Dearest Sweet Sydney,

I have been meaning to write this down somewhere so I can remember it forever and ever, so here goes.

In school, the parent/teacher organization puts together a "Holiday Shoppe" for kids to bring money and shop for loved ones. The only rule is that you have to buy for others, not yourself. You took six dollars this year (each gift is $1) and you chose to buy gifts for Gavin, Avery, Dad, Aunt Bailey, Uncle Derrick, and me. (The day you came home with Uncle Derrick's gift, we literally ran home, put it in his Christmas care package and ran down to the post office to send it off to him! So I never even got to see it!)

Christmas morning we got to open up these precious gifts and see what you chose for us. For Avery, you chose a baby teething ring. (The only baby item in the shoppe you said!) Gavin received a green Hot Wheels car (only green car in the shoppe!), Dad received a tool: a screwdriver, Aunt Bailey received a mirror (she always looks so fancy!), and for me you chose a Nutcracker. Can I just say that this gift melted my heart? For the past two years we have gone to see the Nutcracker and oh how I treasure that time with just you and our friends. When I saw this gift from you, I realized how special that time was for you as well. I will cherish this gift for always!

 We always knew you were a thoughtful, generous little person, and your choices for your loved ones shows just that. You really know what we love and what we enjoy and you found joy in the perfect gifts for us. While we love the gifts you found for us, it's the thought and the LOVE in the act of giving that is the most meaningful. You make me so proud--I love you!!!

Love,
Mom

Dear Gavin,

Yesterday I dubbed you the "UNO Master"! My sweet boy, you are getting so good at this classic card game. Santa brought us a deck of UNO cards and over winter break we introduced it to you and Sydney. Sydney enjoyed it, but would have rather played something else-but you took off with it! You asked to play it almost every day, sometimes back-to-back games. Especially this past week, you have claimed UNO to be "the most awesome game ever"! Two days ago we played a few games and I said "one more game, then it's rest-time." That one more game turned into the longest game we had played so far! I had to re-shuffle and re-stack the deck twice--yesterday was the same thing. I told you "one more game, then we'll eat lunch" and it turned into an even longer game! I didn't think it would ever end. This morning you woke up and wanted to play it right away (the stack is currently laying in the middle of the rug after a couple of games with Dad). I love playing with you and have realized just how closely you are paying attention to Dad and me when we play it with you. You are picking up on strategies and using your special cards very wisely too! Your favorite cards are the WILD cards (both WILD and the wild +4)--you love to deal the cards so you can get at least three WILDs to get you started. We are having so much fun with you! Here's to many more UNO matches in the future!

Love you!
Mom

Dear Avery,

Happy 9 months to our sweet girl! We have so much fun with you. Every day you are doing something new and different and we love watching you change and grow. You certainly love your little family too--you get the biggest smile when you see your daddy, Sydney or Gavin. You kind of like your momma too. ; ) Here are some things you are up to nowadays:

• sitting up to play! you have become really good at reaching for toys that you want (almost so far with your belly on the floor!) and sitting back up to play
• rolling back and forth, but generally like to just stay in one spot
• the other day you were on your back and reached up over your head for a toy-you couldn't grab it, so after some time you rolled to your tummy and then scooted just a bit to reach the toy! it was so exciting to see you learn how to get to something that you wanted!
• you've given me some "kisses" which I love!
• you are a good eater! last night you literally stole homemade pizza from my plate! (you may have eaten more than Gavin!)
• reaching for everything and putting things in your mouth! Nothing is safe from you. : )
• wave! (we think...)

You are the sweetest little baby we know-you get lots and lots of loves from all of us and we are so very thankful for you! We love you!!

Welcome 2014!

Brr!! Today was supposed to be our first day back to "reality"...school starting and Joe returning to work. However, it's so stinking cold outside that school was canceled for today. Which is fine by me....I have rather enjoyed having our oldest little home with us!

I started this post a few days ago and it started to get really long and "deep" and as I wait for old pictures to upload to snapfish so I can make a photo book...I thought I would hop over here and create a short and sweet 2014 letter!

I have been pondering this year and when it comes to goals, a few things stand out to me above all others. Some are for our family and some are just for me! Here are a few of my goals/thoughts/hopes/wishes for 2014, in a very small nutshell:

• Get back into the workout routine! Everyone is happier when this momma gets alone time, exercise, and I start feeling better about myself--win-win! 
• More date nights with the husband. 2013 was revolved mostly around adding another precious, sweet human being to our family, and not a lot of alone grown-up time. At all. End of 2013 we were showing an improvement, but Joe and I have decided that is a priority this year.
• More one-on-one time with our "big" kids! They need it, we need it.
• "Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it." -Proverbs 4:23    I saw this Bible verse in one of the daily devotionals I read-actually on January 1st and it has stuck with me. One of my goals this year is to focus on guarding my heart; from impatience, from greed, from envy, from anger, from gossip, etc. and being content in all circumstances. I think I am pretty good about these things most of the time and I like to think I am a very grateful person who is truly content with the quiet little life that we have been blessed with. However, I am human and those icky feelings creep in from time-to-time, so this is something I want to work on.

And there you have it, the short and sweet, highlights of my list of goals and resolutions for this brand new year. Happy New Year friends!