Another year older...

Nope, it's not my birthday.  It's just the New Year.

I don't get serious often.  I live life for fun.  To me, life needs to be fun.  I try to make everything fun, for me, for my kids, for my husband.  I try to find the funny in everyday life.

Today, my internal mental world was rocked just a bit.

I woke up this morning with a bit of an epiphany.

We're getting older.

Yeah, I know, that's no surprise.

However, it hit me this morning in an emotional way.

My kids are growing up.

What are they going to remember about this time in their lives?

What are they learning from me?

Am I too mean?

Do they like to be around me?

Do I pay enough attention to them?

What will they remember about me?

Do they understand just how much I love them?

Will they ever?

On top of all of that, I start to worry about the rest of my family.  I'm pretty sure that I had two awkward phone call endings on Christmas.  One with my mom and one with my dad.  I feel like I should have been more attentive, more talkative, less ready to be off the phone.

It begins to occur to me that my parents are just as awkward and insecure as I am.  Do they love me the same way I love my kids?  Will my girls be as awkward with us when they get older?  How can I prevent this and keep them comfortable being with us and talking to us?

Then, I also think about the family I didn't talk to on Christmas.  I start to think how time is moving along.  Just because I continue to feel like I'm 16, doesn't mean that time isn't marching on.  We've been in our house for five years.  We still do not have a patio or deck.  There are so many things I want to do, but we are waiting to have the money for these things.  How much more time do I have to wait?

Inevitably, this thinking all brings me back to the new year.  For some reason, my reflections come at this time of the year.  What have I learned?  I'm older, am I wiser?  What will I do different next year?  Was this year as good as I could make it?

Let me tell you something.  2011 was a damn good year.  2012, you gonna be good too.

My resolution(s)?

1. To talk to my family more.  My family is very important to me, and I want my family to know that.

2. Be nicer to my kids.  It's ok to say yes.  And I need to be more patient.

3. To enjoy my husband.  He is one of the greatest people I've ever known.  He needs to know how much I cherish him.

In case I don't talk to you again before NYE, please have a Happy and Safe New Year!  I will see you in 2012!

Christmas is over....

Christmas is OVAH!!!

O-V-E-R!!

Yes, I'm celebrating!  Deadlines have passed, met or not.  Now, it's time to relax for a bit.  Coffee and Food Network anyone?

I'm still trying to get back to a bloggy groove, and am working against some fun writer's block.  So, I'm going to do another pictorial.  This is Christmas at our house.  Beginning to end.

Photo of a photo of Santa and girlies.



I don't have any words for this.  He sat there long enough for us to take a few pictures and then, kept sitting looking at us like we were crazy as we laughed at him.  This was Christmas Eve, after Skyping with the fam in New Mexico.



Christmas Morning, playing with a walking talking baby doll pony.

Mia kept making us high-five Woody all day.

Sharing the DSi - a little.

Christmas Day at the Family's house.

Olivia is excited.  She's my little artist and loves to draw.

Mia's a champion present opener.  She just kept opening and didn't play until they were all opened.

I don't know what it is, but Olivia seems to like it.

The boys giving me crap when I told them to stand still.  Ha.  Ha.

The Mess that was left the next morning.  We did clean it up before I shared the picture.

Happy Holiday to everyone!!  I hope you had a great time, got what you wanted, gave good presents and spent lots of time with your favorite people.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

Twinkling Snowflakes Holiday

Create custom new year's invitations at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Yes, I'm still alive - barely...

I know it's not just me, but I swear, every year the Holidays roll around and kick my ass!  There is never time for me to do the things I like - sipping coffee and watching food network.  All of it is shopping, thinking about other people, shopping, telling my kids that Santa's going to put them on the naughty list if they keep behaving badly, shopping, baking, shopping, shipping, shopping, shopping, shoppping.

Ugh.

I'm tired just writing that.

So, because I'm tired and have very little time before I march out and brave the crowds at Target and the grocery store, I thought I'd provide a little pictorial for you.

For some reason, our cat's self-confidence is off the charts - they think they are gifts, and they spend time under the treee.

This is what happens when we hear daddy coming home.  Shhhhh!  She's hiding so she can jump out and go "BOO!"

Like the kitty hat?  I'm not sure about the lips.

This is a Tony inspired tradition.  We put lights in the girls' rooms.  This is Mia's.

Olivia's room.

We found this bunny.  It must have been really cold because the bunny stayed there all day, hiding from the wind.

Awwww...  They look so sweet, don't they?

Take two girls, add a daddy, fun faces should be shared.

While the camera is very interesting, there is something very exciting going on to the left.

Obviously, when you need to scratch your face, you just have to scratch your face.

This is what we woke up to yesterday - surprise snow!  It was exciting since there wasn't much and we didn't know it was coming.

The last treat to bake - pre-Christmas, that is.

The finished product.  Just as yummy as it looks.

Everywhere we go, people comment on Mia's hat.  Her response? "Meow."  You just have to wonder what her parents are teaching her.



My first gray hair...

I have to tell you this story.

This is how I firmly open mouth, insert foot.

I have been giving my husband a hard time about going gray for years.  It started when he was about 27, I think.  Maybe earlier.  I'm not good with time.

Anywho.  Tony, the mister, has very dark hair.  He says it's dark brown.  I say black.  Olivia says black.  Mia says black.  Majority wins.  It's black.  Because of how dark his hair is, it was very noticeable when he started graying.  Right around the temples, up over the middle, and patches in the beard.  He is still a very young man, only 31.   It's just fun to tease him.

Then, my brother came to visit in May.  Within minutes, I could see the grays poking out of his eyebrow and the rest of his hair.  Oh my gosh! I was laughing and teasing - it was like a gold mine of jokes for me.

You see, I have no gray hairs.  I have been the lucky one to be older and not get the grays.  But Tara, they argue, you dye your hair.  Yes.  Yes.  I have dyed my hair.  However, the self-imposed budgeting I did left hair dying until we have enough money for it.  So, it's been more than a year since I have dyed, which has left me with lovely brown on top, blonde on bottom hair.  No, it does not scream white trash, thank you very much!  Ok, so maybe it does.  Whatever.  I'm saving money.

Then, at work, my manager and co-worker began discussing how they cover their grays and how early they both started to gray.  Enjoying my non-dyed non-gray hair, I had to gloat.  It's one of the few things I have - nice hair and pretty eyes.  I also have cool toes, but, I digress.

Cut to later that night, going to bed, brushing said lovely hair.  I pulled it back into the requisite sleeping ponytail and what do I see?  A GRAY HAIR!!!  AND ANOTHER! AND ONE MORE!  (I know, I know, you didn't see that coming did you?)

My husband laughed.

I would have cried, or laughed, or picked my nose, but my foot was firmly in my mouth, lovely toes and all.

Tara's Top Ten...

I finally had a great idea!

One that I could feature on my blog - weekly!

So, yeah, I stole it from David Letterman, but, it goes with my name (Awesome Alliteration - holla!)

This week - for the inaugural top ten list is (drum roll please):

Top 10 Reasons I Miss My Car:

Subtitled: Rental Cars Suck

1. Julie the Journey is green.  The replacement is silver - from a lot of silver rental cars. What?  Did someone decide that the only color for any car should be silver?  I mean, Anderson Cooper may be a silver fox to some women (sorry, Anderson, not me), but I need a little color in my life.  Plus, the green of my journey helps me to find it in a sea of silver and white cars parked in the same place.
2. 6 cylinder engine.  While the fuel economy may be better, it has little to no pickup and bores me.
3. My rental is obnoxiously loud.  What the crap?  It only has 24,000 miles on it!  Why so stinking loud, stupid 4 cylinder car.
4. Rear Video Entertainment System.  Now, I'm listening to the gobledy-gook that comes out of my three-year-old mouth as opposed to the Lion King for the 756th time.  On second thought, this may be a welcome break.  Sidenote - I got to listen to Olivia tell Mia that I would die someday, she would die someday, we are all going to die when Mia asked about a cemetary.  Is it wrong that I didn't jump in?  Nah, I figure I'll let Olivia handle all the big conversations - where do babies come from, death, etc.
5. Listening to my ipod.  There is no available way to listen to my ipod in this car.  Really?  Do they make a special lower than the lowest class, class for rental cars?
6. Knowing how to open the gas door.  On my car, there is a friendly little finger divet to open the fuel door.  On the rental, I spent a good 15 minutes trying to figure out how to open the fuel door.  There is no lever, no button, and no finger divet, and no owner's manual.  I figured it out by punching the fuel door, which subsequently popped open.
7. It smells like me and my family.  Yes, we've spilled drinks and coffee and french fries are most likely rotting somewhere in the back.  However, the rental smells bad, even worse than my car.
8. Rear backup camera.  I feel as if I held the golden chalice with being able to see what was going on behind my car.  Now, I've got a dirty beer mug with a hole in the bottom and have to attempt to make sure I don't run anyone down, or back up into another car.  How did I ever drive without the backup camera before?
9. Radio controls on my steering wheel.  'nuff said.  This should be standard on all cars.
10. It's just not my car. :-(