I wish you enough......and my WORD for 2009

My sister-in-law Angie sent this email (in red) to me a couple of weeks ago and I knew instantly I wanted to post it for New Year's.
I wish you enough this upcoming year in 2009......

ENOUGH

Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged, and the mother said, "I love you, and I wish you enough."

The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom."

They kissed, and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it
would be forever?"

"Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?"

"I am old, and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead, and the reality is - her next trip back will be for my funeral," she said.

"When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?"

She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. "When we said, 'I wish you
enough,' we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough
good things to sustain them."

Then, turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

Again, I wish all of you ENOUGH in 2009!

Tanja, whose blog I follow, chooses a word every year and I really like that idea.
I think my word for 2009 is going to be GRATITUDE.

Definition: the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful

I am going to work on being grateful for what I have and am a part of. It is so easy to get in a rut, get frustrated, get stressed out, and get negative.......however it shouldn't be easy. I have so much to be grateful for!

When the boys want me to read a book with them, put a puzzle together with them, play a game with them, snuggle with them at bedtime....and I'm in the middle of doing something, cleaning something, or have a huge to do list in my head.....stop and be grateful that they want to do that with their mommy - who knows how long that will last! ;)

When Matt has to work late, or go on a trip....instead of complaining, and being exhausted from having to do everything by myself, or missing him (well I can still miss him right?!)....stop and be grateful that he has a job that he is doing extremely well with and allows us to have and do as much as we do.

When I'm frustrated with my job, feel overwhelmed, feel like I'm not making a difference, feel burnt out....stop and be grateful that I still have a job and everyday get to do what I love doing - teach!

I am very grateful for all of our family and friends. How blessed we are! As one of my favorite sayings goes, THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AREN'T THINGS!

I am going to try to always find the positive side and what I can be grateful for in any situation.....
Help hold me to this......... this is something I want to work on.

Happy 2009 everyone!

(Check out TipJunkie cool idea and all of the wonderful words for 2009! -I'm adding this on to my post after I was given the tip to check out Tip Junkies blog 1/5)

A few more pictures from Christmas...

Jacob and Natey being "Waluigi" in Mariocart. Jacob is obsessed with being "pursle guy -Waluigi" - he's purple if you couldn't figure that word out.Nolan still holds the title of belly boy! Sitting in "NeNe's" chair. (previous picture of Natey sitting in it the night before)

Jacob showing off his new do!

Connor posing!
Uncle Natey and the boys! And of course....my favorite guys!

The Skala (my dad's side) Christmas (#5)

Saturday we spent the day with my dad's side. What a room full we had. I can't even tell you how many people there are total, however my dad has 10 siblings and all were there except for 1. Then you add in all of the grand kids and great grand kids (minus a few who were unable to make it ). It's always a good time, good food, and good company. My grandpa is in the middle picture -isn't he just a cutie?!

Lots to catch up on...

There a quite a few new posts. I just couldn't keep up.
A few funnies:

Jacob calls the brush/scraper for the car a toothbrush. I was out scraper the car one evening and Jacob told me to use the toothbrush. He's told Matt to use it to clean the car off a few times also.

Connor wanted to play the Wii.
Matt: "Not right now Connor."
Connor: "Mommy, said we could, and she's the boss."
Matt: "Well, I'm the biggest boss!"
Connor: "Well, she's the oldest, so what she says, goes!"

Christmas Evening with Matt's family (#4)

That afternoon Matt's mom and sister's family came to our house for the night.
We didn't think we were going to be able to get together with them, so it was a great gift in itself. There's nothing better than a full house! The kids had a fun time playing and opening all of the new toys. We made homemade pizza for supper, and opened some gifts that night. Today my mom and Natey met up with us and we all went sledding. We had a blast, it's so fun to play like kids! The boys are always sad to see them leave. Another wonderful time!

Our Christmas morning (#2) and Christmas day with The Ebeling family (my mom's side) (#3)

We woke up Christmas morning to Connor yelling, "Mommy, daddy, Santa came and left lots of presents. He took the reindeer food, and drank all of the milk and ate some of the cookies!". (sad side note - Elfa went back to the North pole with Santa and Connor was pretty bummed about that. We had a few sad faces, small tears, and he even had a little goodbye talk with Elfa the night before)
We started the morning with opening Santa's presents...it was hilarious (for the amount of time I'm sure it took Santa to wrap them...it didn't take long to open them!) Actually as you can see in the picture, the first thing Nolan did was finish Santa's left over cookies. Then we opened our gifts for each other. I can't believe Christmas is already here and gone.
We spent the afternoon with my mom's side (The Ebelings) on Christmas day. The kids (great grand kids) do a little gift exchange, the adults play "dirty bingo" to exchange a gift, we have a wonderful meal, and we get to catch up with everyone. This was the first Christmas without grandpa. I truly hope we keep getting together, Grandma and Grandpa would like that.

Christmas Eve with my family (#1)

Our first Christmas celebration this year was with my family on Christmas Eve. We started in the afternoon, visiting, opening a few presents, eating a delicious supper of steak and shrimp, opening more presents, playing some games (We played Apples to Apples and Connor was helping Natey out. He was reading the cards. He came to one card and out loud said, "umm.....the b*tch". We all couldn't help it and burst out laughing. The card was "the beach"! Pretty close), and ending it with a beautiful Christmas "midnight" mass. (It was interesting with all of the little ones-they slept through most of it) One of my favorite things we do at Christmas is we each say a toast at dinner, whether it's for something we're thankful or hopeful for.

We made sure to have Santa's plate of cookies, his glass of milk, and the reindeer food all ready before we went to my parents house because we knew it would be late when we got home from church.

PJ's, Hot chocolate, and lights!

When Connor was three we started a tradition of one night before Christmas, putting on our pajamas, filling mugs with hot chocolate, and going for a Christmas light drive. The boys were so excited for it. Jacob wanted the mug that Connor had, so Connor gave it to him and said to me, "Mommy, I don't need any hot chocolate, all I need is you guys!" ;) A good time was had by all. Jacob was the only one that made it home awake.

Merry Christmas

Check this out - Merry Christmas

Santa's helpers and a mission for Elfa

Mary, our daycare provider, had her annual Christmas party tonight. She always puts on such a great party with crafts, a delicious meal, presents, and of course a visit from Santa. We are so lucky to have her in our lives. She made the kids pajama pants and picked the perfect material for the boys. Nolan got monkeys, Jacob got race cars, and Connor got football. They all wore them to bed last night. Plus she gave them all another gift and the kids also exchanged gifts. We were spoiled. I love the group pictures in this slideshow. You can see the progression or regression of trying to get all the kids to sit and stay!

Mary told the kids that Santa was going to make a visit at the party, so Connor thought of bringing a picture he colored to give to him. However, he asked me earlier this afternoon, "Mom, is it going to be the real Santa, or just one of those helper guys that dresses up like him?".

I told him it was going to be one of the helpers. (Connor caught on awhile ago that there are way too many kids and parties in the world for one Santa to make all of those visits before Christmas, so he decided that the ones we see before Christmas Eve at all these different places are his helpers).

After I told him it was going to be one of the helpers, he said, "Hmmm.....I know, I'll have Elfa bring the picture to Santa since I know he goes there every night. Who knows when the Santa at Mary's party will see the real Santa."

So, we gave Elfa Connor's picture to bring to Santa tonight.
Santa even wrote back......you'll have to ask Connor what his letter all said!

Chuckles, smiles, and gaudiness

Jacob is so obsessed right now with his cars, he even goes as far as putting them all in one of my old purses and carries them ALL around in it. It's hard to not smile and laugh when he asks, "Where my purse go?". Too funny, because who would figure the purse is filled with cars and trains!

Jacob and Connor were playing Mario cart today on the Wii and Connor would say something, and the next thing you knew, Jacob was repeating it in his little voice, "Oh man", "Come on baby, you do it!" It was pretty funny.

Last night the boys were in the bathroom and all of a sudden Connor yells, "Mommy or daddy, one of you better come in here!". We get in there and Nolan was in the bathtub with the water running in his clothes! He looked up at us and just laughed his "wicked" little stinker laugh!

Our house has been taken over by pictures that Connor and Jacob have colored at school or daycare. It looks a little gaudy, but I can not tell those proud and excited little faces that we don't have any more room or that we have enough pictures up. Connor always has a great new place to hang his masterpeices. Plus, I came to the conclusion that there will be a day when our house will be bare with no pictures and I am going to want those pictures back! I don't care if it looks gaudy! I love it!!!

Starting a new tradition

Two of my aunts (Sharon and Marilyn), my mom, two of my cousins (Michelle and Katie), and Kristin and Kelsey all came over to my house on Saturday to make Kolaches (a traditional Czech pastry with a variety of fillings like poppy seed, prune, apricot, almond, cream cheese). We decided to do it last minute this year and I know many others would have loved to have been there (plus there was a blizzard going on outside), so we're going to be more on the ball next year. We would like to make it a yearly tradition. My grandma and great grandma loved to make Kolaches and there wouldn't be a get-together without them. (My grandma on my dad's side also made them...so I'm fortunate to have it from both sides of the family!!!) We had so much fun listening to Christmas music (even one of Kristin's Christmas polka CD's - I'm sure Grandma was loving that from up above!), reminiscing, and joking around. By the end of the day though, we were all beat. I used the 8mm design for the slideshow because it reminded me of the old movies we have of our family.

Let Them Be Little, Stand By Me, and One Love

Kristin told me about this song by Lonestar called Let Them Be Little and it sounded familar, so I went to her blog to listen to it. I like the Lonestar version of the song better, but click below to watch and hear a video by Billy Dean who I think originally sang it. We were at Matt's Christmas party and talking with others about kids growing up so fast. This was perfect timing. Thanks Kristin. This is such a great song...makes me want to keep letting the boys come snuggle in our bed with us. We don't turn them away too often. It's already hard to believe Connor is in preschool and reading and becoming SO independent, Jacob is a "Big Boy" as he keeps telling us every day, and Nolan, our baby, is no longer a baby.....
Let Them Be Little

I also got this from a coworker. I love how they put the song together. The message is so true we are all connected. Stand By Me and One Love.

I love music! Enjoy and have a great weekend everyone!

We all need a tree

I read this story (below the tree picture) on another blog and loved it. I wanted to share it with you. Sometimes I get caught up with my "troubles", which are very, very small troubles compared to what others are going through. My having a bad day is nothing compared to parents losing a child, someone losing their job with the economy being so scary, or being diagnosed with a fatal illness or disease etc... all things I actually know people that are going through right now. I don't have a tree outside my house as of yet, but am going to put something to remind me of this somewhere, in my car maybe, or before I go into the house from the garage, a mini tree, or even a leaf of some sort?

I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job: a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit and his ancient one ton truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss. Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. 'Oh, that's my trouble tree,' he replied 'I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children.. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again.' 'Funny thing is,' he smiled,' when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.

The boys are finally feeling better (all four of them!). However, I now have a little bit of it - not nearly as bad, but a touch. Ick! Better now then next week I guess.

Connor had his school Christmas program yesterday and it worked out great for me to be there during my prep time. Matt unfortunately couldn't make it because he was at a meeting up in the cities all day, but Grandma and Grandpa were able to make it. Connor was so serious through the whole thing. He always wants to do it right and give 100%. I was trying to get him to laugh and smile the whole time (however, serious compared to being obnoxious is fine with me!).
This is Connor's good (and adorable) friend Hilary. Her name has come up on a few posts.
Connor was the only one that had a speaking part. He was Santa, and though it was only "Ho Ho Ho" (three different times), he was adorable and made everyone laugh.
Working on our gingerbread house. The final product!

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I was picture tagged this week by two people, Jessica and LeeAnne. Fun Fun! Here is my picture.
I lucked out....this is one of my favorite pictures of the boys! I took it last winter either while Matt was gone in Europe or right when he got back... I can't remember. As you can see they have red eye, so i didn't edit it like the rules say!

The object of the picture tag is to:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 people to do the same NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

I tag Erin M., Kristin S., Wendy F., and Susan M.

Sing your heart out Connor...

 

Connor's Sunday school class sang at our church's Christmas concert Sunday afternoon. They walked up the aisle ringing bells, sang 3 songs, and were so cute. We had punch and cookies afterwards. He was so proud, as were we!

We've had the flu around here last night and today. I actually am the only who has not caught it yet (even Matt, Kristin, and mom have it - along with quite a few others at our daycare). I've been cleaning up puke and dirty explosive diapers the past few days, I've done about 10 loads of laundry, and I've gotten lots of clingy snuggles. Hopefully we're all better tomorrow and it skips me.