Girl Named Optimistic

Well, it's the first day of 2012! 2011 was a pretty good year overall, but not my best. Didn't get the promotion at work and things have been rough since. 2012 is already promising to be better, I can't announce anything until Tuesday, but new opportunities have been presented and I'm very excited!

Pete passed the first two parts of his CPA exam in 2011, and will pass the rest in 2012! This will allow him to really grow Priority Tax Solutions in the coming years. I'm so proud of him for all the hard work he's put into his business and getting his CPA.  


I started running in 2011, completed 4 5K's and lost 20 pounds. I can't wait to see what PR's 2012 will bring me, and what fun races and fitness levels I will reach - hopefully more weight loss!

Our basement is SO close to being finished, after 2.5 years of hard work and a lot of money. It will be so exciting to have double the space to use as living space - another bathroom, two more bedrooms, an office, a storage area, a bar, a living room... I just can't imagine! 

Now that we are finished having kids, we can really enjoy Kylie and Claire and take them to do fun things, and watch them grow up. I can't believe that Kylie will be starting school in a year and a half! We are planning on putting her in preschool a couple days a week next fall to get her ready, although she's already breezing through her Kindergarten workbooks!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my week off from work (technically 10 days) and enjoyed spending time with friends and family. One more day left until back to work! I am just so optimistic about 2012, we called 2011 "The year of the Edwards" and we're calling 2012 "The year of the positive changes" and I know it will live up to it's name. 

I have learned so much this year  - humility, patience, grace under fire, class, compassion, sympathy, how to handle stress, multi-tasking, and a lot of new emotions!  I've learned who my true friends are, and who I can count on to be there and who doesn't care about me as much as I thought, and to be honest, I was surprised by a lot of people! I've also learned that a lot of people who I thought were acquaintances turned out to care for me a lot and think very highly of me, and have really come through for me when I needed them. I've learned a lot about myself and how I handle situations I'm presented with, and I can say I'm proud of how I've conducted myself, and I don't regret anything. I have learned that you are ultimately only responsible for yourself and how you treat people, and you can't be in charge of how others treat you, only how you react to how they treat you. Most of all I've grown closer to God this year, and I hope to continue that relationship in 2012. I appreciate 2011 teaching me these lessons that I can take with me into the next years and grow in my personal life, professional life, and social life. I can't wait to see what 2012 is going to teach me, I know it won't all be good, but it will all be something I can learn from and I never want to stop learning. Bring it on 2012!

Girl Named Traditionly

I'm pretty sure "traditionly" isn't a word, but I don't know the adjective form of tradition I suppose. The weekend was all about Christmas traditions for us. Saturday Kylie and I went shopping with my mom to finish our Christmas shopping, and we had so much fun! Kylie was so cute because Dad had given her $1, and I gave her $1 to pick out anything she wanted. Being 3 1/2, she doesn't really understand how it works, and at Kohl's she picked out a $5 stuffed animal she wanted and gave the cashier $1 and said she was saving the other dollar for a toy at Walmart. At least she's learning that you have to have money to buy things. She then picked out a $10 toy to buy with her remaining $1. Pete has some serious accounting work to do with her! 

Then Saturday evening we headed down to Silver Dollar City for our annual trip to see the lights. Us and 25,000 other people had the same idea. They ran out of parking spots, so being Rhiannon and Pete, we made up our own. We saw a chain down around where the tram drives. We drove over it and parked in the tram turn-around. Then it took approximately 30 minutes to wait in line to get into the park, then it was shoulder-to-shoulder once we got in. We stayed for a total of 45 minutes before joining the herd of people leaving when the parade ended. We had a good time, and the girls were good while we were there. As you can see in the picture, by the time we left Claire was a little done being there. 

Then Sunday we had our Christmas with the Zoromski's. Kylie got an apron with her name on it, which she was SO excited about. She said she wants to wear it forever (she's going to be even more excited when she sees the kitchen we got her to go along with it!) 

And, we actually got all 3 kids to sit down at one time long enough to take multiple pictures of them!

I can't wait for this weekend, and to have a week off to spend with them! This is the first year that Kylie's been old enough to understand Christmas and really get excited. It makes it so much better to see it through their eyes and get excited with them! Kylie loves to listen to and sing Christmas music, and knows the words to every song! She tells everyone she sees "Merry Christmas" and it's so sweet, it warms your heart.


On another note, Kylie has a urinary tract infection that I'm pretty sure she's had for a couple weeks, and I'm a bad mom and didn't take her to the doctor because I thought she was making it up. I've learned my lesson. She started her medicine today, so hopefully it will start working quickly. We have to take her in Wednesday for an ultrasound, but hopefully it comes back normal. 


Claire had her 18 month check up today and was fine. She's 60th percentile for height and 35th percentile for weight (even after having a belly full of pancakes and eggs!) she had two shots, but so far no reaction this time.

Girl Named Holiday Popcorn

Peppermint Marshmallow Popcorn

3 bags microwave popcorn, hulls removed
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
16 oz bag of marshmallows (any flavor, I used peppermint for Christmas)

Pop the popcorn, put in bowl. Microwave butter, brown sugar and marshmallows for 2 1/2 minutes, stir, then 1 more minute. When it thins out, pour over popcorn, mix, and enjoy!

Girl Named Behind Schedule

Last week was an exhausting week! Claire started off the week throwing up on Monday. Then Tuesday everyone was fine. Tuesday night Becca's kids started throwing up so we had to keep the girls home Wednesday and Thursday. Then I got sick and laid in bed and slept all day Friday. My mom came and got the girls Friday morning and they kept them until Sunday morning. I didn't get any Christmas shopping done this weekend, or cleaning. Sunday everyone was fine, so we were looking forward to starting a normal week. Sunday night, Becca started throwing up so we had to keep the girls home again on today. HOPEFULLY everyone is better and tomorrow I can actually work a full day! This is what my living room looks like after a day at home with the kids...

Kylie decided last night to have a complete meltdown (I know that may completely surprise many of you! ;) ) and not eat her food at dinner. We were having cream cheese chicken croissants and potatoes au gratin, nothing that should be gross to a toddler. Well, we had a standoff similar to the peach incident of 2011. She wouldn't even take a bite, dad and I both argued with her, tried to reason with her, bribe her, anything we could do to get her to eat. Finally, after peeing her pants all over the living room, she took a screaming bath, and went to bed screaming at 6:30. Don't worry, we saved her potatoes for her to eat today, and she again, wouldn't take a bite at lunch. She must have eventually gotten hungry because she ate them, but they must have been the most disgusting old, hard, cold potatoes by that point. On the other hand, tonight at dinner she ate all of her ham and mashed sweet potatoes, so who knows what will please that kid. But, when going to bed tonight she got up every 15 minutes and came out with a different excuse ranging from "it's too cold" to "it's too hot" to "I just need a little bite of chocolate" to "I just have a show I want to watch". I continue thinking I am a horrible mom 90% of the time because I don't know how other moms do it. I only have 2 kids, but they absolutely wear me out! I am exhausted every night, and I get so short-tempered with them because they won't do anything I tell them to do. I'm sure every mom deals with the same stuff, I just think they do it with more grace than I can muster. But then they do things like this and I can't imagine my life without them.

Last night I did have time to go through the 10 trash bags full of clothes that Claire has outgrown in her 18 months of life. It was a ridiculous amount of clothes, and it took me 3 hours to sort, take pictures and get posted on Craigslist to sell. And, I may have cried a good portion of that time, every time I pulled out a miniature pair of pajamas or onesie that the girls wore, it seems like not very long ago. It was Pete's idea, because he got the wood floors put down in the basement this weekend (big step!) so we had to get rid of everything we can to get carpet put down and furniture moved in. We literally have a whole room of baby paraphernalia. It's much harder on the mom than on the dad I think, it reminds me of how small they used to be and how big they are now, and how I will never have another tiny baby of my own. It's very emotional!

Well, on to another day that will hopefully be "normal", and maybe I can get my Christmas shopping all done on Saturday? A girl can dream...

Girl Named Off Her Game

Happy Thanksgiving! This morning I got up early to run my first Turkey Trot 5K. I had heard there were 7,500 people registered so I wanted to get there early, as I was concerned about parking. The race started at 8:00, so I left the house about 6:45. I found pretty close parking when I got there a little after 7:00, and with no friends (that I knew of) running, I had no idea what I was going to do for 45 minutes. I sat in my car for a little bit, then decided to go down to the Expo center and hang out and look for people. I don't run in a jacket even when it's cold because I get so hot and constricted so when I have a race I put my keys in my console and leave my car unlocked because I have no place to put my key (please don't steal my car at the next race!). I got my headphones on, got everything ready, put my keys in my console and locked my car. That's right, as soon as I shut the door I realized what I had done. No biggie, I called Pete at 7:15 and left him a message and told him he would need to come up there with the girls at 9:00 so I can get in my car. It completely threw me off, and I got even more thrown off when I realized my Gatorade Prime was locked in my car (I honestly can tell a difference when I drink it before I run, I'm not crazy). At this point, I was willing to pay someone that I saw with one, until I realized my money was also locked in my car. At this point, I began wanting everything that was in my car, including my jacket (because you don't want things until you know you can't have them) and considered breaking a window. I had no choice, so I just went to the Expo. I found a couple people I know and talked for a while, and headed to the start line. As soon as I got there, I realized I had to pee but didn't have time. That threw me even more off. They sounded the gun, and it took me at least 5 minutes to cross the start line in the crowd. The first mile went well, and I tried to pace myself (I pretended Heather was there with me) by the 2nd mile I was tired, and could really tell I didn't have my confounded Prime. By the 3rd mile my new running shoes were creating a blister on the bottom of my foot.  I made it to the last 1/4 and it was a slight hill, it just about killed me. I managed to sprint the last .1 but still came in at 40:09. I was disappointed in my time (4 minutes slower than my last 5K, 3 weeks ago) but with the crazy morning I had, it was acceptable. It was the first time I haven't PR'd in a 5K, and the first one I didn't get a picture at because I had no friends there (maybe I can just pretend it didn't happen :)) I was just glad to be done. Pete and the girls got there about 9:15 and got me into my car and we went to Village Inn and had breakfast, and that made me feel better. 
     We went to my grandparents house for Thanksgiving dinner, and had a great time. Claire was tired and cranky most of the day, but she made it through. We had awesome food, and I more than compensated for the 3.1 miles I ran! It ended up being a great day with family, and I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life. Because of the crappy race, I made myself register for the Jingle Bell 5K in 2 weeks, just to redeem myself. I know I can do sub 36:00 in that one, and Heather better be there with me this time!
 

Girl Named Thankful

I really need to try and write more often! Life passes and I forget to record it as I should. I have been reflecting on life a lot lately, and I am so eternally grateful for everything I have in my life, and my life in general. I am so blessed to have my wonderful husband, and my two smart, beautiful, funny, caring daughters. I have awesome friends that are always there for me. I have a stable job that pays the bills. I honestly couldn't ask for anything more! It's nights like tonight, when it's cold and dark and rainy and I come home to my family and the house is warm, and dinner is cooking, and kids are running around laughing that I really realize how lucky I am. I look at my girls and get teary eyed from appreciation. I didn't jump on the "November post every day what your thankful for on Facebook" bandwagon, but I do feel with Thanksgiving approaching it's important to reflect on what you're thankful for, and teach your children to do the same. It's so easy to let day-to-day stresses get to you, and to focus on the stupid little things that don't matter, instead of focusing on the big picture and what is important in life. We have a choice every day - how we react to things, big or small. I have had several large events in my life lately that were very trying and I really got to know myself. I am happy to say I'm proud of the way I've reacted and treated people, I've tried to be as classy and professional as possible because that's the way I want people to perceive and remember me. I'm hoping reacting in a positive manner will get me farther in life than reacting (the way I wanted to!) badly. I feel that God is responsible for dealing with people and not me. If God is happy with the way I'm acting and conducting myself, that's all that matters. I hope to teach my children to be classy and always take the high road, however hard it may be. I'm thankful that my mom taught me that as well, and how to be thankful.

Personal Records

Me and Heather after the Skaggs 5K

I am just now getting a chance to write, but last Saturday I had a 5K and achieved a personal PR - 36:05! On top of that, I ran the whole time without walking. It was the best race I've ever had, and I was right next to my "bertie" Heather the whole time. It was awesome, I was on a high all weekend afterwards! I have another 5K on Thanksgiving, the Turkey Trot, and then I think I'm done for a couple months. I'm hoping to run the Turkey Trot in 35:00, but that may be stretching my limits right now. 

Too cute to be mad at...

Claire has really been setting PR's of her own, with the milestones she's been reaching. She is so smart, and has really figured out how to do a lot of things I would rather she not do! But that's what kids are for, right? She is in to absolutely everything, climbing on everything. This picture was taken an hour after bedtime, when she decided that if she's cute enough, maybe I will let her stay up for a little while. It worked. Her hair is straight off There's Something About Mary. Kylie is just as cute, but she's bigger. She definitely is manipulating with her words though, and telling me that "Daddy told me I could" when he's not even home. Kids are absolutely the best thing in life, I don't know what I ever did without them!