Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year!

It's 2010! Our New Year's Eve was simple and low-key, like us. We went to Uncle Fred and Aunt Rita's house to ring in 2010 with card games, food, lots of family, and fireworks. It's nice to go somewhere and bring the kids. They had a great time playing with some of the other little kids and did really well considering they stayed up about 4 hours past their usual bedtime. Ella liked the fireworks. Mia wasn't so impressed but she was pretty tired by then. Steve and I played Apples to Apples with some of the cousins. Pretty quiet evening. Well, not quiet. But anything with that many Scotts in that small of a space isn't going to be quiet. :) Low-key though.

I was talking to Steve last night about how I think he's the ideal husband. Not perfect, but I know that the girls and I are his top priority. He likes video games and new computer parts and electronics, but those are a hobby, not an escape or something he spends a lot of money on. Being financially comfortable is important to us, but top of the line everything or the latest gadgets aren't. Last night I had an important realization though. Steve is the ideal partner for ME. I'm low-key too and we have the same priorities. If haute couture and expensive shoes were important to me, I wouldn't be anywhere near as happy with him. Same thing if my career came before my family. Or having the biggest, nicest house or the newest car. We do have nice things and my career is important, but we agree that our family comes first. And because of that, we're content with hand-me-downs, mismatched furniture, and vacations spent visiting family. We figure the time will come when we have the means for nicer things. We do well with what we have and are very content. I honestly had some trouble coming up with a list of things I wanted for Christmas. There will always be something bigger and nicer than what we have - that just seems to be the nature of things. But we've been blessed in the best ways possible - with family, friends, health. Materially we're blessed too. Our needs are met and most of our wants.

To be perfectly honest, our house is overly full. We still have a lot of baby stuff. I have boxes of maternity clothes (in multiple sizes) and larger sizes that I would love to get rid of. People have been very generous with us. Out of two cribs and two toddler beds, we only bought one. Since we've decided we are done with three kids, once we get the all clear (meaning word that Steve's surgery did in fact work), we're going to start giving some of this stuff away. As Nora no longer needs it and I shrink out of clothes again (yay!), we'll pass it along. Since people have been so generous, we feel it's only right to pass these things along to other people who need them. Although I tend to save things in case we need them later, I am so excited about the prospect of cleaning out closets and part of the attic! If we're done having kids, we won't need this stuff anymore. (This is assuming Steve's surgery sticks better than Doug's. But even if it doesn't, we've got a good nine years before anymore kids.) And I am so ready to have things more organized and have a bit more space to work with. So is Steve. We have so many boxes of clothes it's ridiculous! Both mine and the girls. Some of the things we actually spent money on we may try to sell, but I think most of it will be given away. The idea of more space is so nice, but it's definitely even better coupled with the idea that we'll be blessing someone else too.

I guess I've been all over the place with this post. So why not go more places with it? My goals for this year are the following:
- After Nora comes, get back in shape and back down to my goal weight/size by Christmas.
- Potty train Ella and maybe Mia too, if we think she's ready.
- Clean out some of our closets!
- Pay off some of our debts and pay down other ones.
- Continue to make time for date nights and family time. This is the important stuff.
- Take and pass the NCE (National Counseling Exam).

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