New Year's Resolutions....

New year's resolutions.... I have never been good at keeping them. In fact, I am not very good at following through with any new regimen. I have never gone more than a few months following a exercise routine, diet routine, chore routine... And after much contemplation over the reasons for my lack of follow through, I realized that it has a lot to do with my disorganization. I am always playing catch-up on the things with which I am behind. And, I am falling behind on a lot of things. I am not only behind on my household chores, but I am also behind on my hobbies, and unfinished projects. My lack of organization keeps me from having time to do the things that I really want to do - IE, photography, exercising, using my creativity to make hair clips for my girls and knitting (my new hobby, with the kniffty knitter), organizing my home & keeping up with my daily chores, reading through my Bible in a year, catching up on the blogs that I am following, loosing those last, irritating 20 lbs... the list can go on. Basically, it all boils down to having more time for the stuff that I love, and keeping up with the stuff that makes a happy home. However, having more time to do the things I love means that I need to get organized. Oh, that nasty word - ORGANIZATION - it has been haunting me my entire adult life!

I would love to do:

more Bible reading... more knitting and crafting... more baking...

more photagraphy...

So, how do I do this?!?!?! Well, to begin with, I think that I need to start back with flylady. If you have never heard of flylady, it is a really cool web sight started by two women who wanted to help other women get a handle on their lives, by helping them to become more organized with their daily tasks. There is a daily routine to follow that only takes a very small portion of your daily time, therefore, freeing up your time to be able to do the things that you love to do. Then, they have other activities each day to help focus on certain areas of your home to get to the deep stuff. It is a yahoo group that you need to sign up for, and then they send you daily emails to remind you what you have to do that day. I really recommend it. It helped me tremendously before, when I was active with doing it. Not sure why I quit? (Hmmm...perhaps it has a lot to do with my lack of follow through, that I mentioned before?)

However, before I start this new house routine/life organization, I need to first catch up on my laundry so that I can have a clean slate - I hate laundry. Its always the last thing that I do, when it should be the first thing. Thank the good Lord that I am blessed to have a lot of clothes! Otherwise it may not be too pretty. Disclaimer- I may have a lot of clothes, but I am a very thrifty shopper. And, I love hand me downs. Not only for my children, but for myself, as well. If you know me, I love to get things for a bargain. But they have to LOOK expensive, that is the thrill of the hunt. So, even though I have a lot of clothes, I have had them for a long time, or they have been passed down to me, or I have purchased them on sale, or at major discount stores, and not one, single item was expensive. Just so you know ;-) I did not want to sound like I was bragging, when I said I have a lot of clothes. Well, maybe I was bragging, just a little-BUT it was about my expensive looking, hand me down, discount, bargain, cheap clothing. Wow! That was a mouthful! OK, back to the resolution post. How did I get so side tracked?

New Year's resolutions! This is a lot- to organize my entire life- but I am determined to follow through this time. I need to have more time for my interests. And, I need to hear my husband nagging at me less, and complaining less, and I would love to hear him being more sasified with my choices with my time, and, again, I would love to have more time to do things like: blogging and sharing photos of my fast, growing girls, and to knit, and to learn how to take better photographs.... Did I mention theses yet?

Will you join me in organizing your life? I am going to start with one room at a time - one week at a time.

Ok...ready...set...go!

A Merry Christmas and Disneyland

I'm sitting here thinking about my family and reflecting on the images in my head of all of the memories that we made this Christmas.  This Christmas, as well as last Christmas, have been some of the best times that we have spent with our family.  Last year we were blessed with having Mauro's parents staying with us and experiencing all of the Christmas excitement with us.  But this year, even more special, Mauro's daughters were here to experience Christmas with us.  We have had an amazing Christmas.  Connie was able to wake up with us at the crack of dawn, to watch the little girls open their gifts from Santa, and then Kim arrived, later on in the day, to have Christmas day dinner with us. It was so much fun having them here to make some awesome memories.  They both gave gifts to their little sisters, but told them that the gifts were from Santa.  How sweet is that?

     This year, we hosted both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the Cortes house, and with that hosting, came some new traditions. On Christmas Eve, we took the kids out into the back yard to roast marshmallows around the new fire pit. It was so much fun to see them all sitting around the fire trying to blow out their flaming marshmallows.  We will definitely do that again. And, then, on Christmas day, we smoked a Turkey!  Mauro had been working every day after work, the whole week prior to Christmas, on building and welding a very special, one of a kind smoker.  I had asked him if we could maybe bar-b-q the turkey this year, or maybe barrow a smoker, so that we could have something different.  Instead, he decided that he would fabricate one for me as a christmas gift.  It was the best turkey that I have ever had.  We will definitely do that every year for Christmas Day dinner.  I'm not sure if anyone else liked the Turkey, because we had a lot of it left, and no one took a bit of it home.  So, I guess we will be eating this Turkey for the next couple of days, and I couldn't be happier. That smoker was the best Christmas gift ever! But I have to say that my Coach purse, that my husband surprised me with, does come in a close 2nd! Not because it's leather, or that it's a designer, couture bag,  and not because it is the most expensive purse that I have, or will ever have - but simply because he listened, and he bought me something that he new I really wanted.  He bought it regardless of the fact that he thought it was an extravagant want, and vain, on my part.  For me, it really has nothing to do with price, or labels, or status. If I had really wanted a new toaster, and he bought me a new toaster, I would have been just as excited.  It's all about him showing me how much he loves me by listening to me, and considering what he knew I would like. He proved to me that he was paying attention to the things that I like and disliked,  even though he thought it was ridiculous.  I felt a lot of love from him that day! Thanks, Baby Love! 

     I am including pictures from our trip to Disneyland.  That trip was a one of a kind adventure.  All of the girls enjoyed themselves and we all made lasting memories!  I feel so blessed.  I can't wait to take them in a few years when Lily is old enough to remember the trip.