Where does the time go?

Geez, I haven't been very good about keeping this blog updated, but I'm going to try to do better.  I think I will try to post at least once or twice a week.  Sounds reasonable. 

It's already almost the end of January and things have overall been pretty good.   I have my good days and bad, fortunately, I'm in a pretty good mood this morning. :)  Lately I have just been really counting my blessings.  Sure things aren't perfect, I still have some very painful things going on in my life, but the most important things like my kids and just having the basic essentials of life, like food, overall health, a roof over my head, my precious babies who I seem to appreciate and love more and more everyday are good.

I got a call from Elena's school yesterday that she had a fever, I felt so bad, because she had told me in the morning that she didn't feel well and didn't want to go to school, but she does that every school day, kind of like the boy who cried wolf, so how I am to know when she's not fibbing.  The girl's got a vivid imagination.  She tells me tall tales of what goes on in class, and then when I ask her teachers, it's all just in her imagination.  I swear, she has me over the moon.  I am so in love w/ her.  It's funny how our relationship started out bumpy, but she's my little partner in crime , funny how much I miss her when she's in school.  She's my baby, my last, I can only imagine what a basket case I will be when she starts school.   Her fever's already gone by the way, so happy she's feeling so much better.  It's amazing how quickly my kids bounce back from illnesss, they sure didn't get that from me. :)

Jackson complained of a tummy ache last night, but fortunately, he's fit as a fiddle this morning too, yay!  I'm so proud of how well he's doing in school.  He is getting really good at reading and loves it, makes me so happy because I used to love reading a ton of books when I was in school too, I wish I had more time to read.

Speaking of reading, I finished my book club Happiness Project book and it was good!  It wasn't a fast read, but I noticed I was much happier when I was reading the book.  I need to start on my own happiness project.  I'm currently working on  finishing another self-help book while I'm waiting for the rest of my book club to finish HP, it's called The 4 Agreements, it's supposedly worked wonders on one of my Mom's co-workers, so it's worth a try.

I was pleasantly surprised by the way when I was having a talk w/ my Mom, and she made the comment that it was the best conversation we've ever had, she liked the positivity.  I guess I don't always let her see the person I'm becoming.  It's a work in progress for sure.  Still made me feel good, although I was a little sad that she was surprised and hadn't noticed it before, guess I need to let the sun shine through a little more.  :)

I'm also really enjoying doing the Secret Valentine in my Mom's group.  It seems like so far I have a really good one.  I've gotten some super sweet cards about how happy they are that I'm their Valentine, yay!  I guess I finally got a person who likes me, and it's showing because they've been a great Valentine!  I even got a homemade meal yesterday, beef stew and homemade red velvet cupcakes.  Yummy!!!!

The start of a brand new year

2010 is gone and frankly I'm glad.  It was a rough year full of ups and downs and I'm hoping 2011 is going to be a brand new start w/ limitless possibilities.  I have realized though that I'm lucky.  I've lived to see another year gone, and each day is really a gift.  We're all limited to a certain amount of days and I need to take care to better appreciate the days I have.

So this year I am looking forward to hopefully a fresh start.  I've dropped some baggage, some friends who really weren't friends to begin w/, and I'm hoping to drop my bad habits and adopt some better habits.

I want to eat better, exercise more, be more careful w/ the things I say and do, be a better friend, wife and mother, lose the negativity,re-focus and  appreciate the things I have, get rid of the ugly jealousy, and just in general be a happier person.  

Change the things I want to change and the grace to accept the things I cannot.  Wish me luck!  :)

So much stuff so little time

Life has been even more chaotic than usual.  There have been lots of changes, some for the better, some for the worse, but I guess that's what life is all about.

I've never really been one for change, I like a set pattern, it's help w/ my instabiltiy, the chaos of my life, etc.  But the past few months have been all about change.  I'm not going to lie, things haven't been good.  I've had some eye opening moments, some good some bad, I've had new friends come into my life, and some leave.

I guess it's just a learning experience, and the saying that when one door closes another one opens is true.  Unfortunately a lot of this change has caused me to lose my naivete.

 I now have trust issues, and I've been deeply hurt by someone that I love so much.  Sometimes I just want to remove myself from all situations, I'm tired of feeling like the villain.  I feel like I give all I can to help those I care about,  feel like I'm a good person overall, but I think the past just continues to haunt, no matter how much I've changed or try to change, I just get dragged down all over again. 

Wow, enough of this dark stuff, I'm tired of it.  So on to talking about happier and better things. :)  The kids' birthday parties are this weekend.  Yes, I'm doing both in one day, and we're actually going to try the home party thing out this year.  Yikes!  Not sure if it's a good idea but we'll see.

Elena is having a Princess dress up party, complete w/ lots of dresses, shoes, tiaras, jewelry and makeup.  Should be lots of fun!  Then Jackson is having a Star Wars party, complete w/ everyone getting Star Wars action figures, light sabres and stickers.  I hope the force is with me that day, because his will be a slumber party.  Should be an interesting weekend, lol.

PS So glad that Christmas is right around the corner, I love the holidays and this year should be even better now that I am getting closer to the whole what Christmas is really about. 

School Daze

Both kids have started school and it is going so great!!

I was a little worried about how Jackson would do.  He didn't like school last year, didn't like reading, I was worried about his abilities and the effort he puts out, but I guess I was just worried for nothing.  He still doesn't love school, but he did admit he likes it better this year.  His teacher is new, but she is very nice and enthusiastic.  He still doesn't like reading but on his placement tests he apparently did very well and scored higher than the rest of the kids in his class. Yippee!  Maybe one day he will have a love of books like I do.

He's made a couple of new friends, but he's still shy, he's a lot like me, and it takes a while to come out of his shell.  Yes I realize most people wouldn't realize I'm shy, but I am.  He has also joined Cub Scouts, which I am thrilled about.  We have begged for him to join sports or something he can be a part of , and this is the first thing he's really excited about.  Will be a big time commitment but it's worth it!

As for my darling baby girl, she's fabulous!  She's such a charming character with lots of spunk and personality.  She started school as well too.  I was worried how she would do, especially since she insisted that she wanted to stay w/ me, but she is loving her school  I had originally put a deposit on a different school, but then an opening in the school I had wanted opened, so I transferred her.  I lost the first deposit, but it's worth it.  She has loved the school since day one, and she's making lots of friends.  I love how she insists there are two Audreys in class, the teacher insists there's only one, and she describes her friends, by the clothes and shoes they wear.  LOL

Vacation

Wow, it's been a long time since I updated.  Things have been hectic, crazy and busy as usual.  We actually took a family vacation this year that was awesome!  We haven't been on a family vacation that was just the four of us, not visiting family, and it was great!

We went to Daytona for 5days/4 nights.  The drive down was long but worth it.  We stayed at a hotel right on the beach.  Elena's never been to the beach and she loved it!  We played in the ocean, the sand, the hotel's pool, the baby pool, it was great!  It would have been even better had I not had a sinus and ear infection and John had some sort of sinus junk too.  We still made the best of it though.

We also spent a fortune going to Sea World, which the kids enjoyed, but don't think we're going to be doing that again soon, it was outrageously priced.  We also went to St. Augustine , played at the Fort and checked out the lighthouse, I love that city so much!!