Virgin Blogger

A gift to myself as this new year begins; a resolution to give myself some regular, quality "me" time - my goal is to document all of my memories of motherhood (including my quotable kids) and my successes (and failures) in the kitchen.  I hope this may humor and inspire others in their endeavors in the kitchen and in motherhood.

My first thoughts - a reflection back on the most wonderful time of the year and all of the goodness that came this year.  We had such a blessed holiday season; here are the top 10 highlights to remember:

10.  Taking Cooper to her first movie at the theatre - Frozen.  She later received a Frozen dress as a Christmas gift and she now likes to dress up like Elsa, walk around the house and sing Let it Go while watching the You Tube clip.

9.  All of the wonderful gifts we received from family and friends; near the top of my list is my personalized copy of Girl in the Kitchen signed by Stephanie Izard herself.  We are obviously best friends now and I can't wait to start trying out some of her dishes!

8.  Watching our family and friends open their gifts from us.  More than receiving gifts, I always look forward to seeing how everyone enjoys the gifts we picked out for them.  Following #9, I gave a dear friend a signed/personalized copy of Girl in the Kitchen too and watched as it nearly brought tears to her eyes as she opened it.  Best feeling ever!

7.  Having two friends from college visit to ring in the New Year with us.  Our fellow Hoosiers helped us cheer on our team at the game and stayed for a few days to visit too.

6.  Hosting a fantastic New Year's Eve party with some wonderful friends, complete with a day adventure to the Illinois/Indiana basketball game (unfortunately resulting in a loss for my Hoosiers), a fabulous meal with the most delicious steaks ever, and an impromptu visit to my parent's house (our fantastic babysitters for the night) to examine a split lip and soothe my rambunctious Cooper; thankfully one of our party guests was a PNP who didn't mind doing a little off duty consultation.  Fortunately her lip seems to be healing (without the need for stitches); all's well that ends well!

5.  Cooper finally deciding she was brave enough to sit on Santa's lap.  Two days before Christmas, she asked to go visit Santa and sit on his lap.  She's not afraid anymore.....did you hear me, she's not afraid anymore!

4.  Watching the kids open presents and enjoy playing with all of their new toys (and boxes, paper and bows).

3.  Two weeks off work - of course time for holidays/celebrations but also several days of nothing but snuggles and fun with Cooper and Camp!

2. Quality family time, complete with visits from Uncle D, Mimi, and Gah!

1.  We made a concerted effort to keep Christ in Christmas this year, since it is the first year Cooper was really able to understand Christmas and all of the wonderful anticipation.  We constantly talked about it being Jesus' birthday and planned to make a birthday cake for Baby Jesus to help remember and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas (in the eyes of a toddler).  I think our preparation paid off because when I showed Cooper the outfit she would be wearing to Church on Christmas Eve, she said, "Oooohhhh, Baby Jesus is going to love it!"

Cheers to 2014 and sharing a year full of fun, grace, and happiness!