After some greatly needed time to myself, I'm finally ready to tackle the blog. You may have noticed a few changes here. Moose complained to me that he could find this place by googling his name. So, I promised to go incognito. Everyone in the family now has a new identity in blogland and previous posts have been changed to reflect this.
A rundown on our family names, oldest to youngest:
MustangMan (for the man with a car fetish and an as yet unfinished Mustang in our garage)
Momof5gents (that's me...although I am sometimes Her Majesty the Queen)
Stormin' (short for Stormin' Mormon...a nickname he earned while playing the drums)
Moose (for the boy who won't stop growing)
Camo (the one who loves all things military)
Big-J (because of the song that went off in my head the day he was born)
Panda (a nickname Oma provided when he was a wee baby)
MustangMan's parents are Opa and Oma.
My parents are Gramps and Grammy.
And what has transpired in these last few months while this blog has collected cyber dust?
We celebrated birthdays -- Camo was 13 in October, Moose was 15 in November, Panda was 8 in December, and Stormin' turned 17 in December. There was also Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Maybe I'll add some more pictures to celebrate the high points? We'll see.
Panda hit the landmark age to be baptized. He is a planner and had the entire baptismal service planned out before he even met with the Bishop. Moose and Stormin' gave the talks. Big-J and Z-Attack said the prayers. Grammy directed the music. Dad baptized him. Gramps confirmed with Dad, Bishop, and many friends joining in the circle. I gave the Primary message/welcome. Camo was in charge of treat patrol. It was a wonderful evening!
Panda also joined our Christmas Club this year. *sniff, sniff* This means he learned the Secret of Santa. Christmas will have new traditions in 2008. We did have a fun party together on Christmas Eve this year. It will be fun to figure out the next stage of the Christmas Club.
We did get to have fun in Minneapolis with Gramps and Grammy. I was happy that Gramps was out of the hospital and able to join us. Sometimes I forget that my parents are getting older and I worry about them...especially Dad and his health and how that impacts Mom. We opened presents after driving through a blizzard and returning home. Our Christmas dinner was Mexican food courtesy of Amigo's Restaurant. It was a different Christmas celebration, but I'm glad that no one had to stress about it. I am very grateful that my parents were so understanding and made things easy. I'm thankful they are flexible and were willing to navigate the Mall of America with us when it was so close to Christmas. I'm also thankful that my dear hubby did the shopping and planning for Christmas. He did a fabulous job.
Our more traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations were spent with Opa and Oma. It's always nice to spend time with extended family, something I hope we can do more of in 2008. Opa and Oma have since begun their trek south for the winter. Hopefully all is well until they return home.
Honestly, most of the last few months have been a blur. I survived another semester and vow to NEVER take five classes in the same semester again! (I graduate in May and spring semester I only have four.) It was truly a grueling semester and I was on the brink of a total meltdown at the end of it all. Seriously...I refused to even discuss anything outside of a two-week time frame the last six weeks of the semester in an act of self-preservation.
The pangs of anxiety and chaos have only subsided after two weeks away from school. That probably has a lot to do with the pressures I put on myself to take care of Primary and PTO and other volunteer projects. Maybe someday I will learn to let things go, or get better at saying "no". On the up side, I have not been impacted in the least by the strike of the writer's guild.
I was thrilled to claim Saturday as the day that I was not getting dressed or going anywhere. That was the day I finally felt back to "normal" --- whatever that means, anyway. I'm going to try to keep more current on the blog for family and friends. But, again, no promises.
Here's wishing everyone a fabulous New Year! Time to finish writing my goals...
1 comment:
You are amazing! I can't believe you are already almost done!! You are my hero. I want to go to school too, but I am having a hard time keeping up with the daily grind. My hat is off to you!
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