It feels like home.

This may be the first time in our married lives that we have all our stuff under one roof. Well...actually, we are still waiting on the delivery of a few items from when we were stationed in Georgia...but it's only a few items...ya know like the piano, weight bench , two massive wall lockers, the lawn mower...just a few small things like that.

When we moved our items in from New Jersey, unpacking was a breeze. Knowing that we would only live in Jersey for a few months, we had only taken the essential items. When we moved our items in from the storage unit...well, let's just say, there are still boxes and bins I haven't even opened yet. I have found things I didn't even know we had! So, the unpacking process has been slow and I have tried to take the time to sort out the items we need, the items we should donate, and the items that are just wore out.

When I look at the calendar, I can't believe we've been in our new house for almost two months now. In so many ways, I still feel like we've just moved in! And yet, I feel like we are home. We may not be completely unpacked, we still have a list of furniture we need, and I am itching to paint the walls...but this house definitely feels like home. I am so thankful that God brought us here!

Chocolate Cupcakes!

When we lived in New Jersey, our kitchen was a one-person-at-a-time-kitchen.

The boys would ask to help me bake, but there just wasn't enough room. I kept promising them that when we moved to our new house, there would be plenty of room for them to help me bake. Now that most of the boxes are unpacked and we are beginning to settle into our new house, I thought it was time to make good on my promise to them. So, Friday we decided to make chocolate cupcakes.

Though I knew it might be messy, I even let them try to crack the eggs...

...and messy it was! Both the eggs exploded and went everywhere (this is a very burry picture, but if you look closely, you can see the egg bouncing back out of the bowl!)

Will even had egg on his head!! (We had to take a break to clean up after that.)

Back from cleaning up all the egg and ready to finish up the cupcakes...

The boys were anxious for the cupcakes to bake...

After lunch, the cupcakes were cool enough for the icing.

Then, it was time to indulge!

Yummy!!

A New Year

I generally make New Year's resolutions...and I generally don't keep them... I know this when I'm making the resolution, but I tend to continue making them anyway. This year I'm going to try something a little different. I am going to make a handful of 2011 Challenges.

1. 365 Photo Challenge: This is a challenge my family is doing this year. You post a picture of something on FB every day (or every day you're able.) As many of you know, I love taking pictures. I'm usually the one carrying my camera around taking picture after picture. This is something I started to do a lot when Chris was deployed. I wanted to capture as many moments for him as I could. Even if he couldn't see them at the time they happened, he could at least see them in a photograph. Lately, I haven't taken many pictures. Not because I don't want too, but mostly because things have been so busy with moving, unpacking and settling into our new home. This 365 Photo Challenge is making me itch to pick up my camera again and start snapping away. Now granted, I am already late on posting my first picture (but this deals with another area I want to work on in my life...just because I don't meet my challenge/goal every day, doesn't mean I have to give up right away) so I'll start posting today!

2. Recipe Challenge: I love cooking. I love trying new recipes. I love cookbooks. However, I seem to run to the Internet for a new recipe (which works great) instead of sifting through my cookbooks. I will still get new recipes online, but I also want to start using the wealth of recipes I have in my cookbooks. So, once a week, I want to find and cook/bake a recipe from my cookbooks.

3. Focus Challenge: This will be my "inner-self challenge." I had a very hard time with focus and motivation last year. There are a million reasons for this, but regardless of the reasons, it's a frustrating feeling to feel "unfocused" and "unmotivated." In college, if I had a million-and-one assignments due at the same time, I would have this moment of panic. What do I do first?? The only way I could squelch the panic was to focus on one assignment at a time until they were all complete and turned in. Last year I had a hard time focusing on the important things in life. If I found myself overwhelmed, I felt like shutting down instead of focusing on what was important, what needed to be done, and what could wait. This is something I know I need to work on -and by the Grace of God - I hope to make progress on this year.

4. Reality Blogging: I hope to be a better blogger this year. Last year, I really struggled with blogging because I felt so unfocused. This year, I hope to blog more...and to be a more vulnerable blogger. I want to show the good times in life, as well as the struggles. This is actually harder (for me) then it sounds. If I share a struggle, I feel guilty because I know that my struggles may seem small to someone who is going through something bigger...and I by no means want to come across as complaining about my life. I know I have a very blessed life. However, the reality of life is....there are struggles, hard times and frustrations...big and small. This is real. This is real life. So, I am attempting to find my voice and share more about what's really going on in my life. This was a resolution I made last year, but was unsuccessful at doing. So, it's time to try again!

Happy 2011 to one and all!!