisted of eating his favorite foods.  I know what makes him happy.  :-)  Friday night we had pizza for dinner.  Saturday morning we woke up early and got online so that we could sign up for one of Mark's birthday presents - swim lessons.  The Cobb County parks and recreation offer swim lessons at a reasonable price but they fill up within 5 minutes of registration being opened!  Thankfully, Mark was signed in and ready to go.  He will start his swim lessons in January!  woohoo!  Afterwards we went to Canvas for breakfast.

I think both girls enjoyed it!

After breakfast I told Mark that I needed some "alone time" after being by myself with the girls all week.  He agreed.  My alone time consisted of spending a couple of hours at Lindsay's house preparing for a surprise party!!   Brad and Lindsay were so kind to offer to host a surprise party for Mark at their home.  There is no way that I could have kept it all a secret at our own house.  I dumped stuff at their house all week and they helped me get everything ready. 

Mark knew that we were going on a "date" Saturday night so we had a babysitter come over.  Shortly before we were going to leave I got a phone call from Lindsay saying that they needed more fire wood for the bonfire at the party.  Eeks.  One thing I learned this weekend is that I"m a good liar or secret keeper depending on how you look at it.  :-)  In real life I had asked Mark to build a fire pit that I saw on pinterest and he had said that was a good idea.  For the sake of the surprise party I told him that Lindsay had stolen my idea of the fire pit and had built one in their back yard first and that they needed fire wood.  We left for our date with a few pieces of fire wood in the back seat to drop off at Brad and Lindsay's.  To make a long story short, Mark took a bit of time to make it into the house but when he did, he was very surprised to see all of our Sunday School friends plus a few others.  I think Mark is still in shock over the whole evening.  He keeps telling me that he feels so honored that "everyone came to wish me a happy birthday" as if he doesn't deserve to be loved and appreciated.  I'm really glad he enjoyed it and am super surprised at my secret keeping/lying skills.

We enjoyed one of Mark's favorite meals - taco soup with all the fixings.  I love that as adults we still sometimes enjoy boy tables...

and girl tables!

A few years ago, Katie from Sunday School, nicknamed Mark "cookie monster" and it has stuck.  Lindsay saw some cookie monster cupcakes on pinterest and did a great job making a replica cookie monster cake.  We all enjoyed reading some stories and looking at some old pictures of Mark - mullet, beard, wife beaters and all.  :-)

We had a babysitter for the evening but she brought the girls over to visit for a bit.  Caroline and Mark enjoyed some cookie monster cake together!

and then roasted some marshmellows together.

We had a wonderful night celebrating with friends.  I could not have asked for anything better!

Sunday morning we had breakfast together and opened the last of the presents...a bit of running gear and a new Bible.  Mark had not asked for a Bible but his old one was falling apart.  I was a little worried that he may not want to part with the old one but he gladly took the new one to church so I think it's a keeper.

After church we completed our birthday celebrations by going to Ted's for lunch (where he thought we were going on our date).  We then enjoyed a somewhat lazy afternoon...at least as lazy as can be with two sweet girls who did not want to nap!  :-) 

I'm very thankful for Mark and the sweet husbad that he is to me and even more so for the great Dad that he is to our girls.  I'm looking forward to this year together because we all know once he hits 40, it's all downhill.  :-)