Happy New Year!

Wow! Christmas flew by and so did the welcoming of the new year! Looking back through last year, I cannot believe some of the stuff we made it through. I assure you that it was only by God's grace, but we made it through and that is what counts. We are hoping for a good 2011. I'm sure it will have its ups and downs and I am glad that we cannot see the future to know what they will be. God is good. I need to remember to take things one day at a time. It is so hard to do that when your a 'grown up'. We are supposed to plan ahead and be prepared and all that jazz....and yet we are supposed see every day as its own day without worrying about the others. Those concepts are hard to put into practice. The planning and preparing often turn into worrying and anxiety which makes trying to take one day at a time nearly impossible. As a Christan, however, I am determined that God can help me do this. I choose this to be my new years resolution. I think this is close to the same resolution I made last year but that's OK. It's a perfect resolution for the start of every new year!

Enjoy the moments before they become the past and you look back wishing that you had enjoyed them more!

I have a BUNCH of pictures to post from our wonderful Christmas. These will be coming soon! In the meantime, I really need to get cleaning my house and preparing to head back to work tomorrow! I hope you all had wonderful holidays and are looking forward to the start of a fresh new year as much as I am! The count down is already on for spring break! Only about 16 more weeks....ha ha!

It's Almost Merry Christmas:)

I can hardly believe that Christmas is almost here! As a teacher and mom, I count down the days until Christmas break just like the kids do. Guess what? Only 5 more days left! We have had quite a busy December so far. Last weekend, we took the kids to the annual lighting ceremony at Bob Jones University and then to Krispy Kreme for a snowman doughnut. This has become somewhat of a yearly family tradition with all of the cousins attending as well. Then the kids were in their first parade! My husbands new job does a float for the Anderson Christmas parade so the kids got to have their first debut! They loved it! Poor JJ ended the day with a rather nasty stomach bug which he passed to mommy....Oh well. It's still almost Christmas:)

Yesterday we had our annual family (my sisters and brothers) Christmas at Aunt Christy's house. I'm so glad that we were all back to good health so that we could go! We have started doing this little get together every year because we are all in different places on the actual day of Christmas. It was so fun! JJ has talked all week about going to Aunt Christy's house. He absolutely adores that place. We exchanged gifts and ate way too much. I love getting to spend time with my siblings and catching up on their lives!

This last week before break is packed as well! We have Christmas programs and work dinners to attend. We have friends to see and lots of Christmas movies to fit in. This truly is the most wonderful time of the year! I'm loving it!

Merry Christmas just a little bit early!

starlight snowflake

Starlight Snowflakes Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

I think it's going to be a Shutterfly Christmas!

Wow, another year is almost gone! Can you believe it? I love the Christmas season and the best way to complete the year is with a cute family Christmas card. Shutterfly.com has the best choices I have seen so far. If you have not already, you should definitely go check out their site. They are offering fifty free Christmas cards to all blogger customers this year! I plan to do a photo of just the kids or maybe one of all four of us depending on the design. There are so many cute designs to choose from, that I need your help picking one out:

First choice:

www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationary/holiday-cards

Second choice:

www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationary/christmas-cards

Third choice:

www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationary/christmas-photo-cards

I cannot wait to see what the final product will look like. I plan to send a card to all of my family and friends to let them know I love them and see how much our kids have grown. Go check out the Shutterfly holiday collection yourself and share the excitement with me!

Holiday Drama

*Warning-serious venting ahead...

Wow. My students love 'Llama, Llama' books, and I recently ordered a new one for my classroom. It's called "Llama, Llama Holiday Drama". BOY OH BOY can I relate with that title! It's funny how very exciting the holidays can be, and yet how very stressful they are at the same time! I love the excitement of putting the tree up and decorating, seeing family, baking lots of extra goodies, digging out the warm clothes, etc. I hate the stress of making sure everyone gets a meaningful gift, running here and there and everywhere, whiny kids, late nights, and money, money, money. There is just never enough is there? I mean, I can remember a few years back. We had VERY LITTLE then due to the recent addition of two kids to our family. It has been four years now...and it seems we are in the same exact boat as then as far as finances are concerned. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Will it ever get better? I could go on and on and stress and stress but then I remember that Thanksgiving is less than a week away. WOW! Funny how this holiday drama can quickly make us forget the real reason for the season. I have been wavering in between sanity and craziness for a couple of days now. I guess learning to be thankful is a process one must struggle through on a daily basis. I am thankful though. SO VERY THANKFUL. God has been good to my little family. God IS good to my family. Life and stress may cloud my judgement, but I am thankful! I'm starting my new years resolution early this year....Be thankful for every moment and stop stressing over things in life that you cannot change!

Fall Updates for Melanie

Hello everyone! It's been awhile since my last blog update because I have been too busy enjoying life...or at least trying to! My husbands new job has taken some adjusting but is going well. God continues to provide our needs on a daily basis! Overall, compared to all that I see everyone around us going through...we have much to be thankful for! We are all in good health, we have a close knit family and lots of support, and we have everything that we need for now. God has been good to us! Of course, I am thinking of things I am thankful for as Thanksgiving Day gets closer and closer....

The two pictures below are of Miracle and JJ on their first Thanksgiving as part of the Splan clan in 2007. Can you believe how much they have grown? Miracle is with Nanna and JJ is with Papa. We are counting down the days until we get to spend another Thanksgiving with them!

We had a great Halloween. JJ was a skeleton this year and Miracle was a fairy. They loved knocking on doors. It was so cute...JJ would knock and if no one answered he would say: "Daddy, its not working." in a frustrated voice. Miracle was a bit shy with the adults, but JJ led the way each time with a "Trick or Treat!" It was a great night!



I know this is a silly picture, but I love it! My sister and I decided to dress up with the kids (we were trying to be young again), and I wore my trusty poodle skirt. I made Josh pose for a good fifties kiss with the foot kicked up and all...aren't I pathetic? Good memories though!




Last but not least, I want to wish this handsome man of mine a happy birthday! He is a wonderful husband! I am so glad to have spent another wonderful year with him and am looking forward to the years to come! I really could not have asked for a better best friend or help mate! I love you baby!
Happy Thankgiving to everyone! I love, love this time of year and have convinced my husband to let me put up the Christmas tree already! Holiday cheer can never start to early if you ask me;)

A Day at Denver Downs and Birthday wishes

We decided to take the kids to a pumpkin patch yesterday. It has been way too long since we could do something fun as a family. It was kind of expensive but all too often life gets in the way of enjoying every moment so we went for it anyway!

Here are my three favorite people getting ready to try the rope swing!

This sweet boy turns 3 on Friday. I want to remember this sweet little face forever and ever. I cannot believe how much he has grown already!

Can you tell that daddy and son are two peas in a pod? and both lefties?