It's official

I start working full time next week, first shift. I weighed the pros and cons of doing this. Yes, there were both. The BIG pro was being home in the evenings again. I won't miss out on the kids and their activities. This is the most important.

I will miss working nights. I LOVE 2nd shift. I love helping everyone to bed and wishing them sweet dreams and knowing that I was the last person they spoke with before falling asleep....there is something special about that. I love getting off work and heading straight to the gym. At 11 pm there is hardly anyone there and you don't have to wait for anything. I love coming home to a quiet house and finding everyone sleeping soundly. I love night time. I am a night person.

So, wish me luck with this new shift. I hope my body adjusts well. One great thing is that when you work first it flies by so fasts. And then I will have the rests of my day ahead of me! This will be great in the summertime.

Random

Aren't pink flamingos pretty?

The real ones.

FINALLY!

I am FINALLY done with my CMA class. My state board test was on Tuesday night.

I passed!

I am so relieved.

At it again

Do you remember last year's post about doing a puzzle at my mom's house? Well, this Christmas we did it again. It's tradition. We got the whole thing done in a day. It's because of our puzzling personalities we could do it so fast ya know. Ha ha...hardy har har. Funny stuff. Well, not really but when you're doing a post on puzzles you have to jazz it up a little. How much excitement in a puzzle is there?
I do enjoy this tradition. I enjoy talking around the table, teasing each other and laughing. I like to put a piece where it doesn't belong and just see how long it takes for them to find it. Now, that's fun right there.

Retired

My mom retired. She was so thrilled and so ready to finally retire from the banking business. She put in many (I need to ask again how many) years of work at the same bank. I know she loved her work and she was good at what she did. The bank will miss her for sure. And they will see how much work she actually did now that she's gone. Congrats Mom! Oh ya, I just remembered that she does not read my blog. She has no idea that I talk about her on here. muaha ha ha ha

So, along with retirement came the question for her "where should I live?". She's been living in the same house for many years (I need to ask again how many). ****do you see a pattern here? I don't remember details very well*****. On with my story.... I know it has been AT LEAST 37 years because they lived there my whole life, plus some.

She is ready for a change. A big one. So, right after Christmas she moved. The house is on the market. She moved to Missouri where my oldest sister is. The lil bitty town that I grew up in just doesn't have anything to offer for her. She needs activities, friends, excitment, hobbies, etc. etc. This was her reason for moving.

I'm so excited for her! She will be in a much bigger town and there will be so much more opportunities for her there. But, on the other hand I am sad. This was the house I grew up in. All of my memories of growing up are in this house. It tears at my heart a bit to know that it will be sold. My memories of my dad are here. I can just walk into the house and feel his presence. i have my moments of tears just thinking that it will no longer be available for me to get this feeling anymore.

I can only imagine how my mom feels now. Wow. What an adjustment. Yet, I am excited for her change and I wish total happiness for her.

**before the house sells I WILL get pictures of the house..every nook and cranny...I'm sure I will share more later on it**

Cousins at Christmas

Jared has always been Landon's most favorite older cousin. He's taken to him like a bee to honey. It's "Jared this, Jared that". He absolutely idolizes Jared. So, when he gets to see him it's heaven.

Hayley and Shelbie. Once we get to their house we don't see these two until it's time to eat. They have a close bond. I'm so glad. I always wanted a cousin that I was close to. Shelbie has several and she's so lucky.

It's happy times when the boys get to play. Landon and Tyler are only a couple of years apart so they enjoy a lot of the same things. Landon's been begging to go to Tyler's house for a long time. Ya, like Tyler pays the mortgage!!

I just love to mess with Jared's hair. It's naturally wavy and so thick. He lets me mess with it too. I just love this guy.

The girls and I had fun doing a quick "photo-shoot". We did a ton of crazy, silly photos of them doing crazy, silly things. This one is normal looking but I thought it turned out kinda cool.

Monkey Bread

While at my sister's house over Christmas she decided we should make monkey bread. When she went to check on the dough it was about to bust a seam in this bag. Wow. It was gonna explode any minute! It was way funnier in person than in this picture but we laughed pretty hard.

We made two pans of it. Gosh it's so yummy.

Two minutes later this is what it looked like. And then three minutes later it was gone. Poof. Just like that. Do you think I should have shared it with the others? Oh gosh you know I didn't eat it all myself. You are so gullible.

Funny story about monkey bread. One year the guys were all hunting and us girls made some of it. We sat and played cards and nibbled on it. Before we knew it the whole thing was gone. It just disappeared under our noses. So, we cleaned up the evidence and then didn't even tell the guys that we made it. How cruel is that? So...now we make two loaves. One for us and one for the others later. Smart, huh?!

Here's to happy calories! Cheers!

Valleri

Guess who's birthday it is!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Valleri!

You've always been full of smiles.

Keep on smiling in all the years to come.

Christmas Eve (part 2)

To not overload you all with the Christmas pictures I tried to keep it to a minimum. We took so many pictures since it is a new camera and all. Have I figured all those buttons out on it yet? The answer is no.We had a great holiday. Before heading to Bill and Carla's house we celebrated wtih Tim's mom. She always has a gorgeous tree up with all these beautifully packaged gifts underneath, all neatly organized and labeled. Sometimes they are too pretty to open. But, does that stop us? No!

I have to say that Gramcracker has such good taste too. In addition to other way cool things she got me this shirt and matching necklace. When I opened the necklace she said that it would make more sense after I opened the other gift (which was the shirt). And then yet, it made sense. They match perfectly.

The kids each got one of these cool chairs. Lime green for Shelbie (her favorite) and navy blue for Landon. They are big saucer chairs. Gram sat in it to test it out. Since Christmas the kids have been siting in them all the time. Landon sleeps in his almost every night, curled up in a ball. Very cute but gosh...can that be comfortable? I let him do it. Why not.
One unfortunate thing is that we did not get to see M,M,V,E for Christmas. We missed it too. The kids were disappointed and it's just not the same when we don't get to see them for Christmas. Tim got this cool BBQ KC Chiefs utensil set from them. Pretty cool.

Can you tell she's happy in her new chair?

This gift brought big smiles. GreenBay Packers pj's. Way cool to this young boy. He loves the Packers. For the first few days it was hard to get him to take these off.

We received MANY wonderful gifts this year.

I am thankful.

From the bottom of my heart.

More important than gifts was the time with family. It makes me realize that we do not spend enough time with family. Our lives are so busy and rushed and jam packed with stuff. I know it's normal for families with kids these ages but still. I just want to sit back and soak up the time we do have.

Christmas Eve (part 1)

Family

Baby Alyssa (my first time to see her!)

Smiles

Tradition: Christmas Eve soups

Hosts

AKA: Bill & Carla

**He looks onery right here because he was squeezing her butt when I took this. Don't tell him I told you that. Keep it on the down low!**

Years we are not traveling we go to Bill and Carla's for Christmas Eve. It's tradition. I love traditions. They are so predictable. I like that. Anyway, we had a great time once again seeing family, young and older. YOUNG. Get it? HA HA HA!!

Oh, I can't forget this picture. This was Tim's contribution to the alcohol consumption. Ok, just kidding. It's just a box. Ok, kidding again. He did bring in a couple of bottles of who knows what but seriously it was just a big box.

Birthday lunch

This is totally posted late but hey, I'm a procrastinator. Get used to it! So, way back before Christmas it was my birthday. Alicia and Kris took me out to Applebees for lunch. They are 3rd shifters so they were tired but still they were wanting to take me to lunch. How sweet is that?

Soup

Sandwich

Ice Cream

Laughter

Stories

More Laughter and

More Laughter

I have not known Kris for very long but ever since Alicia brought her around I knew I'd like her. She's just as goofy as we are so she's a hoot to hang around. So, she's my new friend. (doesn't that sound cute?) We had funny CNA stories to swap and it's funny how so many of them center around poop.

Funny thing about my birthday. I kept telling people I turned 36. Until today. I realized after a birthday conversation with someone that I am 37 not 36. Oh my gosh. How did I lose a year? This whole time I kept thinking 36. 36. 36. But, the math says 37. I don't like math anymore.

So, this is me. At age 37. I didn't really love myself much at 36 so my new years resolution this year is to grasp who I am at 37. To embrace how God made me. To love me, flaws and all. To love my good qualities and to improve my bad ones. This is me. 37