Reflections of 2014

It's New Years Eve and another year has come and gone and what a year it's been.  2014 is probably one of those years I will reflect on fondly for years to come.  I am ending the year with my marriage still intact and happy too!  Not to sound sappy or overly dramatic but I am thankful on a daily basis for my faithful and devoted husband.  Watching my parents marriage implode and now seeing marriages of my friends destroyed, a good marriage is never something I take for granted.  My boys are healthy and although my daily job as being their zookeeper keeps me on my toes, I know the day will come when my home will not be filled with their daily laughter.  However, I doubt I will miss Jay jumping out from every corner to scare me (his new favorite hobby).  I am still loving (and I mean loving) my job.  What a blessing it has been to do a job I enjoy and be at home doing it.  My mother is well and is able to come to many of the boys' sporting events - again this is something that if the day ever comes I will miss her walking into the gym with her bleacher chair in tow, ready to watch her grandsons play some ball.  I've enjoyed witnessing Jay's faith grow.  As many parents can attest to, the middle school age can be tough and trust me, there are many days I have to restrain myself from strangling Jay but the good outweighs the bad.  It's been a blessing to see success and confidence back in Nick's eyes this year.  Mike Ausili likes to affectionately refer to Nick as our "future Navy Seal."  He's tough as nails and strong like an ox.  The sky is the limit for both of the boys.  My prayer for them is they get their identity rooted in Christ.  I look forward to 2015.  I don't make new years resolutions.  I have issues with consistency (ha) so I usually fail miserably with resolutions.  However, I do look forward to upcoming vacations, time with friends and family and maybe (just maybe) Mike can finish another project around the house and I can finally get new furniture.  One can always hope, right? 

Merry Christmas

 This Christmas the weather was great and no one was sick; at least not sick enough to prevent any festivities from happening.  However, that being said our Christmas eve was a bit challenging - mostly due to my children.  I won't dwell on it because as my mom, sister and I all agreed, it was an "off" year and we plan on tweeking things a bit for next year.  See the picture above and how cooperative my children are being - NOT.

 This picture is a good picture into how our evening went.  My mom has a blank stare on her face - like can we get this evening over with?  Jay and Luke are staring off into who knows where, Lauren has her eyes shut and Nick is just having his ADHD moment which was pretty much how he was all night long.  Sigh. 

 The boys in their new jammies before bed on Christmas eve.  Slowly but surely, Santa is becoming obsolete in our house.  Jay no longer believes and I really don't think Nick does either but he appears to still be playing along.  However, he refused to write a letter to Santa on Christmas eve which went right along with the mood he was in and no one asked to put out cookies for Santa.  On Christmas morning, Santa got all four of us Harlem Globetrotter tickets and Jay had to comment that Santa uses the same wrapping paper as mom does. Usually I try to be more discreet but again, I could tell that Santa is starting to die his own death in our house.  Does it make me sad?  Not really.  I'm usually ready to cross a  bridge and move onto the next season.

 Speaking of how things change....I remember many, many Christmases where Mike would spend the entire morning putting together toys but not this Christmas.  The boys put together all of their own things.  Nick got a new sled which Jay helped him put together.  The big hits this year: Nick got a R/C helicopter from nana (which he loves), a circuit electronic things (from Nana) and his sled.  Jay got a Galaxy Pad.  It was so relaxing this year.

 I remember past Christmases where it snowed (BAD) and Mike would spend an hour or so trying to put together toys (and never finishing in time before he had to move to the next job) then he'd have to plow the driveway so our family could get in, then he'd have to marinate the meat we were making.  Then one Christmas our basement flooded.  There have certainly been some stressful times but this year was not one of them. 

                                                 Nick reading directions for one of his toys.

 The Ausili's came over on Christmas day as did Mike's parents.  For some reason I got a ton of picture of our dogs.  They were in the thick of things (as usual) all day. 

 Our crazy Cole doesn't care how he gets petted, as long as someone is petting him.  Check him out in the picture below.  He cracks us up.

 Curtis with his favorite girl, Copper.  Copper loves to lay on the tile right in front of the fire. 

                                                     A boy and his dog.  Love.

It was a wonderful Christmas.  The ages of the kids are: Jay: 12, Curtis: 12, Faith: 14, Nick: 8, Lauren: 7, Luke: 3.  Although Christmas even didn't quite go as we had envisioned, we were all well, we were all together and really that's all that matters.  Merry Christmas to all. 

Skating & Singing

 I took a day of vacation yesterday and although the day was busy and my children are adjusting to being on Christmas break (Hello fighting) the day was really enjoyable.  I took my boys, Faith and Curtis ice skating.  My friend, Sarah and two of her boys met us there.  Look at Faith right in the middle of all the boys.  She never seems to mind, bless her. 

 I can only imagine what these 5 boys are saying to each other, "If we take off from this angle at this speed, we might be able to go around this corner faster than a speeding bullet."

 Last evening Laura and I went to my dads nursing home for "Socks for Seniors" night.  This is our 3rd year doing it and probably our best year.  We both seemed a lot more organized for it this year.  We collected 116 socks so that every resident of the home receives a pair of socks.  We sings carols to them and pass out socks.  We also get cards donated to us from a business in town and we get 116 cards signed by kids within our school district.  As you can imagine the residents really enjoy it and my dad loves it; once he can accept the fact that he's up past his bedtime.  Ha.  We had a smaller group this year but this was the first year that although we did it during xmas break, it was a week night and many adults still have to work the next day.  We had just enough kids though to make it special for the residents.

 Even my dad gets into the Christmas spirit.  Jay was in charge of pushing his grandpa around during the evening.  By the time we got ready to leave, Jay whispers to me, "I have sweat in places I didn't know were possible."  Ha.  The nursing home is always HOT and pushing around grandpa Brad is no easy job - hence Jay's expression below. 

Another Socks for Seniors night was successfully done.  I really hope this is something Laura and I can keep doing.  It's also something that is special to my sister and I as it's a way of doing something nice for our dad during this time of year. 

My Christmas Season

Christmas is only 3 days away.  As usual the entire month of December flew by but this season was different for me.  I was more intentional in how I organized my time.  Last year I was so busy and so overwhelmed and it didn't sit well with me.  My work load last year had a lot to do with it and that is something I had no control over.  I just kept treading water, very unsuccessfully by the way.  In years past illness has played a part in shutting my family down for weeks in December.  This December has been different.  My work load has been manageable and illness has not struck my family (so far, knock on wood).  My shopping was done weeks ago and my wrapping was finished days ago.  My Christmas cards were mailed out the first week of December and I was able to make peppermint cup cakes for my friends and neighbors.  I made a red velvet cake for Jay's teachers and I was able to perform three acts of kindness this season.  This month I used my last 2 days of vacation.  I went to Nick's Christmas program at school and helped with his class xmas party.  Today I'm using my last day of vacation and taking my boys, Faith and Curtis ice skating.  I am loving every minute of this season and this year when Dec. 26 comes along, I really will be sad to see it end. 

Nick's Christmas Program

 My mom and I look forward to the school Christmas program every year.  After this year, I'll only have two more left.  However, I've figured out that my friend, Erin, has a 3 year old so I may have to come and see Natalie perform for years to come.  This year there was a new music teacher and she had big shoes to fill and boy did she fill them!  She did a wonderful job and added some new touches to the program that everyone seemed to enjoy.  She played the piano, the kids performed from the bleachers and the older kids performed little skits throughout the program.  The picture above is Nick's class.  It's not a good picture and you really can't see Nick but I tried.  At least you get the jist of it. 

 After the program Nick had his class Christmas party.  He and a few of his friends even got their picture taken with Santa. 

And Nick's Christmas angel this year is Mrs. Westerfield!  What a wonderful 3rd grade year he is having.  What a blessing! 

Life with Cole......one year later

 Cole became a part of our family on Dec. 27, 2013 so here we are nearly one year later.  There was certainly more of an adjustment period with Cole.  Mike describes him perfectly.  Mike likes to compare Cole to a fraternity brother.....a college boy with really good intentions but no manners and a really" DUH" demeanor.  You will often hear all of us saying, "Cole, come here ya big dope."  He's obsessed with food, he eats his own poop and Copper's too, he has no concept of personal space and he's down right obnoxious but even with all those character flaws, one look at the picture above and you'll know why we've kept him as a permanent part of our family.  Cole LOVES Nick and Nick loves Cole.  It took awhile to get that point.  In the beginning Cole annoyed Nick but over time Nick has truly warmed towards his dog and the two of them are like Jay and Copper, two peas in a pod. 

 Despite Mike's frustration with Cole, he enjoys him and Cole has provided our family with a lot of laughs through the year.  He's like an old man who doesn't know he's funny.  Cole perches (hence the picture above) while Mike pets his neck.  He loves it.  Cole has been known to literally fall over from being petted.  He's like one of fainting goats.......all of the sudden he's sitting and the next thing we know he's on the ground! 

And I just threw this picture in, just because.  I thought it was super cute of Jay and Nick........Mike has a bit of a cheesy/fake grin but I like it anyway. 

Taking one for the team

I debated whether I should title my blog "Taking one for the team," or "Mike's endearing qualities."  I opted for "Taking one for the team," but you'll see why the two titles go hand in hand.  Our family is heavily involved in basketball right now.  Jay is playing, Nick is playing and Mike is assistant coach for Nick's team.  What am I doing you ask?  Driving all over central IL to go to games and putting on weight from sitting in the bleachers.  Our challenge is deciding which parent is going to which game.  This makes it very difficult for Mike because he's committed to helping with Nick's team so Mike has missed several of Jay's games (and I've missed several of Nick's) because Nick either has a game on the same nights or practice.  We don't spend a lot of time thinking about it because it is what it is.  I like to joke that Jay is taking one for the family this basketball season.  Although Mike never coached Jay's teams, he rarely missed a practice and often times would take Jay early so they could practice together.  Now it's Nick's turn.  The past year has been difficult for Nick which in turn was hard on Mike and I.  The ship has finally started to veer and head in the right direction and as any parent can imagine, that makes this mom and dad very happy.  Nick loves his dad helping to coach his team and although Nick's attitude was less than happy when he started basketball, his attitude has slowly improved.  I have had the pleasure of seeing my husband in a role that I thought I'd never see.  He never ceases to amaze me.  He has gotten to know all the boys on Nick's team and I've never heard him say a negative word about any of them.  He recognizes what skills they need to work on but he sees the potential in all of them which is exactly how it should be in third grade sports but as we all know, sometimes that isn't how it is.  It's all about winning and playing your best players.  I like Mike's philosophy.  He firmly believes that we have no idea what this group of third players will develop into (basketball wise) but there is something in all of them that can be developed to make them better.  Slowly but surely we've seen the team improve, enjoy the game more and playing as a team.  It's been a joy to see.  I wish Jay's season was going as well as Nick but the truth is, it's not.  My dear friend, Laura, gave me excellent advice regarding Jay's situation.  She said that although things may seem really bad, the truth is this experience might be instilling a sense of perseverance and commitment with Jay.  And this may be Jay's first real lesson in learning that life is simply unfair sometimes.

Happy 7th Birthday, Lauren

 The start of December begins with Lauren's birthday and honestly I can't think of a better way to begin the holiday season.  Lauren was born at 28 weeks, weighing only 2 lbs.  She's a testament to the power of God and His healing and her birthday reminds us of the most perfect gift in Jesus. 

 Lauren had a friend over and Kim invited our family for dinner, presents and dessert (of course).  On Lauren's actual birthday I went in to have lunch with her.  I loved it! 

This picture has nothing to do with Lauren's birthday.  We had one of those weekends where we didn't stop and I hate it when that happens but with two boys in activities, it happens.  Jay had a game yesterday and these three stoogies sat together.  This is Nick with Cole & Noah. 

Jesus never lets go

Last night I went to check Jay's phone and I found this as his screen saver.  It was the perfect end to a very busy day.