Much Needed Update

Our "friendy" blog is suffering & I have been thinking about posting something for a really long time, but just haven't. I miss my best friends and hate knowing that I have no idea what is going on in your lives!! I noticed today that it has been exactly 3 months since any of us have posted anything & that is just not acceptable-right? :) So...I think we should each do a little post about what we have been up to. (In honor of our new year I think we should post 10 things)

1. I LOVE GLEE!

There isn't really much I can say other than that-I am obsessed. I was so shocked when the season was already over & I probably watch at least one episode per week still (thank goodness for DVR)! The singing can almost always get me teared up & I love all the characters. Even Sue-she is one that I just love to hate!! Matt got me the soundtrack for Christmas & I MUST HAVE volume 2! I think I'll go watch an episode as soon as I am done with this post! :)2. Our Dog is making me crazy!!

Buckley is the sweetest little dog, he plays so well with the kids, is very patient with being pulled and tugged on, hasn't chewed anything he isn't supposed to (knock on wood), and the kids ADORE him. BUT-he refuses to be house trained!! I am constantly scrubbing the carpet with my little green clean machine-which I couldn't live without-but AHhhrrgg!!! I just want him to figure it out!

3. Grayden is in Nursery, Brinley is a Sunbeam, & Trinity has moved on to CTR!

I feel like going to church finally has a purpose again! :) Our ward also switched time slots and we get to go to Sacrament Meeting first instead of last. Ah, it is so great! Grayden LOVES nursery & goes right in without a problem. Trinity is more confident going into Sunday school now that she has Brinley to tote along, & Brinley has no problem whatsoever being with the "big kids". Sunday school and Relief Society were like a dream & I actually learned something last week!! I need to bring a treat for all the kids teachers on Sunday because they are making my life so much easier!! :)4. Matt leaves on the 26th and will be gone for SIX weeks. Yikes!

This training is the last part of the requirements he needs in order to be promoted to the next rank up which is an E7. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I know he is pretty excited & I am not at all against it because it means another pay raise! :) That is also the last thing he wants to accomplish before he officially applies for PA school through the military. If he gets accepted then we will be off to San Antonio, Texas for a few years. (There are a lot of details, so I'll keep you guys filled in as I find out more info). I just hope the six weeks go by smoothly while he is gone.

5. My Latest Project: Rocking Horse Make Over

I love being able to work with my hands & thought it would be fun to basically tear this little rocking chair apart & put it back together with a new look. As usual it has taken longer than I expected & so far I have successfully pulled out all the nappy old "hair", completely taken it apart, & sanded all the pieces down to the natural wood color. I need to do a little more touch up sanding, but will have to wait until I can either borrow a smaller sander or rent one. It only cost me 8$ at our local thrift store & I don't think I'll have to put much money into it to be totally happy with the results.6. Christmas Around the World

I absolutely love being on the activities committee & this year we had a brand new chair person called right before the holidays. She was pretty stressed out & our committee isn't huge, so I decided to help out as much as I could. I ended up being in charge of finding "Santa", making ornaments for him to give to each child, putting together a craft table for the kids, doing the fliers & other announcements, taking care of sign up sheets, and taking pics of each child on Santa's lap. The entire gym was lined with tables of things that ward members brought to display, sample, or try from different countries & cultures. There was a hand made pinata & all the kids loved taking a whack at it! Matt even got the chance to bring his souvenirs from Bosnia, Paraguay, & Germany. It turned out great & I think it may be a new tradition in our ward.7. Matt's 30th B-Day Surprise

Matt turned 30 on Nov 3oth and although he had told me in the past that he didn't like surprise parties I just couldn't resist. This is the first ward we have been in longer than a year & Matt has been able to be more involved in this ward than any of our past wards. I feel that we have so many friends and so much support, so I went for it! For a minute there I thought he may have suspected something, but I was wrong. He was totally surprised & was glowing when he saw how many people had shown up to support him on his B-Day. There were about 30-35 people & it was such a fun night!8. Thanksgiving with our "Ward Family"

Have I mentioned that I love our ward? ;) We knew we wouldn't be going anywhere for Thanksgiving so I decided to ask around and see if anyone else was in our same boat. It turns out there were a handful of other families that would be in town & I thought it would be fun to do a Thanksgiving together. I didn't want to exclude anyone, so I reserved a few rooms at the church, put a little invite in the ward bulletin, sent around sign-up sheets, & put together a few games for the kids & adults. I got in a little over my head in thinking it would be fairly simple to oversea, but it all turned out so great & was a Thanksgiving I will never forget! (There were between 30-40 people that ended up coming) Oh...I also made these fun little Turkey hats with the kids-they LOVED them! :)9. Making Time for my Kids

I feel like I have been a crazy woman since early September & realized that I need to slow down and spend more quality time having fun with my kids. I thought it would be fun to pull out the bread maker and make pretzels. The girls were my 2 assistants & had so much fun watching the bread machine work. They did their best to roll out the dough and make some sort of shape, but everyones favorite part was eating them-Yummy!!

10. Back on the Baby Train

Yup, I am pregnant again already! Our midwives assured us that there was no reason to put having kids on hold after my miscarriage, so we just carried on! (hehehe) I am not exactly sure how far along I am because of the recovery from the D&C, but I think I'm around 12 weeks. I feel like it is such a huge blessing to be pregnant again already & can't wait to find out what baby #4 will be!! I have been feeling pretty crappy and seem to be getting worse rather than better, but if feeling sick is what it takes to remind me each day of such a great gift-then I'll take it!