A Year in Review-2012

I can't believe that I am already at my end of the review.  The last day of 2012.  Is that even possible?  So many things happened this year.  Here are a few of my favorite moments:

January
January was a pretty slow month for us.  We didn't do a whole lot but if you want to see the temperature changes just within one month, take a look at this. 

 We played outside in the snow.

We got to play outside with some sidewalk chalk.

We also got to go to the park a few times.

February

Gracie had her 1st day of preschool.

Kanin got to play hockey at the Scott Trade Center.

March

In March, Kanin had his first baseball practice.

We went to Vegas in March and had a great time with some great friends.

One of our favorite days of the year, St. Patrick's Day and the Dogtown Parade.

April

My babies looked so sweet on Easter Sunday.

Even though it was raining on Opening Day, we were so happy that St. Louis Cardinals baseball was back!

Kanin made his Mama proud when he hit a double at his very first at bat in his very first baseball game.

May

Mother's Day was very special.  I got to go to a Mother's Day Tea with Kanin in his classroom and then spent Mother's Day at Busch Stadium with all of my loves.

Mommy started working in March and headed to Jamaica in May.

June

We were able to support our Debbie with our 2nd annual team entry in the Race for the Cure.

Gaga was excited with his Father's Day gift of a Draftmark Kitand then a day of golf.

July

July brought my babies' birthdays.  GracieAnn turned 5 and Caleb turned 3.  Of course, Gaga made and decorated their cakes.

Dave came back to St. Louis!

Gracie started dance classes.

Caleb was a very happy boy when he finally got to see the coo coo trains at the Transportation Museum.

August

Kanin headed back to school in August.

 

The kids got their very first look at the ocean when we vacationed in Mexico.

September

Our good friends, Chad and Kelly, came in from Colorado with their daughter Teagan.  We had a great time playing that weekend.

We also enjoyed celebrating the Westerhold German heritage by going to a couple of Oktoberfests.

October

Gaga spent a lot of time and money putting new floors down throughout the entire downstairs.

Although we ended up getting beat in the NLCS, we had a great time during the post season.

The kids loved dressing up for Halloween.

November

My big boy turned 9 and we went to the school to celebrate with him.  Later, we went bowling.

 

We had a feast for Thanksgiving and everyone still loved the cranberry glaze.

Gaga read the Elf on the Shelf to these 3 anxious listeners.

December

December started off with Mommy heading to the Bahamas.

 

We had a visit with Santa Claus.

We made cookies for Christmas Eve.

We enjoyed another year together and we are looking forward to 2013!

Temporarily Losing My Joy

If you read my Christmas Re-Cap, you all know that I never really got into the Christmas spirit.   This is really unusual for me seeing that I normally have a tree in practically every room of the house.  I was so bad that I didn't even hang stockings, didn't decorate my mantel, didn't have my craft night.  Heck, my kids were lucky to have a tree, presents, and to do a couple of small crafts.

There were several reasons why this happened but in the end what really put it over-the-top was the school shooting.  Like most everybody, I still can't get it out of my mind.  

While doing laundry yesterday, it occurred to me that I had been giving the shooter exactly what he wanted.  It was no accident that he chose right at Christmas time to kill those innocent babies and adults.  It was a cold, calculated move to not only kill people and to destroy a community but to take away from the joy that is the holiday season.  

It is, of course, normal to mourn all of those poor people and to feel pain for their families but I feel like I gave everything over to the shooter.  I never truly enjoyed any of the Christmas season because I just couldn't stop thinking about those kids, their families, or the reasons why it occurred.  Instead of focusing on my kids and appreciating that they were healthy and living in the moment, I just couldn't stop thinking.

After realizing and acknowledging it this week, I feel like I made a break through in re-claiming my joy this morning.  As my tears flowed after the Victoria workout, I felt alive.  It was a release that my spirit really needed and I am grateful for it.   

A WOD for "Victoria"

This morning I had the privilege of doing a workout in honor of Victoria Soto.  In CrossFit speak, we call it a "Hero" WOD.  There are several out there but when it was put out that today's workout would be in honor of the Sandy Hook teacher who sacrificed herself to save her students' lives, I knew that I had to be a part of it.

This wasn't just something that my box (gym) participated in, CrossFit boxes across the country have been doing this workout in honor of Victoria.  

 In case you don't understand the code language above, the workout consisted of the following:

5 RFT (5 Rounds for Time)

10 Thrusters (65lbs women/95lbs men is the prescribed weight-but can be scaled down)

14 Box Jumps (20 inch women/24 inch men is the prescribed height but can be scaled down or you can do step ups)

12 SDHP (Sumo Deadlift High Pulls-65lbs women/95lbs men)

27 KB (Kettle Bell Swings-35lbs for women/53lbs for men is the prescribed weight)    

I was so sore going in to this workout.  I mean so sore that I was having trouble going up and down the stairs but I really wanted to do this WOD.  I wanted to do it for Victoria.  I wanted to do it to honor her spirit and all of those who died.  I wanted to do it so that the shooter didn't win.

It was tough.  By the 3rd round I felt that doubt creep in and it would have been easy to say that I couldn't go on.  Every time those thoughts would enter into my mind, though, I would just take a few extra breaths and think about Victoria.  She gave me the inspiration to go on.  She gave everyone in the strength to go on.

My time ended up being 34:12.  It wasn't about the time.  It was about finishing.  It was about not giving up.  It was about fighting until the very end and we all did.

When I finished this morning, I was overcome with emotion.  Not only was I just happy that the workout was over because I was totally spent but I was happy that I didn't give up and I was incredibly sad that Victoria has been added to our list of Heroes.

I am so proud of the people below.  Everyone gave everything they had this morning.  It is mornings like this one that makes me so grateful that I have found this CrossFit family.

      

Christmas 2012 Re-Cap

I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone already.  I hope you all had a wonderful time with your friends and family during these holidays.  

I never really got "in" to that holiday spirit that I usually am hit with and then with the horrible, heartbreak of Sandy Hook, it just all seemed a little too overwhelming this year.

I did, however, enjoy spending time with friends and family.

Friday night kicked off my weekend with my work Christmas party.  Since I just started working out of the home again, after 8 years and only part-time, I had my own office Christmas party to attend.  We are a small office but we do BIG  things and we all love our jobs and the direction in which the company is heading.

On Saturday night, we had Scott's family's Christmas.  We all went to his sister's house.  The kids got all of their gifts and the adults played a few games.

Below is a shocking picture, my hubby is actually smiling.

My great niece, Kenzie (soon to be 4), waited very patiently while all of the gifts were handed out to the kids.

Kanin got some cool clothes.

My great nephew, Ben (4), was excited about this tractor trailer with horses.

The baby of the family, Ian (2), loved his helicopter that Auntie April picked out.

And, of course, the princesses had to put on their new outfits and model them.

The adults played "rob your neighbor" and a couple of other games.

The kids ended the night with a craft making Christmas trees out of ice cream cones.

  The next day, Sunday, we had Christmas at my parents' house.  My sister and her two kids came.  The kids were really excited to open their presents.

I can't believe how big these kids are this year.  

Mama really loved the handmade Christmas ornaments that Ali and Aidan made for her.

This kid loves anything baseball, just like his Momma.  

My nephew, Aidan (10), loved his Beltran shirt so much that he went and changed and put it right on.

My Sweet Baby Caleb loves anything Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

My niece, Alison (13), loved her new Mizzou Tigers shirt.

The best present and surprise of the day, though, was my sweet husband buying my parents a brand-new tv.  They were totally not expecting it and their reaction was priceless.

  
I was pretty sick on Christmas Eve and laid in bed until almost 1:30.  Finally, I forced myself to get up and get ready for church.  I almost just told Scott that I wasn't going to be able to go but then I just kept telling myself that I would be really sad if I missed it.  So, we got all dressed up and snapped some pics.

  
It must have been a Christmas miracle because I actually started feeling better during church.  We went out to eat with Scott's family for Christmas Eve dinner and then it was home to wait for Santa Claus to make his appearance.

On Christmas morning Kanin woke up about 6:15 and was ready to go downstairs.  I made him hold off for a few minutes but finally we woke everyone up and the chaos started.

The hot present of the year . . . this $13 cash register from Toys-R-Us.  Why, oh why, didn't I buy 3 of them?

 
We finished our Christmas festivities by meeting up with friends and family at the casino for brunch.  It was awesome and Mommy didn't have to cook for the rest of the day, woohoo!  Later on Christmas Day, we headed over to the neighbors' house to exchange gifts and teach him how to play craps (that's a whole different post).

I hope you had as good of a Christmas as we did.  Even though I wasn't my normal self, I felt very blessed to be around all of my family and friends and that we were all healthy.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Look What I Did Today

Early this week a friend of mine posted a picture of herself doing a one-handed hand stand.  I'd seen pictures on Pinterest of girls doing this but never thought I'd be able to.  After I saw Andrea's picture, it became a goal and today, I did it!