Seasonal Post

I absolutely hate that my blogging has become a seasonal thing. This has been a year of so many changes and transitions, and I really wish that I had documented more. Anyway.....

Updates on all of us:

Erik has been working every possible minute on our new backyard and fence. Honestly, I really miss him! Our yard is starting to look pretty great, and it is fairly large, so a much bigger project than we knew we were taking on. I could almost take day to day pictures now and you would see how busy he has been (even weekdays). I love that he can do anything, but I will be so glad for a family vacation too. He is hoping to finish our deck this weekend, so there will hopefully be more days of relaxing out back once we have somewhere to sit :)

Jake is going into third grade this August. It is hard to believe that he is that old! He is an amazing first child. He is my energizer bunny who NEVER gets tired. He is on swim team, a baseball team, and a soccer team. He is a great student with such a zest for learning and a math talent. He can be such a great big brother, and yet still loves to come snuggle and talk with me every day.

Blake is going into first grade this fall. Such a big boy, yet still so little. I am conscious about letting him be little more than I was with Jake. He is playing baseball this summer and swimming. Both boys are very much looking forward to golf camp again with Great Grandpa Bryant. They just love him, and golf. He is an amazing student who now can read anything and loves school. He has so many friends, and all I ever hear is how much other kids love him. We do too!

Kate is our beautiful spitfire. She is now three and a half, but going on thirteen :) She is all girl - loves dress up, dolls, makeup, hair styling, and shopping. Kate is smart and tall, and you never know what she is going to say. I love that she is careful about everything and takes things slowly. Like Mother, like daughter.

I am going back to teaching full time this year. I was moved to third grade, and am praying that this is the right place for me. I absolutely love my school and my co-workers, so I am willing to trust the judgement of my principal. I am really lucky to retain my position this year in an economy that left others not quite as fortunate. Away from work, I am really enjoying decorating our new house. I mean, you all know what a paintaholic I am, and am pretty thrilled that I am in this blank slate. I am sure that Erik sees my projects on the inside as tedious as his work on the outside :) We also are enjoying many afternoons at the pool this summer, and I am running as a hobby. So between all those things, a pretty busy life!

The last 10 years......

One of my very best friends just wrote about all she had to be thankful for over the last 10 years, and I think that is a wonderful way to start a new decade. I have so many blessings, a few stumbles, and of course, I am much wiser than I was at 25 years old.

Erik and I didn't get married in the last decade, but we sure started our life together through the last ten years. We have moved (a lot!), had three bright and amazing kids, have three dogs that we adore, and have relocated to Colorado (again). We started out the decade here, moved back to Arizona in 2001, and then settled here in 2005 - for once and for all hopefully! We have had a rich existence, full of wonderful friends and neighbors. Erik started with GE in 2001, and is still there, so we have a stable job to be thankful for! I started the decade as a Cherry Creek teacher, and was lucky enough to end the decade back in Cherry Creek (there really is no better place to teach!). I am also thankful daily that I was lucky enough to be home full time with my children from 2002 until 2008. Those wonderful, formative years were a treasure to me.

This decade brought Jake, Blake, and Kate to our lives - there really is no greater gift. Even though I am pushed to my limits some days, I would never trade my life for anyone else's! Nothing in life can prepare you to be a mother, and I certainly can't describe how it has changed me. My empathy for others, my level of compassion for the plight of others, and the above mentioned wisdom would be a start to what I am truly thankful for. When I really step back and think about who in my life is most important and influential, it all comes back to a level of love for my children. All of my close friends and family members are the ones who care for and are guiding my children in a way that I would and hopefully do. All of our big decisions are first seen through the lens of how it will ultimately affect our kids. Being a parent is such a blessing, and I am so thankful that this decade (and many more) will be spent watching them grow! On the other end of the spectrum, I am truly thankful that Erik and I both have grandparents still living and loving us and the kids. We are fortunate that our parents are all still alive and healthy, and that our siblings have all been in fairly good health and are still around to give us a hard time once in a while. :)

I left my twenties during this decade. I have never been one to mourn an age. I saw my thirties as years of potential. I was pregnant with Blake on my 30th birthday, and couldn't have been more excited to be right where I was. As I look back, I love my 30s! I can see where the lessons of my twenties are guiding decisions and paths that I am taking, but my thirties are a decade of coming into my own. I have enough life experience to be taken seriously now. I have enough years to know about how to leave the toxic behind and continue with the positive. But most of all, I have the education and experience to really become all I can be. I am a much better teacher, parent, friend, wife, etc... with this combination. I don't have to accept drama, except from an appropriate place, like my three year old. I don't any longer have to conform to other's expectations, but have a firm grasp on my own. I can right the wrongs of my teenage years and twenties, and be proud of just who I am and who I have turned out to be. I can be a good example for my children, and a present Mom.

Oddly enough, ten years ago, we were just about to move in to our first new Richmond house on January 20, 2000. It is less than a mile from here, and our new house today is a Richmond too. We moved into our new house on 1/1/2010. It is just where we want to be. It is beautiful, and not too much or too little :) We learned in the last decade that our kids going to a great school is paramount for us. We are there. We spent a lot of time looking for the best option, and thought we had it, but know now for sure what we were missing. Almost as if the puzzle found it's missing piece. Everybody is so much happier, and the kids are settled finally. Like I said, it is just where we want to be. Only took us eleven years to find!

The last decade has taught us about quality. We are choosing to surround ourselves with quality people, people who make our existence better and brighter. We are focusing on the quality of life this year. More ski trips, more family time, more vacations, more walks after dinner, more celebrations, more reading together, more singing and dancing, more joys, more of us! Less shopping, computer, worries, drama, time in the car, frustrations, negativity, emptiness, material possessions, perfection, the list could go on and on....

If you read this, thanks for the role you have played in my life to this point. As a mom, teacher, friend, wife, child, I have only just begun! I absolutely can't wait for the next decade bringing proms, high school, driving, and my forties.