Looking ahead to 2012

We all like to talk about New Years resolutions. Heck, I'm even blogging about it right now! To start, I'm a big fan of setting goals, and would encourage anyone to pause and evaluate areas of improvement in their lives. The problem with me and these New Years resolutions though, is that they are often not well thought out, mostly planned at the last minute, and almost always forgotten come February. So this year I'm doing things a little differently, and choosing to focus on habits.

For each month, I've thought of a habit I'd really like to "create" and pursue in order to grow as a person and benefit my family. In addition, I'm going to work on "subtracting" or breaking a bad habit that I've found not to be beneficial to myself or my family. My hope is that our family routine will be greatly blessed over the course of the year by slowly and intentionally incorporating these simple goals. It may be a resolution game dressed up in a bear suit, but I'm excited about it nonetheless. :-) Here we go!

January:
"An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm all the days of her life...She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31 

*Habit to create: To embrace and cherish this time, our last month as a family of three. Practically, this means spending more creative one on one time with Evan, extending hospitality by having friends and families over for dinner, and being more intentional about spending quality time with my husband while it's still relatively quiet around here(you know, before baby #2 rocks our world).
*Habit to break: Giving too much of my free time(ie Evan's nap) away to facebook, email and online eye candy. Putting down the Iphone in order to spend my interests and affections on more worthwhile pursuits-serving and enjoying my family. 

February:
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16

 *Habit to create: Set apart a structured and unmovable quiet time every day for prayer, because Lord knows I'm gonna need that extra dollop of grace to take care of my two babies under two!
*Habit to break: Not to complain or grumble about the added responsibility and subtracted sleep that comes with two small children.

March:
"The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty." Proverbs 21:5

*Habit to create: Plan meals, save money. With the added expense of a new baby, being diligent to budget for and plan our family dinners is a must. While I already clip coupons and set aside time to prepare weekly menus and grocery lists, I'm fully aware that the extra time and demands of baby#2 will try to push me off the meal planning wagon. Lord willing, I'll hold on tight!
*Habit to break: Impulse buying at Target/grocery stores. These small and seemingly harmless "salt and snack" runs add up fast!
 ........................................
I purposely did not let myself get carried away with planning all twelve months, lest I get too ambitious and again, loose my way before I've begun. Knowing full well that tomorrow is never guaranteed and that the tide is always changing, I'm choosing simply to focus on the near future. Moreover, I anticipate our family lifestyle and needs will change immensely over the next few months with a new baby and potential move. So God willing, I'll be posting some new habits(and success stories!) better suited to that particular season-come what may-starting in April.

Joyful Joyful

"I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Being so early on in our life with littles, we're still working on establishing our own special traditions.  Christmas is probably my most favorite holiday, and we like to do it right. ;-) In addition to holiday pj's, Charlie Brown Christmas music, Elf,  gingerbread cookies and more, this year we added our first family advent calendar. While I really enjoyed it, I have to say I'm looking forward to the future when Evan is a bit older and A)can sit still and listen for longer and B)isn't more interested in the advent candy. I also did Jesus' birthday cake again, and it was scrum-didley-umptious! Otherwise, we're still looking for our Scott family "Christmas Groove" as we tend to do things a degree differently every year depending on family plans and traveling. This year Chris' mom and family came down to NC while my family spent the big day in Florida.

Grandma and Aunt Paige on Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had a big present opening, honey baked holiday turkey eating time with Chris' family, preceded of course by quality grandma time and a trip or two to Raleigh for some last minute shopping. On Christmas day we opened our presents, just the three of us, before heading out for a morning of worship with Christ Baptist-as an aside, it was so special to share Christmas and Sunday morning this year, how appropriate! Later we enjoyed a laid back afternoon complete with naps, new toys and an early dinner at Denny's since our beloved Olive Garden(and everything else in Wilson) was closed. Next Saturday we will be celebrating with my side of the family-by golly that's three Christmases! :-)

And now, more pictures...
Where better to begin than with Jesus' birthday cake?

And from the Iphone...

   

 Good luck getting this kiddo to stand still!

Last but certainly not least, the following is a video clip of Evan's first glimpse of Christmas. Notice our rookie parent mistake-leaving out the big present for him to see first! This little guy was so enamored with his new "race along Chuck" truck and had very little interest in opening anything else after seeing it. That, a drawing pad and his new stuffed "Lightning Mcqueen" took the awards for favorites of the morning.

So thankful for our many good gifts this Christmas, and not just the ones under the tree. :-)

"Wowww"

Just quick post to document these tiny little wonders...

Evan is at a really cute stage where he is "wowed" by so many big and little things. And he expresses his excitement with an emphatic "WOOOWWW." It is really cute and fun to see that innocent little sparkle in his eyes as he takes in the world.

Just recently we went to the annual Christmas parade in downtown Wilson. Sitting contently atop daddy's shoulders, the parade inspired many an oooo, aaahh and woooowwww out of our little guy. The real life firetruck parked right behind our parade stop was also a constant source of awe...gotta love this life with boys!

Handsome Little Man

We went to downtown Wilson this past Saturday to take some pictures of our newly nineteen month old. I saw these colorful brick walls per chance the last time we were in the area, and had been daydreaming up a fun photoshoot ever since. While I love how the pics turned out, I can't tell you how much I'm dying for the day this little dude stays still and smiles on command ha! We came armed with gummy worms and firetrucks...but somehow our props backfired as that is all he was interested in. Exhibit A-

Once the first sour gummy was gone, he spent the rest of the time reaching out to, running after and looking for the rest of the bag. Lesson learned! In any case, my squirmy wormy did pretty well, and I think the camera agrees! :-)

 

Who knew boy's could accessorize so well? 

Oh my those dimples are darling!