2014... the to-do list grows...

1. I am going to grow plants this summer.  I'd like to grow a lot, but I'll settle for a few.  Tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, carrots, squash, and zucchini, to start with.  I'm researching methods via Pinterest right now and will start seedlings as directed once the time is right.  I suppose I'll need to do this on the back porch or in the garage for the meantime.  I plan to use the small area by the garage to grow my veggies in large planters or raised beds.  Who wants to build me those?
2. Run races.  As in, plural.  I have run my pregnancy races and I have one more to go.  I'd really like to be able to run a few more races after the baby comes.  I know I'll need time to heal since I will be having a child via surgery in April... I'm hoping I can schedule some races in June/July.
3. Buy the dang minivan.  This is a lingering 2013 goal... I wonder if I knew that my husband was going to let me have another baby AND we were going to and that's why I made that goal in 2013?  Either way, I cannot wait to be the proud owner of a minivan.  I see this happening in March.
4. Build my business.  I suppose this means I need to work on the business.  I have several of them I could work on, but none that I really focus on.  I love Advocare products.  I use them regularly.  I also love Mary Kay products, they are lovely.  I have a great love for my sewing machine and should use it more often.  I would like to be able to grow one or all of those into something successful that generates income so that I could stay home with my babies one day.  Yep, another goal for another year, but I'll work on it in 2014.
5. Paint and decorate the kid's rooms.  We have to move Libby to the bigger room and put Hayes in the smaller room since we will be housing two girls.  This project was on my agenda for Christmas break, but it is not likely to happen this week.  I have to buy Libby bunk beds and then we can make the move.  Hoping for February?
6. Plant flowers in the yard this spring and summer.  I love seeing my neighbors lovely yards and I'd like to have my own this year.
7. Develop a budget/plan to save for future Disney trips and eventually yearly passes.  I love going to see The Mouse.  I love that my kids want to go there often as well.  I want nothing more than to take them there all the time.  As a matter of fact, we could just move there and I'd be thrilled.  I'm working on this part.
8. I would love to be able to use my blog as a venue to make some extra income for my family as well.  I am going to investigate that and look for income via my blog while on maternity leave.
9. Purge.  Clean out the closets, rooms, drawers, cabinets, and garage and rid this house of unnecessary objects, clutter, junk, and excess.  We need to learn to live with less and be happy with that.
10.  Wake up earlier during the week and make time for myself.  Enjoy coffee, or a book, or the quiet.  I could make breakfast for myself or the littles, or just put on my makeup like a normal person.

I am going to spend some time working on these and I will likely add to them as I go.  

2013... lovely year....

2013.

It was a long year.

We celebrated a 3 year old in January.

You can read my summary here.

It was the year we took our littles to see The Mouse in February.

February wrap ups consist of several birthdays, here.

March brought me a 'I'm too old to play soccer' injury.

I wrote about Disney and how I broke my leg here.

April came and we had a cousin play date.

I also talk about being a mom and getting ready in the mornings.

Toughest job EVER.

May=The Treuman Show.

There aren't enough words.

It was epic.

June brought me a 40 year old husband.  

And the summer of the princess and the pirate.

I love summer.

Clearly, July was busy.

I wrote 3 blog entries.

But I painted my bedroom and my bathroom.

That counts?

August brought us Baby #3.

We were thrilled, elated, terrified, scared...

And we celebrated my baby girl turning 2.

TWO.

The kids started school in September.

Hayes and Libby are at the ELC and love it!

We also had a holiday.

October held a big secret for us.

We learned if baby #3 was a boy or a girl.

Pink it is!

November brought us a new ALX season.

I ended my 'cheer coaching' career.

And we went to see The Mouse on Ice.

We had a few sick days in December.

We had cookies for dinner.

And we had a fabulous Christmas with family.

Tomorrow I'll post my 2014 To-Do list.

I cannot wait to share my goals with you guys!

Recap of 2013 Goals.... 2014 to come next week.

I vow to complete at LEAST 13 tasks.

Errrrrrrr, I think I managed to 'complete' about 6.

Crumbs and biscuits....

1.  Run one race a month.  Half marathon, 5k, 10k, something.  Every month.

I'm going to need a small loan to finance all those races.

I ran about 3 races this year?

Clearly I need to step up my game.

2.  Pay off all the medical bills.

Between the summer of ear infections and Daryk's gall bladder... we have a handful.

Thankfully, we also have jobs to pay for them.

And auto pay through our bank which is all set up and should be done paying in August.

I have accomplished this task, but then we got pregnant and got a new set of bills!

3.  Pay off Daryk's truck.... and buy a minivan.

There, I said it.

We're buying a minivan.

Daniel says I should make Daryk drive it.

I think he would do it with pride.

And he would rock it.

We paid off the truck!

We will buy a minivan in February or March of 2014.

I had hoped the minivan would come in December of 2013, but I can wait.

I will continue to snowball that truck payment towards our credit cards or medical bills.

4.  Learn to focus on the task at hand.

Stop spending time trying to accomplish 14 things at once, do one thing.

Finish that task and move to the next one.

This will be the biggest struggle for me.

I feel like this will be something I struggle with until I die.

I have learned to spend time with my children and just be their mother.

I've learned to put down my phone and just be with them.

5.  Grow a summer garden consisting of tomatoes and herbs.

I love tomatoes in the summer.

And I'd LOVE to be able to cook with fresh herbs all summer.

No garden in 2013.

This is going to be my 2014 goal.

I really want some of my own veggies and herbs!

6.  Create or craft something new every month.

Doesn't have to be a HUGE craft or creation, but something,  nonetheless.

I made a lot of hairbows.

And I used my sewing machine a lot...

That totally counts right?

7.  Play soccer with grown ups.

And have fun.

This should start around spring-ish.

This was one of the best things I've ever done for myself...

EVER.

I had a blast.

I might not be the worlds best defender, but I had so much fun.

I cannot wait to play again.

8.  Read one book every month for fun.

Grand total of 12 books.

If I read MORE than that, I'll make myself cupcakes.

I read a lot of books.

I read 3 on summer vacation.

I read a handful of them throughout the rest of the year and enjoyed them.

9.  Use my food dehydrator for fruit and such.

New adventures for healthy snacks for me and the kiddos.

Yeah, didn't happen.

That thing is a pain to get out and deal with and clean.

Maybe this year?

10.  Blog at least four times a week.

I think I did pretty well with this goal!

I blogged more often this year, 133 blog entries to date.

After I recap Christmas, I'll have a few more.

I had 193 entries for 2012, so I missed my mark a bit...

11.  Print pictures of my kids every month to give or mail to my family.

Epic fail here.

No pictures printed.

None sent to anyone.

Maybe I can just make everyone a calendar for 2015?

12.  Paint and decorate.  this.  house.  

Starting with the kitchen.  

Like, yesterday.

Ohhhhhhhhh, I got this one!

I did the kitchen, master bedroom AND bathroom.

That's 3 rooms in 1 year.

Granted, I've 8 more to go....

I should be finished by 2020?

13.  Organize the bleeping garage.

Will be the death of me and a never ending task, but alas, it must be done.

We do this at least once a month.

Why do we have SO MUCH STUFF!?

I feel like the never ending yard sale people... 

Eventually once my little people are not so little we will have less garage stuff...

I think.

And these are the others that are floating in my head....

clean out the closets and storage areas of my home

I do this often as well.

reward my fitness efforts with yoga pants, not for yoga, just lounging because I love those pants.

I buy too many pairs of yoga pants.

potty train Libby James late summer

Potty training in progress over Christmas break.

It is going VERY well!

I shall update you all every month on how the list is coming along and what I get done, or not...

Obviously, some of these things will not get done until later in the year.

They are my goals.

My tasks to complete.

I believe I only updated this list once this year, clearly that should be a 2014 goal.

Hubs, Coach, Daddy

He made himself some granola.

Trying to mix it with a spoon proved to be too difficult, so he changed the plan.

And then sometimes he just gets bored and well, you see what happens.

I do think he'd make a nice blonde.

Oh, how she grows.

Merry Christmas from the Cochran babies and their mommy.

We are all so blessed to have you in our lives.

So thankful for each and every person who loves our babies....

the ones here and the ones to come!

Spencer Brynne Cochran

22 weeks

Holidays in full swing

December makes me thankful for my returning students....

The ones who are more like family and friends than the norm.

They show up when you need help and entertain the preschool crew after hours.

See above photo.

Jordan is our favorite person, ever.

We call her the other sister often.

I am beyond thankful for her help and the love she shows my babies.

Plus, she taught them to make these awesome faces.

How can I NOT love that?

Weeknight Tree Decor

Daddy is in the middle of wrestling season.

I am a solo parent most nights until about 6:30-7 p.m.

Most of the time I don't mind it.

Last week as I was recovering from the sick I wasn't a fan.

Every night was hard and I was already tired.

I think my Publix bakery knew my struggles.

They had these amazing cookies out for display.

I bought two.

The children spent at LEAST one hour decorating them.

And then they ATE them for dinner.

Judge me.

Go ahead.

I was so thankful for them to have a break and some down time.

I saved all the extra icing for another cookie decorating time later.

Braun Therms

Influenster is a great thing.

I love filling out information and getting new things to try!

I received this just as we were all getting sick and I was THRILLED to try it!

Normally I stick with the standard 'thermometer in the armpit' for the kids.

I compared this to that temp reading and was so happy to see that it was accurate!

This is SO much less invasive and it takes about 5-7 seconds instead of a minute.

Have you ever tried to hold a thermometer still in a toddler's armpit?  

I am so thankful to have this product, especially since we are about to welcome another little one!

I even tested it on myself when I was sick, works so well!

Libby is sick too.

Last weekend we spent all weekend at home.

We were all sick!

Hayes and Libby had strep throat and I had a cold.

They are much better and I'm still battling my snot.

I am so thankful that I have a snuggly girl who loves me.

She cuddles so well and is so sweet!

I feel so bad when they are sick.

I hate having to fight them to take their meds as well.

Pretty sure we could call this the Disney Daze....

We watched 900 princess movies last weekend.

I not feeling too good

So, this little guy wasn't feeling so great last week.

I took the day off work on Friday to tend to his sickies.

Thankfully I listened to my village and took them BOTH to the doctor.

Both had strep.

YAY for sick babies!

Except not.

Ever.

We managed to log 900 games of Candyland in our pajamas while on sick leave.

He's really good at that game or I don't pay attention...

He won most of the games we actually finished.

And when we finally got to an 'I finally feel better point' I got this cheese ball face.

He says, 'Take my picture Mommy.'

And then demands to see it and take at least 60 more.

He's been hanging out with Aunt LeighLeigh toooooo much lately.

Thanksgiving Races and Pregnancy

My goal with this pregnancy was to NOT gain 700 lbs.

I haven't done well with weight gain prior to this pregnancy, but I'm proud of myself this go round.

I wish I had more time and energy to be active, but I just don't.

Kudos to you people who do just that!

I am trying to be more mindful of my eating habits and my body.

I eat when I'm hungry and try to be healthy...

don't we all!?

I decided that I wanted to complete some 5k races during this pregnancy.

My goal was one rave per trimester.

So far, so good.

I've got one more trimester to go and I'll have it done!

The pregnancy and the races...

First race was in August.

Run or Dye with the jogging stroller and the husband.

It was awesome.

I was barely pregnant and ran the majority of it.

Daryk and I decided a loooooooong time ago in 2013 we wanted to do the Turkey Day 5k.

So Thanksgiving morning long before the actual sun came up, we got up.

It. was. freezing.

I had on my favorite Old Navy running tights and multiple layers on top!

The race started & ended at Turner Field.

The porta potties closest to our car had ZERO toilet paper.

Um, gross and cold.

We arrived on time, parked the car, and sat inside until we absolutely HAD to go start.

Of course, you have to take pictures of it or it doesn't count, right!?

Selfie number 1.

After this Daryk says, 'hurry up and take another facie already.'

I burst out laughing because he said facie and not selfie...

I was dying laughing at his attempt at the cool vocab.

So I got this picture....

The race began.

We froze while running.

I wish that I could have felt my fingers.

The pictures available that day would have been hilarious.

There were people dressed as pilgrims, turkeys, and other food items.

Some people had hats that looked like turkeys as well.

I wanted to run as much of the race that I could.

Mind you, I didn't train and I'm out of shape.

As well as 5 months pregnant...

So I ran as much as I could.

The hardest part of running while pregnant wasn't being out of shape or being pregnant.

It was the bladder!

Thankfully somewhere between mile 1.5-2.5 there was a BP station open!

A very kind man let me use the facilities and I was able to run again.

As we were finishing our 5k there were people running across the finish like for the 

HALF marathon as well.

Insanity.

I was just proud to FINISH and not pee my pants or die.

Thankfully some sweet girl took our photos afterwards.

We got yummy snacks and some great race day goodies from the Verizon booth!

So proud to finish that race WITH my baby belly and hubby.

Planning a 5k in January and hoping for another in March!

After that, I'll be on light duty until August because of the baby girl!

I wash my hands!

I wash my hands!

I do it by myself.

Those are two sentences I hear often....

Usually followed by, 'Elizabeth, where are your pants!?'

See?

Chefs in training

Thanksgiving Brunch Prep consisted of a few helpers.

I made them strip down nekkid (well mostly nekkid) to help.

Flour, sugar, and some homemade chex mix helped us make some lovely treats.

We had a blast!

Thankfully Leigh Anne and Hope were there to help me wrangle the chefs.

Leigh Anne took this photo and I'm SO thankful she did!

I'm only sad that I didn't get a picture with them.

They had so much fun and it wasn't a huge mess....

Maybe we shall bake more often!

20 weeks and waiting

For the life of me, I will never understand why we bother to make doctor's appointments.

I feel like it would be more effective for us to say,

'Show up and it is a first come, first serve basis.'

We made a doctor's appointment and ultrasound appointment for last Monday.

We waited for 1700 hours to see them both.

Thankfully Apple has created a small technical device that keeps my children busy.

They even shared.

It was madness.

Madness for 2 hours of waiting on the doctor.

And they were perfectly behaved....

Seriously.

Our ultrasound was perfect!

Baby girl in my belly is still a baby girl.

Thank goodness....

I'd had a few dreams or two that she wasn't a girl anymore...

I was a little bit scared!

She is measuring about a week ahead on every measurement!

I will update about her in a few days.

She deserves her OWN update.

Gators

The week before Thanksgiving Papa was really sick.

BeBe was in charge for a few days.

Hayes got to do new artwork while BeBe was in charge!

Gators are coloring.

Deep concentration is required

See, the strategically placed tongue?

He loves to color and draw and write.

Especially if his sister is busily doing something else and he's not guarding his paper.

If he's guarding and creating artwork he gets angry.

As long as it is just Hayes, he's a happy little artist.

The babies

Last weekend my baby sister came to visit for the day.

My baby girl climbed all over her....

I see a trend of 'no personal space' for visitors....

Libby loved the attention and spent a lot of close and personal time with Leigh Anne.

They are two of my favorite babies.

So much love there.

I'm so blessed with my sisters.

They love my littles and take such good care of them.