11 Highlights of 2011

I've really done a terrible job blogging in 2011 (yes Nana Cheryl..I know). It's disappointing to me too since I'me keeping up with my scrapbooks either so there's a good chance I'll remember very little about this year (boo). I'd like to hope in 2012 I can do better. But I'll end this year with 11 highlights for our family in 2011 (in no particular order)

1. Vacations with my hubby - This year we took 3 occasions to go out of town alone! One one-nighter to the Masters, one surprise weekend away to NYC and one well planned Disney Cruise. It was wonderful to get to be away with him and I think my kids enjoyed the spoiling by the aunts and grandparents as well.
2. Jacob potty trained!! - This might be my number 1 highlight of 2011 - while we are still using pull ups at night we are no longer, for the first time in over 8 years, buying diapers!
3. Jacob started preschool - Milestone. He loves. I love it. And for the first time in over 8 years I have 2 mornings a week (6 hours) with no children at home. Honestly..it's good for all of us!
4. My Disney Business - I'm so grateful and humbled by all the support of my amazing friends! My business has been better than I expected and I'm SO SO thankful!!
5. Erin's Wedding - My bff got married in Oct. It was such a special and wonderful weekend. I'm so incredibly happy for her.
6. Kids Birthday Parties - the kids all had fun birthday parties this year from Julia's 4th birthday gymnastics party, Emma's 8th birthday sleepover party at the hotel, Lily's 7th birthday party at the candy shop to Jacob's 3rd birthday at the farm they were all fun and we're thankful for the friends who got to celebrate with us.
7. Dance Recitals - All of my girls were involved in dance performances this year. They were So. Stinking. Cute. Love, love, love watching them perform!
8. Lily's Triathlon - My 7 year old did her first triathlon in July. I'm still amazed at her determination and commitment to doing it. She worked hard, trained and did amazing at it.
9. Julia's Soccer Season - Love watching my kids play sports. She was so cute and by the end of the season she actually started to get it.
10. Health - I'm very grateful that we all seemed to have made it through the year with no major issues. Only 2 trips to the ER (Jacob for his head, Lily for her eye) and no big sicknesses. We are indeed blessed.
11. Our New Church - We switched campuses with our church in Sept and it's been a great change for our whole family. Our new campus is smaller and we've all enjoyed being more involved.

2011 was a good year for our family. Like everyone we had our ups and downs but all in all it was good. We're so so blessed and thankful and we look forward to 2012!

Kids Write the Darndest Things

Today was the last day of school for 4 1/2 weeks. Sometimes I LOVE our year round school schedule (hello warm April, July & October) but this track out makes me strongly consider traditional schools. Anyways..it's the last day of the quarter and so Lily, my 2nd grader brought home a bunch of work. One thing she wrote was a non-fiction book about Pandas. She did a great job on it. The BEST part is the About the Author section of the book. Here's what she wrote:

Lily potter is a 2nd grade student at Carpenter. She has a talented body and likes to draw. Someday she wants to be in a art show. She likes to read books. Her faviorte aminal is panda thats why she wrote this fantastic book! Hope you enjoy!

About the authors family:
Her parents were strong enough to raise 4 kids to live a life & did a good job! The two younger ones are about anoying to me. They are deffnitly cute. My older sister, Emma is my older sister and about mean and is a computer hogger! Me, Lily has her own room and loves to play and have troubble fun!

I'm dying over here....

Indeed We are Still Here

So I haven't posted in EONS. I know..slacker I am. It's not that things haven't been blog-worthy but I just haven't had much free time to actually sit down and write. In fact, I haven't had much time to sit down period and do much of anything leisurely (except Words With Friends). As with everyone things have been crazy busy this past month. Between the kids, the PTA and my little work life is just going fast. Really fast. I'm looking forward to being out of school for a bit (though the 5 weeks might be a little much...yikes) to recover and rest and perhaps get my house organized.

So what has been going on? Here's a little recap:

*Thanksgiving was great. Quiet. We saw the Muppets which now my kids are obsessed with. In fact..Emma has assigned us all Muppet personalities: In her words: Daddy is like Gonzo because he's Weird, Mommy is like Miss Piggy because she's bossy, Lily is like Miss Piggy because she likes fashion, Jacob is like Animal, because he is an animal, Julia is like Animal because she's crazy too and I (Emma) and like Miss Piggy because I'm beautiful.

*We went to Asheville to see my dad after Thanksgiving. Went to a tree farm. Jacob knocked down Natalie's 10 foot tree. Fun times.

*Breakfast with Santa - All 4 kids got close to Santa! Our first holiday miracle.

*Holiday Dance Performances - Emma danced at the Raleigh Winterfest tree lighting with her dance team. If I can figure out how to get video on here I'll post it - it was adorable! Then all the girls danced at the Carolina Christmas Show. Cuteness abounded.

*Family Christmas Gatherings on Saturday - My kids were actually well behaved. And they ate crazy amounts of sugar.

*Preschool Christmas Sing - Seriously is there much cuter than 4 year olds singing? No. There is not. So cute. And Julia sang her little heart out.

And that sums up the last few weeks. Sort of. I'm sure there was more cute, funny stuff but I just can't remember right now...so I'll try to be better about documenting it the rest of the month!