My favorite Christmas present

Abbey has a giving personality like me. She didn't have money to buy gifts but that didn't stop her. She made everyone a coupon book. This is a picture of Bobby's. In my book the coupons were:

1. Help with the dishes

2. give hug/kiss

3. Stop that

4. No tattling

5. Watch Jacob

Isn't she sweet? My favorite is the stop that and no tattling coupon. I can't wait to use them. I am not exactly sure how the no tattling one works. Do I give it to her after she tattles and then tell her no more tattling for the rest of the day OR do I give it to her right before she wants to tell me something bad that one of her siblings is doing? I guess I will have to ask her.

Kyra is picking up on this cute little thing Abbey does. Last night, Kyra wrote notes to everyone in the family and put them in all of our rooms. I have two very sweet girls. Today I think I will write Kyra a note and put it in her room.

Christmas 09

I forgot to blog about our fabulous Christmas. We made a nice dinner on Christmas Eve just for us 6. We smoked a turkey but it didn't get done in time. In fact, it got done at 1 am. It would not cook in smoker so we finished cooking it in the oven finally. The rest of the dinner was delicious though. Abbey and Kyra left Santa a lot of goodies. They left him smashed cookies, oranges and water for the reindeer. They also left out some paper towells so the reindeer wouldn't pee on our floor. FUNNY!

Christmas morning was fun. It seemed a lot calmer than other years. The kids didn't wake up until 8 am. They were all so excited!! Jacob got Cars geo trax so he didn't even care about the rest of his presents or his stocking.

We each took turns opening presents and taking pictures. There was still a huge paper, box mess when we were done but we just left it there until the afternoon. Santa brought a box of cookie crisp so we didn't even have to make breakfast (fabulous for me)!

I gave Bobby the 80's rock ballad CD's and I think he really liked them because we listened to all of them (yes, all of them) that day. The Barlow's came over and we had smoked turkey (how convinient) and made the dinner really simple!!! I was really happy how it all turned out. I think we just found ourselves some new traditions!

Family Menu

This is our menu written by
Trevor who acted as our scribe

I decided to try something new. Instead of wondering what to fix for dinner at 4:50 pm everyday, I decided to make a menu. We sat down as a family on Sat night and planned the whole weeks worth of meals. The kids picked the things they like me to cook and I don't have to think of the meal every night. I have always told Bobby that I don't mind cooking but I HATE deciding. This has helped a lot.

Then Bobby went to the store and bought all the ingredients we would need so I don't make 4 extra trips to the store. WHY DID I NOT DO THIS SOONER? It has been so nice to have it written and decided for me every night. This has also helped our spending money eating out budget too. If I have no plan then I immediately want to eat out instead of deciding. Making a menu every week was not one of my resolutions for the new year but I think we will keep it!

New Years Resolutions

Christmas party at the Waechtler's house.

I know a lot of people hate making New Years Resolutions but I like them. I like making goals and trying to achieve them. I am definitely not perfect at keeping them though. Last year I set 2 goals. I wrote them on my home page of FB and kept them all year long. I achieved one of them and I am still working on the other one. The goal I achieved was to lose 20 pounds and I did that! In fact, I lost 22 pounds but gained 2 back over the holidays. The other one was to get out of debt, and we are still working on that one. I asked Bobby and the kids what they were going to work on and here are all of their responses:

Bobby: Spend less time watching tv and attend the temple more.

Trevor: Do better in school and read without complaining.

Abbey: Less tattling

Kyra: Make less messes

Mine: Wear my seatbelt, think before I speak, stop swearing and drinking caffeine, be nicer to Bobby, and lose 8 more pounds.

My kids' goals are a dream come true for me because they all said something that I nag them about. I am going to try to do less of that this year, but some of that just comes with being a mom I think. Happy New Year everyone! AND happy goal setting! (remember to write them down because a goal not written down is only a wish!!