Happy New Year

As I sit here on my couch thinking about 2009 and what this year has meant for our family, I become overwhelmed with joy. God has been so good to us this year. Not only did HE meet every need we had, He gave us more!

Highlights from 2009:

• Our family went to Disney World in September
• Wild Man started Kindergarten and is having a great school year so far
• Wild Man asked Jesus into his heart over Christmas break - PTL!!!
  
• Princess T started Pre-K and loves it!
• Princess T continues to learn how to express herself - she is very dramatic now :)
  
• Manders has lost 40 lbs since April and Professor has lost 35 lbs.
  
• Professor got finally approval on his dissertation and WILL graduate in May 2010
• We DID NOT move!!!!
  
• God continues to bless my Initials, inc home business
• Professor continues to LOVE his job!!
• We welcomed our first niece on Professors side of the family in the to world in November
• We have been blessed to spend more time with Professor's family this year since distance is not as much of an issue
• We bought a Mini Van!!!! This moved us back to being a 2 car family!!

What we look forward to in 2010...

• Watching Wild Man grow in his new walk with the Lord and maybe loose some teeth :)
  
• Professor and myself each have about 15-20 lbs we want to loose
• Princess T turns 4 - this is so hard for me to believe
  
• Professor and I will celebrate 8 years of marriage
• Professor WILL be graduating in May

I am ready to see God move in our family this year! Happy New Year!!!

Under Construction

I have spent entirely way too much time working to update my blog tonight. I am farely pleased with it, but am no where near satisfied. However, I just don't have anymore brain power or time to finish tonight. So please excuse the unmatching colors and other imperfections on my blog. I will fix them before the weekend is over.

Also, we had a fantastic trip to Disney. I will post some stories and pictures from the trip as soon as my blog is finished with it's make over.

Lessons Learned This Week

This week has been a lesson learning week for me. I have learned a lot about myself, and I wanted to share the top 5 with you...enjoy!

1. I hate that my kids are growing up! I mean HATE! I am so glad that they are able to do more on their own now, but seriously they can stop growing. It is hurting my heart to watch them grow up so fast. Okay, I need to quit writing about this or will start crying.

2. I chew "Old People" Gum. You can thank BB for this, because apparently since I do she does too :) This issue has been corrected and I am no longer an "old peoples" gum chewer. Thanks Katrice for bringing this to my attention so it could be corrected. :)

3. I am way too OCD for garage sales. We are having a garage sale on Saturday (please stop by and say hey) and I am making it way too hard on myself. I know this fact, yet I can not keep myself from organizing everything!

4. I will do anything for Professor! You are thinking, "Shouldn't she know this already...I mean they have been married for 7.5 years". There are things I have refused to do in the past...those days are over. I spent 1.5 hours fixing an ice cream cake for him, because that is all he wanted for his 30th birthday. If I ever make this ice cream cake for you...then you are extremely special :)

5. School supply shopping is stressful! I LOVE school supply shopping, so you know I was very excited about taking Wild Man on this adventure for the first time. However, unclear (or I should say "unclear to me") lists made this event a little stressful. It was also stressful to realize that we are way too close to the day that I allow my baby to go to go somewhere all day long without me. At least, he will have the right school supplies, we hope.

Just Being Honest

So, it is 2 am and I am wide awake. I am pretty sure it has everything to do with the 2 diet cokes I drank today (one being around supper time). I have not had much diet coke since I started my salt-free diet, so I am certain that 2 in one day totally messed up my sleep tonight.

But, at the same time I do have a lot on my mind, so that may be why I am awake. So, I have decided to share what it weighing on my mind, hoping that maybe once it is out in the open I can sleep.

As most of you know in October 2006 I felt a strong calling to be a full time mom. I was working full time at the time, Wild Man was 3 and Princess T was a baby. I loved my job (even though at times it was very stressful) and had been promised a promotion if I stayed on for a few more months. I also felt a huge obligation to be there, since the lady who hired me was now at this time extremely sick and given only months to live. For some reason she felt at peace about being at home when I was there, I guess because she knew I would take care of things the way she wanted me too. Anyway, I was given an assignment (by my boss' boss) to do some research and present it to the team at our next meeting. Wouldn't you know Princess T got sick the day of our meeting. I spent the morning at the Dr's office, praying that she was well enough to go to daycare when we were done, so I could be at the meeting. Sure enough she had an ear infection and no fever, so the Dr wrote a note saying she could go to daycare and off I went. Dropped her off, ran to my office, gathered all my notes, and headed to my meeting, where not only was I completely ignored, but when I tried reminding them I had the stuff they wanted, was told we could talk about it the next week. The rest of the meeting was blur. I remember looking around the table at all my co workers and coming to a very harsh realization. I was the only mom in the room. Not only that, but I was a mom who sent her daughter to daycare sick, so I could impress the people in the room. WOW!! As soon as the meeting was over I marched myself to Professors office and told him I was quitting. I had a reached a point where my job was more important than my family and I was done. So we decided as a family that I needed to be home. I went in the next day with my 2 weeks notice in hand and never looked back. I will tell you that is a decision I will never regret. And, it is one I never had to tell my boss, who counted on me so dearly. She passed away the next week.

Why is this weighing on my mind now...I am getting to that. I am now at a very difficult point in my life. When we moved to Jackson a year ago we knew money would be tight and we knew the decision would mean that I would have to contribute financial to the family again. However, we also knew this is where God wanted us and so we came trusting He would provide (and He has). My Initials Inc business at the time was doing GREAT. I mean I was making well over what we knew I was going to need to contribute and so we didn't think there would be a problem. We knew the first few months would be tight as I tried to rebuild my business here, but since it did so well and I knew I had family and friends here who would help me, I didn't see a problem. Boy, was I wrong. It is amazing how quickly people change the subject when I talk about Initials Inc. It is like I have a disease or something. Even, family. Don't get me wrong, I have still had steady business being here, but not enough to cover what I need to be contributing.

So, here is the deal...here is why I have so much on my mind. Unless, I can prove that Initials Inc is going to do as well as it did in Fort Worth again, I have to find another job. I do not want to find another job, because there is not another job that can offer me the benefit Initials Inc offers me and that is to be with my kids. So, I have to get serious about Initials Inc. Initials Inc can no longer be a hobby for me. It has to become my job so that I do not have to find another one. So, I am not going to apologize for talking about it. I am not going to apologize for posting things on Facebook about it. I am not going to apologize anymore. I love my job and I am going to fight to keep it. Here is where I am going to start....

I need your help. And, no I am not going to apologize for asking. Here is how you can help me....Host a party...plan and simple. I need ladies to open up their homes to their friends (it doesn't have to be a lot of friends - somewhere around 10) and feed them. I do the rest!! I need to holding and closing 8 parties a month. Right now I am only around 1-2. So I have my work cut out for me.

Should you choose to help me here is what I promise you....you and your friends will have fun. NO ONE will feel like they HAVE to buy anything. Everyone will leave saying "we should do this more often" and you will have a peace about it because you know while you are having fun you are also helping me stay where I want to stay...HOME!! If you don't want to host, but still want to help....then come find me I will give you a stack of my business cards and you can pass them out to everyone you know.

Thank you for reading this and thank you in advance for praying that I maintain job security once again and hopefully being a part of how God answers that prayer.

Princess T + Scissors = New Haircut

On Friday I was in bed all day sick. Professor was the amazing husband and dad he always is and kept Princess T up front so that I could sleep (Wild Man was at BB's house). Later in the day he brought her back to my room and told me that she was banned from the scissors for a while. I could not even imagine why. He proceeded to show me her dress that now had some fun fringes on the bottom. I just though "Oh well - it's a walmart dress - who cares?".

Later that day I got up and went into the living room to change scenery. When I sat down on the couch I noticed a pile of hair on the end table. When I asked Professor about he had no clue where it came from. However, my mind went right back to the dress and figured very fast that Princess T had also cut her hair. And, boy did she cut it. She cut in several places and cut it short. When I asked her about it she said, "It was in my face."

So, today, the first day I felt like dealing with it, I took her to get a haircut and help blend some of the places she cut in with the rest of her hair. She was GREAT and sat so still the whole time (if know Princess T you know why I am so amazed by this). Hopefully next time she will just tell me she wants a haircut instead of doing it herself. Here are some pictures of her new hair cut. Enjoy!!

What will you celebrate?

So, I know that it has been a LONG time since I blogged and a lot has happened in our family since then. However, I don't have enough time or space to share everything, and my guess is truthfully you don't want to read it all. So, I am not going to share it at all. No, I am moving forward with my blog.

As many of you already know, because of Facebook, our family is taking another trip to Disney this year. We are so excited!! It is going to be so hard to wait 90 days to go, but we will make it some how I am sure. On the main Disney World page they have a link (some where - not sure where - but it is there) that says, "What will you celebrate?". I think it is their motto this year.

The Professor and I have been talking a lot about this and here is the answer.....

Professor's 30th Birthday, the completion of Professor's dissertation (if all goes well he will be done before we go to Disney), Professor's weight loss (he has lost 15 lbs so far) and new healthy lifestyle, My weight loss (I have lost 30 lbs so far) and new healthy lifestyle, Wild Man learning to swim and starting school, and last but certainly not least Princess T being potty trained.

We have a lot to celebrate and we can't wait to do it at Disney!! Let the count down begin!!!

"The Talk"

Okay, so we had "the talk" last night at our house. Not the birds and the bees talk but the other one. You know the one that all moms at some point have with their children after they have slaved over a yummy meal or forked over tons of money at a restaurant and the child looks at his/her plate and says, "I don't like....(whatever you cooked or bought)." Yeah, that talk. The starving kids talk. The one that as kids we promise we will never have with our kids. We had that talk and here is how it went down....

Wild Man was extremely grouchy yesterday. Apparently, I made huge mistake and made him come home right after school to eat a McDonalds Happy Meal with his mom and sister, instead of making him stay late for lunch bunch and eat a PB&J. In retrospect...I should have just made the lunch and let him stay, but that is beside the point. Anyway, this totally ruined his whole day. As we got closer to supper I saw some hope. He began to smile again and cleaned up a good bit so he could ride his bike. He even helped get the table ready for supper. However, when his plate (that had some yummy grilled chicken and yummy pasta on it) was put in front of him the "grouchies" returned. He looked at me (the person who slaved over making the yummy supper) and said, "I told you I don't like chicken!" As you can imagine, this did not sit well with me. I was tired of hearing him complain about the nice things I had done for him. So, I looked at him and said, "Wild Man there are children all over the world who don't have money to have a meal like the one you have sitting in front of you or they do not have mommy that will cook a meal like you have in front of you. So, I suggest that close you eyes and thank God that you not only have a yummy supper to eat, but you need to also thank him that you have a mommy that will cook you yummy suppers like the one in front of you. " You should have seen his face. He immediately closed his eyes and thanked God for his food and his mommy who cooked his food. Then, he ate every piece of food on his plate. The talk might not always work, but it did at our house last night!

Needless to say...I sent him with a lunch to school today.

A little bit of nothing...

So, I am home today AGAIN with a sick Wild Man. I say AGAIN because since the first of the year one of us has been sick with with something. I have Lysoled until I am blue in the face. I am just so sick of sickness. I am so ready for all four of us to be well at one time. It would certainly make life easier.

Being sick has helped in some areas. I have lost almost 15 lbs since the first of the year and I have been able to keep up with the shows I am interested in this season. I also have a little more time to blog.

I am getting sucked into The Bachelor more than I thought I would. I really think Jason is a great guy who is doing this show for all the right reasons. I can not stand Megan and I hope she is gone soon. I LOVE Stephanie and would be so excited that is who he ends up with. But, it is still too early to tell.

Professor and I have started making remodeling plans for our house. Not sure when we start the work, but the plan is to redo our kitchen and master bedroom/bathroom area this year. So, hopefully we will start soon. Until we decide exactly when and how we are going to do everything, we will probably be spending a lot of time at Home Depot or Lowe's. If you have redone a bathroom and/or kitchen, I would love any advice I can get.

Okay, well I have run out of things to say, so I am signing off for today.

Historical Day

I told myself I was not going to blog about this. In fact, after just watching The Bachelor, I really have a lot of thoughts I want to share on that topic, but the truth is today is a big day for America. I know there people all over watching something take place today that they never thought would ever happen. That is right, whether we voted for it or not, today in will go down as the day the first black man took an oath to serve our country as President. I have to admit I am not watching the whole thing on TV, mainly because the kids are home and they are easier to deal with when the disney channel is on. I also have to admit that while I appreciate how important this day is, I have no desire to watch it. I did not vote for him and to be honest I am not real thrilled he is our new President. I think that the days we have ahead of us will be difficult and I believe that he will make decisions, that will impact the future of our country greatly. I believe, as a Christian, it will most likely become increasingly harder to live our comfortable christian lives. However, I also believe that God has a plan through all this. I believe that He will use this time for His Glory! I think that no matter who we voted for or what we believe about the new president, we do need to sit back today and think about how far our country has come and then we, as Christians, need to make a strong commitment to pray for our new president and our country more than ever. We need to pray that God will use Obama to lead this country exactly where He wants our country to be, and the scary thing is, that might be right into some of the hardest days we have seen, but we need to be ready for that. God uses EVERYTHING for HIS GLORY! So, today in front of the whole blog world, I am making a commitment to appreciate the meaning of today and use it as a reason to become serious about praying for our country and our new president (whether I like him or not!).

First Blog of the Year

Well it is official...I have not blogged since last year!! :-) Okay really, it has only been two months, but I could not resist with it being a new year and all. I could give all the excuses in the world about why I haven't blogged, but it all comes down to the fact that at the end of a day, when given the choice between bed and blogging, I cave. I choose bed. However, the Holidays are over and we are finally somewhat getting into a routine in our new house, so there is a great possibility that I will resume the frequent blogging.

Last year around this time I blogged about my hopes and dreams for 2008. I had no clue that my year would be as wonderful as it has been. I set some high goals for myself, and to be honest, didn't achieve any of them, but that is what 2009 is for, right?

2008 highlights:

• Professor finished the course work for his PhD
• We moved 3 times
• We bought our first house
• Wild Man started Pre-K and turned 5 (this was a hard birthday for me - not sure why)
• Princess T's vocabulary went from nothing to everything almost over night
• I promoted in my business from Partner to Leader (this is a great thing!)
• Professor's sister got married - Professor performed the wedding, Wild Man was a ring bearer, and Princess T was a Flower Girl (who I ended up having to carry down the aisle because she fell asleep)
• We were able to host Christmas Dinner at our new home and we had everyone - Professor's family and my family - it is possibly the best Christmas I have ever had.

What does 2009 hold for the Skinkle Family?

• NO MOVING!!! For the first time in a long time I can honestly tell you we will not move this year. We will break our trend of moving once a year and stay here for a long time.
• Wild Man will start Kindergarten and go to public school - this scares me out of my mind, but I know it will be great and he will love it!!
• Princess T will be potty trained - "Diaper Free before Three!!"
• I would love to promote to Senior Leader with my company (I am very close)
• I would love to end 2009 wearing the same size clothes I wore when I met Lee
• Professor is set to graduate December 2009

Okay, so here is to another year and hopefully more blogging. :-)