friesenfam.net

Friesen family blog

January 10, 2011
by janette
1 Comment

catching up from Christmas

I feel like I’ve got a million things to post since Christmas! But…one day at a time…and one post at a time.

I thought I’d start with a couple pictures of homemade gifts from this year that I’ve been dying to show off since we got them finished. The only problem with wanting to show off gifts is that you have to wait until you’ve given them, especially if family makes up the majority of your reading audience!

These have become quite popular recently…definitely not an original idea…but it was fun nonetheless to put it all together and to try and find objects that signified our families while providing the right letters!

The pictures of them aren’t the greatest…but i think you can get the idea.

January 4, 2011
by janette
2 Comments

Goodbye 2010′s success…hello to 2011′s possibility

One last check in with the new year’s resolutions from last year…

They were…if you’ll remember

1) I resolve to get in better shape this year. Notice…i did not say I resolve to lose X amount of weight. If that comes with it, great…but if not, I still expect that my heart health will thank me for exercising more this year than I ever have. I also hope to enter a 5K this summer…walking, or running, i don’t care which…

and

2) I resolve to notice (and recognize) good customer service instead of just complaining about bad.

I kept the first one with great success. I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but I rocked this one. I am in better shape than I was last year at this time (not that there isn’t more to do!) It did come with weight loss (something I’ve never had success with before). And it came with energy, strength, and most importantly self-confidence and pride.

The second one…yeah…not so much. I did try. I just didn’t try hard enough. There are no excuses. I should have tried harder.

So this year…it’s all about trying harder!

That’s why I resolve in 2011 to…

1) I resolve to continue the better shape goal. I am aiming to enter more races than I did this year…or at least longer ones. Last year there were five 5k’s, one 4-miler, and one 8k. This year, there WILL BE at least one 10K. I’m not sure that marathon…or even half…will ever be on my radar. But, i will admit, it is kindof fun to see how much I can do, and gain that new accomplishment pride all over again. I also aim to be a motivator to my friends and co-workers in this goal.

2) I resolve to try harder when it comes to recognizing what people do for me. It has always been a habit to say “thank you” to people when they do something for me. I say thank you every day to the people that take care of my children, to the people that come to the library (therefore sustaining my job), and to the people that wait on my table. Basically, I say thank you to everyone. I hope that my children have noticed…I know my son has…he usually won’t stop saying thank you until you respond with a “you’re welcome”. In a entitlement society…I resolve to not become a part of that mentality and to make sure people get the thanks and recognition they deserve, if only by that simple “thank you” I can provide.

I’m going to stick with 2 resolutions. It’s all about keeping it doable!

And I’m going to ask again this year…do you make resolutions? What are they?

December 22, 2010
by janette
2 Comments

here they come to save the day…

Meet the world’s two newest superheros….

self named as:

Special Man and Lasso Man

Evan runs up to me the other day with a blanket, asks me to tie it on him, and says “Mommy, I want to be Special Man.” I’m thinking he meant superman…but we just went with it.

And then Ellie joined in…proclaiming she wanted to be Lasso Man. And proceeded to run around the house lassoing everything in sight.

A-dorable!!

How can there be anything wrong in the world when there is this magnitude of cuteness?

I mean, I feel safer just knowing Special Man and Lasso Man are on it. Don’t you?

December 21, 2010
by janette
0 comments

But, Christmas isn’t complete until…

this goes up.

I love this clock.

It is probably my favorite Christmas decoration of all time. I think it’s just from a Current catalog or something, but my Grandma gave it to Nathan a number of years ago, and it makes an appearance every year.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas, we are blessed with merry melodies at the top of every hour. It’s great to see the kids drop what they’re doing and run to listen.

December 20, 2010
by janette
0 comments

it’s beginning to look festive in here

You saw that after the fireplace was removed, we put the tree up right away…but has a seriously difficult time finding time to decorate it.

We finally took our snow day last Sunday to do it! Church and Sunday school were cancelled and the library closed, so there was no reason for us to go anywhere! We brooke out the ornaments and started right in.

Now, we don’t do a lot of decorating in our house. We put up stockings for the kids and a couple of Christmas banners that people have given us, and the tree. That’s pretty much it. I admire people who have all kinds of time to get out massive collections of nativities or Santas…and those that make their homes look like something straight out of a victorian Christmas. It’s all beautiful…but decorating just isn’t me.

Nathan is trying to convince me, and has for years, that a real tree is the way to go…to experience going to cut it down yourselves and bring it home…all this reminds me of is the one Christmas I went with him, before we were married, to get his tree. I froze my A off. It was probably the coldest day of the year, and no amount of hot chocolate was going to help that. And then I remember getting it in the car trunk, and in the apartment door, and the sap I got covered with trying to set it up…just not my cup of tea I guess.

I’ll probably cave at some point…for the kids to have the experience…or maybe I’ll just wait here and make the hot chocolate while they go tramping through the woods!

But for now…I think our fake tree looks mighty fine!

Ev placing the first ornament.

Making sure it’s perfect.

And I just love this picture of the finished product…hysterical!