Grateful for Grandma

Grandma Hoekwater has some serious talent. On top of keeping up with her keepsake photo books for every one of the grandkids throughout the year, she has found a new niche. Dressmaking. Her first attempt was a great one. This dress is so cute. And, the great thing is, it can be worn as a shirt with leggings in the next couple years. Caedyn and I are anxiously awaiting more gifts that stem from Grandma's creative outlet. And lucky for me, she is the youngest girl grandchild. I think she'll be spoiled for sure.

Ringing In the New Year

Since having kids our New Years Eve festivities have not included wild nights out on the town. We would prefer to be at home or doing something early enough to keep the kids on schedule as this eliminates New Years Day meltdowns because of tired out, crabby kids. The past couple years we have been going bowling with The Campbell Family. This year we both had new additions to our group but they were not too social. Shelby, who is 6 weeks older than Caedyn, slept nearly the entire outing and Caedyn just hung out in her swing. Lisa and I were hoping to take a few shots of the girls on their first New Years Eve together - oh well, maybe next year. Cam and Case had a ball as always. We are suprised at how good they are at bowling. They obviously take after their dad because I am lucky to break 100 on any bowling game! However, I did beat out everyone the first of the three games we did play. Totally beginners luck!

Blessed

I wasn't quite sure where in my life to start this blogging journey. I thought I would take a moment to brag about my wonderful husband and kids. While J may not be mine by birth, I am so blessed to have him as part of our family. My kids are blessed to have him. He is a wonderful big brother and even at 19, still manages to carve out a small amount of time in his crazy social life to spend time with boring ol' us. Cam is getting so big and smart. Only missed one spelling word on his weekly tests in the last 5 months and can multiply better than me. Case, well, he will always be a momma's boy but I think we are destined to be at each other's throats for the rest of our lives as mother and son. He loves to push the limits and get his uptight mom in a fit of rage. Caedyn, well, I am still getting to know her and what I know so far, I love. She has this infectious smile that makes your cheeks hurt. I don't know what I would do without each one of my children. They are life's greatest blessing. Even if I want to scream at the top of my lungs and feel like throwing in the towel on the busy, out of control days, being a mom is 1oo% worth it. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful, hard working husband that adores me and children that make my heart melt. Life is good.

Keeping up with the Jones'

I have always wanted to keep and maintain a blog. Keyword: maintain. Between raising three kids, working full time and going to school, a blog is the least of my concerns. Yet, I find time for things such as Facebook, so managing and maintaining this site should be a breeze. Right. We shall see.

A friend and co-worker of mine told me today that maintaining a blog can be a great keepsake. Especially thanks to websites that allow you to print them into beautiful hard cover albums to plant smack dab in the middle of a coffee table for all to see. You mean, I can show off my beautiful children 24/7? Sign me up. We shall see how this goes. I don't want to be one of those people that sign up to start a blog and never ever keep it updated. I hope I don't disappoint!