As I'm sitting here still in my PJ's at 1 in the afternoon on New Year's Eve, I've been thinking about what 2008 has brought to the Pearce's. Its been a very busy year, full of family time and adjusting to new schedules, a move, and a huge change in the weather!! Moving from Louisiana to Kansas is quite a temperature change! We love it here, but believe it or not, there are definitely things about Louisiana that I miss.
I've also been thinking of some of the things that I would like to change in 2009. I won't even try to call them resolutions, because I always fail miserably at those. There is always tomorrow, or next week, or two weeks from Tuesday to start things. I don't work well on that kind of schedule. So, I've decided that the only big pressures I'm going to put on myself are treating my body and mind better--translate to "getting off my butt and stop eating nothing but junk!", being more organized with my Pampered Chef business, AND keeping this crazy blog updated. Instead of blogging when I feel I have enough cute pictures or something major has happened, I'd like to try doing what some of my friends do....blogging on a certain day of the week, or at least making sure I do it sometime each week. I'm making no promises, you all can see how well I've done in updating the last couple of months!!! But, as with all things in my life, if I make myself more accountable, maybe I'll get more done. I've never been very organized, or much of a self motivator, but I think if I make that my big goal, then every aspect of my life will fall into place a little more easily. Dr. Phil says it takes 30 days to form a habit, so January is going to be filled with some "habit forming", if all goes well!!!
I also need to find a church here that I feel comfortable in. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've only been to church once since moving here, and that was Christmas Eve. The service was wonderful, much like the one at my church back home. I feel my best when I'm attending church regularly, and I haven't been good at all about that in the last couple of years. This was never more evident than last week, when in church, past bedtime, knowing Santa was on his way, Tucker was probably the best behaved of all our kids (well, except maybe Caitlyn!) He has always really loved Church and learning about his Faith. I have my daily conversations with God, and say alot of prayers. I read my children's Bible with them, and we talk alot about God and Jesus and all of the beautiful things that are in our lives because of Them. Tucker always loves Bible school, which he attends every summer, and he's very intent on making sure that we pray before every meal. We probably do need to come up with something more original that the standard, "God is great, God is good......." Although, Ty almost has that one memorized too!! So much of our lives passes so quickly and so much of it is taken up with unimportant things, leaving little time for what really matters. I think its time to start putting the important stuff first, and filling in the other stuff where time allows. When I look back on my day, or week, or whatever measurement of time in which I felt really busy, it seems I'm always left with the question, "What did I actually accomplish?" I'm ready to be able to answer that question with something relevant each and every day.
So, today, my relevant thing is making myself accountable to you, our blog readers. I've put myself out there, told you what I want to accomplish, and now I need to do it so I won't be embarrassed when you ask me, "Have you found a new church yet?", or "How is your health", "Have you been busy with Pampered Chef?", or "What did you do today?".
To all of you, I hope that 2008 has been good to you, and we wish you the best in 2009! Have fun, but be safe tonight!!
The picture does not do the barn its justice. The thing is huge and the little guys love it!!!!
Take note of the awesome letter to Santa
Our annual family picture in front of the tree is normally taken on Christmas Eve when we're all dressed up for church. Ty, however, was so sound asleep that he was snoring when we got home. So, this is us SO lovely in the morning!
So sweet!
After having had a couple false alarms with only a few flurries, we finally had a really beautiful snowfall. It was strange though, went to bed one night with no idea it was going to snow, and this is what we woke up to! We are now fully equipped with snow pants, snow boots, and sleds. Bring it on!!
Ty is in a music/art class once each week, and they recently had a Christmas program. All the classes combined for the night-- some sang songs, some played guitar or keyboard, and others, like our son, ran around the stage sugared up on cookies and fudge the entire time! We have some great video footage of him too. We will use it against him at some point in his life!
Tucker had a family project in which the instructions were simply to decorate the tree using no crayons, markers, or paints. This is what we came up with. It truly was a family project. Mike came up with the idea to use branches from our evergreen tree outside, Colton retrieved the branches and woodmulch for the trunk, I ran the hot glue gun, and Tucker stuck everything on. Oh yeah, Ty slept--that was helpful!! Its hard to see, but the "ornaments" are beads we glued on. We all loved it, and it was pretty well received at school too!
Okay, I know this is so random, and you can call me weird, but we thought this was the strangest egg we've ever seen! Whats with the bumps?!
I've mentioned before how much we love Tucker's school, but here are a few pics of just how beautiful the inside is......The first two are of the goldfish pond and waterfall. The third is from above, where Tucker's classroom is. The room to the left of the pond is the library and the room to the right is the 21st Century Science Lab. The whole inside is done as a city scape, like a little village. Its awesome!!
Mike in front of a beautiful, and rather large, Vietnam monument.
The kids enjoying a ride in the back of the truck!
3 of about 15 or more deer we counted in about a 20 minute time span.
In case I've not mentioned it, Caitlyn has FINALLY gotten braces! She got them on just a short time before this pic was taken. She's hoping they arent on a day more than the 22 months the orthodontist talked about. She's doing great with them, and being careful to follow orders. I'm sure she'll get sick of doing that eventually though!!
I know this first pic is very hard to see, but it is Tucker at our first Raceo. Mike, Tucker and I are all doing horseback riding lessons, and a couple times a month we do "raceos", which consist of barrels, pole bending, flags, stakes, and several other mounted races. The indoor arena isn't very camera friendly, but I tried!!!
This is dirty and exhausted Ty after the raceo. He usually comes away looking like he's rolled in the dirt while eating it! We all get pretty filthy, but its a whole lot of fun!
I couldn't get Ty to cooperate with pictures very well, but the little monkey looked adorable. My favorite part was his padded bootie, which you can't see too well in the pics. No one knew Tucker, which he took great pride in!! We really raked it in, just going around our own neighborhood. It was alot of fun. This year, we tried something different, and decided to pass out play-doh rather than candy. Tucker thought it was a great idea, as did many parents. We got lots of weird looks from kids though!!
Caitlyn and Tucker did a little leaf raking one weekend. It made the yard look great, but better yet, it was a very fun jumping pile!!
This is an example of all the things that Ty has to drag to bed with him. The other end of the crib looks much the same. I have no idea how he can possibly be comfortable, but at any given time, he's got 7 or 8 critters and a couple of Rockets!
"My sissy is sooooooooo fun!"
