Resolutions vs. Intentions

There seems to be, in general, a negative disposition towards New Year's resolutions. Maybe it's because they have become so cliche` and so likely to fail. Resolutions like losing weight, excersizing more, eating less, being on time, not procrastinating, and others like that are often emotionally driven. Don't get me wrong. These are great resolutions, but when you get to the nitty gritty of getting it done, you're usual tendency that's causing those behaviors in the first place take over and you're right back where you started.

So this year, I asked myself this question: What are the things about last year that I want to leave behind and make different about this year? Intentions. "I didn't like that I was (enter behavior or negative habit) last year, so this year, I intend to do it differently."

The biggest one for me *true confessions* is that I intend to be a more faithful person this year. Last year, I was notorious for not following through on ideas I had, or worse, things I had committed to (eek!), I never returned phone calls or emails or facebook messages out of plain laziness, and I often forgot about them . I was convicted that I had flat out, most likely become a person that could not be counted on. UGH! How terrible! Thank you God for His grace and the grace of all the people around me who loved me despite this particular shortcoming.

Now that I'm sharing this with the whole world, I have the accountability of the whole world as well. Of course, this is all in the power of the Holy Spirit in me to help me overcome the laziness that I tends towards so often.

so, what are your intentions this year? You don't have to answer, just ask yourself.

Baseball Birthday

In late as usual fashion here's Isaac birthday post....a month late.

Isaac loved baseball from the time he went to his first game with Luke. After this game we went to three more games. All he ever talked about was baseball. So it was no surprise that when we asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted, he loudly proclaimed, "BASEBALL!". So with no further ado, here are some pics from his Baseball Birthday!


The morning started with our small family celebration since the party was actually his birthday day. We had to eat birthday pancakes at the coffee table because the dining table was being used for something else.....
....like birthday cake. This is the table the night before without all the other food. I went with Red White & Blue theme since baseball is America's pastime.
Here are the invitations. Please take some time to look closely at it. Luke designed it from scratch and I LOVED IT! and boy Isaac did too. Check out all the little details. He did SUCH a great job!!!!
The rest of the food on the table. As the invitation said, there were, indeed, free corn dogs all day. We had chili for the adults, homemade popcorn in little brown bags, fruit on a stick and oreo "base"balls (I just put little red lines on the oreoballs). My house actually smelled like a baseball stadium, but in that good way :) I forgot to take a pic of it but the cups were blue and red and I glued little baseballs on them as well.

Here are a few closeups of the cake and cupcakes.
Here's little brother enjoying his cupcake! Then it was time to PLAY BALL!
Thankfully, it was a really nice day so most of the kids were out back playing T-ball or football or just with whatever they found! Praise God for our fenced in backyard! Then after all the excitement calmed down, we had a small very unstructured game of Pin (tape) the baseball on the baseball bat!
It was funny. Most of the kids didn't like the the blindfold, and the younger kids would peak and match the balls to the little baseballs I had drawn on the board instead of trying to get it on the bat. Funny.

When it was time to say goodbye, the kids left with little treat bags with their names on them. Inside was a little baseball coloring book Luke made, a small pack of crayons, a piece of candy and a little baseball bouncy ball. What a fun day! Isaac is still talking about it. The best part for me was that my mom was here to celebrate. It was the first birthday of my boys that she could be at because she lives all the way in AZ. I was so happy that she could be here!

And now, we have a 3 year old! I say almost everyday, there's no baby left in him, just my big boy. single tear.

Superman and Superman!

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Our Christmas House

Even though Christmas is only 4 days away, and I've been a terrible blogger lately, I'd still like to show our Christmas home this year.

I've never done anything like this to our mantel before. Mostly because it's awkwardly shaped like a triangle as opposed to straight on the wall, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.
This is the pianeo. With the mantel and the piano, I used fresh christmas tree trimmmings. You can get A TON of them at Lowe's for free.
You can't really tell in this picture but this is my little ECU tree that I put up every year. As a side note, you can see in the back the buffet table my mom built and installed while she was here.
Here is our Christmas tree! We don't have a matching tree just an "every kind of ornament imaginable" type of tree. and we love it!!
And finally, our outdoor lights. We've never been able to reach that top point but hopefully one day we will.

There are about 5 houses on our street that are total Griswold houses. It's awesome.

Tomorrow I'll try, TRY, to post about all our Advent activities.

Merry Christmas!!

Isaac literally teaching Simon how baseball. Here he's telling him that first you hit the ground with the bat before you hit the ball :)

Felt Advent Wreath

I've been meaning to post this. I made the boys a felt advent wreath to use during the week. They love getting to "light" the candles!

Annual Thanksgiving Movie

Every Thanksgiving Luke shoots a movie. They're usually so funny and creative. This year was extra special because it was all kids. It's kid funny. Also, my little Isaac is so cute! He was so obedient and happy to do this with daddy!

P.S. Luke does all the editing and puts in the music and the credits. He's so creative.

Another Turkey Craft

Simon's tissue paper turkey. One of my favorites. He needed LOTS of help.

Today's Fall Craft

A fall tree made from different kinds of colored noodles.

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Simon's First Haircut

This happened on 8/20/11, so it's a little late. He looks so cute with his big boy haircut! I kept giving him bits of graham cracker to keep his attention.