Happy New Year! 2010!!!

I am really looking forward to this year, even though I broke all of my New Year's resolutions on New Year's Day! I still have hope that I am going to be able to do them. No sugar has been one of the hardest for me.

God has really put it on my heart lately to work on living my life according to His eternal truths, not what I want, not what everyone else wants or what I think everyone else wants. I need to pay attention to my motivators, the intent behind WHY I am doing something......the decision behind my decision. I have always tried to do the right thing in the past, but had poor intentions of why I was doing it. I turn to that passage in the Bible that I am always worried about impressing someone, or what others may think that it ruins everything. I have an audience of ONE, and I'm only concerned about impressing Him.

It's very important to me to live my life according to the Word and my values and morals, but not always easy!

I Still Love Edward (and Jacob)

I went to see the New Moon movie a few weeks ago, and LOVED IT, oh my gosh, it was so good! I just saw my picture of Edward on my page and had to write about it. I thought it was way better than Twilight, but I am not going to let Eva see it.

Love, love, loved New Moon.

December Already????

I just cannot believe that 2009 is almost over! Or that our Christmas tree has been up for over a week now, I'm never this early. Life has been good, really good, and I'm just enjoying everyday so much that it doesn't seem fair sometimes. And nothing has even happened! I just feel really blessed and grateful and lucky to have what I have, my two beautiful daughters, my house, my job, life is good :) And I'm not trying to say everything is sooooo perfect, because it's not, but I am just dealing with things better, and practicing being patient, and spending lots of time with the girls just having fun, and asking for God's direction in everything I do.

Tonight was Family Fun Friday! And we had lots of fun. I wanted to take the girls to the movies, but Eva wanted to stay home and have a pajama party, paint fingernails and watch movies here at home. So that's what we did.

Work has been going very well, the days go by fast, which is nice. I am so thankful to work for a company that is doing good, and my boss is the best. I am so grateful for all of the paid time-off he gave me in May to be with my dad, and he even put me on salary instead of hourly because he said he wanted me to have a steady paycheck and not worry when I have to take time off for the girls. I know I'm lucky but I would like to think that he is too, because I work hard and never take advantage of the benefits I'm given.

I'm also starting a New Year's resolution early this year, and that is to EXERCISE and NO MORE SUGAR. My sister, Becky, and I are going to do it together and are talking about joining the Genesys Athletic Club after the Christmas sugar. Sugar is my nemesis, and I just swore it off two days ago, then a lady at work brought in approx. 300 Christmas cookies for an office of only about 10. And they are the best ones too, all homemade, fudge, frosting and sprinkles. There's no way I can stop eating sugar with those around my desk.

We had a great parent-teacher conference with Eva last month. She's getting all A's, with one B+ (Reading). I am always telling Eva that her education is her job right now, and I know she can do better than a B+ in reading. So I asked her teacher, and she said Eva is reading at a fourth-grade level, and it may be because she doesn't raise her hand enough or participate in discussion (part of the grade). I know how painfully shy Eva is at school, and it makes me sad that it's hurting her grade, but I also know how important it is to be a well-rounded student. Life involves interaction and I'm confident this is something she'll get better at the older she gets. Her teacher said she is doing wonderful and there isn't anything she needs to work on. I know it's because we work with her at home almost every single night. She does hundreds of math problems at home each week and reads every single night. I think it's important to practice the things she is learning at school, even if she doesn't have homework.

Kayla is quite a little smarty-pants too. She's so good on the computer, it's almost scary. She writes her name so beautiful and almost every other letter of the alphabet too. She writes certain numbers, and can recognize all of them. She's much more interested in learning than I thought she would be. She's such a carefree spirit, I thought it would make her restless, but she just cannot take enough in and loves to impress us. And Eva's really good at teaching her things too. Kayla's so excited to start school.

And one more thing before I go, I have the best sister and best brother-in-law, I do not know what I would do without them. Becky helps me with the girls all week long, picks up Eva from school, stays at my house to make it easier for me, she's just always there for us. Well, Dan came over with her a couple days this week and COMPLETELY cleaned out my garage, fixed my one garage door that was catching, and now I can park in my garage for the winter! He also cleaned and vacuumed my breezeway today, and fixed my vacuum (that I didn't know needed fixed). I'm just so lucky that I have them.

A few readings that have really helped me this week:
"Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do."

"I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead."

xoxo

Kayla wrote her name!!!

I'm pretty sure she's the smartest three-year-old ever!! (Besides my Eva.) We've been working on her letters this past week quite a bit, and I was drawing letters A through H tonight and having her tell me what they were. Then, I started to draw the letters in her name, and she's so independent, she took the marker out of my hand and wrote her name five times! She was so proud of herself, and I was amazed at how quick she caught on. She even holds the marker really good, and she colors in the lines very good too. What's more amazing is that I always thought Kayla would be hard to teach anything to because she's so carefree and busy. But she's actually a very good listener, and she watches me first and then tries things herself. Eva's so good at cheering her sister on, and telling her that she's proud of her. I'm going to keep encouraging her to write her letters. Milestone: Kayla weighs 29 1/2 pounds and is 37 inches tall. She's already growing out of her 3T pants, her legs are getting really long. Eva is almost out of size 8 clothes, and we'll weigh her and measure her soon so I can post it. Eva's gearing up for her MEAP tests that start tomorrow. I'm a little sad about how easy her math is this year, I hope it gets a little more challenging. I'm lucky to have such smart girls.

My step-dad's parents were in town this weekend from Georgia, it was really nice to see them on Saturday. Paul and I had fun watching YouTube videos together and Louise had a nice time watching the girls play, and rocking Kayla like a little baby. Mom and Mike loaded them up with candy, it drives me crazy, but it makes everyone else happy!

Pumpkins!!

The girls picked out their pumpkins today! It was a little cold out, so Kayla went to the car a little early but Eva managed to pick out the biggest pumpkin I could carry. We went to a place that had lots of different styles and fun colors. Eva's monster pumpkin has bumps all over it, it's pretty neat. We've had a pretty good weekend, and decorated the house for Halloween. Plus, we picked up lots of new markers, construction paper and paints to help keep the girls busy while the weather is turning colder. I seem to have misplaced my camera, so who knows when I'll be posting pictures again. I have lots of pictures on my cell phone, but not sure how to get them onto my computer.

Bad news, I was in a car accident on my way to work this past Monday. I was traveling east on Silver Lake Road in Fenton and a teenage boy was heading west, and turned in front of me, wrecking my new car! I am so thankful the girls were not in the car, that noise and feeling are the worst. And I'm very thankful noone was hurt, but I'm very sad about my car. $8,500 in damages to the front end, I should have it back in another week or two. Meanwhile, we have a cute little red car to drive that Kayla calls "Lightning the Queen" (she thinks that is the name of the main character in the movie Cars).

Kayla is taking a nap in my bed right now, I think she may be catching the cold that I had this week. Eva's complaining of a sore throat too. Gotta love the back-to-school germs!!

I'm missing Dad alot today. I found a picture of him today taken at the Relay for Life in Brighton about 6-7 years ago. He was with his friend Gene, and they were walking in the Survivor lap to kick off the 24 hour event. I remember watching all of the people walking around the track, and being so grateful that the surgeon was able to remove Dad's tumors the year before. Seeing that picture was bittersweet, just because you're a survivor, doesn't mean you're guaranteed the cancer will not come back. It's just such a mean disease. But then, I know we have to be grateful that he did have six years where he was cancer-free, some people aren't that lucky.

A much needed update!

Gosh, it's been a long time since I updated our blog, and so much has happened this summer!! First of all, the girls are doing GREAT and we're having a very nice summer. The only thing that sucks is that I have to work Monday through Friday, but thank goodness for the weekends. I LIVE for the weekends!! Eva and Kayla got their hair cut and I just love Eva's hair shorter. I didn't think I would, but she's so dang cute, she looks good in anything (proud mama). I really need to post pictures. And the funniest part of that whole evening we were at the hair salon was that I discovered little Kayla cut her own hair just the day before!!! I was literally brushing her hair while Eva was getting her hair cut, and noticed all these "layers" throughout K's hair!! At first I thought it was Eva who cut her sister's hair, but Kayla finally confessed and I had the girl fix it into a cute little layered shorter cut. I must admit, Kayla actually did a good job! It looked like she tried to frame it around her face, and she gave herself some really cute bangs, lol! Then when I told Todd about Kayla cutting her own hair, he didn't believe it because there was no evidence. I mean, where was the hair???? It just so happened that Eva was playing in my room the next day and found a wicker basket FULL of little blonde curls....mystery solved :)

We've had a few asthma scares with Kayla this summer, and Sunday she came down with croup. It's just been the worst, I feel so bad for her. I hate the croup, and have never even heard of it before. She had a really barky cough, and a low-grade fever, and it is hard for her to catch her breath when she coughs. The doctor said that it's not to be confused with her asthma, but it's not fun whatever it is. The only thing that seems to give her relief is running the shower and letting the bathroom steam up. That works really good.

Work is going really good for me, I'm very lucky to be paying my bills during this tough economic time and I literally have the best boss in the whole world (no, I'm not being a suck-up, he doesn't read this!!) I also bought a new car right after my dad passed away. My brother, Rob, said that my dad's only last request of him was to help me buy a new car. My dad and I always talked about going to the dealership together. He was a great haggler, and always looked out for me. I am his only single daughter, and he was always doing things for me and the girls. I have to stop now because I'm still having a really hard time with my dad being gone. I bottle all of my feelings up to get through my day and they get out at any thought or mention of him, and it's really painful still. I talked to my brother, Brian, the other day and just broke down. Talking to my brothers is like talking to my dad, and I miss him so much it hurts. The girls and I go to the cemetary and just sit on his grave to be close to him. Eva has a very hard time with it still, too, and says how much fun he was and how she misses his songs and that no one else in our family can play the guitar as good as Grandpa. She's right. We listen to the Pacemaker's CD (dad's band, he was the only guy with three women, of course!) and it feels good to hear his voice. I love him so much, and everything reminds me of him, everything good, that is. I truly did have the best dad in the whole world and I miss him so much.

Eva Diva is working hard on her multiplication tables this summer. And her cousins introduced her to Wizards 101 which is an awesome MMO game for kids that is very similar to World of Warcraft, and the best part, it's free!! It doesn't take that long to download, and it's so fun to login and play, little Kayla even created a little character to run around with. And another good part, they have features setup to ensure privacy and safety for kids. It's so cool because they run around the city with other kids from all over the world! They are not allowed to login without a parent present, but that's true with their Internet use altogether. My sister watches them while I work, and I won't even let them be online with her. I'm not overly strict by any means, but this is one area where I draw the line. She is also only allowed to visit the sites: NickJr.com, Disney.com and Webkinz. Mean mom, I know.

Best Dad in the Whole World.

My dad passed away on May 17th. It's the hardest thing that I have ever had to deal with, ever. It's hard to type the words right now. I am still waiting for the hurting to stop, the empty feeling to go away. How do you get over losing your father? The best dad, the best grandpa, the best friend anyone could ever ask for? He was truly the center of our family, the glue that held us all together. He was amazing. He loved music, loved dancing, and loved singing and he was the happiest when we were all together, especially his grandchildren. His wealth was his family and everyone who met him knew it. The love that radiated from that man was hard to miss, but watch out if you messed with one of his daughters! I have had a hard time getting back to my blog because I knew I would have to start out with Dad's death and it's just so hard right now. I'm going to leave it alone right now and, at some point, come back and post more. There have been two deaths in my immediate family, Dad and Wes (Iraq 2005), and both passed away on May 17th. Our family will never be the same. My only hope is that Dad felt loved and knew we did the best we could at the end. I am so thankful to have had the best dad in the whole world.