Spring is coming

When Grandma and Grandpa fire up the tractor to give the kids a ride, you know that Spring is coming. I was grateful that I had the camera handy. For Christmas this year I got a fancy SD card that allows me to upload pictures from my camera using wifi. Now I don't have to search around to find the cord or a card reader to upload my pictures. We'll see if that actually means I post pictures more often.

It is President's Day weekend which means that Josh has a holiday on Monday and I don't. I took the day off so we can all have an extra day together. We're going to take the kids ice skating. They have been taking lessons and it is fun to see them getting better with every lesson.

Lately I've been thinking about how crazy it is that we will have two kids in preschool this fall. Thomas is really growing into his personality - he is figuring out so many things and getting really big - we had to move him up another clothes size this week. Charlotte is talking a ton and can zip up her pajamas all by herself. Last night when I put her to bed, she buried her head in her large stuffed elephant and said "snuggle, snuggle, snuggle". Can't get enough of them.

Happy Rockin' New Year

I have been laid up with the sickness now for days, but my kids got to have fun with their dad and their grandparents on New Year's Eve. Thomas rocked it with the guitar and this picture looks like the future to me.

While laying around, I've also been knitting and crocheting away. When Thomas came home last night, he saw the scarf I was working on and asked if he could have it. I love how he asks for what he wants (even if he is not yet graciously accepting when the answer is no). Of course I said he could have the scarf.

We had a nice slow day here. We watched a lot of football (sad to be hanging up my Seahawks jersey tonight for the last time this season), the kids went to church and lunch with Marna and Papa and we got to play games tonight with Grandma and Grandpa, so family all around.

Last year I set out a list of goals for the year and it was a great way for me to think through what I wanted to work on. This year I am not setting out new goals, but continuing the ones from last year - to be more present, to eat better (especially after the holidays) and to be patient with my children. Our biggest challenge right now and what I see as a large challenge for the year will be enforcing more discipline with our children. Now that they are 2 and 3 they are really pushing their boundaries and we have learned that it takes more effort to be consistent with them. Right now, the big one is Thomas saying, "Don't talk to me" or "Stop talking to me" - mostly with a hand up and after I say no or remind him that he cannot stand up on the chair. Now we are enforcing a time out every time he says it. I'm just waiting for the day that it actually changes his behavior.

Tomorrow we return to Seattle for the week. It has been nice to have some time off to hang out as a family and spend time with the extended family as well. We are really blessed.

Sickness descends

Christmas was great and we had so much fun seeing the kids experience it. They were both a little under the weather, but they rallied to open presents. We spent the entire day in our pajamas, including after dinner when my dad and sister brought our kids home to put them to bed and my mom and Josh and I went to see a movie. Definitely my favorite way to spend the day - I even got a brief nap in while the kids were down in the afternoon.

We spent the day after Christmas resting at home, playing with our new things, finishing laundry and other things that had been put on hold for the holiday. It was nice to hang out with our kids and see them enjoying their new toys.

Josh and the kids playing with Play-Doh on the morning after Christmas

On Tuesday, we took the kids to stay with their grandparents and Josh and I went off to enjoy our Christmas present - a night away at Alderbrook. We had dinner together and got to actually talk to each other. On Wednesday, we went to the spa there and enjoyed a nice, long day relaxing and enjoying massages and facials. Then we headed back.

The kids have been great throughout this week, but they haven't been able to shake the sickness. Thomas has now been sick for about 10 days. I finally got the cough on Tuesday and this morning I woke up with pink eye.  So now we are all sick, taking plenty of medications and trying to get healthy. I was grateful that the doctor also suggested something for my cough that will help me sleep a little better tonight. We are also grateful for another couple of days of downtime before going off to work on Tuesday.

Merry Christmas

I can never sleep the night before Christmas. I'm so excited about tomorrow morning, about the kids opening their stockings and all of their gifts. I'm also excited because I think we will have some time to relax tomorrow and after the last couple of months, relaxation is a big gift to me.

Speaking of big gifts, while we went off to the last football game of the year, my parents and sister and brother in law came over and installed a new coat rack and bench in our kitchen.

This gift was amazing because it was completely unexpected. We had described what we wanted in that space, but we had not had time to pick something out much less install it. It fits really nicely into our new kitchen area and we are really excited to have a bench!

The football game, though disappointing (this is the part of the season when we all start talking about possibilities for next year) was a great way to spend the day before Christmas. It gives us a day between the two Christmas celebrations. The kids got to spend the day with their grandparents. The weather was unbelievably nice for December 24. Finally, because we were going to the game today, I finished getting ready for Christmas a couple of days ago and now I can just relax and soak it all in.

Happy First Day of Winter

Today was my last day of work for the year and the first day of winter. I am ready for Christmas - which is good because Christmas #1 is tomorrow. I had some deep thoughts on the way home tonight, but they went right out of my head when we discovered that the cat had used Thomas' bed as a litter box. You know, life getting in the way. We got it all cleaned up and there is now only laundry to do. Thomas went to sleep in the pack and play (very thankful it was here). Then we finished wrapping all the presents.

I was going to say something here about my new found love of Pinterest. It is awesome and has led me to some great recipes to try. Depending on how things go in the morning, I may do another crazy round of cookie baking before we head over for presents and dinner.

Looking back through pictures for the year, I came across one more that deserves some attention. We had a fun Halloween. I know some kids like to dress up, but mine don't really do that - although they love to walk around in our shoes. We got their costumes early enough that there were still good ones left so Thomas got to be SpiderMan.

Merry Christmas! I will be back in the next few days to write about my goals for the year and what I think my goals for the next year will be.

What's new?

It has been a busy year. Following my last post, I got a project at work that completely consumed me for a long time. When it was done, it was time for the holidays. In addition to that, summer came and went and then we decided to renovate our kitchen and master bathroom. Thomas turned 3 and then Charlotte turned 2. Now we are getting ready for Christmas.

Now seems to be a good time to post some of my favorite pictures from the year.

Papa tells Thomas a secret on Father's Day. He now regularly comes to me and say "psst, Mom, psst"

Charlotte is the real swimmer in our family - we had some great times this summer at Grandma and Grandpa's pool.

Thomas liked toasting marshmallows almost as much as i do.

My beautiful girl on her 2nd birthday

We had great times at the Seahawks games this year - especially when we got to bring some big fans along

Thomas on his 3rd birthday - I can't believe how big he is

I was going to give some more deep reflections here, but Thomas has been up most of the last 2 nights with a bad cough. He seems to be doing better tonight and the tiredness is hitting me like a wall, so I will leave the contemplations and the update on all of my resolutions for later. I'll have some time as tomorrow is my last day of work this year (vacation - hooray!).

Confessions

I am a total slacker. I keep thinking that I should put up these pictures from Easter and some of our great Saturdays this month, but I haven't done it. While Josh was in Taiwan a couple of weeks ago, Thomas broke the card reader I use to upload pictures to my computer. Then I ordered one and left it in Bremerton. Also, did I mention the nice weather and full weekends we've been having lately? Those are all of my excuses. Now, pictures!

He really likes to drive the tractor at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Thomas and his cousin held hands and walked around the yard together - totally cute.

Thomas and Charlotte and their cousins and their cousin's cousins on Easter

Look, Mom, I can skate.

She says "hi" and "bye bye" to everyone - at the store, in the elevator, at church - it is really cute

Realizing that all of these pictures were taken at various family members houses. We are really grateful to be around so much family. The kids really know both sets of their grandparents and all of their cousins (including their new baby cousin that was born just 5 days ago).