Happy Holidays from The Pederslie's

Where does the time go? Seriously?? Where?? I am pretty sure yesterday it was summer and I was in shorts and a t-shirt enjoying some leisure time by the pool. Now I am wrapped up in flannel jammies, a sweatshirt and curled up under a blankie. WHERE DOES THE TIME GO???

Someone just told me Christmas Eve is tomorrow...WHAT THE F&CK!?!?!?!

Anywho...the last few years we have not sent out Christmas cards. I apologize as I know everyone waited with baited breath for our card and annual Christmas letter to arrive in the mail. Hopefully you will enjoy our letter via the interweb and know that we appreciate and enjoy cards and letters you have sent to us.

I just asked Chad what we did this last year and he goes "Nothing?" Then he said "Let's see, what did we do this year??" Um...he is still thinking..... :)

I guess the most exciting adventure we had this year was a trip to Europe! Chad was going to Hamburg for a trade show for Astronics where he has worked since October of last year. We have always wanted to go to Ireland so we were like "Well let's just add another week and go there as well" So we spent one week in Germany, had a 24 hr layover in Paris, because when in Europe you have to see Paris right, and then a week in Ireland. So much fun!! The history of it all is just amazing. All these old buildings. I am not used to that since in America it seems if it's 10 yrs old we have to remodel or demolish and rebuild.

Shelby finished off her first year of high school on the honor roll! She must get her smarts from her daddy because I was never on any honor roll! Though he wasn't either....but I think that is just because he didn't care! What irks me is Shelby will go "I don't even study for the tests"

Right as school ended Shelby had Pneumonia. She is never sick so when she had a high fever and it lasted for more than a day we were like "Something isn't right!" Luckily school was out but we had plans for the 4th of July with friends that we had to alter a bit.

Chad enjoyed Germany SOOO much that he went back in July. Again it was for work - I think I need to find a job there! And if you are in Europe, you might as well go to London right? One of Chad's coworkers resides there so he visited there for a few days as well.

As I mentioned in last year's letter, my job is being transferred to Nashville end of June 2019. So the last half of this year as meant a lot of traveling for me to Nashville to train my replacements. Kind of bittersweet but...I get free trips out of it! I went in August, September when Chad came for the last part to spend our anniversary together, November and then again in December. The people there are great and Nashville is not what I expected. It has been called the New Vegas.

When I was in Nashville in September my coworker was like "Luke Bryan is giving a free concert on Broadway in honor of the Grand Opening of his restaurant. Wanna go?" So we decided we would check it out. OMG....SO...MUCH...FUN!! Though Chad pointed out, there was a price to pay for the concert....being extremely tired and having to work the next day! But SOOO worth it!

Oh Luke!!

During this trip Chad decided to join me for the last few days since our anniversary was that weekend. We spend a few days in Nashville then drove up to Chattanooga and then to Pigeon Forge where there is a Titanic museum! A fun way to celebrate 18 yrs of marriage!

And what would be a month without a bit more traveling? Shortly after coming back from Nashville Chad went to Boston for work. His friend Jaime joined him for the last part of that trip and they took in a Boston vs New York baseball game at Fenway Park.

 Miss Shelby turned 16 in November! She is now a licensed driver! Scariest moment of my life...EVER!!! That moment where she drives down the driveway by herself.....Luckily right now she is just driving to school and back, and makes the drive to the grandparents houses. She can't have people in the car that aren't family until she has had her license for 6 months so she isn't doing too much gallivanting yet. Maybe I can tell her in May that rules have changed and she has to wait another 6 months before having non-family passengers in the car! :) We did buy her a car, a 2005 Subura Impreza WRX. She always commented on how she liked/wanted my car when she started driving. Well since that wasn't an option (I still love my car!) we decided to look for a Subaru for her. It's sporty but we also know it's reliable and durable. Makes her driving out of the yard on her own a little less stressful :)

That is about it for 2018 I think. We are kind of a boring family. We work, come home, repeat the next day :) No new additions this year - no new half siblings, no furry critters..I am sure there has been a few car additions that have come and gone but I start to lose track of what goes on in the shop :)

It's just amazing how quickly the time goes. You have every intention of doing certain things or getting together with people and then time just slips away from you. Before you know it another year has gone by, people may have come and gone from your life, and your child suddenly has grown taller than you (though that wasn't too hard considering I am short!)

So as we swiftly slide into the New Year we just want to wish everyone a VERY Merry Christmas and to have a safe & Happy New Year!

Love Steph, Chad, Shelby, Harley, Pinto, Nova and Peaches 2.0 (Shelby's fish)

If you can't laugh at yourself, Let me do it for you!

Well if I do laugh at you, I will try to do it quietly or behind your back!

Seriously though, I am a firm believer that you need a little humor in every day. You can't take life to seriously. And that includes being able to laugh at yourself when you do stupid things, or even if you make a comment that only you find funny!

So today I wanted to turn on the lights in our family room. Chad recently put in dimmer switches so today I stood there yelling at my phone "Hey Siri!". It was only after Siri turned on the lights (and then dimmed them when I asked) that I was like "OMG, I just stood RIGHT next to the light switch yelling at my phone to turn on the lights when I could just have easily leaned over and pushed the button with my finger! 

In case you don't know this about me, my mind is constantly in the gutter. Somehow my daughter has also inherited this as well. If something can be construed as dirty I will go there! This of course results in weird stares as I may burst out into random laughter while at work, or in a store, and no one will understand why. But the best part?? When your friend that you are texting or skyping responds with the same dirty comments. It's even better if you are in the vicinity of each other because then you can hear them laugh when they read your comment!

I believe the best trait you can find in a spouse (or even a forever friend) is for them to have a sense of humor. Helps if their sense of humor is as demented as yours. I have been graced with many friends who share my silliness. I am also luckily that they get my silliness and are not insulted by the sarcasm that usually goes along with it. 

I feel that it is kind of wrong of me to be proud that my daughter is as silly and sarcastic as I am. There is that small part of me that thinks this is the result of bad parenting, but then the rest of me goes "Oh my god! I am SOOOO proud of my daughter! She is a bigger smart ass than I am!" There have been many times where Chad & I will look at each other either after Shelby says something in our presence or we hear from friends what she said. We just smile, and are filled with pride and just think "My job here is done. This child will do just fine in the real world!"

Life is really too short to not enjoy it and laugh a lot. Laugh at yourself, laugh at the silly things your kids do, laugh at your friend when they trip over their own feet (and hopefully they will laugh at you when you trip over yours!)

My Child is a Little $hit and I am not Ashamed to Admit it

I love the Internet. I love how you can simply google a word and get information that you need. I love that I can keep in contact w/family and friends that don't live near by. It's a great tool HOWEVER I also hate it with a passion.

Being a parent is hard. Who am I kidding, it's harder than hard (thanks Google, wasn't sure what was worse than hard!). You kind of know going into it that it won't be too easy. You will have the sleepless nights, diaper changes, potty training issues. But what no one tells you is that those cute little babies become moody teenagers. No one tells you either that no one EVER talks about the bad stuff. It's like Fight Club....NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THE BAD STUFF!!

Your little Timmy is fighting giving up his Binky? DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT! Your child isn't doing that great in school? DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT! Your teenager is a snotty, little $hit? DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT!

Well guess what...I am going to talk about it!!

I am here to tell you that children, especially my child, are not angels. Oh sure, sometimes they may seem like it but it's all a ruse so that you let your defenses down and then WHAM they become a little $hit! And then you are left there going "But all my friends post about all the great things their kids do on social media. Don't their kids ever throw tantrums like mine? What am I doing wrong??"

You are doing nothing wrong! All kids are little $hits! ALL KIDS ARE LITTLE $HITS! But back to the rules of Parent Club...NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THE BAD STUFF.

Your kid have 10 different after school activities? My kid is a lazy a$s that sits on her butt until we get home from work, watching TV and playing on her phone. Your kid cleaned the whole house without you asking them to? My kid succeeded in blatantly ignoring me a record 5 times as I told her to empty the dishwasher (her ONE designated chore that she has to do regularly). Your kid is a straight A student? Well my kid...oh wait...my child has been that...but right now she does have a few B's...Let's move on....

There is nothing wrong if your kid is awesome and you should want to brag about it. But let's talk about the bad stuff too. It's hard enough being a parent and wondering if you are totally screwing up your kid (guess what...you are but they will come out okay). But we don't need to already be doubting ourselves just to have people on social media make us doubt ourselves even more.

Years ago I posted a status on Facebook that basically was along the lines of "My kid is being a little $hit" and one of my friends (the mom of one of Shelby's classmates) was like "I am so glad you posted that! I thought it was just my kid!"

So the Parent Club has a new rule - Talk about ALL of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Children may be unique but their actions, tantrums, moods are the same of every other generation. We have been there, our parents have been there. We have all gone through it - as the parent or the child.

My child is a little $hit but man do I love her! She makes me laugh, makes me smile at the smarta$s comments she makes (makes me so proud! 😊), I am really quite proud of her, even if she does make me want to pull my hair out quite often.