2012 Year In Review

Well, here we are again.  New Year's Eve.  I'm so totally not ready with any sort of resolutions post so that's not what this is about.  Maybe tomorrow, or the day after that.  We'll see.

So, 2012.  There's only about an hour left as I'm typing this.  Oh wait, there goes the ball in Times Square.  Ok, it dropped.  Back to the post.  2012.  What a year.  I don't know about you, but it was full of big events here in Drosche Land.  Ups and downs, ins and outs.  I thought it would be fun for a change to quickly revisit the year.  Maybe you'll remember some of these things, maybe you won't.  Maybe some of them you'd like to forget?  We'll see.

January 2012 - We knew we were pregnant but had decided to not find out the gender of Baby #3.  Well, we caved and boy am I glad we did.  A girl!  What a pleasant shock!  We knew right then that things would never be the same!

February 2012 - We, you dear readers and I, celebrated the 2nd anniversary of this blog!  Wow, how time flies.  February also brought a "surprise" baby shower for us as we officially began preparing for Stella's arrival!  We also celebrated Leap year!  Just 3 more years until the next one!

March 2012 - Amy and I took the boys to a Sibling Class at the hospital where we had the first glimpse of them as big brothers.  It was great fun and they learned a lot.  As it turns out they are fantastic big brothers and Stella is enamored with them both as they dote on her all the time!

April 2012 - I participated in, and completed, the A-Z Blogging Challenge.  It was tons of fun and I found several new blogs to love and follow.  It also brought new, maybe you, readers here to Drosche Land.  I really want to do it again this year and am already starting to think of a theme or topics.  It is still a long way away, so I'll probably procrastinate a bit longer!  I'll keep you posted.

May 2012 - 2 big events in May.  1 - Braeden turned 6!  Wow, 6.  He's now over halfway to 7 and I still am in amazement that he's that old!  2 - Amy was put on bed rest with Stella and we knew we were nearing the end.  Another school year wrapped up and summer began.  

June 2012 - Obviously the biggest event of the year - Stella.  She came and we have not been the same since.  She has been a blessing and joy each and every day.  It was a long and hard journey to get her, but we are thankful each and every day for her!  June was also the month when Amy accepted her new job as a 1st Grade teacher!

July 2012 - We were smack in the middle of our first summer together.  We were a family of 5 and things were going great.  I took all 3 kids to the doctor and locked my keys in the car, in the rain.  I got new glasses.  Stella was baptized!

August 2012 - A new school year began!  Braeden started 1st Grade with me!  Amy started her new job teaching 1st Grade and she has been loving it!  It has been awesome to share so many things with each other.  August was also Amy's birthday!

September 2012 - Jackson's birthday!  He turned 5!  Yep, another one of our babies was no longer a baby, but an actual kid!  Braeden got glasses and turned out to be super cute in them!

October 2012 -  The boys both joined soccer teams.  This was Braeden's second time playing soccer and Jackson's first.  They had a blast and are already looking forward to the next time they can play sports!

November 2012 - My birthday!  Election Day!  I voted, did you?  I hope so!  I also blogged about paying it forward after we had the fun experience at Starbucks.  I keep forgetting to catch up with y'all about it but I have done this (paid for the person behind me at Starbucks) twice since then and it has been so much fun!  The boys have been with me both times and we always talk about doing kind things for others.  They enjoy it too.  I think it's time for another one, maybe the next time I hit up Starbucks!

December 2012 - Stella's first Christmas!  Road trip to Kansas!  This post!  December flew by for us as I am sure it did for many of you.  But it was a great month and we have been enjoying a wonderful holiday break together as a family!

Well, that is 2012 in a nutshell.  It was fun to look back at the posts and relive and remember what happened.  I think this may have to be a yearly tradition on New Year's Eve here in Drosche Land!  I hope you have enjoyed our brief jaunt back in time.  I also hope that 2012 was great for you.  Maybe it was awesome.  Maybe it was rough.  Probably, like it was for us, it was both.  Regardless.  I hope you are able to look back at it and smile at the great memories and blessings of the year gone by!  I know I am.  HE was certainly good to the Drosches in 2012.  I can't wait to see what HE has in store for us in 2013!  Happy New Year and I hope you have an awesome one!

All is well, remembering and starting new, in Drosche Land.      

1/4

Are we seriously almost 1/4 of the way through 2012? Did I miss March? I mean, obviously not, there are 10, now 11, posts to prove that it was here at some point. I feel like time is in fast-forward and I can't keep up. Before I know it the school year will be over nd Stella will be here! Now, don't get me wrong, I am totally psyched about Little Miss finally joining us, but I don't like it when time flies by, it makes me anxious. Nervous that I'm missing something. Nervous that I haven't done everything I'd like to. It's about this time in the school year when I begin lamenting the fact that many great ideas never materialized, finished, or just didn't turn out the way I wanted them to. Well, maybe next year. I'm always having sudden and random ideas of things to do, I just obviously can't do them all. Maybe I should start writing them down. But I digress.

March is almost over and that means that it's almost April. Yes, I know I jus posted about the Blogging A to Z challenge on Monday, but I am still pretty excited. That and I've got to drum up some interest about the challenge here! I've even taken several pictures already for my posts! I've got "B", "L", "M", and "P" done. All I have to do now is begin to write and schedule the posts. Well, that and take lots more pictures. 22 to be exact. Over the week I've second guessed my theme for next month. Will it turn out the way I want it to? Will people enjoy it? I guess only time will tell.

So, I guess that's about it. I'm exhausted and don't think I can stay up much longer. I've been fighting sleep since 8:00 but I hate going to sleep before 10, I don't know why. But there is no way I am making it to that minimum tonight. It's been a busy week and tomorrow night is our bi-annual Gala! It's a Mardi Gras theme so I can't wait to get my laissez les bon temps rouler on! So I guess it's time I wrapped this random, stream of consciousness post up. I had so many thoughts in my head beginning the post but I think it's clear I'm more tired than I thought, it's turned out to be somewhat rambling and disjointed! My apologies! So it's off to bed to think and dream about alphabet pictures and postings! Maybe I'll get some good shots tomorrow at the Gala?!

All is well, rambling along, in Drosche Land.

2 Years

Well, I have to admit I'm a bit embarrassed dear readers. I did know that my 2-year Blogiversary was coming up, but I thought it was closer to the end of the month, like sometime this week. Imagine my surprise and chagrin when I just checked back and find it was last week Monday! Yikes. So, I'm a week and a day late in wishing y'all a Happy Blogiversary! Oops! I think it's alright though and hope you don't hold it against me. I mean, after all, I didn't receive any cards, candy, or flowers so I can assume that y'all forgot the date as well! :)

Last year we stood at a little more than 200 posts, today this post is #333! Last year we celebrated 3,000 visits to the website, today (as I type) we are at 8,911! The hot topics last year included Margaux, the adoption, the moving/not moving adventure, and Amy's Scentsy business. Wow, have things changed. The biggest being the halt to our adoption adventure. Margaux remains, and always will, in our hearts and minds as does adoption itself. The idea of moving has reared its head occasionally throughout the past year, but it never gained enough of a foothold to get us serious about it. Amy still sells Scentsy, just not as aggressively as before, we still love it though and are addicted to it.

This year we are excited about Stella's birth and the preparation for her, my photo challenges, the A to Z blogging challenge in April (more on this later), and a few recent random posts! We also celebrated the completion of both Amy's and my Masters degrees, which was a major accomplishment! Another highlight was my trip with Adam to Las Vegas. We loved it and still talk about making it a yearly tradition for us, we shall see though. Many other adventures have taken place in the last year (and 8 days). That's one of the things I love most about blogging. It's like a journal/scrapbook for us. Looking back is always fun. Seeing how far we've come, the fun we've had, the things we've done, and anticipating the future. I can only imagine what it will be like in 10 years to look back. I have dreams/plans/thoughts of making a book out of these posts one day to give the kids. Something for them to remember their childhood by as well to remember Amy and I by. Good idea? What do you think? I could totally see it as a graduation gift of some sort. I'm a bit sappy and sentimental like that so the project is right up my alley! We will see what develops, luckily I've got more than enough time to plan it!

Looking into the future, Year 3 promises to be just as adventuresome as Year 2 was. Obviously first and foremost because Stella will arrive. But Year 3 also brings Braeden in 1st Grade with me (yikes!), Jackson in Pre-K, and who knows what other harebrained schemes/projects/ideas we come up with! So, join with me now as we buckle up and ride right into Year 3, or at least the last 358 (remember this is a Leap Year!) days of it!

All is well, 2 years in, in Drosche Land.

Challenge

Ok, so you know that two of my resolutions for 2012 were to blog more and take more pictures.  Well, I think I may have found a way to help me accomplish both.  As if I have any more time to devote to various social media/blogging addictions I have begun a few challenges.  All designed first and foremost to be fun, secondly to accomplish resolutions, and thirdly why not?

You know I began my 365 project about taking a picture a day all year long, follow me here, and I am proud to say that I have maintained it for 32 straight days!  1 month down, 11 more to go!  I have really been enjoying it.  Just posting pictures of whatever and/or looking for interesting shots throughout the day.  Well, I have 2 other photo challenges that I am beginning, on just popping up today!  I am totally into the Instagram app on my iPhone and noticed through a friend about a January photo-a-day challenge about mid-way through the month.  Well, then a February one popped up so I was all on that!  Plus I was able to find another great blog, this one, to follow.  She's the source of the aforementioned photo-a-day challenges!  Each day has a topic/theme, today's was "your view today".  I tried to get a shot all day long but was so busy that it didn't happen until tonight.  But I think it turned out great.  Always wanting a sweet/snack, here was my first entry:

So, as I'm going into Instagram to post, I see (from the same friend, thebirdandtheb) another photo-a-day challenge.  Seriously?  Could/should I take something else on?  I mean, it's nothing life-threatening or incredibly time-consuming but still.  This challenge was totally different though, focusing on a different photography skill a day, see here, today's being line.  Well, this sounded fun.  It would also be a way to not only take pictures, but maybe find/create some fun artsy photos.  Plus, as with my 365 project, all can easily be done with my iPhone which is never more than an arm's length away!  Here's my entry for the skill one:

Again, I really like the way it turned out.

So, those challenges are relatively small and easy to accomplish.  Plus with 3 photo challenges I am bound to take tons of great pictures!  Who knows, I may even improve my photo-snapping skills too!  Plus, I figure I can double up on some between the 3 if I need to, although 3 separate ones will be fun!  If I can do it I will most likely take part in the monthly challenge so it's also a bit of a long-term project.

The last challenge is a bit, ok a lot, more daunting.  I stumbled upon it one day while perusing Bloggers "Blogs of Note".  It was called the Blogging A to Z Challenge.  In a nutshell you blog every day, except for Sundays, throughout the month of April.  Each post's title follows in alphabetical order.  Start on the 1st, finish on the 30th.  Part of the deal is also to visit the other participating blogs and hobnob with others out there.  Since reading and writing blogs are one of my social media addictions I thought this would be fun.  Plus It would be a great way to accomplish my "blog more often" resolution.  I have grabbed the button (find it on the right column, maybe scroll down a bit) and I've signed up, so I'm all set.  Now all I have to do is mentally prepare.  They've suggested pre-writing blogs and scheduling them so you don't get overwhelmed, that and begin thinking about post titles and topics so as not to suddenly hit a wall.  Those two things make it seem a bit more challenging, but I still think it will be tons of fun.  Who knows, maybe I'll gain some followers here in Drosche Land, or at least get a few more visits!

So, there you have it.  Apparently I wasn't busy enough with our two wacky boys, Stella on the way, 2 dogs, and a job.  I needed a little spice!  Plus social media/blogging and photography are my hobbies (addictions) and everyone needs a hobby right?  So, check back in April once the challenge begins and/or follow me on Instagram or Twitter for all of the challenge fun!  I'm excited!

All is well, challenged, in Drosche Land.

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Monday was Chinese New Year! Since it's a 15-day celebration my post is still timely! My how things have changed since the last Chinese New Year. This time last year we were smack in the middle of the adoption process with Margaux. We were busy gathering paperwork and preparing for our home study. We celebrated Chinese New Year by eating some spring rolls and pot stickers, along with a heart-shaped cookie cake (remember here). We spent our time thinking about Margaux and how she was ringing in the new year.

Flash forward a year and we are in a totally different place. This year we didn't really celebrate Chinese New Year here in Drosche Land. We mentioned it to the boys in the morning, Amy and I reminisced about last year, and we did talk about Margaux. She still is, and always will be, a part of us and she does arise in conversations occasionally. I know over time this will lessen but she will always be there. For whatever reason, we may never know, Margaux was placed in our lives, even if only for a short time. What I do know though is that God has a master plan, both for all of us here in Drosche Land and for Margaux. I trust that he has found her the perfect family and she is much-loved and well cared for.

Meanwhile here in Drosche Land we are eagerly awaiting another little girl, our Stella. An answer to our prayers, His answer in His (not our) time. We are nearly halfway through the pregnancy and each day I am more and more eager to meet her. To bring her into the nearly finished nursery and dress her in the pinks, purples, sparkles, and bows. I know that in the scheme of things it will fly by, but currently it seems to be trudging along!

2012 is the Year of the Dragon. Since our Stella will be born in this year I thought I'd research what people born in the Year of the Dragon were supposed to be like, what characteristics would they embody? What I found made us laugh and made me even more eager to meet her. Free spirited and uninhibited. Creative, colorful, flamboyant. Extroverted. Enthusiastic bundles of energy with big ideas and living on a grand scale! Oh my! If this holds true then Stella is sure to be one fired little girl. So far the pregnancy has played out somewhat like this. It has certainly been new and, at times, trying adventure. Research of the years each of the rest of us was born makes me think Stella will definitely keep us on our toes because we do follow the descriptions of our Chinese zodiac counterparts!

Well, I fear this email has become long and random and maybe that's ok. I've just been doing a lot of thinking about God's plans for us and all of the many blessings we've been given! I think our lives, and everything we've gne through and will go through, can be summed up by the Bible verse I've mentioned so many times here on this blog and one that we live by here in Drosche Land: Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.". Amen!

All is well, gung hay fat choy, in Drosche Land.

Sunday Snapshot: 365 Project

A day late and a dollar short, but better late than never. January is almost over so I promise that in February I'll be more timely with posting. I mean I still have 11 months to make good on the New Year's resolution about blogging, right? It's all good.


On with the post, ironically relating to another one of my resolutions. You may, or may not, recall that one off resolutions for 2012 was to take more pictures. I order to help me accomplish this, and just to do something fun, I started taking daily pictures and joined the site www.365project.org. I decided to do the challenge only using my iPhone since it is always with me and I love it. So far so good, 23 days in and going strong. Since this project has been taking up the photography area of my brain for a while, and January hasn't been too eventful, I haven't (gasp!) taken many pictures with my actual camera. This saddens me some, but looking back January is historically a slow month to photograph here in Drosche Land. So, since I am still keeping up with the resolution and still taking gobs of pictures, I thought I'd devote a Sunday Snapshot post to this project. It's been a lot of fun so far and I find myself taking pictures of just everyday things to document life as well as looking for interesting shots too! Plus not only has joining this site encouraged my own picture-taking, but I love seeing all of the other great pictures people from around the world take! I do love photography. So, here are some of my favorite shots I've taken so far. Feel free to see them all here.


All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

A shot of a basket in our closet that I thought would be interesting, I love the texture.

The kids' ride-on horse, one of my favorites I've taken!

I love my Chucks!  Took this one and played around with it a bit.

Another B&W shot, this time a close-up of a big fan, I like the way it turned out.



It wouldn't be a true project of mine without including sweets of some kind (and this isn't the only picture of food and/or sweets I've done!)


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Sunday Snapshot - Cousin Time

So, I know I just posted about Resolutions but it is Sunday and that calls for a Sunday Snapshot.  Perhaps I should have included a 6th resolution (per Amy's suggestion): to blog more!  I do love it so but this past year was crazy and I didn't get around to it nearly as much as I'd like.  But 2012 will be different, so maybe I'll add this as a 6th resolution.  But I digress.  In order to keep up with this 6th resolution I need to also post a Sunday Snapshot.  Getting back into routine this past week did not lend itself to taking pictures so I and dipping back into my vaults for this post.

Over the Christmas break we had the cousins over for a much-needed, much asked for, and much-anticipated sleepover.  The kids all had a ton of fun and said sleepover included trips to 2 different parts.  I brought my camera along and got some fantastic shots of the fun times they had.  Looking back at them makes me realize we need to do this more often!

All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

 Braeden and his all-time favorite sport, pastime, activity - football!

 Love this shot of Braeden!

 And I love this one of Jackson!

 This is Jack's typical slide face/reaction!



I was very lucky to get them all sitting, looking at me, and smiling at the same time!  Even better, it turned out to be a great shot!

 I like this shot of Amy I snagged and I played around with it a bit!

Thanks to the timer feature I got a great shot of my beautiful wife and I!

Resolutions - Finally!

Ok, so I promise I haven't forgotten about my 2012 resolutions and I'm not avoiding commitment to them. I've just been mentally finalizing them. I have been trying to start this post for several days now and it has been sitting lonely in my Drafts.  Since we are officially over a week into 2012 I guess I'd better get it finished and posted.  Only 2 posts for 2012 so far?  I'd better get it together!  So here goes, some may seem the same and/or related to some from last year and I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all. If it ain't broke! I went with just 5 this year mainly because I had a terribly hard time trying to think of things.  Hopefully a lower number will ensure a good success rate!  I'm just hoping for better than a 78%!

1. Drink more water. Since I failed at this one last year I thought I should give it another go. I will however once again stress that it is not in place of, but rather in addition to, caffeine. I mean I don't want to set unrealistic goals or anything!

2. Take pictures, lots of them! I made this one last year and I think it's a good one. I love photography and many moons ago I dreamed of pursuing a career in the field. With my awesome camera last Christmas my love was renewed. This year I hope to not only photograph my family, especially #3, but also some fun and creative photography. To help out with this I've started a 365 project! You know, where you take and post a picture a day for a year! I thought this sounded awesome so I jumped on it! To make it easier and more fun I'm only going to use m iPhone since I ALWAYS have that! Follow my project (even thought I'll be mentioning it occasionally) here.  I also have a fantastic idea for the baby that's sort of related.  I plan on taking a picture of the baby every day for the first year and then creating a slide show!  I'm stoked about it.  So between all of these pictures I'll be spending 2012 clicking away!

3. Read more! Yes again, this was on my list last year but I truly enjoy it and it is a great way to relax and have some downtime.  I'm still about half-way through with The Help, maybe I'll read some tonight!

4.  Finish tiling (stop smirking Amy).  See after our Spring Break project from last year we had a ton of tile and mortar left over, due to some slight miscalculations on our part.  No worries though, we would just use the remaining tile to tile the laundry room/pantry.  Easier said than done though as I never got around made time to finish.  So I am giving myself this year to get it finished once and for all, hopefully the sooner the better!  Plus Amy has been gently reminding me that it needs to be done!  Making her happy will also be motivation!

5.  Eat healthier.  Maybe healthier isn't the best choice of words, maybe wiser is better.  See I have a huge sweet-tooth and I love to snack.  As I write this I am eating gummy Lifesavers, probably not the best thing to eat at 8:30 pm.  So, my new goal is to not have seconds of anything, just one healthy and normal portion of a meal is fine.  Also, no eating after 7:30 pm.  Amy has already made resolutions that are geared toward healthy eating for our family so I'll piggyback on that and do my part.

So, there you have it.  Nothing fancy and a few repeats.  I think all 5 are totally doable and I plan on getting a 100% this December, you can congratulate me then!

All is well, finally resolved, in Drosche Land.

Sunday Snapshot - 2011 in Review

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So last night we rang in 2012 in low-key style at home.  Jack made it to 8:00, Amy to 9:00, and Braeden to 9:30!  After the kids were all tucked in I spent the time half watching New Year's TV and reading.  The ridiculously large and spectacular fireworks show put on by various neighbors woke Amy up right at 12:00 so we did get to have our kiss and ring it in together.  I don't know how much combined was spent by the neighbors we watched but I'm glad it was funded by their wallet and not mine!  I totally plan on getting a "Resolutions" post out but I'm not sure if it will be today or not.  2012 has already kicked off busily as we finish tidying the house and knocking out the last of the laundry.  We have been dog-sitting one of Amy's Mom's dogs so we have to return her and then pick her Mom up from the airport (Adam has gone off to Nebraska for college and she's on her way back from there).  After dinner with her it will be time to rush home for baths, bedtime, and lunch prep so we can be as fresh and prepared for tomorrow as possible.  Both Amy and Jack resume tomorrow and I have a half-day in-service so Braeden is coming along and will wind up somewhere while I'm in meetings, we go back on Tuesday.  So we will see if there is time tonight before bed for another post but I wanted to get out this Sunday Snapshot because I have been looking forward to it for about a week as I reviewed 2011 in pictures!  I originally planned on doing 12 shots (like I could stay at a limit that small!), one for each month.  However that quickly proved impossible as I couldn't sum up every month and its activities in just one photo.  So I'm hitting each month and including a picture for each of the major events in that month, some have a few more than others.  But I'm pleased with the selections and will post them now before I add more!  Looking back 2011 was a busy and fantastic year!  I hope 2012 will be more of the same!  Enjoy!
 
All is well, picture perfect, in Drosche Land.

January 2011

 We began readying Margaux's room in mid-January.  Yes I know the adoption has been called off, but it was a big part of the first half of 2011.

January also brought Braeden's first 100 Day homework!  100 thumbprints!

February 2011

 Valentine's Day!  The kids had been dying for Pillow Pets!  They are still in love with them!

Ok, no big event here but I LOVE this picture of Jack from one of our trips to see our nephew Jared's basketball games!

March 2011

 March saw the addition of Rex to our family!  I can't believe how little he was or how much he's grown!

During Spring Break we did our annual home improvement project, the floors!  It was hard but totally worth it and I am still in love with tile floors (especially now after getting a Dyson).  I wonder what Spring Break 2012 will bring?

 April 2011

 In April sports came to Drosche Land as Braeden began playing soccer!  Turns out he loved it and was pretty good!

Easter!  I love Jack's face, he gets so much pleasure simply from hunting for eggs!

May 2011

 Braeden turned 5!  Wow!

May proved to be quite Braeden-centric as he also graduated from Pre-Kindergarten!

June 2011

 June began with our trip with Amy's family to Beaver Lake, Arkansas!  It was an excellent time and the kids still ask when we are going to Arkansas again!

I also put my mad deck-building skills to use in June!  Granted a storm as since taken the canopy from us, but I am mentally working on a solution to do this spring/summer thanks to some clever spying on a neighbor whose canopy suffered the same fate as ours!

July 2011

 Another vacation?  Don't mind if we do!  This time it was with my family to Galveston!  

 July also saw Amy start her own blog (find it here) about her love of cooking and the adventures of a busy mom feeding her family great food.  I'm highly recommend checking it out!

August 2011

 

Amy turned 30!  We took another fun trip to our favorite stop - San Antonio's Riverwalk to celebrate!

 

Another school year began!  Braeden in Kindergarten (what?!) and Jack in Pre-School 3!

September 2011

 More sports as Braeden started T-Ball and again not only loved it but was good!

 Jack turned 4!  Wow, 2 old kids in the house!

Braeden lost his first tooth!  He lost another in November so they're just falling out now!

October 2011

 The annual trip to Dewberry Farm to pick the perfect pumpkins!

I got my new iPhone 4S!

 Between having a superhero and a Storm Trooper present on Halloween we were definitely safe from danger!

 #3 is on their way!

November 2011

 I turned 29 31!  Happy Birthday to me!

Adam and I had an awesome trip to Las Vegas for his 21st birthday over Thanksgiving Break!

December 2011

 Our annual Christmas Eve family photo!  Love it!

Another blessed Christmas.  Between Braeden's DS from his birthday and Jack's Christmas gift of a Leapster we rarely see them anymore!  :)  Gaming has entered Drosche Land full force!

Holidaze / Resolutions Revisited

Seriously?! It's that time again?! This post is a blend of 2 separate posts I've been mentally working on over the past couple of days but have yet to get out so I've combined them here into one entry. I have a good excuse though for not getting the post done. We've been busy doing absolutely NOTHING these past few days. Nothing other than enjoying our vacation that is. This past holiday season was ridiculously busy and blew past us (hence the clever "Holidaze" portion of the title!). It seems as though I was just finishing Halloween candy and suddenly I'm baking cookies for the big man in red to enjoy after he brings us the spoils of our good behavior this past year. Where did November and December go exactly? The holidays were so busy I didn't even get Christmas cards out! That just killed me because it is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. Luckily Amy helped me to come to the conclusion that I can send out New Years cards! So improvise I did and they are ready, anxiously awaiting me to address and deliver/mail them! I'd post a I true of them but I don't want to ruin it for all of the friends and family (you know who you are!) that are daily visiting their mailboxes, hoping to find the treasure of said card inside! Worry not, they are almost on their way! So, 2011 is quickly coming to an end and I cannot believe it. Professionally speaking I can't either, 1/2 of the school year is over?! Only 5 months left to fill the minds of my little Firsties with tons of phonetic and mathematical knowledge?! Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The past week was spent enjoying quality time with the family, our couch, and our DVR. We had the cousins over for a sleepover and that was tons of fun but other than that we have been working hard on relaxing, basking in just being. We definitely all need it here after the crazy past few months we've had in Drosche Land. Maybe 2012 will be slower? More even-paced and calm? HA! I'm sure it will prove to be crazy and fun as always though!

On to the second part of my post. This past week I suddenly remembered that my first post of 2011 was about resolutions. Really, I made them? What were they? I'll admit, like millions of others life got in the way and I quickly forgot about them. So, I hesitantly re-read that post, found here, hoping I hadn't failed my past self too much. The only thing I remembered was that I had made 10 (that's an awful lot past Dusty, nice going) resolutions because it would be easy to come up with an easy success/failure percentage. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. I'll revisit and update them here so let's see how I did!

1: "Lose the 4 (or 5 depending on the day) pounds I have put on this holiday season.". Success! I got back to my normal weight and I'm happy to say that this season I've managed not to put on only like 1-2 (again depending upon the day) pounds! Not to bad, granted I began the Christmas break with a wicked stomach bug which allowed me plenty of flexibility but hey, it's all good!

2: "Be a more active member in the financial freedom of our family (Amy stop rolling your eyes).". Um, fail I think. I don't think I did all that much better and I'm sure that Amy would agree!

3: "Be more patient with the kids, not everything has to be done my way (Amy, didn't I just ask you to stop rolling your eyes ;)!).". Um, success? I think so yeah, I mean we all have our days but overall? I think I'll count it as yes (we'll see if Amy agrees!).

4: "Finish the Bible reading plan I began last year (only about 2 months left) AND start a new one!". Success! I not only finished that one but 2 others! I love it and highly recommend it! I'm going to begin a new plan tomorrow, I need to peruse them and find one that I like!

5: "Begin praying for the adoption process and our daughter.". Hmmm. I did this, lots. Bt as you know we had to stop the process so I think this one no longer makes the list. Although 2011 taught me that everything is on HIS plan, not mine! We are eagerly awaiting #3 so it is a twist of things from this time last year, but all is well!

6: "Finish my Masters!  (Yes I know this will obviously be done, but it'll give me something to check off and provide motivation!).". Success! Yes I know it was a given, but I still think Amy and I finishing our Masters is a big deal!

7: "Take more pictures of the boys and document everything (should be a cinch with my new camera!).". Success! Thanks to Sunday Snapshot and my fabulous camera from Amy last year I think I've done a great job!

8: "Stop worrying/thinking about the move.  What is meant to happen will happen.". Success? Technically speaking I did stop, yes we took the house off the market and decided not to move but it was a big decision, I'm counting it!

9: "Start reading for pleasure more (I still haven't finished Breaking Dawn!).". Success! I have done this! I just finished The Winshaw Legacy but Jonathan Coe and am currently about halfway through The Help (I highly recommend both!). Funnily enough I still haven't finished Breaking Dawn so I need to get that done. I also have the Steve Jobs biography burning a hole in my iPad!

10: "Drink more water!  (Not instead of caffeine, I'm not cutting down on that, but in addition to!). Hmmmm. Ok, I'll concede with this and claim fail! I have gotten slightly better, maybe, but still a far cry where I should be. Oh well, I have enjoyed coffee and caffeine in all it's other forms though!

So, there you have it. Not too shabby huh? Take off the adoption resolution to bring me to 9. 7 successes and 2 failures gives me a 78% success rate. Could be better but it's not failing! Well, how did you do on your 2011 resolutions? Success? Fail? Mixture? I haven't decided about ones for 2012 yet, I'll be thinking and posting about that tomorrow. I'm thinking less than 10 though, mainly because I can't think of 10 things right now, we will see if divine inspiration occurs. Until then I'll be content with my 78%.

2011. Overall it was a good year I think. We had our share of ups and downs here in Drosche Land, but who didn't? We were, are, and remain extremely blessed. 2012 is already poised to be a big year for us and I am so excited! I'm entering the new year with positive thinking and anticipation. I hope that you enjoyed 2011 and are ready for a blessed 2012. We will see if I post more in 2012 (I hope so!), I think my overall post number was lower this past year than in 2010. So, I hope you are ready to join me for the ride! See you next year!

All is well, for auld lang syne, in Drosche Land.