It's cold in the south!

It's been cold here pretty much since we got back from our Christmas trip to Ohio. I know, "it is winter" you say, but getting down to 8 degrees at night? Come on now, that's cold.

We did get our first snowfall of the season and year! Not much, but for around here 1/2 an inch was enough to close the schools for 2 days and allow my husband to be home for an extended weekend.

It has been an exciting couple of weeks around here! Anna Claire is almost 1 year old! Can you believe it? Me neither. She is at the age, that many of you know, where everything is a new experience. She finds even the smallest little fuzz ball on the floor and puts it in her mouth. She is getting around so she will find either one of us regardless of where we are in the house and come and sit at our feet. She loves to help in the kitchen while I am getting dinner ready. But I have to make sure there are Tupperware containers and the soup ladle for her to play with.

She found this book. Who knows she might follow in her father's footsteps and love math!

She LOVES to look at herself in the mirror too! Our screen saver on our computer is a slideshow of pictures we have on our hard drive. If she is in the room playing and the slideshow is on, she will just sit and laugh at the pictures...but only the ones of her!

With the start of the new year, it's hard not to think about the past year, all of the things we did and experiences we had. Having Anna Claire was obviously the highlight of our year!

It is exciting to look towards 2010, knowing there are things already on our calendar for the year. Vacations, weekend trips, triathlon races for Mike, softball season, birthdays, anniversaries and days of remembrance. Then there are the things that will be filled in as the days go by. Spur of the moment dates (Brad and Nicole, if you are reading this..I promise we will be using our certificates!), friends coming over for dinner and babies yet to be born (No, not me!)

I don't usually make resolutions, well maybe in my mind I do. Usually by January 30th, they are forgotten. I think I would rather reach some goals rather than vow to change things, because inevitably, I will let myself down if I have in my mind that change is what needs to happen. So with that in mind here are some goals:

~Take more pictures. This won't be hard because I already take tons of them. I read somewhere about a woman who wanted to put down the stress of every day and instead take a picture of it...instead of worrying about the laundry, take a picture of it. Don't worry about the unmade bed and messy room, take a picture of it. Capture the moments that make your house your home, capture the memories that make your family.

~Continue to eat better and exercise more. Thankfully I already do these things, but I could be better at them. This can be hard when it is 15 degrees out at 9:00am and our treadmill is in our garage. Here's looking at you Spring; come soon! My goal is to buck up and get out there!

~Continue to work on our house; inside and out. We try to be good stewards with our "house money" and begin working on a project only when we have the money to do it, so with that said, the goal is by summer's end to have the bed and bath done!

~Learn more about my new hobby! I got this beauty for Christmas from my parents. Oh, isn't she gorgeous? I think I need to name her.

With some of this fabric...

...inspiration from here and a few calls to my mom, I am well on my way to finishing my first project!

I also have a goal to blog more--I haven't been as faithful to Nesting in Pleasant View as in the past and I do want that to change. Everyday holds something and if that "something" isn't grand, beautiful or funny, it can sometimes make me think that it's not all that important to share and that you would rather read about a project or a recipe (check out Carrie at Buzzings of a Queen Bee, she has a great post on this!). I guess what I'm saying is that even if it is just posting a picture of our day (beware, laundry and messy rooms might be exposed!), my hope is to be more consistent with sharing with you our life and home.

Keep warm and have a wonderful Monday!