Adios 2013

Elevator in Spain

2013 has been a truly amazing year. I began the year with a new teaching job and adventure. 

Over Christmas break last year I dragged my kids into my classroom for cleaning, organizing and some body building poses. 

Teaching has always brought me so much joy. The truth is when you invest time and energy into others it always pays off. I enjoy working, I always have. So this was a blessing. It also provided insurance which I was able to finally get my vein removed that had been causing so many problems. I went on vacations with my family and alone. I also got a little hurried....and so this is my goal for 2014. 

This is before my vein surgery, 1st day in Spain. I WAS EXHAUSTED. I MEAN TOTALLY EXHAUSTED. It wasn't just from the flight either this was like deep bone tired from life. I won't go into details, I will just say it was like I was letting go of a decade of stuff. I was zapped in every way possible and my body shows the signs of it. My legs were swollen, I crashed on the beach for FOUR hours. I then slept in until eleven or later for four days. Spanish Sassafras was so kind to let me come and stay with her and I would consider Spain the highlight of my year. It was like a crowning jewel. I can't explain it to you well. It is just that the past decade had been so difficult it is like all the hard stuff was working its way out of my body and mind. I truly feel like Spain for me was the turning point. Traveling to another country alone does something, it awakened my inner Wonder Woman. I feel like I left on that trip with remnants of the old Dior and left Spain anew. I was open, awake and BRAVE. So, 2013 in many ways was a turning point. It was the year I realized who I am, who I always have been. It was the year I took back the reigns of my life. I am excited to continue on this path. New years goals always seem so daunting to me. So I like to be really general in my goals that way I don't give up on them by January 10th. 

2014 GOALS OVERVIEW

• Be more organic....I mean simplify. I have relied a lot on modern conveniences like IN-N-OUT BURGER...this year I will be cooking more simple meals at home. I have the goal for our family to not eat out except for special occasions. This also means enjoy nature together..more walks to the park, bike rides...less rush.
• Relationships....by this I mean continue to build relationships with my children. Keep those connections open. I am not perfect at this but I feel that this year, I did a MUCH better job at being present. 
• Active...I love to exercise. This year I am going to include my kids more. I am running two BIG races in Feb/March. I have a game plan and goals to reach and I plan to involve my family. I also have the kids enrolled in basketball. RELEASE THE ENDORPHINS!
• SAVE....Saving money is like gambling but you get to keep the money. You put money in, you forget about it and then you get a statement in the mail and go WHOA! I just won $2,000 in interest!!!! I am getting older and saving is really important for me. I am going to save more this year. ( I am going to do that by cooking meals at home, enjoying free activities with my kids, trust me it all adds up) 
• FUN.....I have SO many things to look forward to this year! I can't WAIT to tell you about them. I am going to write more, travel, I get to sing in this amazing choir....some days I am so EXCITED about my life. I can't even believe it. ( and then I go to a mid-singles activity. OK KIDDING KIDDING....sort of) ****If you read my blog about what teachers really want for Christmas you'll get this! An AWESOME parent gave me this ceramic frog as a joke. I LOVED IT!!!!
  

CHEERS! 

Christmas Eve Entertaining the Family

A candid photo taken by Aydan..what my house really looks like in the morning.  Me..wet hair in a bun, doing dishes. 

I decided it would be great fun to have my family over for dinner Christmas Eve. This meant a lot of work and preparation for us. We had a total of seven dinner guests plus us in my little bungalow. It was warm and snugly here. My brother Steve suggested that I make Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner and so that is what I made. It ended up being yummy. 

I am a firm believer in having kids help get things ready. My kids were driving each other crazy because they were bored out of their gourds. I gave Ellie the job to make name plates for everyone's bowls. She worked SO hard on them and they ended up being a really cute addition to the place settings. Plus it kept her busy for a long time. 

I gave Aydan an assembling job of getting the bowls ready. He had to tie a bow around the napkin and spoon, place in in a bowl with a "cracker" ion top and a plate on the bottom. He finished quickly and so I put him to work in the kitchen. 

Our tree. 

The list of names of family members that were going to attend dinner, look how cute and efficient Ellie is with those little red checks after each name plate was finished. She was so worried because she didn't know how to spell everyone's name and was insistent that I make a list for her to copy. 

A work in progress and lunch. My Dad gave us some Hillshire Farm stuff which my kids gobbled up for lunch like it was a Lunchable.

My name plate. This just melted my heart and was one of those moments that you go....I am so lucky to have children. (Can you see the aftermath of dinner in my kitchen behind...yikes) I was prepping food in the kitchen for dinner when I heard Aydan ask Ellie, "What are you going to make for Mom's?" Ellie breathlessly said, an angel..because Mom is an angel. It was one of those few times that you feel like sometimes, maybe you are doing things right. I love my little one eyed angel. 

A few more name plates, Aydan's is a "wreaf" as Ellie would say. We are working on those "th" endings. I thought Jared's was a sled or possibly a skateboard...however it all made sense when Ellie said, "It's baby Jesus." Can you see it now? I love that girl. 

I put Aydan to work at making a 7 layer dip

Sugar Cookie decorating station

It was a good night. 

Single Mom Mayhem: Christmas Has Arrived!

The last week of teaching for any teacher is trying to say the least. The kids are ready for a break and YOU are ready for a break. It takes master talent to teach new skills that week with kids that are focused and on task. 

My house started to look like one that might be featured on the show, Hoarders. I found my self running errands, popping in the house, dumping stuff on the kitchen counters, washing loads of laundry, dumping those on the couch. My children had recitals and my class had their Christmas concert the NIGHT before the last half day of school. Genius Planning. (Can you hear the exhausted, annoyance in my voice?) I had my 24 kids plus 12 extras from another class of a teacher who couldn't come to the concert that night. Let's just say the whistle was blown more than once. Wild I tell you, wild little animals until they get on that stage and sing. They then turn into these angelic little 10 year- olds and you want to hug each and every one of them. 

After the concert, I had to run my children around even though it was supposed to be my night off. I just wanted to make sure Aydan was able to go caroling with his scout troop. Aydan arrived home after caroling and then I picked Ellie up to take them to their Grandma's for a sleep over. Where apparently they both threw up all over the couch. I think they overdid the treats in their class parties. After I dropped them off I went to get a massage. I had been downing two Advil every two hours religiously to fend of an impending migraine. At eight, I finally lay down on the massage table and zoned out for an hour. Relief. Finally. I had a conversation with the massage therapist. The sweetest man from Lithuania. I complained about my life for a minute and told him why I had the headache. He gave me some great advice. He said, "When you are off take two days to rest. THEN, you clean and do all the things you need to do." That sure sounded like a good idea! 

 After, I had to go home and make 24 of those little ornaments (Pictured) for my class. My teacher present to them. I do love that little class. 

The next day was a mad dash, I woke up with the headache. I had to stop at Circle K for a gift card as I realized my "Secret Santa" gift was sort of lame for my co-worker. It needed a little something more and she comes to work with a Polar Pop in hand each day. I had to move that dang classroom elf. (Love/Hate) I had to run out to morning parent drop-off duty. Then I met my class for the Friday Assembly. They were so cute, I could just see the anticipation of all the fun I had planned that day. I was completely spoiled with gift cards, kind words, treats and thoughtful presents. We had our party in which the SWEETEST family in my class provided pizza, drinks, cookies and the movie THE CROODS for us! Seriously, The BEST CLASS I HAVE EVER HAD! I was so grateful for my job, the parents, the students. The school then catered a delicious lunch by Carraba's. It was so yummy. That is one of my favorite places to eat and I haven't been there in almost a year maybe. I finished tidying my classroom and finalized grades. I then headed to pick up my two munchkins at their Dad's house. 

We arrived home and I started to clean. Did I listen to the massage therapist? NO! I did have plans and a babysitter so I left for a lovely dinner at Joyride Taco that was DIVINE. Try it. Downtown Gilbert next to Postino's. I arrived home early around nine. I got in my jammies promptly, read one of my new favorite Christmas stories to my kids and conked out before ten. 

I woke up, got the kids in ship shape order and we cleaned this house up. The piled up clutter from the last few weeks was organized and cleared. 

I ran full speed ahead into MOM MODE.

A play-date was set, ingredients were purchased and Saturday this Momma was a force to be reckoned with.  We picked up a little chicken-nugget lunch and fries for these cuties for lunch. We then started crafting. I stole each and every idea from the Internet, none of these were my fantastic plans, but fun was had and that was the point. We made our version of the mini yarn wreath ornaments pictured here:

You can find the tutorial here: A super cute craft blog yarn wreaths. I bought the supplies to do this with my class and had some left overs so we invited a few of our very favorite little friends over to have some fun with us. Aren't they so cute? Seriously, these little friends are just the nicest little people, they have such a nice family too. Love them. 

Note: I had a really HARD time finding the Styrofoam circles needed to make these wreaths so I went to the site SHE suggested and just improvised and bought bamboo rings instead. 

You would never know that this little guy was complaining the whole time. Crafting's not my thing Mom. 

Sweetie Pie.

I love these little toothless girls! 

The kids then made gingerbread houses. While they made their houses we listened to the CD Frozen (awesome) and the story on CD The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School. It was fun. 

I felt happy as I supervised these little activities. I was in the kitchen baking up a storm....ONE BATCH AT A TIME...or today three. I was in a brownie mood, so if you are on my friend list...That Dad*Gum mix is done and these brownies will be on their way to you...TONIGHT. 

Sorry. Blurry taken by Ayder tater. Making salted caramel with my PRIZE sea salt bought in SPAIN this summer. 

Getting to the soft boil stage.....

You can find the recipe for salted carmel brownies here: Salted Caramel Brownies

I also made Smores brownies. You can find the recipe for those here: Smores Brownies

I even made cheesecake brownies and you can find the recipe here:Cheesecake Brownies

Armed with a wooden spoon a few tasty ingredients and that cute apron my Mom bought me, in the kitchen.....I am dangerous. I hope these recipe's are good. The carmel looks a little bit lighter than the one in the blog picture for the salted carmel brownies. So we shall see. So much for two days of resting and then getting to work! 

Christmas is HERE! I love it. I LOVE being a MOM. I love having the kids friends over. Baking. Friends. Family. That's what Christmas SHOULD feel like. Forget this running around stuff! 

XOXO The Sunny D.