who needs dolls when you have a baby sister?

i want to be amish

"I want to be amish" said Austin as we were driving to Splash Universe this past weekend. We were driving by and watching those sweet horse and buggys drive down the road at the speed of 5 mph, laundry was hanging on the line (those must have been some seriously cold undies!), kids running around playing in the snow.

Not a bad idea.
I sometimes dwell on how times have changed. We make life so busy. Back in the day people visited over coffee every afternoon, people sat on their porches and talked, they handwrote letters to those they cared about.
Today i'm considering the value of my landline telephone. If i need to "talk" to someone my first instinct is to go to my computer.... kind of sad huh.

I love hearing those "back in the day stories". I love hearing stories from our grandparents generation...hearing and appreciating all they went through. I often think it would have been fun to be a pioneer woman. I'm one of those wierdos that always imagines myself in another time....one might say I have an active imagination. When i pick my strawberries and work in the garden, i pretend like i'm on back on the prairie. The 2 babies i chose to deliver without an epidural, i pretended like the year was 1900 and i was tough. i know, odd.

I know that simplicity is a ton of work, and I do appreciate all of my modern conveniences. I can't imagine what life would be like without electricity, indoor plumbing, high speed internet, and cream of mushroom soup!
Ah well, enough on that. thank you Amish for building a waterpark in your town :) the kids had a blast. Here are some pics of our fun.... thank you mom and dad!

hi nana....lovin' the walker

frozen fun

thanks to the insane amount of snow we had last month, and that one 50 degree day when it all melted and refroze.....we have a new hobby! The "swampland" through the woods, which has never held a drop of water in the 6 years that we have lived here is now a frozen pond. We bought the kids some used skates and hockey sticks and they absolutely love it!

my goals

new years resolutions....i'm not very good at them. i've made many resolutions in years past and have always been done with them by the first week of March- at the latest. They are usually just silly ones too. Last year i was going to give up Hudsonville ice cream...till they had a great sale, and then my thriftiness kicked in and we kicked the bucket for the good stuff again. The year before that i was going to lose a few lbs.....the treadmill that Tim so thoughtfully bought for me has been collecting dust for 2 years now.

I do so love a fresh start though...a chance to resolve and determine to improve, to set new goals, to reflect and re-evaluate. There are so many areas in my life that could really use some serious improvement. Unfortunately in the busyness of life, I often lack the motivation and discipline to do anything about it. I can also rationalize anything and everything, so that combined with a serious case of procrastination do not bode well for me.

Rather than make any resolution, i thought i would sit down and write out some of my goals. The trouble with new years resolutions for me is that they don't leave any room to mess up. It seems not if, but when I mess up I'm done with whatever goal I set, and then it just kind of disappears until it bothers me enough again. I'm sure I will fail at some of these, but they are simply goals- so i will determine to keep trying.

2009 goals
*I want to be more consistent with the kids. I often react to them based on my emotions, and i want to try real hard not to do this!

*I want to be more intentional with the time that i spend with my kids.

*I want to go on a date with Tim once a month.

*I want to improve our morning routine before school, which means i need to be more organized the night before.

*I want to read my Bible more & pray at the start of every day. My days are so good when i start them out right. I also want to pray more with the kids- not just at meals and bedtime.

*I want to send out cards to people i care about to let them know, and take the time to be a better friend.

*I want to start drinking more water and less coffee

*I want to use my treadmill in the winter....solidify some of the jiggle so i can look forward to summer.

*I want to make a meal plan so that i know whats for dinner. I think this will greatly help us save on groceries.

That's it! I'm sure there are many more areas i need to work on ...but this is what i'm going to concentrate on for now. Perhaps by writing these out I now have accountability. None of these are by any means hard, but just take discipline.
I leave you with my laughing baby....

happy belated holidays

once again i find myself asking "where has all the time gone?" we celebrated a wonderful Christmas this year visiting with family and friends, we are truly blessed. i know this post is a little overdue, but here are a few highlights....


the traditional picture of the kids by the tree. it's amazing how cooperative they are when they are waiting for presents!



Tim and I are reading this book together. It looks pretty good....i'll let you know if we learn anything good!

good times with the girls!

Tims parents dog had puppies the week before Christmas. You'll never guess what was on Sydneys Christmas list :) On Christmas day we surpised Tims grandparents by going to their church with the whole family, and oh were they thrilled!

Stellas favorite stocking stuffer.

we went to chicago the weekend before christmas this year which was nice and less rushed. the kids had a great time playing with their cousins. the trip home proved challenging as the highway was closed due to a 30 car accident....after several added hours, and many "are we there yets", we were very thankful to be home safe!

My sisters!

The grandkids