another thirty

Remember my friend Krissy? 

She turned thirty in December.

And we got a night away from (at the time) sick kids.  It was delicious and fun and just what I needed to be filled up again and return home to take care of some babies.  Because I was running on empty and not being very nice about it. 

Happy birthday Kristen!  Eighteen years of being friends (well, most of the time anyway) and counting.  I'm looking forward to the next eighteen.  Love you.

(Let's blow out all the table candles and then take a picture, shall we?)

resolute

I don't do resolutions. 

But here are some goals for 2012:

-be a better friend. Write more letters, send more cards, make more phone calls, listen more.

-go on more dates with my husband. At least once a month.  We have our first one schedule for Saturday. 

-read more adult books. I love reading books and then recommending them to my students.  Their response is beautiful.  But I need to read some adult books.  I started Bossypants by Tina Fey yesterday and I'm loving it. 

-write a marriage and family plan/constitution (maybe something like this?)

-pray more as family

-play more

-be more transparent

-save more than we did last year

-by the end of the year be rid of all debt except our mortgage and my student loans (but we're coming after you next student loans!)

-do more with less

-get more sleep

-wear out the gym membership we got last month

-be more patient

-finally start that couples bible study book with Chris.  We've only had the book for six months.

-no wrecking the car (or van)

-be more patient with my mother

Well, the bad news is I've already not done some of this stuff and it's just the first day of the year.  That means I can only improve! 

Here's to an awesome 2012!

2011

The good, the bad, and the ugly of 2011:

-Babies were born (Adalynn Kennedy and Harper Kimery)

-Ellie turned two.

-Chris celebrated one year of being clean and sober.

-We paid off more debt on our way to living a debt-free life.

-I wrecked my car.

-We bought a new car.

-Chris became a stay-at-home daddy.

-We worked on the house. a lot.

-Elliott and Harper went to King's Island for the first time.

-Ellie started preschool.

-Our family (officially) got smaller.

-We became those people and started driving a minivan.

-I turned thirty years old (here and here).

-We read lots of books.

-Chris painted our baby's head.

-We celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary.

-Elliott took her first trip to the emergency room.

-Harper took her first trip to the emergency room.

-Monkey turned six.

-Ellie got bunk beds.

-Ricky graduated from college--and now all the Ritter kids are teachers.

-I completed my sixth year of teaching and have yet to kill a student.

-Ellie started (and then quit) her first gymnastics class.

-Chris and I went on a few (too few) dates.

This year went too fast.  And things keep getting better, I can't wait to see what 2012 brings.  Wishing you and yours a blessed new year.

thirty for thirty {part two}

Part two of thirty random facts share for my thirtieth birthday.  Part one is here.

-I talk in my sleep.  A lot.  And normally it's angry talk directed at Chris.  About things that aren't real.  Like snakes under our bed, the kids playing with swords in our living room, or the person staring at me in the car.  It freaks him out.  And I don't ever remember it in the morning. 

-I don't like my food to touch.  If I could eat every meal with a divided plate, I would be a happy girl.

-The conversations I have in my head would probably qualify me for mental health services.  Good thing I don't talk to myself out loud.

-Lowest moment of my life: saying goodbye to my one-month-old neice as they took her off the machines that were keeping her alive.  And I still have nightmares about the sounds my sister made that day.

-If I didn't have any self-control, I could probably drink four to five Diet Mt. Dews every day.

-When I was pregnant, I was walking around my classroom one day and a sneak-attack fart happened.  I tried to play it off, but I'm pretty sure a couple kids heard it.  Ms. Graham is the farting teacher.

-I got married barefoot.  It was a mix of not finding shoes I liked, not wanting to wear heels, and not wanting to wear shoes at all that lead to this decision.

-To get to sleep, I require lots of blankets.  It could be the middle of summer and blazin' hot, but unless I have at least 2-3 blankets on me, I can't get to sleep.

-As a child, I went to the hospital four times for injuries.  Three of those times I was faking.

-I'm glad I have daughters so that when I'm old and in a nursing home, I'll have someone to take care of all my random facial hair problems.

-I can't open jars or lids with my right hand.  I broke up a fight in school years ago and have never regained the ability to grasp tightly with my thumb.

-I collect vintage cookbooks.  I buy most of them at estate sales or garage sales.  I especially like the small, catalog-sized ones that used to come with refrigerators in the 40s and 50s.

-The feeling of popsicle sticks grosses me out.  I don't like to touch them or feel them on my teeth.  It makes me shudder just thinking about them.

-While I'm not happy I totaled my car, I am secretly glad that I don't have to drive a stick anymore.

-I still have vivid memories of being five, swinging on my swing set, and making up the most beautiful songs known to man.  They would make me cry they were so beautiful.  I specifically remember one song about Captain Kangaroo dying that just broke my little heart.  Also, I was the weirdest child ever.

thirty for thirty {part one}

Really, this should be titled "fifteen for thirty" but that wouldn't be as fun.

Today's my birthday. I'm thirty years old.  And I don't have any strong emotions about that either way.  So there you go.

I was going to find some embarrassing beautiful pictures from back in the day, but I'm being too lazy right now.  So instead I'm going to share some completely random, useless Mary facts.  Because it's my birthday.  And I'll cry share if I want to.

-Most mornings I eat Raisin Bran for breakfast.  One and a half bowls with skim milk.  And it never gets old.  I love Raisin Bran.  (Wait, I just turned 30 and my first share is that I love something with "bran" in the title...gulp.)

-On the way to and from work every day, I listen to NPR without fail.  But when school is not in, I don't turn it on.  I don't know why.

-I love KISS.  It's the best concert I've ever been to.  And I especially love Gene Simmons.  The TV show I miss the most since we got rid of our cable is Gene Simmon's Family Jewels. 

-I am tongue-tied.  Literally. 

-My favorite novel, a cheesy chick lit book, is Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes.  I have read it over ten times. 

-I regret two of my tattoos.

-I had my belly button pierced in high school.  Shameful.

-My first job was a waitress at Steak-n-Shake.  I made more money than a 16 year old girl should be allowed to have.

-My parents paid for my college, but somehow I still managed to graduate from undergrad with $10,000 in student loans.  stupid.stupid.stupid.

-I know you're not supposed to hate people, but I hate the kid that (sometimes) lives across the street from me.  Hate him.

-We have one credit card and Chris has it hidden so that I can't, in a moment of weakness, go on an online shopping spree and spend large amounts of money (it has been known to happen...).  But I know where the card is and he knows I know where the card is.  And I just get it out when I need to buy something (reasonable) online and then I put it back.  In his brown dress shoe, right foot.  I don't know why he doesn't move it.  Because right now, it's become just the weird place we store the credit card as opposed to a hiding place.

-We had a cleaning lady for two years.  It was amazing.  But then we had a second baby and Chris stopped working and that luxury went byebye.  I miss that cleaning lady soooooooo much. 

-As a freshman in college, my major was journalism.  Then some time in my sophomore year, I changed it to education.  Occasionally, I still wonder what made me change my mind.

-I love being pregnant.  So much so that I've volunteered to be a surrogate for a friend who has been trying for years and can't conceive. 

-I love crafts and DIY stuff, but lose interest pretty quickly.  I've probably started or bought stuff to start 20 projects this year.  And none of them have been completed.  This is the one area in my life that I just don't follow through on.

celebrating thirty

I turn thirty on the 19th. 

I'm working on something  for my CELEBRATION.

And this is my inspiration.

I've written before about my annoyance with giant birthday parties for adults.  Let's celebrate something worthwhile like a wedding anniversary in a time when the majority of marriages end in divorce.  Or the birthday of someone in remission from cancer or after recovering from an addiction. 

Congrats on living another year?  Unless you're a kid or really old, that seems silly. 

So, obviously, no party for moi.

But RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS that benefit other people?  Especially when we have so much right now? 

Currently at our house, every need is met and more, even with Chris staying home with the girls.  So we've been bouncing ideas off each other about how to handle our extra.  

And then I came across this blog (via a friend on Pinterest) and I immediately knew how we'd be spending my birthday.  It's perfect.  

My birthday is during fall break, so we'll all be home.  We'll load up the minivan and go bless others.  Because we are so blessed right now.

And we'll see how it goes.  Maybe this will be a new tradition. 

A little birthday party, if you will.