Making A Comeback

I have SO much to catch up on since I was such a slacker the last couple of months!! I'm hoping to get to that, but I want to keep things up to date as well.

Sunday was the start of 2012 (wow... where did December go?!) and Derek and I sat down and share what our resolutions were. We are actually both pretty much on the same page!

This year we have very simple resolutions!

1. I want to maintain (housework, routines, budget, blogging, healthy diet, etc.) 

2. I want to grow (spiritually, emotionally, in our marriage, home improvement, {our budget}, etc)

3. I also have a little project for our family that I will introduce at another time!

That is pretty much it! It sounds simple, but when you think about it... it's really all inclusive and that's a pretty tall order. I am kind of nervous about exactly what needs to happen to make our goals work out. 

I know that one thing I really struggle with is overcommitting myself. I get so much fulfillment when I am busy. I also feel really guilty because we can't financially help others, but I feel like I can help in whatever way I can. I realized that I have been so busy, I've been neglecting the main reason I am staying at home... my family! So, I am going to try to slow down and focus on getting our family into some better routines. 

I am so ready to feel like our days are monotonous! ha. I know that's crazy, but we have gotten so used to not being at home in the evenings and most days we get home and crash, wondering where the day went. I am so ready to be bored with another night at home! 

Last June, I started working hard on losing weight and by the end of October, I had lost 30 pounds! I have gained about 5 pounds over the holidays :) and I am ready to lose another 20-30 pounds! Hopefully I can get more determined about that one... so far this week I have been really undisciplined! Plus I had to get another steroid shot for yet another ear infection... so I've been extra hungry. Derek is on board with the plan and ready to join in with losing weight. Right now, our plan is to drink plenty of water, watch our portion sizes and get plenty of exercise! 

I want to spend some time focused on Derek and I's marriage. Having a child 4 days after our one year anniversary and then another one 2 years later... tends to take it's toll on the romance side of marriage. I want to dedicate more energy into improving our relationship and working on my role as a wife. 

Another huge resolution for us is to get back to the home improvement projects! Ever since we bought our house, we have wanted to paint the living room and dining room the most! When we first moved in we focused on our bedroom and Anna-Kate's room. Painting Anna-Kate's room was so difficult it just kept me from wanting to paint the living and dining room.

 I am so excited to say that we have already made progress on this resolution!! We finished painting the living room on Monday and are going to paint the dining room Saturday... it only took us three years! :) I am going to share the before and after photos when we finish the dining room! I know that if we start off the year with the projects, then I feel like we are really going to be crossing off things on our to-do list! 

So that's where we are at! Here's to keeping all of our resolutions! 

Master Derek!

I thought Derek would appreciate that title! Haha!

I am so very proud to say that Derek has completed his Masters of Business Administration degree- with honors!

What a great feeling it is! This is the first time that Derek is “class- free.” I know that he’s feeling so much better now that the stress of classes are off his back.

Derek graduated on Saturday morning at 10 am.

I went on early so that we could get a good seat. When I sat down I realized that my blog friend Whitney was graduating Saturday morning too! We sat right behind her husband and daughter and their family! Congrats Whitney!

Anna-Kate enjoyed playing with Eden while we waited on things to start. Eden even shared her goldfish!

It's hard to see, but Derek is in the row behind all the guys with the "bare" heads. He's sitting next to a girl with long hair. 

Finally a picture of me and Thomas! It's hard being the one who takes all the pictures! 

Walking out! Derek is the last graduate you can see. He's walking right next to the seats. Derek said walking in and out was his favorite part. I didn't get a picture of him walking in, so here you go Derek! 

It's about time we had a family picture! 

So proud of you!! 

You're done!! 

After graduation, we had an hour for lunch before Derek had to be back on campus to officiate a wedding!  While he was up there, he ran into some friends that he went to high school with, Ashley and Josh.

Ashley and Josh have a daughter, Addison who is about 3 weeks older than Thomas! She’s quite a cutie. I enjoy reading about her on their blog too! I was so sad that I didn’t get to see them!

I went home and let Anna-Kate and Thomas get an hour or so long nap and then changed Anna-Kate since she got her dress dirty at lunch. We headed to the wedding after that.

Derek got the wonderful honor of marrying Megan and Brandon Bennett. Megan is the sister to one of his best friends. It was a beautiful wedding! I wish I had gotten more pictures of it!  Megan was an absolutely beautiful bride! We felt so blessed to have gotten to participate is such a special event.

I wish I had gotten more pictures of the wedding! I seemed to be taking more pictures of Anna-Kate and Kristen than anything, but that was probably because they were a bit wild! 

One of the only times the girls actually sat down... 

The girls had several pieces of chocolate which probably accounted for their crazy behavior. I was a tad embarrassed because they ran all over the place! 

The girls tried to catch the bouquet, haha. 

This has to be one of my favorite pictures of our family!! 

After the wedding we all went home and rested!  I was so tired from rushing around all day that I didn’t feel up to cooking and so we decided to go out with Derek’s family and some friend that are visiting from New Jersey. They have two little girls, so Anna-Kate and Kristen enjoyed getting to play with them!

Even though we were in Lepanto, we spent most of the day just relaxing and resting up! Our week is looking busy already. Seems like Derek’s wanting to get a lot done now that he’s got a little bit more free time! I don’t blame him!

Love Me Some Chicken

I was supposed to have done this a week ago but the whole family has been bitten by the stomach virus and we took some time off to deal with that. So, for the record: I LOVED THAT CHICKEN FRICASSEE!!!

It seems like such a fancy French thing but it was really pretty simple. The chicken itself was cooked just right. I'd like to take some credit for that as I was the one watching the clock on it. But Nicki did a great job browning the bird first. Mainly you just put a light sear on the chicken and then simmer it till it's cooked through. Because it gets simmered in the tomatoy-herby-vinegary-oh so goody-sauce, it stays moist and flavorful.

The sauce was so perfectly balanced too! I love tomato sauce and that is the base of the fricassee sauce. But it has a healthy portion of red wine vinegar too and the acidity is so complementary. I really like the herbs that kind of pop out at you too! Overall, our first experience with French cooking was a success.

I think the best part though is getting back in the kitchen with Nicki. I enjoy cooking and I'm not half bad either. But Nicki has gone from good to great in the last several months and taken over much of the kitchen duties while I've been working. I like that she is able to do that and have something to be proud of, but I still want to help some too.

After we got married, we usually shared the kitchen work. It is one of our favorite things to do together and it is an enrichment to our marriage. So I have to say, the best part of the meal was not the chicken. The food never is the highlight for me. It was working together to create a great tasting meal for friends, and a great memory for us.