Yesterday's gone...yesterday's gone...

We are hurtling through March!  I have a few minutes to write and wanted to get in an update on my 2012 goals.  (You may want to reference the original post to see detailed notes on what I am talking about here.  Or not!  =)  Either way I think you'll get the gist.) 
PERSONAL:
-Time for hobbies?  Not so much.  Unless you count getting my tube fed daughter to drink from a glass!  =)  Which, coincidentally, is going a little better!  (More on that in another post, maybe.)
-Watch less TV?  Maybe 20% better.
-Women's Conference?  I am going to be in the drama for one this weekend.  So YES!
-Join a small group?  YES!  Thank you to my best friend in town for hosting!
-Call the Intergenerational Center?  Nope.  Maybe after spring break.  This summer we should have a lot more time to participate in their events so I am looking forward to that!
-Read?  I am almost finished w/the first book of the year, but I have been also reading my Bible a lot more.
-Grad class?  Slow progress but I am enrolled.
SPIRITUAL:
-MYM Challenge?  I am still Maximizing My Mornings!  The Bible reading part is easy, the exercise and planning are not.
-Bible reading and journaling?  Doing well, but there is always room for improvement!
-Memorize scripture?  Mo and I have at least 4 new verses down.  I would love to up that to 4 a month =)
-Mission trip?  No progress here.
-Small group and Women's conference?  See above.
PHYSICAL:
-8hrs of sleep?  Doing well, but again, room for improvement.  I know it has really helped my attitude so far, though, so it's always good when I can see results.
-Exercise?  Started Jillian again and did well for 2 weeks or so but then I got sick and now it's busy!  Yes, those are excuses.  I hope to pick it up again after this busy weekend.  I have found 2 events I would like to run in, so I'm using that for motivation.
-Thighs?  Arg.  I am afraid to measure.  But I know when I was doing Jillian last time it made a huge difference.
-5K?  Like I said, I will be signing up for at least one and I found a 2K close by that hopefully we can do as a family.  I will look into a few more when we get back from Spring Break.
-Water?  Why is this so hard for me?  I'm doing ok, consistent, but it's never enough.
FAMILY:
-Real foods?  We have been doing a 'detox' of sorts by not eating out for the past month.  I'm really proud of us!  I know, that doesn't necessarily mean we are eating real foods, but seriously, we used to eat out anywhere from 1-4 times a week.  BLECH.  This was a really good place to start.  Still using mac and cheese in the box, but I made almond milk and I continue to 'make'/grow kefir.  We make our own pizza, but use store crust.  Things like that are where I think we are doing well, but again, could do better.
-Eliminate packaging?  Well, yes for the almond milk, but not really anywhere else I can think of.  I need to do more bulk bin shopping!
-Out West trip?  The finances just don't seem to be there.  We are dreaming and scheming, but unless we find a financial sponsor or a lump sum buried in the backyard, I don't think it will be this year.  =(
-Research a move?  Always.  Plenty of interesting houses for sale.  Not ready to make any steps in that direction yet, but...still on our minds.
-Another adoption?  Also, always in our hearts, minds and prayers.

Oh nuts, we're out of milk!

 I actually made this last week Monday, but it took me this long to post about it!  

ALMOND MILK (made by me!)

Soak 8 hours and blend, 1 cup almonds to 4 cups water

Sweeten with some real honey if you like

We finally made almond milk!  We have been drinking it (me especially) like nobody's business but I started to get annoyed by the tetra pak cartons I couldn't recycle, the sugar/calorie content and the cost!!  So w/a little help from a friend, I got a big box of almonds.  I found it hard to believe that there wasn't much to it besides soaking/blending the nuts and then straining the milk.  BUT!  It's true!  It's so super easy!

YUMMMY

Please excuse the messy counter!

The kids thought the BEST part by far was straining it.  I found a linen produce bag, but you could probably use cheesecloth, I think.  We just blended the daylights out of it and then poured it over that bag, which was hanging over on or the jars.  You could walk away and let it strain on it's own, I think, but we chose to wash our hands and get squeezing!  Moses thought it was like milking a cow, and then he laughed about how this was not cow's milk - I introduced the word irony.  We'll see if he picks that up as fast as he did sarcasm =)  

I'm trying to be IN more pictures!

What's left of the almonds...

The same friends that hooked us up w/the almonds make raw cookies w/the by-product that gets left in the strainer - would you call it almond meal??  Or almond flakes??  I tried to remember their recipe and looked online too - enh.  I didn't find any that suited me so they are sending me theirs.  It seems that 4 cups of almonds/16 cups of milk gets us through the week.  More would be nice!  So now I have my work cut out for me each week!  I should actually get some soaking right now...

Smashing stuff, just not pumpkins

Lots to write about!  Ready for some rapid fire updates?
- There is a blizzard in the Denver area and I am riding my bike!
- Leah and Ray were our foster momma and baby that lived here in 2009.  Guess what?  Ray has been living w/a different foster family (long story) who needed respite this weekend and we got the call!  So Ray is spending the weekend w/us!  He is 1 year older than when he left us and he TALKS!  =)  He is super cute and looks A LOT like his momma (no surprise there) and is doing really well.  It's been fun seeing him again!  He found pictures of his momma and himself around the house and seemed pretty happy.  He likes the chicks!
- We have baby chicks again!  (You like that, how I just slid from one to the other?)  A co-worker of Dave's asked about hatching chicks.  Her daughter was going to be a part of a science fair and was interested in doing that as her project, but they didn't want to keep the chickens =)  So they hatched the day before/the day of the science fair (how perfect!!) and after a day or so w/their family, they brought them over.  The babies are in a box and I am remembering the peeping and trills...so much fun!  Ray keeps saying, "There's shickens in there!  Babies!  You hear dat?!"  I took him out to see the big girls and he wasn't quite as impressed.
-Moses has been coming home for the 2nd half of the day to be homeschooled.  Also a long story!  But he is so eager to learn and works really well!  We are looking into some kindergarten workbooks - any suggestions welcome.  We started talking about life cycles (of the chickens!), maps and a few other things.  He has some basic addition down (algebra!  3 + x = 5!) but we are not ready for subtraction.  If you know me and want to hear more about that, you know how to find me.
-Curly Sue and Dewey are doing well.  I think I am actually figuring our some good things to do w/Curly Sue's hair!
-Colleen our Bean is doing really well in school, but we are thinking of holding her back from kindergarten (again long story!).  We will know more about that as the end of the school year approaches, but we're just trying to help her be successful.
-I am going to be in a drama for the women's ministry conference we are having in March!  I don't have a huge part, but I am still nervous about memorizing it...I get to play Tamar from the Bible.  It's a pretty cool script - I am looking forward to being used by God in that way again.
-Am I forgetting something?  I'm sure I am!  I will try to write a goals update soon.  And hopefully I can get the pics of the chicks on here too!

The easy way

For some reason everyone is quiet (enough) right now.  Daddy is sleeping (no Packers' game!), Moses is Lego-ing, Colleen and Curly Sue are playing house or something and Dewey is fitfully sleeping too.  I really want to write some awesome post about everyone and updates but I realized there isn't much to say!  Maybe I should just talk about me?  I don't do much of that...do I?  Wait - don't answer that.  I don't really care anyway.  I am enjoying this time...
Lately I have been taking some action steps to see progress on my goals.  For starters, this past week I went to bed on time 4 out of the 7 evenings.  I enjoyed waking up early, I read 3 chapters in my Sally Clarkson book, and I think I drank enough water.  I signed up for a class (I think it's a DVD class).  That should be interesting!  Just when we took the desk downstairs...I have carved out a little 'mama cave' for reading and doing school work.  I am working on getting the kids to set their clothes out the night before. Scratch that - I am working on ME helping to set their clothes out.  They ask me some nights but I don't want to take the 3 minutes to do it when I tuck them in.  Baby steps...we teach other discipline around here...I have a sewing itch that needs to be scratched.  I bought supplies for a small project and hopefully I can get that accomplished this week.  We were blessed w/bunk beds for the girls!  That was a 2 day project...not setting them up, but re-organizing their room.  I think it's better though - it helped me to finally sort out random things that needed homes or needed to get out of our home!  I cleaned the whole upstairs hallway the other day.  (You're probably wondering how a hallway can be messy...or not, if you've met my cluttery self!)  I felt pretty accomplished.  I found some pictures that made me smile and many that I plan to hang near my study corner/mama cave.  I may be 'performing' in a drama for our upcoming women's gathering at church.  Right now it seems like it's kind of unorganized and if it doesn't get off the ground soon, I am going to have to say no.  I don't feel confident 'winging it' or cramming when I have 4 kids in the house!  Well, as interesting as this update is (like paint drying!), I will end it soon...I just had to write something.  These are the moments I get very few of these days - no complaints - but it reminded me of when Moses was a baby and I would type away while he slept.  Now he is creeping up to be as tall as my chin and I take what I can get.  Thank you Lord for blessing me w/this time, thank you for allowing me to watch these children grow.  Thank you for the chance to serve my family yet take care of myself too.  It's been a journey to find the balance and since I am rooted in You Lord, I know I can always come back and re-evaluate that.  AMEN

...and beyond...

Many of you may remember that I wrote some goals for 2011.  I have done the same for 2012, only I admit they look similar to those of last year!  I didn't entirely complete some, while I can improve on others.  At any rate - here are my 2012 goals.  Once again I am focusing on my own health and wellness, choosing to organize my goals into 3+ categories.  Some goals may apply to more than one category, but I attempted to sort them out accordingly.  Also, please know that I am being real here and I am asking for support and not judgement.  Thanks =)

PERSONAL (bear with me, it seems there are a lot!)

-make time to do more scrapbooking/sewing/completing Pinterest pins (I had this on my list last year.  Epic failure!  Prepare for round 2...DING)

-watch less TV during the week/overall (should help w/the first one - we have DVR now so I should be able to record some things to watch on the weekends)

-go to a women's conference/retreat, something of that sort...

-join some sort of a small group, which will hopefully help me maintain and cultivate old/new relationships

-call the Integenerational Center nearby (I have always had this dream of opening one and what do you know?!  There is one less than a half hour a way!  Why re-invent the wheel?  I should investigate volunteering there)

-READ (I have a weak looking book list, but I hope I can read at least one book a month)

-take a grad class to renew my teaching license, but also investigate possible future Spanish classes/maybe even a Master's!

SPIRITUAL (I am excited for these!)

-I will be Maximizing My Mornings, starting tomorrow!

-keep up w/my Bible reading and journaling

-memorize scripture w/my family (there are some good ones here, including in the comments, but we will also use the verses from Sunday school at our church)

-go on a small/big missions trip (again, I really didn't even come close on this one last year - hopefully we can take steps to get closer to this goal this year)

-small group - see above

-women's conference/retreat - see above

PHYSICAL (same as last year, w/a few minor tweaks!)

-get 8 hrs of sleep a night (No seriously.  8.)

-exercise 30 minutes 3 times a week  (I'm not sure this will happen right away, but it's a goal - I will be taking baby steps to get there - it's harder than last year since we have more kids, but do-able)

-thin the thighs (Judgement free zone here people - I don't care if I lose weight, just if I can get these thunder thighs under control!)

-complete a 5K in under 30 minutes (I almost got there last year!)

-complete more than one 5K (Yes!)

-drink more water (Like last year, if I can do more than 3 glasses a day, I am doing good - I just need to be more consistent)

FAMILY/HOUSEHOLD GOALS (new this year...)

-eat more real food (I can help by cooking more breakfasts and being ready so we don't do fast food out of desperation)

-reduce packaging (this has been on my mind lately...even if I do a little, it's better than nothing)

-out West trip (some extended family have moved out to WA and we would love to go back to CA)

-researching/prepping moving out of town (don't freak out - there's is a minute fraction of a chance we will actually pull this off in 2012 which is why I said researching/prepping, but it's been on our minds for the near future, so we have to be honest that it is one of our goals)

-adoption (there!  I said it!  Again, don't freak out, we have no news but this is always a family goal)

There's probably more of these, but I didn't really focus too much on these.  I can help us reach these goals, but it will be a team effort and will take a little more planning.  

Like last year, I hope to post goal updates but I doubt it will be every month.  Being that there are 2 more children in our house than last year at this time, life gets pretty busy!  But I am confident that in writing this post and reflecting on my goals, I will be able to stay on track and take better care of myself.

Things I did well in 2011...

I have a post in my mind, all ready to go, about my 2012 goals.  They look pretty similar to the 2011 goals but first I wanted to comment on what I did well in 2011.  If you forgot, I attempted to do monthly updates on my goals (I accomplished that goal 5 out of 12 times).  This was the original post.  I made 3 categories - physical, personal, and spiritual.  I was really good at drinking more water, running, doing the 5K (not so much once it was over, though) and sort of good at getting 8 hours of sleep.  The physical stuff kind of fell off the track after fall hit...for various reasons!  Dave and I have been super awesome about date night, many thanks to 2 reliable and willing babysitters =)  I was mediocre at my Bible reading, but for me, mediocre was a massive improvement!!  Some things that were not listed on my goals post, but I was good at anyway, were things like making lunches and washing laundry on time.  I was also a rock star when it came to finding things that we needed at thrift/consignment shops, thus avoiding box stores and buying new.  I was really good at changing our eating habits and continuing on our 'green' journey.  I was good about helping to keep the chickens alive!  Didn't think I'd be saying that....I was GREAT at hanging wash!  HA!  You already knew that, didn't you...well, there is lots of room for improvement.  But I think writing out my goals last year really helped me.  I can't wait to share my revised/new goals in the next post!

The ABCs of 2011

(Once again, we are not sending Christmas cards out in the traditional way - see the end of this post for more on that...We hope you enjoy this online version! If you regularly read my blog, some of these stories will sound familiar...I also wanted to let you know that there are not a lot of photos here, but if you click the links that are in blue, you will be taken to other posts I have written over the year and I promise there are more photos there!)  And now...

The ABCs of 2011

A - ADOPTION!  On January 14, 2011, our adoption of one precious little girl became final.  It was the best late Christmas present anyone could ask for!  WORTH THE WAIT.

Baptism

B - Baptism.  In June I (Melissa) was water baptized.  I had been baptized as in infant and really felt that I was at a point in my faith where I wanted to do it again.  Many thanks to our family and friends who celebrated both the adoption and baptism with us.
C - Chickens.  Again this year Dave bought some eggs to hatch in his 4 year old classroom.  Only 3 hatched =(  But since it was such a small number, he asked if we could keep them.  He built this awesome coop and run with scrap wood and we enjoyed watching the feathered fluff balls grow into chickens!

Now we are 6!

D - Dewey and Curly Sue.  In early November, 2 new foster children joined us.
E - Eternal life.  Almost a year after the death of my paternal grandfather, my maternal grandfather passed away in February.  Then in July my paternal grandmother also passed away.  These losses meant I no longer have any grandparents on this Earth.  Grief may give us a heavy heart, but the knowledge that these people are born to eternal life is a true comfort.
F - Framily.  That's 'friends-like-family' smooshed together.  This year a lot has happened in our framily - adoptions, loss of loved ones, purchases of homes, and shared celebrations.  We are so blessed to be able to take mini-vacations w/framily, stay up late talking, and just share our daily lives with them.
G - Gymnastics.  Moses has been LOVING boys' gymnastics!  They get to use the pommel horses, bars, rings, etc.  I don't even know what all those things are called!  It's a great outlet for him and he does his best to keep up with some of the older boys in the class.  We're still working on cartwheels!  It's funny, I never thought about teaching someone to do one...I guess I thought they just watched someone else and picked it up!  Thanks to Coach Evan, I now know a technique to teach that fun skill! Colleen is also enjoying gymnastics, and of course she especially loves wearing a leotard w/a tutu!  Soon both Colleen and Curly Sue will be in the same class and Mo will continue on in the boys' class.
H - Harvested.  This year's garden was a little different than those of the past, but I did harvest a lot of pumpkins!  I learned a few lessons along the way again and hope to use them to my advantage for next year.  I feel very blessed to be able to grow some things for our family to eat and also blessed to harvest things like apples from others' trees.
I - Infants.  We had 2 foster care infants over the course of the year.  Both were only here a short time, but it was a treat to have babies that were days old in the house!  But it also kind of 'schooled' us...how quickly we have forgotten about getting up multiple times in the night and taking lots of supplies everywhere we go...
J - JESUS brings us great JOY!!!!  Most of my readers here already know that my family and I love Jesus.  To us, Christmas is a sweet time of celebration.  We are reminded that ever since the first sin that Adam and Eve committed, we are all in need of a Savior.  That God himself would come down to the Earth in the form of man, to be born in a simple manger, is the greatest gift!
K - KINDERGARTEN!  Moses started all day bilingual kindergarten this year!!  It has been interesting, to say the least, and there may be another future post about all that, but the best part is hearing our boy pick up Spanish words and phrases, watching him cruise through the sight words, and seeing the joy on his face when he talks about his 'specials' - gym, music, art and recess!
L - Lake.  We still love living by the lake!  Dave is considering the Polar Plunge again this year...
M - Math.  This year Dave started teaching ELL Math.  I know, I know, he was doing some of that before...but in the high school he did some 'center math' previously.  He taught the students with little to no English basic math concepts.  In the past he also facilitated what they call Tutorial, or a guided study hall.  No more!  This year, due to a mainstream teacher's retirement, he was able to begin teaching ELL Algebra.  It is nice because before there were 2 teachers (one mainstream leading and one ELL helping) while now there is only one.  He can go as slow or fast as the class needs.  It's a nice change.
N - Niece or Nephew?  Soon my brother and his wife will be having a baby!!!  We are ecstatic for them and can't wait to see if it's a boy or a girl.  The kids haven't quite gotten it that a new cousin is coming, but I'm sure once she or he arrives, they will love cuddling that baby.  They already beg to buy stuff for him or her all the time!  I think that baby will be spoiled.  (Edited to add - it's a boy!!!)
O - Opportunity.  I didn't have an O!!  So I'm going to take this opportunity to say thank you to all our family and friends who have prayed for us, helped us, supported us, laughed and cried with us this year.  We love you!!!
P - Purple Book.  We took a class at church, using the Purple Book as a study guide to the Bible.  It was really awesome!  I have done other Bible studies before but really didn't get into them.  This one was life-changing for me.
Q - Question - Is this the longest Christmas letter so far??  Maybe...but we're almost there!
R - Running/Reading.  There are 2 for this letter!  First of all, I resurrected the old me, the me who used to run in college and made a slow come back.  I was determined this year to get in shape and complete a 5K in less than 30 minutes.  I came close.  It didn't happen.  But I am not giving up that goal.  I plan to continue to press on and enjoy running, indoors or out!  As for reading, I am yet again bragging on my sweet son Moses.  With the exception of a few Hooked on Phonics sessions, he pretty much taught himself to read.  Obviously, he has 2 teachers for parents.  English/language teachers to boot!  But we didn't do much besides the ordinary.  On our August trip to the northern/midwestern states, he sat with a bag full of books and just keep reading them out loud.  When he didn't know a word, he'd spell it and ask us what it was.  We'd tell him and much like us when we were little, once he learned it, he didn't forget it.  I don't know how many hours he did that in the back of the van, but it was a lot!  It really is amazing the way God designs the brain to pick those things up...

Mt. Rushmore

S - South Dakota.  Our summer trip included other states, but this was the one we spent the most time in.  There is so much to say about it!!!  We enjoyed the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, other National Parks, Sturgis, the mountains and the YMCA of the Rockies.  We fed donkeys, had a coyote run through the area while cooking dinner over the campfire and climbed the Black Hills.  We saw motorcycle after motorcycle and sweat buckets while climbing one of the Rocky mountains.  We laughed a lot and visited Storybook Gardens twice.  We would love to go back...especially to the YMCA of the Rockies.

Texas

T - Texas.  We spent spring break in Texas w/Dave's mom.  We visited some good framily, some cousins and the Gulf.  We were quiet at the JFK memorial, in awe at the Alamo and loud in the Gulf waters!  We saw stadiums, flowers and plants, more missions, the Riverwalk...we were blessed by one of our pastors to stay in a timeshare.  We got to swim and relax and visit.  We went to bilingual church! We will never forget..."Si Dios te satisface, DALE PALMAS - (clap clap clap!)"
U - Ulysses S. Grant.  He was one of the presidents we learned when we did our flashcards!  As we were planning our South Dakota trip, we knew we would be seeing Mt. Rushmore.  Then I was *cleaning* the drawers by the phone and found this box of flashcards...so I thought I'd pick a few and Mo and I would learn (or re-learn) their names and one fact about what they were known for.  It went well!  I think we learned about 20 of the presidents' faces and facts.  It was funny because I couldn't help reference the presidents who were on our money.  Mo kept asking to see the bigger bills....and I'd say, "Get a job kid!"
V - Van.  It has been approximately one year driving our new 8-seater van!  We have learned a lot in this one year...we really like the 8th seat.  We love the electric door!  Despite having an electric door, the drivers' seat is not electric.  It takes 13 pumps to boost the seat up!  (For those of you that don't know, Dave is almost a foot taller than me, so every time a new driver gets in, the seat gets adjusted.)  Having a back row that drops down for storage is pretty sweet too.  All these new features!  We also learned that red is a very popular color for mini-vans!  And red vans that are the same make and model as ours are also popular!  Once I couldn't figure out why my door wouldn't unlock...wrong van!!!  Luckily no one saw me =)
W - Working with wood.  This year Dave built a chicken coop and a tree fort. There was a lot of sawing, drilling and hammering going on!  It was great to see Mo following him around with his own toolbelt and toolbox.  The kids all are helping measure and everyone wants to be a 'gopher'.  "Go get me a screw.  Go get me the drill.  Go get me a glass of water."  I am really proud of my smart husband for pretty much designing and building these things!  There's a little engineering in his DNA after all.
X - No X-Rays this year.  Maybe you remember the summer of '08?  So glad we didn't have any X-rays this year!!!
Y - YMCA.  This year was the first year we got a membership.  We have been taking advantage of the classes, the workout machines and the pool.  It feels so good to be active!  Some nights when everyone seems a little stir crazy, we go to the racquetball court and let the kids loose with a baggie full of bouncy balls!  They're much less painful than a racquetball and they bounce all crazy!  Everyone chases the little balls and giggles...best free activity...
Z - Zee End.  =)  Much love from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas!

-and-

May God bless you in the New Year!

Love, Melissa, Dave, Moses, Colleen, 

Curly Sue and Dewey

We hope you enjoyed this green version of our Christmas card! (If you still wish to receive a paper copy, leave a comment.) There are lots of reasons we decided to do things differently this year (again!)...here's a few:

1) Save postage. We love you, but we're cheap!

2) Save paper. You just recycle those cards after you read them...you do recycle them eventually, don't you??

3) Save printing costs. See reason #1!

4) Save stress. Nothing to print, sign, stuff, address...

5) Expand our options! Now you can see a practically limitless amount of photos.

6) Our greeting to you is saved in cyber-space for posterity! Yes, we can be that vain sometimes!

7) It went so well the past years...we heard a lot of positive responses, and even some people who said they'd try it themselves. Welcome to the dark (green) side! (Sorry that was a goofy Star Wars joke...)