Goodbye 2007!

It was a good year and it is almost over. A list of the highlights of the year:
Henry arrived! He was somewhat late, but well received. We are completely in love and delighted at what a wonderful big sister Frances is.
Ken and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. If I remember correctly, we took Frances and 2-week old Henry to see Shrek the 3rd!
Frances started dance lessons and has now gone through two cycles. She loves the classes and her teachers. She sings and dances all the time and is happiest in a princess dress or leotard. Speaking of Frances, we took her to a Wiggles concert this Fall in Roanoke. She LOVED it and still talks about it now. The tickets were a gift for her 4th birthday. I cannot believe that my "baby" is 4-years old! (And finally potty trained!)
Henry is sitting up, eating baby food, and getting ready to crawl. He likes to get up on all fours and rock back and forth. His teacher at school said he actually crawled a few steps a couple of weeks back, but we haven't seen him do it again.
Ken was promoted at the ABC store and is now the Assistant Manager. He has been more working more hours than he had previously, so we tend to see him less often. Then nice thing about this job is that the store is closed Sundays, so we usually have that day together (even if it is mostly taken up by church activities).
I am teaching a class of very young 4-year-olds this year, one of whom is my own daughter. That part has worked out much better than I thought, but is not totally without it's problems. I do truly enjoy spending the day with my daughter. And I can still nurse Henry whenever he gets hungry.
Youth ministry is going well. We have made some successful changes in the program this year, and some kinks are still being worked out. I am truly blessed with a wonderful group of catechists to work with.
As we end this year, I am happy to say that everyone is healthy and well-provided for. We have much more than we need or deserve and I hope that we can continue to remember that.
May God keep blessing you in the coming year!!

The stress is over!

Christmas Day has come and gone. Now is the time to relax and enjoy the Christmas season. The kids and I will be visiting Ken's brother and sister-in-law briefly today on the way to visiting my parents for a few days. Ken will join us for New Year's and then we head back to the 'burg.
I went to the doctor yesterday and got some medicine for my cold. Hopefully, my headache will be gone before I try to drive two hours in a car with two kids! Frances and Henry seem to be doing fine, health-wise, other than runny noses, but that's par for the course this time of the year.
Don't forget to take some time to enjoy the real presence of this time of year! Jesus is born for us and that is the real gift we celebrate at this time of year.

It's almost here!

Tomorrow is Christmas!! We are going to church tonight at 8pm. Hopefully the kids will either stay awake or sleep and not wobble between the two. After Mass tonight, we get to wrap presents and put them under the tree. I am hoping to get at least a little bit of sleep tonight. Grams and Papa are coming to visit us tomorrow in the early afternoon. After that Frances should be all present-ed out. If she takes a nap, maybe I can too! That would be the best Christmas present ever!
Actually, despite the tiredness and the not feeling good, I am completely aware of how blessed I am. I have a wonderful husband, two amazing kids, extended family that loves me, two jobs that I love and great friends who are always there for me. I hope everyone has a truly blessed Christmas.
Remember the reason for the season!

Christmas pic of the kids

Do you know how hard it is to get both of them to smile at the same time!?! This is the best I could do, but they're still pretty cute!

I made a blog!

I have lots of housework to do and I am exhausted from not sleeping well lately--too many late nights of Christmas shopping. All of this sounds like a great reason to start a blog. I started and almost finished my Christmas shopping today. Now I just have to wrap everything and figure out how to get them to the correct people.
If you find this and enjoy reading it, please let me know and remind me to add to it.