new year's day :: take 2

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Most of you are a few days into your New Year, but I declared today, January 5th New Years Day for me!! The first 4 days of 2015 were a wash since I had the flu so I'm starting fresh today!! Nash and I are on the mend and feeling much better.  We just need this dang congestion to go away!!

I just love the start of a new year! I'm not one to make huge life changing resolutions, but I do like to set a few goals for myself.  I especially need some goals this year as I have felt kind of lazy this year.  Sometimes I feel like the only thing I did last year was feed three hungry boys three meals a day and keep two kids alive!!  While I know that's huge……I would like to accomplish some other things in my life this year!!

Here are my goals for this year……

1.  Catch up on the blog AND stay up to date! 

2.  Date my husband!  Go on monthly date nights using Parent's Night Out at Church as well as some intentional time together after the boys go to bed.  

3.  Unload the dishwasher and get a load of laundry started first thing in the morning! And to add to that I want to put all the dishes in the dishwasher right away after I use them and fold the laundry immediately after I pull them out of the dryer!

4.  Read ONE book! Yep, you read that right.  Just ONE.  It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've actually read a book other than a children's book to my boys.  

5.  Grow my nails out again and maybe even polish them every now and then!

6.  Organize/Clean-Out my computer, iPad & iPhone. 

7.  Work out at home 2 days a weeks.  Yep, you read that one right too!  Just TWO.  Trying to be realistic this year!!

8.  Stick to our budget. Spend less. Save more.  Always ask myself, "Do we NEED this?" before I make a purchase.

9. Memorize scripture together as a family!

10. Have one craft day and one outing day planned a week! 

So there you have it…….my 2015 goals!! Looks like I have a busy year ahead of me!!

What do you hope to accomplish in 2015??

2014 resolutions recap

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WOW! I can't believe that 2014 is coming to end.  

This year has absolutely flown by.  I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the fact that we had a baby this year.  Time seems to fly by when you have little ones.  As this year comes to a close, I want to take a minute to reflect on my "resolutions" from last year.  I set the bar pretty low because I didn't know what life would be like with two kids.  I'm pretty proud of my self for accomplishing most of my goals!!

1. Find a way to make a little extra money again after Nash arrives.

**I was actually offered a little part time job in January with a start date of April.  I decided to turn it down because I was not sure I would be able to make time for it since it was a work at home job.  I am so glad I turned it down because shortly after I turned it down Nash started therapy, got his helmet and then went through a 2 month span on sleeping awful.  There is no way I would have been able to handle it.  So officially I didn't really find a steady way to make extra money, however I had earned a little extra cash this year other ways.  I participated in some research studies and got some cash back from Ebates, Ibotta (If you join I'd love for you to use the referral code "gip5q") & Snap!!

2. Organize/clean out my computer, iPad & iPhone.

*Still working on this one.  It's still a big mess, however I have been backing up my computer regularly which is a good thing!!

3. Find a system to keep mail, paper and coupons organized and not pile up. 

*I bought some new wall hanging baskets that have really helped with paper not piling up.  I also started using some accordion files to keep my coupons organized.  There is still an occasional paper pile but for the most part I definitely have a system going.

4. Memorize one simple scripture a month as a family.
*We didn't intentionally do this, but Pearson and I listen to our Seeds Family Worship CD's all the time in the car.  We can sing LOTS of scripture.  I would love to intentional do this this year. 

5. Lose all my baby weight and get back into the gym.
*I lost all my baby weight but didn't get back in the gym.  I think I worked out a total of 5 times this year! Ha! I definitely need to get my booty back into gear this year!!

6. Wake up earlier and actually get some things done before Pearson and Nash wake-up. 

*This one definitely didn't happen.  Two kids is exhausting and I came to the realization that in just less that 2 years I will be getting up early every day to take Pearson to school.  So for now, I'm going to enjoy "sleeping in".  Plus, Nash wakes up around 6:30, so I just refuse to wake up earlier than that.  Oh and anytime I get ambitious and decide to set my alarm to wake up at 6am to get some stuff done, one of the kids inevitably wakes up at 6:05, so it's pointless!!

7. Take a picture a day.

**Follow along on Instagram @katylink #thelinkhomeeveryday2014
*Check! I finally completed a picture a day challenge!!

8. Take a picture a day of Nash for his first year of life.

**Follow along on Instagram @katylink #thedailynash
*Still going strong!!

9.  Plan intentional activities to do with Pearson during Nash's morning nap.
*I wouldn't say I did planned activities with him, but I did have intentional time with him.  I always try to sit down on floor and play legos with him, read books with him or play games.  It's good for both of us to have some good quality time together. 

10. Continue once a month date nights with my sweetie!!
*Check! Thanks to our church's Parent's Night Out for only $18, we have been able to continue this!!

Stay tuned for my 2015 goals!!

2014 resolutions

Yep, I'm one of those people that makes New Year's Resolutions every year.  I like to consider them my goals or to-do's for the year.  I'm going to cut myself some slack this year though because I have no idea what life is going to be like with two kids.  I would like to think these goals are all attainable but life could get real crazy here in the next 6 weeks and I might forget about all of these.  Here's to hoping I can get them all accomplish though!!

1. Find a way to make a little extra money again after Nash arrives.

2. Organize/clean out my computer, iPad & iPhone.

3. Find a system to keep mail, paper and coupons organized and not pile up. 

4. Memorize one simple scripture a month as a family. 

5. Lose all my baby weight and get back into the gym.

6. Wake up earlier and actually get some things done before Pearson and Nash wake-up. 

7. Take a picture a day.

**Follow along on Instagram @katylink #thelinkhomeeveryday2014

8. Take a picture a day of Nash for his first year of life.

**Follow along on Instagram @katylink #thedailynash

9.  Plan intentional activities to do with Pearson during Nash's morning nap.

10. Continue once a month date nights with my sweetie!! 

2013: a year to remember

Every year I take a look back at the past year.  Here are are highlights of each month from 2013.
It was truly and amazing year!!  We were so blessed. 

January:

I started a nanny job one day a week for three little girls.  

We watched Pearson learn and grow and amaze us with his letter knowledge. 

I spent a lot of time at the gym the first half of the year.

We said good-bye to the paci (except for naptime).

February:

Honestly, nothing really exciting happened in February. We just spent alot of time loving on this silly boy!!

March:

We celebrated Easter. 

April:

We bought a new (to us) car.

We officially hit the terrible two's a little early, but thankfully it didn't seem to last long.

May:

 We went on a Disney Cruise as an early 5 year anniversary trip and a pre baby no. 2 trip.  We were away from Pearson for 9 days. 

 Pearson stayed the first part of our trip with Lolly & Pops.

He stayed the second half of our trip with Grammy & Grandaddy.  

 Pearson had his last day of Mother's Day Out at First Baptist. 

We took our first of many trips to the pool for the summer!!

June:

We started summer off by going to VBS at our church.  I was a "mom" of 4 kids that week.

Pearson turned TWO.

 We had a super fun construction themed birthday party. 

 On Pearson's 2nd birthday, which also happened to be Father's Day, I found out I was pregnant with baby no. 2 and we told Daddy with a cute shirt Lolly had made. 

I had my 10 year high school reunion.

July: 

We celebrated July 4th and Pearson got to see fireworks for the first time!

We announced on Facebook that we were expecting.

Pearson shared our newest recipe (baby no. 2) on the blog!

Pearson took swim lessons from Mrs. Myra for a week. 

We got to "see" our sweet baby for the first time!!

August:

I joined a neighborhood Bunco group with a few of my girlfriends from church. 

I started writing for Dallas Moms Blog.

September:

We said goodbye to Izzie and she moved in with one my friends from church.

Matt got a long awaited and very much prayed for new job working much closer to home!!

Pearson had his first day of two day a week 2yr old preschool.

I celebrated my 29th birthday by eating free food all month long!!

We found out we were having another sweet boy!!!

We celebrated my favorite guy's 31st birthday.

 We gave our new little guy a name!!

October:

Matt and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.

We had a huge multi family garage sale to make room for our new little guy!!

 I cleared out the guest room and my Mom and I started designing and making Nash's bedding. 

We had our last family pictures taken as a family of three.

 We celebrated Halloween as a little Despicable Me family. 

November:

Pearson had his first performance at school.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Nonnie's.

December:

We took a trip to San Antonio as a babymoon and our last little getaway before Nash.

We watched Baby Nash grow in my belly.

We watched Pearson grow.

We celebrated our last Christmas as a family of three.

I hope 2013 was a great year for you too!

Thanks so much for following along with our little family on my blog. I love and appreciate all of your sweet comments!! We are definitely looking forward to all that 2014 will bring!!

Happy New Year!!

a kid friendly new year's eve

I'm not usually much of a New Year's Eve person.  It just seems like a pointless holiday to me since I don't like staying up late!! I'm totally okay with hanging out at home with the hubby and even falling asleep before midnight, but this year we decided to host a kid-friendly party for our small group.  

We had four other couples come over for dinner and hanging out.
I made Taco Soup, fruit & fruit dip, chips & salsa, and queso and the other gals brought guacamole and desserts.  Everything was so yummy!!

{Courtney, Paxton & Jack}

{Michelle, David, & Parker}

{Carissa, Joel & Landry}

{Tim & Jenny}

The guys spent most of their time watching football........mainly those good ole Aggies.  Gig 'em!!!

 All the girls spent our time watching our sweet little ones play.  They played so well together.  

We had a talk with Pearson about sharing all of his new toys with his friends before they got here.  I was really nervous he was going to be stingy with all his new toys but he surprisingly did really well sharing.  He had one little incident where he kicked a friend but other than that they all four boys played extremely well together.  Pearson would even get toys out and hand them to a friend.

Once we got all the boys in their jammies we tried putting them all down for bed so the adults could stay up and party til midnight but it didn't quite work out.  

 Just kidding!!! This was the only way we could contain them all to get a picture of them together.

   Before everyone left he talked Tim into reading story with him.  Pearson is obsessed with Tim.  He drives a White Toyota Tacoma and everytime we see one he says, "Hey, Tim's truck."  After Tim left he probably asked 4-5 times, "Where Time go?"  

Let's be honest though, our kid-friendly New Year's Eve party didn't quite make it to midnight.  It began to fizzle around 10pm with our last friends leaving just before 11pm.  Surprisingly, Pearson stayed up until then.  Matt and I rang in the New Year together then we hit the sack shortly after.  This pregnant Mama was tired!!!