Checking in on my resolutions

This morning as I was mulling over the things I wanted to accomplish in 2010, I suddenly remembered my list from 2009. I knew I'd posted it here, and I also knew that there were plenty on the list that I'd blatently ignored.
So here it goes:

1. Continue to 'finish' projects around the house.
We're going to have to call this a miserable failure. I did little things like some light furniture rehab and little touches, but none of the big projects I had hoped for were even touched.

2. Look my best ever on my 30th birthday- I have seven months!
Um... Not really. I think about the same.

3. Stay HOME and enjoy it! I would say after this last two weeks, I'm well on my way. Yoga pants are my friends.
Eh... I'll give myself a silver medal on this one. I think I did better than usual, and I am in yoga pants right now. That counts for something.

4. Spend more thoughtfully- go for quality and things I really love and want, not mindless spending. This is hands down going to be my toughest goal, a direct combination with #3!
I truly think I did pretty well on this one. I bought far less clothing this year for myself and for the kids than usual. If I didn't love it, I passed.

5. Grow my business and learn new skills.
I give myself a 200% on this goal! I was floored at the business explosion that I had this year, so much that I have to scale it back next year for the sake of our family.

6. Spend quality time with Neily and Jack every day.
I would like to say that I accomplished this, but I don't think any mother feels like they spend enough time with their children. To top it off, I am coming off of my busy season where I feel like I didn't do anything but work from September to December. Prior to that, I think we did a lot of new things each day.

7. Keep our master bathroom vanity clean. Every single day. Oy.
Yyyyyyyyeah. No.

8. Organize my time more efficiently.
I'm not exactly sure what I meant by this but I am pretty sure I didn't do it!

9. Continue to grow friendships that are important to me.
Oh, I'd forgotten about this one! Absolutely, YES. We had an amazing year with our friends. It will be hard to top.

10. Be really, really happy with the way things ARE.
Let's say I'm getting there. I'm working on it.

SO- for 2010, let's try to keep the master vanity clean, look my best ever at 31 (fair enough), spent quality time as a family, and finish projects in the house. I have a very long list for Eddie- big, big changes like painting the house, finishing the basement, and *possibly* adding a bathroom. We'll have to mull that one over.

More Disney World!

Can I just start off by saying I hate Blogger, Picasa, Flickr, and computers in general today? Why does everything have to be so hard? Am I the only one who hates blogging because of the sheer agony involved in uploading pictures?

Moving on... Walt Disney World Day 3! We started at Epcot, one of our favorite parks. We found that this time around, the Magic Kingdom was actually where we spend the least amount of time. It will always be our 'favorite' because it just has to be- it's magical!- but we didn't spend as much time there as usual.
First thing in the morning, we saw Daisy Duck, which was a treat! We've never gotten to see her on previous visits.


We made our way around World Showcase to ride the Three Caballeros in Mexico and enjoy some fish-n-chips in England. I'll have to ask Phil, our resident Brit, the proper way to write fish and chips. First stop, Mexico! The kids love these little Kidcot stops with crafts, but we were mean parents and didn't stop for many of them. We are go, go, go vacationers. I start to get antsy when I stand around.

Don't I look fabulous? Thought so. Since my early years were spent in the southwest, I know just how to wear a sombrero. Not many can pull it off, I know.

It's BRUCE! Jack's face! Haha!


This is one of our favorite spots. In Epcot, the kids love the Figment ride. The ride itself is not that exciting (I suppose to a kid it is) but what comes after the ride (in true Disney form, you never, EVER just walk on or off of a ride!) is a blast. Here they are 'conducting' their own music. You stand in the yellow 'goalposts' and conduct, and Figment will fly around the screen according to your music and play. It is strangely addicting!
Headed over to MGM (I know, I know, it's Hollywood Studios, it just doesn't sound right to me!) and grabbed some lunch at Pizza Planet.

The kids got picked from the audience to be a part of the High School Musical show. It was fun- they weren't up there for long, but got to do a little dance and had fun.


Chip and Dale! I had no idea our kids loved Chip and Dale so much. They both freaked out when they saw them and ran for autographs. Every time we spotted them in a parade, walking around, etc, they were giddy!
Then we had a fun treat! My friend Tracy lives in Orlando and we met up with her several times. Her youngest, Sadie, is the cutest! We always have fun with them and seeing them is one of my favorite parts of the trip. Never enough time with Tracy!

And an even bigger treat, our friend Darby grew up in Orlando and had to come in unexpectedly. The reason for her trip was not a happy one, but it was a treat to get to see her at all. This is the three of us at the Magic Kingdom!

Merry Christmas Mickey Mouse!

We are back in the real world! Disney World was amazing! We had an absolutely amazing time, as we always do, and really enjoyed getting to see the holiday lights and decor. It was a treat! The crowds were busier than we expected, since this was projected to be a 'low attendance' week, but it was okay- we have our magical ways of getting around lines, so we had fun. :)
Here are the highlights from days one and and two!
First up- Eddie realized we would be driving right by the world famous The Varsity in Atlanta, one of the hot dog stands on his bucket list. We decided to plan our trip around stopping and it was a lot of fun! Atlanta is famous for chili dogs, but they are definitely different from Cincinnnati's chili dogs. Very good! We also got ourselves apple pie pockets- think the fruit pies from Hostess only a million, billion times better with a homemade flaky crust! YUM!


Welcome to Main Street, USA!



We'll call this the BEFORE.... in line for Space Mountain:


And the after- Neily gave it a "thumb sideways". By the end of the week she was ready to ride again, but at first she was pretty certain that she would never get on it again!


And Jack. And this was after he'd calmed down a little bit! Yes, I am the meanest mom ever for making him ride it and for taking this picture. Neily and I could hear him crying as our car pulled in at the end of the ride, so I knew before I saw him that it hadn't gone well! In my defense, they just reopened this ride after a major revamping and it was MUCH DARKER than it used to be!!!


Jack and Daddy in Tomorrowland


One of my all time favorite rides, The Carousel of Progress! Yes, I'm serious. It is REALLY one of my favorites.


Me and Jack on the Jungle Cruise- another one of my favorites that no one else in the family likes (it's a classic, people!!!!)


We let them drive the boats around in the lagoon- we must have been in good moods because this cost $2 for about five minutes! Are you kidding me?




Getting ready for Pirates of the Caribbean!


A really, really awful picture of our great seats for Fantasmic. Well, great seats until the fountain overspray misted us the entire time, anyway!


THE coolest lights in Hollywood Studios! Absolutely amazing. :) We totally lucked out, the streets were pretty quiet on our first night and apparently, this attraction usually has people shoulder to shoulder. Every ten minutes or so, a song begins and the whole set (it's about two city blocks that look this full of lights) start to dance and


Trying to catch the snow falling!


All those little white spots? That's snow! Okay, not real snow, but Disney magical snow! ;)

Shameless plug for Lexus

They should pay me!
The kids were playing outside and saw this hot air balloon flying right over the house. It was pretty neat! We have hot air balloons around here more often that I would think your average home sees them, for some reason. We probably see 3-4 a year in our neighborhood at least, there must be a launch near us. Thought these were neat!

Look what Neily learned...

It's a little hard for me to write this post out lovingly right now, because Neily is in her room directly above me throwing a holy fit. Ah, girls. They're lovely.
In any case, I am very proud of her for what she has learned! She saw me knitting the other day and asked to try. I warned her that it is not easy to learn but she wanted to work on it. She picked it up really quickly and loves it! She can remember the steps but can't quite be set free yet. She thinks she is going to make a scarf. ;) We'll see if it holds her interest that long!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Here are our little munchkins. ;) I don't think I snapped many (or any) of our neighborhood Halloween party, but we had a great time despite the freezing weather. Anyone tired of seeing pics of the kids in front of our door yet? Haha!

Pumpkins!!!

I sat down to the computer all prepared to upload our pictures from our trip to Shaw Farms... after I uploaded three, I looked and realized I already WROTE that post. OY. It's been that kind of week.
So... next post! We carved our pumpkins last night. Jack and Neily loooooove Halloween, particularly Jack, and a favorite movie lately has been the Nightmare Before Christmas. We decided to carve our pumpkins to look like Jack Skellington and the Boogie Man.

Neily was not impressed with the innards of a pumpkin at first.






After the pumpkins were cleaned out, the kids completely lost interest and we were left to do the carving. Keeping it real, this is what the kids were doing while we were slaving away over the little details.

But they appreciated the final product! We're going to keep them inside for now because... you never know. ;)