Happy New Years!!

Yes, it was my kids outside at midnight banging on pots and pans. Sorry for all of you who were already in bed. It is a celebration after all. 2008 is now here...so weird. 10 years ago my first child was forming in my womb. 10 years of being a mom(I can say that because I felt like a mom through my pregnancy even though I technically wasn't one until his birth).

I want to share some memories of 2007:

Riley started Kindergarden this year. Kindergarden is so transforming for a little mind. It's like she grew up in a matter of months. She went from not being able to read and write at all to knowing 20 or so words and her drawing went from abstract to very understandable(which is nice but -- I do love a child's art work that has no interferences -- she now draws the flower like all kids do and the house and the person... of course she still has her own unique style and the important thing is that she really enjoys creating pictures. If we have anyone over, you have to know that everyone will go home with a crayon drawing made specifically for them by Riley.
This year has been Riley's "love" year. She constantly expresses her love. She makes up songs " I love you Mom. I love you 'cause you're so sweet and cuddly" "I love dad" Hugs and kisses. It is the sweetest thing to have a child that is so expressive this way. We say to each other " I love you more than the trees" "I love you more than the stars" "I love you more than the universe, and the (and she looks around the room for inspiration)socks, and pictures, and TVs, and ...etc."
This love-fest happens about every day. I am truly a blessed mom.
Riley is still in gymnastics once a week. She has improved by being in with the older kids. We switched her from the tot class to level 1. She is good on holding her self up on the bars/rings and walks good on the beam. Just recently she has decided to climb up the rope to the top and ring the bell(she used to only go as far and the teacher could reach) At the last class she climbed the rope up to the top and if she had reached out with a hand she would have rung the bell. I was clapping and very excited for her.
One of her favorite things to do is to go outside with Sarah and run her back and forth on a leash and also to tie the leash to her 3 wheeler and have Sarah pull her down the sidewalk.

Liam has continued to impress us. He seems to have no problem learning. His behavior at school has been up and down this year. But the biggest complaint is only that he is social and likes to talk. I can't really complain about him. He is very capable of what ever he thinks to do. He will spend hours building impressive Lego ships/robots/cars using his imagination and really puts thought into what the parts are for.
Liam is good at pretty much everything he does. Reading, math, spelling...anything. The one thing about Liam is that his memory is so good. He hears something once and knows it. He has always been like this. When he was 2 I would read him a book and then he could sit with the book and page by page recite the correct words becaus he had heard it once. I think this is why he does good with school. When he was learning to read I noticed that he was a very good sight reader because he knew the basics so he didn't have to know the words he knew the sounds. He is in 3rd grade now. His handwriting has gotten much better this year.
We started him in gymnastics this year. He got to see his sisters class over the summer and had said that he'd like to try it. He has now been going for 4 months or so and still enjoys it.
He had been so into Yugio and half way through the year he switched to Pokey Mon cards. He likes to sword battle with his cousin in the yard. We have also been on a few long bike rides around the city a few times out to the Lake...William built a little ramp and Liam and his cousins took turns hopping their bikes up and off of the ramp.
This year our summer vacation was camping in July with Dave and Vicki for a week in Tahoe.
Me, Rachel, and Carrie took the kids to the San Jose Tech Museum at the beginning of the year.
I also came down with Shingles after Easter. It was sooooo horrible (I would never wish it onto anyone) It also happened before Evan was born. I wasn't able to see him at all until he was 2 or so weeks old.
After much waiting the last Harry Potter came out. I waited in line at Barnes and Nobles on my lunch hour for the bracelet and then I went back at midnight w/ Riley to wait in line to purchase the book. (I brought along the stroler and It was a good thing I did because Riley fell asleep and I would have had to carry her around)
This year I sewed the kids Halloween costumes.
I joined the Quilt Guild this year. It has been fun and stressful at the same time. It always seems that I am pressed for time... having to hurry.. something is always going on at the same time when it's time for a meeting. We meet once a month for a 2 hour meeting. I have met a few people. I enjoy the presentations. Every other year the Guild puts on a quilt show and this year the show was in October. It was very humbling. I always think that what ever I'm doing at the time is good..but I realized that these quilters are sooooo talented and I still have alot to learn.

William and I had our 13th anniversary. His schedule changed this year. He is now home alot more and at first it was an adjustment. He has alot of expectations and when he's home he wants things to be orderly and I'm more free spirited so we've readjusted to each other. He worked the afternoon/evening shift since we moved here it was horrible...we never saw him. Liam was only able to spend time with him on Sundays(if it was a school week). Things are more normal now. The boys have been playing alot of catch football (Liam got a football for Christmas). We are doing things more together now and of course we all have our own things(at this very moment Riley is playing with Barbi Dolls, Will is playing Guitar Hero, Liam is building Legos and I am typing away on the computer)
I predict that 2008 will be just as good, if not better than 2007. I hope we can do some fun stuff and help the kids develop more into awesome people...I have some personal goals to accomplish. I'd like to see more family fun time spent together. I hope to improve as a person,wife,mother and also as a sewer/quilter. I have lots of ideas for quilts/projects and I hope I have time to work on as much as I can.
Oh,.. and I want to organize a bit more.