because i want to remember

blog your heart challenge:

I love when stephanie does these challenges every month. It gets me to stop and focus on what's important, and what I need to improve on or change, or learn & grow. (thanks steph)

 

I really hope 2012 is a great year for our family. I have so many ideas, hopes, dreams and things I want

to do for this new year.

2011  was a bit stifling, felt a bit held back last year. Looking forward to a new year and a clean slate to

give it all I have and make it a great year!

The thing that is mostly on my heart right now, with looking back at 2011, was the issues that I have

had to deal with: Savannah decided she wanted to go back to public school and the minute she knew

I signed her up the next day. I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do for her, even though I knew

I would miss her and it made me feel like a failure that I couldn't get her to learn properly at home. I

know in my heart that she is meant to be in public school. She is loving it. She needs friendships, she

needs the challenge of learning what the other kids are learning & trying to do her best to get the

best grades possible. She needs the motivation, the interaction, the praise from the teachers. She needs

to be out and about. She is not a person to stay home and be inside the house all day, she wants to go,

see & do. With her being homeschooled, it was holding her back, she wasn't being the person she was

meant to be. Our relationship was suffering. She was suffering. She had many issues come up because of

being so stifled, held back, not motivated. (I won't go into those personally for her benefit, unless I ask

her if it's okay someday). But seeing her this past month, since she decided to go back, it's been

AMAZING! She is HAPPY again, she is smiling when I drop her off, when I pick her up. She comes home

and happily does her homework! This is NOT the same child that I was dealing with back in November.

In fact, we have been on break since December 23rd and she doesn't go back until Jan 9th and she is

asking to go back, she MISSES it! I am so happy for her! It's so awesome to see my girl shine again, to

be who she was meant to be, mostly to see her HAPPY again, it just warms my heart. It has been the

biggest JOY of my year, to see her come into her own again and be the happy girl that she used to be.

This past 6-9 months has been very hard on our family, very hard on Savannah & had taken the joy out

of our every day and to have that back again, it's truly priceless. Just seeing her smile every day is

enough to make me not want or need anything more in this life.....

Looking forward to seeing her shine even brighter in 2012, you go Savannah Rose, I sure do love you baby

girl!

 

hope you all have a fabulous and beautiful & AMAZING 2012~

Christmas

Christmas was beautiful this year.

We didn't have any snow.

We spent it with Michael's parents and his sister & her family.

it was peaceful and quiet and perfect.

The girls got SPOILED by them and are very happily playing with all the American Girl

stuff that they got.

the girls were old enough to do the entire gingerbread house by themselves...of course it didn't stop them from picking it apart and eating it 2 days later. ugh.

 

the girls spend hours playing in front of the tree, with the train & ornaments. I love that they enjoy it so much!

 

today I have plans to scrapbook! I have been saying that this whole month and have only done it one day! I am GOING to today if it's the ONLY thing I do! have a great day everyone!

by the way, who is picking ONE LITTLE WORD for their 2012 year, to focus and reflect and live by?

I am trying to come up with a word!

 

Merrry Christmas!

From my family:

 

(michael, tara, savannah, ava & piper charlie)

 

 

(and one of us looking a little more presentable)

 

I hope you all feel the joy, magic & wonder of Christmas today.

I hope you feel Christ's love and peace all around you.

I hope you are looking forward to what the new year has to offer and that

you go after your dreams and fill your heart's desire.

God Bless you all!

 

happy birthday savannah rose!

You are my Christmas gift, every single year.

You are my everything. I hope you know that.

I hope you feel that. I hope you believe that.

 

( I need a new picture of you, this is from the first day of starting back to public school)

 

Some days are hard for you, but I am always here for you.

Some days we just don't agree or get along, but still, I am here for you.

I will always be here for you, no matter what.

I am so proud of the person you are, you are strong, independant, and very kind hearted.

You would never say a mean thing to anyone, you treat everyone with kindness and respect.

You want to be your best and you try hard to be that.

I love you with all my heart Savannah Rose, you truly are my everything. You

changed my life, you made me less selfish, you brought me true joy and true love.

happy birthday baby girl, 12 years old, I can't even believe it!

bits & pieces of our lives:

(making banana bread muffins)

 

(checking her math, grading papers, lesson planning)

 

 

(my sweet puppy, piper, who puts his head by my knees and looks for attention. all. day. long.

 

 

(ava, always editing photos + making AG videos of her dolls.)

 

(yum, chocolate chip cookes + milk just for ME)

 

( I have been giving savannah a card every single day of december leading up to her birthday december 24th, she loves it so much, she started hanging them above her bed! she needs to add the rest, she took a few to school also)

 

(ava has been a reading machine this year! she is doing so well! I am so proud of her because she is reading books from Sonlight Core F--ages 10-13, so she is on the low end of that age bracket and most of them are pretty hard to read, I will have to read a lot of them aloud to her! but she is reading stuff that lots of kids her age aren't even exposed to and I love that!).

 

 

this girl makes me smile:

she may be so much like me, she is a great kid.

I don't tell her that enough. she surprises me daily.

she is interesting. she is smart. she is kind.

she is so many things and she is mine. amazed every day that God

gave her to me, that God thought I could handle this precious gift.

somedays, I don't do very well with this gift he gave me.

but she is forgiving, loving and did I mention kind?

she is a good good person, she has a good heart, it's pure & innocent.

I am PROUD to be her mom!

and humbled. and blessed. every single day.

love you savie rose.

looking a little bit like Christmas:

 

we don't really decorate much except to put up a tree and the mantle, but it's the little things that the girls love most....being together, listening to Christmas music, eating a piece of chocolate from our little Advent house, the train that goes around the tree, being able to play with all of their ornaments....these are the parts that make up their Christmas and make it special.

 

 

 

kid notes:

these are some of the kid notes I received from nieces, nephews and children I nannied for:

what gems, so happy to have them.....

 

 

now to make copies for all of them (or part with the orginals)....

first snow:

the girls woke up the other day and were so EXCITED to see a sprinkling of snow on the ground!

it barely covered the ground, but that didn't stop them from doing a photo shoot of their dolls

in the snow. yes, that's what they did! no snowman, no snowballs, no snowangels, BUT a photo shoot.

why, yes, they are mine, why do you ask?!

 

 

little doggy prints (he LOVES the snow)

 

(getting ready to take savannah to school--ava in her jammies & rain boots, see the bunny tracks?)....

 

who is this train really for?

ummmm.....

 

HIM!!!! he bought it for him, but says it's for the girls, yah RIGHT!

I love that he will sit there and watch it for a long time, he's like a little boy.

you know what they say, a boy and his toys!