At the end of each year, I try to look back and the new items and experiences of the last twelve months and pick a few winners. This has previously been a mental list, but, since I have a blog, I figured I might as well share. Maybe you’ll see something you’d like to try. These are not brilliant, innovative discoveries – I’m definitely not starting any trends – they’re just a few things that have made my life easier or more enjoyable. (links are formatting weird for me, so I’ll add those later if possible)

Clockwise

Running – this was a huge leap for me as I generally avoid physical activity. But after about three weeks, I noticed a physical improvement and kept with it until that 5k finish line. I hope to complete more races this spring.

Norwex body cloths – I’m a minimalist when I comes to skin care and makeup, and I’ve never used any kind of makeup remover. These have been wonderful, and they’re so easy! I use them to remove makeup at the end of the day and as a general face cleanser.

Joe’s Crab Shack paint-a-crab – kept the girls busy for an hour! And only $1.99.

Amazon Prime – having a three kids and cold weather pushed us to spring for this, and we haven’t regretted it. Fast shipping with no minimum purchase means fewer errands for me and no random purchases to get our cart over $35. Better for our sanity and budget. Plus shows on Prime instant video that aren’t available on Netflix.

Clockwise

Windham furniture line at Target – we have four of these pieces now, two teal and two red. They are well-designed and sturdy. I usually gravitate toward neutral decor, so these give a great colorful pop! (And they go on sale every couple of weeks, so don’t pay full price)

Jamberry – my nail polish always chips after about 24 hours, even when I get a professional manicure. These are so fun and last almost two weeks for me.

Hy-Vee freezer meal prep nights – these were a lifesaver before baby. I didn’t have time to stock the freezer with my own meals, so I went to an “Open Dish Night” at Hy-Vee and made 10 meals in 90 minutes with 15 other ladies. Awesome!

What were your best “finds” of 2014?

I don’t remember how we got started, but we were hooked. Hooked on Jim Gaffigan. I’m not a big fan of stand-up comedians as their unoriginal bits are full of profanity, spouse-bashing and explicit sexual content. I like my comedy a little more relatable and with a better vocabulary.

Jim Gaffigan has five kids and lives in NYC in a small apartment with his wife who is also his co-writer and producer. We’ve enjoyed watching clips of him over the years, and seeing one of his live shows went on our bucket list.

Today I jumped on the presale for his Kansas City show in August, and we’ve got tickets, woohoo! They were pricy, not gonna lie – $70 each plus an obscene processing fee. We hardly ever go to things requiring tickets; free band concerts in the park are much more our speed. So this is a big deal, and we’ve got good seats.

This has been something we’ve been wanting to do for years, so we’ve had to get our Jim Gaffigan fix in other ways. Here are three ways to enjoy some good comedy and still afford the infamous Hot Pockets:

1. Netflix – Two of his shows, “Mr. Universe” and “Beyond the Pale,” are on Netflix, so add those to your queue.

2. His website – under “Specials,” you can download videos of two of his shows (the same two on Netflix), over an hour each, for $5 each.

3. Audio book via audible.com – this is my BEST tip. Gaffigan has written two books and reads them himself for the audio version. These are pricy, $22-25. But here’s what we did: with a free trial membership of audible.com, you get a book download. Score! So you can get 7 hours and 17 minutes of Jim Gaffigan for FREE with Food: A Love Story or 5 hours and 26 minutes of Gaffiganny goodness FREE with Dad Is Fat (our pick). You can immediately cancel the trial membership, and you still get to keep the audio book.

So while we’re waiting the one hundred and fifty-some days to see Jim Gaffigan sweat live in the Kansas August heat, we’ll laugh with some Netflix and finish Dad Is Fat.

I’ll admit it, I get a little excited about celebrity babies. Babies are just exciting! I love reading about who just became a parent and thinking about their new lives of snuggles and spit-up. A couple years ago, I was very excited to read the adoption announcement of Nia Verdalos, screenwriter and actress in “My Big, Fat Greek Wedding.” Though it is not necessarily unique for a celebrity to adopt, it was unique that Verdalos and her husband, Ian Gomez, pursued adoption through the foster care system. They kept their family details private at first, but last year Verdalos released a book telling the story of their adoption.

Instant Mom describes the years of failed infertility treatments and adoption processes. It is real life and is told with Verdalos’ signature humor, though much of the subject matter is emotional and personal. She describes the moment she saw her daughter for the first time.

As we get out of the car, we see a little brown-haired girl in a social worker’s arms. And as we walk toward the group, the little girl turns and looks at me.
At me.
And she smiles.
Everything goes quiet. I hear nothing at all.
All I think is, “Oh, I found you.”
Because now I know who I have been waiting for. I know exactly why the other processes didn’t work. I know I was supposed to wait for this little girl.

Anyone who has seen her movies knows she is a funny writer, but such a personal story of infertility and adoption is no laughing matter.

The fear of the unknown can be a powerful deterrent from anyone adopting… I had fears, too, and it’s one of the many reasons I want to tell this story. When it came to adoption, I’d read the bad stories, too. As I told you, I was scared. As was my family.

She reveals that accurate information helped alleviate some of the fears, and she has an excellent guide in the back of the book with basic information on types of adoption.

As an adoptive mom myself, I thought this book was outstanding at expressing a realistic picture of the emotional side of adoption. She doesn’t sugar-coat things; she describes the first difficult transitional months that come with bringing a child into your family. But she also describes the appreciation of small steps and the discovery of safety and comfort.
Any mom would enjoy reading this book. It makes you laugh and cry and hug your kids.

Nothing prepared me for the love I would feel for my child. Nothing prepared me for how quickly it happened for me. And here’s what I just figured out now: no one is ever prepared. In a way, we’re all instant moms… Nothing prepared us for the daunting responsibility and love we feel for our children. All of us are instant parents trying to rise to the challenge of raising our children well. It is so daunting. And unfathomably wonderful.

–Instant Mom

We had one reason for making the move from Austin back to Kansas – being closer to family. And y’all were thinking it was for the weather, I’m sure. We didn’t have a specific image of what the closer proximity would entail, but we have been so thankful for what it has looked like so far.

Sister dates! From cooking class to meeting Cary Elwes, from musicals to “late night” dollar store runs, I love the extra time with my sister!

Extra help! This has been huge as we had a short timeframe between moving and baby arrival. We had a ton of family help our first weekend in the house as we unpacked and tackled a few bigger projects. Then my parents painted the nursery as I had a nesting attack and we hadn’t found a painter yet.

Then, when we finally got the house painted, my parents took the girls (and me for part of the time) so we could be out of the fumes and mess. There was music and dancing and alpacas and Winnie the Pooh and all kinds of other fun.

My father-in-law and brother-in-law assembled the new stroller over Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law did landscaping. My sister-in-law did my dishes. (I was born into a handy family, and I married into a handy family; if something doesn’t get done around our house, it’s not for lack of helpful people) My in-laws are about 3 1/2 hours away, so we’ll be able to visit them every few months. And we’ve hosted some impromptu Christmas cousin tea time:

Welcome! New baby Cora got to meet all her grandparents and all our siblings within three weeks of being born.

It worked out well that my brother from Dallas had a trip planned already and was able to make early introductions.

Quality time! We moved close to family for more of the little moments. Like watching silly videos on the iPad.

Or bigger adventures like burning off some wiggles at a trampoline land.

And did I mention the free babysitting? ;) We are thankful for the opportunity to make this move, and we think this will be really wonderful for our kids (and us). It’s been great so far!

I’m not a big fan of labels. We pretty much just go through life doing what we think is best for our family with the Bible as the primary resource and other sources that align with our convictions. When it comes to labels, I’m not sure where our family fits in.

Especially on the crunchy scale.

Urban dictionary defines crunchy as: Adjective. Used to describe persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons. Crunchy persons tend to be politically strongly left-leaning and may be additionally but not exclusively categorized as vegetarians, vegans, eco-tarians, conservationists, environmentalists, neo-hippies, tree huggers, nature enthusiasts, etc. The term seems to also include parenting philosophies and many health issues.

A lot of those things would not apply to us, certainly not politically, but in our ten years of marriage, we’ve developed a lifestyle that has some differences from the average: mainly whole foods diet, smaller portions of meat, seeing midwives in my pregnancies, using a doula, extended breastfeeding, avoiding certain products, to name a few. We’ve gotten comments for these choices such as “Loosen up a bit.” “That’s a little weird.” “You’re a couple of hippies.” Some people consider us very crunchy. We’re trying too hard, we’re overly concerned about things that aren’t important, we’re making our lives difficult. We don’t fit in with the standard American lifestyle.

But we also use disposable diapers, vaccinate, use a microwave, eat at Chick-fil-a and have our kids sleep in their own beds. So a whole bunch of other people try to make us feel like we’re not crunchy enough. We’re not trying hard enough, we don’t care about our children’s health, we are ignorant and unaware. We don’t fit in.

I know this is not a unique problem. There are lots of families like ours – the gray families who are being told to choose black or white. Or rather, black or green. (and I do find it a little interesting that many on a certain side of the scale preach a lot of peace and tolerance but don’t seem to show much toward others) We’re in the middle of the crunchy scale, and when you walk in the middle of the road you get hit by cars going both ways.

Perhaps this can be answered with phrases such as “Just be yourself.” or “It doesn’t matter what other people think.” But I’d like the offer the phrase Gray is okay. Sure, there are certainly areas of life where a committed hard line needs to be taken one way or the other. And apathy and wishy-washiness are not admirable qualities. But there are a lot of areas, crunchiness being one of them, where I don’t think a side needs to be taken. Gray is okay. I can compost but also give my kids Tylenol, and I don’t like anyone giving me crap for either.

Welcome, Cora Rose! She came after just four hours of labor, a couple days before her due date. The big sisters (and the whole family) are in love.

It has been quite a year. I started with the physical challenge of training for a 5k. In the time period of training, there were emotional ups and downs as I experienced the first loss of a grandparent and celebrated a new pregnancy just weeks later.

Over the summer, our idea of moving closer to family became a reality as Brett got a job in Kansas City, and I had a whirlwind day of solo house hunting. Then we sold our house in Austin in an incredible market. Then lots of goodbyes.

Throw in ballet lessons, a Colorado trip, serious extended family health issues, physical therapy, moving while in the third trimester of pregnancy… It has been quite a year. A wonderful, incredible year. Not an easy year, at all. But a year of NEW.

We end the year as Kansans. Approaching our 10th anniversary with three kids. With the holiday hangover and a new baby, we’re in serious survival mode over here. But one day at a time. We have people from my MOPS group bringing us meals. People I haven’t even met yet are cooking delicious food for us. I am so thankful for the community we have found, old friends and new.

2014 – wow, you brought us a new baby and a new state. And we are so grateful for both. Now let’s hope 2015 is a little bit quieter. ;)

As of today, we’ve got four weeks until the due date. The countdown numbers are in the 20’s. This is when it starts to get real.

Baby things are starting to appear! I’m unpacking the tiny clothes and stocking up when I see diaper sales. My parents graciously offered to paint the baby’s room which was previously a yucky yellow – not just the walls, the guy also painted the trim and doors.

We picked a very light blue, and I think it turned out really well! I’m not one to get too theme-y, but when the room is done you’ll see various things with animals to go along with a Noah’s ark quilt that was cross-stitched by my mother-in-law. Should be cute!

And yes, we picked a light blue wall color which to some apparently means we secretly wanted a boy. And several people have already commented that we must keep trying after this one to get a boy. So I’d just like to put in writing that we (yes, we, Brett and I) are delighted to have three girls! (Brett suggested that here I insert a Jane Austen-ish comment about finding them all rich husbands…)

Here’s some girl fun – doing “princess make-up” on Halloween. :) Violet got some, too.

And they were gorgeous.

Hannah and Violet are soooo excited about the new baby. Hannah loves to kiss my belly and talk to the baby. Just things like, “Hello, baby, I love you sooooo much!” that might make a hormonal pregnant lady tear up just a bit. Violet offers different types of comments like “Baby make mommy’s belly button stick out.” and “Baby like cinnamon rolls.”

Lots of anticipation in the next few weeks! There are some good guesses over on The Name Game post. We’ve promised the girls that they will be the first to know the name after the baby is born, and we’ll happily fill in everyone else soon after. Soon soon soon!

Maybe it’s the age, maybe it’s because they’re girls, maybe it’s just our family, but Hannah and Violet have very little knowledge of sports. Not the details of sports, I’m talking the ability to even identify if a game is baseball or hockey.

Experiences and visuals seem to help, so Brett and I decided it would be fun to take the girls to a high school football game. We live in the Olathe East district, and tonight was their last home game. And we were there!

The girls were looking forward to it all week. There was much discussion of mascots and school colors and helmets. The actual experience was even beyond their expectations. We sat next to the student section where most of the kids were wearing Halloween costumes, quite entertaining. Plus the band and the cheerleaders… And there was also a football game going on which got the least attention. But it doesn’t really hold your attention when almost every possession goes to four downs and ends in a turnover.

Hannah’s favorite part was probably getting popcorn. Violet’s favorite part was watching the hawk mascot and his shenanigans. “Birdie! I see the birdie!” The girls were transfixed by the halftime show, and Hannah declared color guard to be her life dream.

We headed out after the halftime show, but our adventures weren’t over. Hannah was exhausted and emotionally fragile, crying because she couldn’t be in high school right now to join color guard. I knew Violet had dirtied her diaper right before halftime, but when I laid her down in the car to change her I realized it was a full-blown blow-out. Poop everywhere. Just when I thought I’d gotten it cleaned up, I found more. All Brett and I could do was laugh as he kept running multiple trips to the trash can halfway across the parking lot. Laughing, I said to Violet, “I’m never feeding you beans again!”

Her clothes were unwearable, so all I could do was put on her sweatshirt for the ride home. Meanwhile, Hannah was having a total meltdown, and when we finally got Violet settled and asked Hannah what was going on, she cried, “Mommy said we’re never going to eat beans again!”

So we had a half-dressed child, a stinky car, and a tired girl melting down over the thought that she would never consume another bean. The tired girl fell asleep on the ride home which the half-naked one found quite amusing.

Both girls fell asleep quickly at home, and I had to sit down and write. Because there are just those evenings you don’t want to forget. :)

Three weeks in the new house! In some ways it feels like longer, it really feels like home. There are random gray paint tests all over the walls, and we’re still unpacking boxes, but I feel like this house was made for us!

We are so thankful for this beautiful house in a great location. Thankful for real estate prices in Kansas City – this house would have been 50% more in Austin, way beyond our price range.

Highlights of the new house: three garages, big kitchen, tons of neighbor kids, basement and so much space! Low points: gnats, mice, and orange paint everywhere. The mice have been taken care of, the orange paint is next on the list, and the gnats on the screens are a mystery.

We’re not rushing into too many activities, just trying to get to know the area. We’ve started MOPS at Olathe Bible Church, and that has been a great way for me to meet people and get some social events on the calendar. Hannah will be doing indoor swimming lessons in November, and both girls love playing at the neighborhood park.

One of the new adventures here was putting the girls in a bedroom together. The adjustment has been much better than we expected! There have been a couple rough nights, but overall it has been an easy transition and the girls are very happy with the new arrangement.

We’ve had time for some outside family adventures – a trip to the Louisburg Cider Mill, couch-shopping at Nebraska Furniture Mart, a high school football game tomorrow, a bonfire with friends this weekend and a trip to the infamous Deanna Rose Farmstead next week.

We’ve already enjoyed more extended family fun, and we really appreciate those who traveled for the girls’ birthday party/new house workday. The girls are still a little startled at various times when the doorbell rings and it’s Grandma and/or Grandpa or Aunt Kristen, but they are so excited! Though the way the girls talk about my parents’ dogs… you’d think that was the reason we moved here, haha.

So family life is good, Brett’s job is going well, and go Royals!