Did I mention clowns?

My irrational fears:

-clowns (I know this sounds stupid but I have a reason for it thanks to the movie Poltergeist, my brother and a stuffed clown I had as a child.. but that is all I'm going to say about that.)

-heights... especially when children are near a ledge of some sort. It doesn't even matter if it is a balcony with a rail. If children are near it, I will vomit.

-the dark (have you seen Paranormal Activity?) I rest my case and I am secretly glad that my daughter has to sleep with the hall light on. I don't know what I will do when she grows out of that one. I think I'll have to get a nightlight for my bedroom.

-hurting feelings. This is the worst thing about me hands down! I will obsess non-stop about a conversation if I feel like I said something that might have been taken wrong. I overthink EVERYTHING and I am trying to come to terms with it. Also- it drives my husband insane.

-public speaking. I will seriously take extreme measures to get out of having to speak in front of a crowd. I have taken an F in a class to avoid doing an oral report and faked sickness to get out of speaking in front of large groups. I'm not kidding.

-Sophie running down the driveway, walking down the stairs, touching the tv stand, running in socks etc.. pretty much if Sophie moves quickly anywhere I have an anxiety attack. I just picture her falling on the driveway and skinning her face, falling head over heels down the stairs, the tv falling on her or slipping on the hardwood floor. I know. I did mention these were "irrational" fears right?

-and did I mention clowns?

Trust me this list could go on for pages and there are so many more that are just totally ridiculous but I will spare you (and myself from the embarrassment) because I think you get the point. The reason I am telling you this is because the first step is admitting you have a problem right? My biggest concern is that my stupid fears are going to rub off on my children. I don't want them growing up being an anxious ball of nerves like their mother. My goal this year is to try really hard to relax and stop overthinking things.

There you have it... #1 of 57 of my New Year's Resolutions in a nutshell. Not.

I know... That was three minutes of your lives you will never get back huh?

A New Decade

What a crazy, busy year 2009 was....



-The boys started at a new school and it has been an incredible experience so far, they are both developing a love of education that I never thought they would have.



-Isaac scored his first touchdown and discovered a new love (some might call it an obsession) of football.



-Jake realized that he LOVES gymnastics. He started lessons several months ago and was doing back handsprings in his second class.



-Sophie is potty trained! WOOHOO!



-We gave our bathroom a makeover with the help of Jay's mom and it looks wonderful.



-Jay started a new job in December.



-We went through the loss of my Grandma on Christmas day. She was one of the most amazing women I know. She was always gentle, kind, generous and loving and Sophie and I had the privilage of staying with her for a week while my mom and dad were out of town. I am so glad that I had that opportunity to spend some quality time with her. We will always remember her sweet smile and will miss her terribly.





The beginning of 2010 was sort of a wake up call for me because on January 2, Isaac turned 13. I cannot believe he is thirteen years old and that my little boy that came into this world weighing just 5lbs 9oz is now a big football playing, teenager. What an amazing kid he has grown up to be!

Procrastination and Christmas lists

PROCRASTINATION folks.. it is my middle name. It is what I excel at. There are SOOOO many things I am suppose to be doing right now. So many in fact that I don't even know where to begin so instead I think... HMMMM this is the perfect moment to update my blog. It is seriously amazing that I can even dress myself in the morning.

Is anyone else freaked out that is is already the end of November? I seriously feel like I blinked my eyes and the year was almost over. That may have something to do with the fact that our Christmas lights are still on our house. Yes I said still. The only thing worse than being a procrastinator is being a procrastinator that married another procrastinator. When June came around we both looked at each other and said ahhh... let's just leave them up. What's the point in climbing on the roof and taking the lights down when we just have to put them back up in SIX months. Not to mention now we can snicker when we see all of the husbands in our neighborhood angry, shivering and cussing as they pull out the ladder and hang their lights while their wives order them around from the safety of the ground. In fact these are probably the same neighbors that made fun of us for leaving our lights up all year. Who's laughing now? We are... that's right.

It's that time of year again.... the dreaded Christmas shopping. Oh how I loathe Christmas shopping. What happened to the days of shopping for my kids and just picking things that I know they will like? I can still do that for Sophie for the most part because I know that anything she gets she will be happy with, and Jake is pretty much the easiest child to buy for on the face of the universe... HE ASKED FOR COPY PAPER PEOPLE. I was like "um sure you can have copy paper. I'll buy you a whole box of copy paper." and his reaction was similar to the one you would get from me if someone told me they would clean my house every day for the next 20 years.

But HOLY HELL... what is up with tweens? Isaac writes a list and you seriously have to have a glossary to figure the freaking thing out.. Maybe a map in the front would help.. (you know like in the Lord of The Rings books) Everything has a brand name (some of which I've never heard of) specific color or pattern and then they are ranked in order of which ones are most important and then there is the issue of "if you can't find this one then I guess this one over here will suffice." What??? Hello!! Does he know how many different pairs of Blue Nike football gloves are out there??? It's like he's trying to make my head explode?! Don't get me wrong, other than his crazy, mind blowing Christmas lists, he is honestly a DREAM child so I feel very lucky to have him, but wow.

M

Blog? What Blog?

Monica I'm copying you because I love the bullet point thing and maybe it will make it easier to blog and get my points out without stressing too much about un-needed info.

- Jake started gymnastics last night... He jumped from his first ever gymnastics class which was a level 2 to a level 4 and started working on back flips last night!?! He is in a class with only 4 people, three of which are girls. Needless to say he is loving life. His instructor said she wants to teach him how to do a flip off of the wall.... AWESOME! I love seeing people do that, I'm just crossing my fingers that he doesn't get injured.

-Isaac is still going strong with football. He is playing Wide Receiver and Corner Back and loving it. He has changed so much since last year...(more aggressive, better catches etc.) He is so much fun to watch and I am definitely his biggest fan!

- Sophie and I have been working on letters this week. She is such a smart little monster but when I try to make her learn something new she just stares at me like I'm wasting her time. I'll have to try to make it not seem like I'm not "teaching". She is such a funny little girl and still makes me laugh constantly. Her new thing is when I say something stupid and she looks at me shrugs her shoulders with her hands out and says, "Come on!" It's hard to give it justice on a blog but it is hilarious. Her favorite movie right now is Coraline and she asks every new person she meets if they have seen it. She is constantly telling me she wants to go live with her "other mother." Nice.