My favorite toy

Maybe there has been a post or two about this toy, but my memory fails me :)

Anyway I love Imaginext....not the new "young" Imaginext....the old stuff that was made to have 100s of pieces to mix and match among sets. It was more of a building toy, while "today's Imaingext" are more like Little People for slightly older boys - sort of an imagination play game where you can pretend to be different characters.

They changed Imaginext probably 5 years ago, so all of our Imaginext to date were Matthew's. Luckily he shares well, because all the kids (and I) love this activity. I got rid of a tote of Little People (we still have one tote :), but now will need a second tote for Imaginext. I bought 3 new kits online - one for Joel's birthday (coming Sunday) and one to share for Valentine's day (everyone will get pieces saying "you rescue me with love"....together their pieces will build the rescue station) and then this one. Normally we don't get new toys "just cuz", but today we made an exception and built this castle.

Back in the day, Matthew didn't like to build according to the directions, rather he just liked to build according to his imagination. By the time he was old enough that he liked to build according to directions, the directions already had been recycled. It was nice to get this set with the directions...although there was a piece or two missing. Since you can no longer buy "good" Imaginext new, I bought these sets used off of Ebay. We have enough parts from other sets we were able to build the castle without any trouble.

Like anything else on Ebay, you can get good deals or you can pay a fortune for other people's over-priced stuff. I think I got good deals :)

Here is our current tote of Imaginext. It might seem crazy like this, but once 3 or 4 kids build a "home", there aren't many pieces left.

My first Derby (family's seventh)

Sunday was Joel's second Derby. All the kids raced a car. All but Anna built a car. She raced Joel's 2011 car and won the Open division. I think Joel felt good because last year his wheels didn't work very well, but he learned a lot about being a good sport. I think he enjoyed seeing his American Flag car do well this year.
Here is Joel with his 2012 car - he won "Most likely to win the Big 10 championship" award.

Here are the Open Division contenders, with Anna's car (flag) on the far right, with Carolyn's "Hermione" car - winner of "Best Car with a Driver" award. Matthew's car was behind Carolyn's car - he won "Most Artistic".

Here are Den 7's racers.

Here is Anna winning her award for fastest in the Open Division (aka - non-scouts) She also won "Most Patriotic". After the Derby was done the kids raced for fun and Carolyn's car beat Anna's car, which was undefeated in the Open Division, which goes to show there is some wiggle room at the Derby!

I think the 2nd grade boys had the most fun after their race when racing down the handicap ramp in the hall.

Snow Much FUN

We have had a VERY mild weather here in Iowa. If it wasn't for the threat of global warming, I am sure I would have loved yesterday's 60+ degree weather even more. We also haven't had much snow, but the kids (at least the youngest 3) have enjoyed every bit of it.

just so I don't forget

My friend S.S. sent me a little reminder of my word of the year. Check it out (left) - I posted it here as a reminder to myself.

Since 2012 started I do feel more like I am thriving rather than treading (water)! It helps to be down to one job and to have figured out the school "thing". For the first time in over 13 years it has been great to have more "weekend time" with the family. It helps with the thriving goal. Of course this week's spare weekend time has been dedicated to TAXES. (actually I like doing taxes - except when I hit a snag and have to call in the EXPERT (aka my Dad) Not too many snags this year - yeah!)

Comparison Kills Contentment

click on this link for an inspirational post about comparison!

A friend from my mother's group sent this to the group and I love it. Such a good reminder to love the place where God has placed you. It is so easy to look at how much others have or how clean their house is :) Better to love your own life!

Making every little bit count

Here is Anna, taking advantage of our snowfall because this has been a crazy winter with almost no snow lasting 24 hours. As you can see we didn't have much snow, but that didn't stop Anna from making a snowman.

Anna again -

Grandma M. gave us a bunch of beads and one day when she "wanted to sew" with me, I got out the beads and the kids LOVED it. They made necklaces, bracelets and rings. It was so sweet to watch them making the jewelry for the sibilings too! This is day 2 with the jewlrey and the other kids were all at school, but we thought Grandma might like a picture! Yes she did pick out her outfit, but we stayed home all day :)

Notice anything different?

ok - you probably don't because most of you know me without glasses! Since I have moved back to Iowa and especially in the last 2 years, I have had to wear my glasses more and more and more. Working on the computer without my glasses has become a misery and really I have become an almost full time glasses wearer. I tried contacts the year we moved here and hated them. Back then I only wore my glasses for the computer and maybe a movie, and I didn't think my vision was clear nor did I think the contacts were comfortable. Fast forward 2 1/2 years. I hate wearing my glasses all the time, including to work so I decided to give contacts another try. True confessions - I couldn't get them in...that was one of the things I hated on my first try. But my dear hubby is a contact expert and put my contacts in for me.....that is true love.

They feel good and I feel like my vision is good with them in, compared to the first time I tried contacts. I think my prescription is now stronger, so the contacts make a bigger difference, plus these are a different kind that Ken indicated "breath well". Whatever the case may be. I am back to being glasses free!

Now that makes my heart glad.

Although I took a break for a few months, I am back to watching my budget and trying to make good financial decisions. Moneysavingmom.com is a blog that I used to read and am back to reading now that things are slowing down. The author of the blog, Crystal, recently released a book and I considered buying it. Then I read the story below (click on the link "good deed") and bought the book. I love it when people do a good deed...(like Paul Newman donating his proceeds to charity - it makes me love his salsa even more :)

good deed.

I am not urging you to buy the book (email me and I will send you my copy when I am done), but reading the post will make your heart glad.

2011 Year in Review

The kids and I did our "year in review" papers again this year, but when I went to scan them, it just wasn't worth it. Carolyn did hers in pencil, so it didn't scan well, Matthew left a few blank and had silly answers for a few and Joel crossed out like crazy and the scanner acted up. So I will just tell you a few high-lights:
Betsy-
best thing about 2011 - celebrating my parent's 80th birthdays with a reunion with my entire family (that made Matthew's list too under "special memory")
Matthew-
What makes you happy? - victory (competitive you think?)
Carolyn-
What is your favorite toy/possession? - my American Girl doll Annie (yes, she finally saved her money and bought an American Girl doll - yes she has $20 to her name until her birthday, but I think she is pleased with her choice. Maybe it is a good thing that she won't have much money, because she does need to learn to be less "spendy")
Joel-
What was your greatest accomplishment? - hitting a ball far in baseball (this boy loves his sports!)
Anna-
If you had one wish, what would it be? - That a princess would find a rose and give it to the king and they would marry. (hmm - she loves "princess" themes, which is so interesting because we haven't watched the Disney princess movies, but she still loves the idea of a princess, but at least her "what do you want to do when you grow up?" is no longer "be a princess"....she said "take care of kids")
Ken-
not quite finished :)

2011 was full of work-related change for me....deciding to return to clinical audiology, volunteering at Boys Town Hospital for 10 days in Omaha, going back to school, getting a new job. I am so thankful that it is behind me. Please say a prayer for my peace at work. I have worries that I will do something wrong or someone will get mad or that I forgot important ideas during my 10 years away from clinical work. I am so thankful to have a job that I enjoy and that I can do for just 15 hours a week. During training I was working more than that and still had my Boys Town work to do and it was too much! I like spending time at home, with just Anna, quiet days just getting things done that are needed for the family! (Tax time is coming! I am probably one of the few who love to do taxes!!! It must be in my blood.)

One thing I learned in 2011 is that Matthew, despite his strong math/science interest, is an artist! Here were my gifts from him for Christmas. (I did hint that I would love the self portrait and was so pleased to receive the painting that I hadn't yet seen.) I love that they still have art in middle school.

Word of the Year - THRIVE

I have a blogger friend, who is a real-life friend from Newburgh, who always has a "word of the year". I must have skipped last year (although my New Year's post focussed on organizing and improving), and 2 years ago I had a phrase ("work-in-progress"). I think before I started blogging I had the word "Joy" as my word of the year.

Anyway my word of the year is "THRIVE". I want to enjoy 2012. 2011 was a good year and was one of change. I don't want that this year. I just want to THRIVE, I want my family to THRIVE. I don't want to just "live", I don't want to "improve"....I just want to live in the moment and THRIVE. I want to take time and enjoy the moment. You can't THRIVE if you are always worried about what you did in the past or what you might happen in the future. I want to live in the moment and love it. If I make a mistake, I will work to correct it and not make the same mistake again, but I will not focus on the mistake, I will focus on THRIVING and helping my family and world do the same.

Christmas 2011

We had a lovely quiet Christmas. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share of our time in Burlington Christmas day because my camera didn't come in from the car. Several great pictures were taken that I can print once the camera owner (my niece) downloads to Snapfish.

Here is Anna with her Nativity Scene. She received new pieces from her Godfather, my brother Steve.

Carolyn and Joel sang in the choir Christmas Eve. It was lovely. Carolyn was chosen to cantor with 2 other girls for the first half of the Mass (the older kids take turns throughout the year). You would have thought she had won the lottery! I love when they come home from choir and sing together.

In my family, the grandkids all gather on the stairs for a traditional picture before going down to the Christmas tree....just trying to explain why this picture was taken on the stairs. It is a tad more impressive with 14 kids, but I love this shot! (the kids are holding ping-pong paddles to match the table they received for Christmas - which then was returned because it was defective and replaced with a nicer one)

After the kids opened and gave their gifts, we played and packed up the car to go visit Grandma and Grandpa (my side - Ken's folks are in Texas). We had a lovely afternoon at my folks and a wonderful dinner at my brother's house. The next morning we were delighted that our "close in age" cousins came to Grandma and Grandpa's house too. We headed home in the afternoon, pausing briefly for dinner at Wendy's restaurant midway during the drive. Nice dinner, bad ending - I took Anna to the bathroom and left my purse under my chair and then left the restaurant. I remembered it the next day, so Ken took the kids an hour back toward Burlington and picked it up for me while I finished up some of my work for Boys Town! All's well that ends well, thank goodness for a nice husband!