Ten for '10

I'm sure I'm original and no other bloggers are a)doing this or b) titling it this way. Here are my New Year's Resolutions/Goals (organized by time frame because I am a geek).

1. Watch my freaking mouth. I've gotten better about not saying "the biggies" in front of the impressionable little copycat. I'd also like to cut the inappropriate "like" misusages from my vocabulary. I'm smarter than verbal crutches and I wish I sounded as smart as I can be. (Acting smartly will be a resolution for another year.)

2. Actually celebrate Alan's birthday for the first time in four years.

3. Organize my entire filing system for bills. Before tax time.

4. Actually see "New Moon" with my mom like we've been discussing.

5. Participate in a half-marathon. I've already started preparing and am off to at least a mediocre start.

6. Get back to not being the mom who yells. That would be good.

7. Actually decorate my family room and purchase comfortable furniture. Psh. You mean we're going to live here a while?

8. Be totally selfish and do something for myself. When pondering this, I had wild goals of purchasing a Kitchenaid or something. On reflection, it might be more simple like getting my hair cut more often than once a year.

9. Find a reason and send a thank you card to someone every week.

10. Stick with a project until the bitter end. This list counts, right?

Happy New Year!

Cheers to the New Year!

P.S. These cute little name mugs SUCK. The thing was leaking as the picture was taken, never mind as I was filling it.

Mason and I "cheersed" with our second annual Maple Hot Chocolate. He was skeptical of making it in a pan (seriously, I might be getting lazy as a homemaker if he calls Swiss Miss "real hot chocolate"), but was okay with the process once he got to help.

This year has been so nuts. Thanks for reading and catching up with us. We love you all and wish you the best the coming year has to offer. Here's our recap, good bad and otherwise:

• Alan tested for engineer but didn't get it. We're keeping our fingers crossed and wishing him luck in 2010.



• We all but skipped Alan's birthday to celebrate with Mason. I totally almost ruined his birthday cake, but manage to re-balance it in the box without shoving my hand in the middle, thank you very much.



• Alan played in the Guns 'n Hoses hockey game. The firefighters lost. We'll pretend it was to help the cops overcome their ego problems.



• We all but skipped Valentines Day because we were working. And sick. But still working.



• One of my favorite aunts died rather suddenly. We still miss her, especially because she was the glue that brought us all together for the holidays. Those are definitely not the same without her wry chuckling.



• We poured concrete. Mason was in boy heaven.



• We potty trained Mason. It's been a process, I'm not gonna lie. We're doing okay.



• Baby Claire landed firmly in the middle of our family. She's cute.



• We paid off the commuter car, bought a trailer, and squeezed in a few camping trips.



• We all but skipped mom's birthday to work and take care of the kids.



• Mom and Claire spent the summer indoors and trying to get some sleep. We're both still alive, so it must've worked out at some point.



• Mason spent the summer in a swimming pool. This worked out pretty well for him.



• It was our sixth official anniversary. We went out to dinner (date night was pretty awesome at that point!), reminisced/complained, and felt old.



• Mason started preschool. After a rough start and trouble with authority (given the personalities of his parents, we're thinking this will be a lifelong struggle), he is doing very well and can write his name almost legibly.



• Dad worked a lot. A LOT. And loved it most of the time.



• We had lots of playdates, lunch dates, dinner dates, and spent as much time as we could with friends and family that we love.



• We got lots of good news and have many things to look forward to in the coming year.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Projecting

We've got quite a number of projects going that are typical for this time of year. I'm still trying to finish up something that I've got mostly made for Claire's room (I mentioned it several months ago-- don't judge me!), we are trying to put all our Christmas decorations away and stay on top of shoveling snow, I'm working on a Family Emergency Plan binder to put somewhere in the kitchen, I'm also working on a complete home inventory, we just got a job chart started for Mason, and last but not least, this.


I made the ill advised decision last year to put Mason's train table in our loft area. I argued against putting it in his room because I didn't want him to stay up late playing with toys after bedtime. I also didn't want something so potentially loud sharing a wall with the incoming baby's room. Then there was the solid argument that the bedrooms in our house are not that large and a train table alone would take up far too much space.

So we assembled it in the loft (which we normally use for a computer/reading room). The next step was we brought all of his toys upstairs and began using the two trundle drawers as a toybox. The previous toybox we'd had was a large Rubbermaid bin. It got progressively larger over his three years until there was so much unused detritus in the bottom I thought maybe a puppy had moved in that we didn't know about. There was the occasional playdate when all this stuff would get dumped out in the middle of the living room floor (so the kids could use the empty box). After one particularly large dump & play, I spent an hour picking up and swore it would never happen again. So the toys migrated.


Well, they migrated but not to the inside of anything. For about a year now, if we need to use the computer, we've been rooting through shin-high toys, trains, and so on. The room is out of the way enough that we weren't so good about picking up everyday. Suddenly, vaccumming took an hour because you had to clean the toys up first. If you wanted to find a specific toy (anyone met my three year old? He's so specific this was a daily occurrence) or book, forget it. So we came up with a new system. Mom and dad got the loft back and here's Mason's room now: The little table lost its corner. But it gained a game to be played until parents begged for reprieve (oh yes, it's only a week after Christmas and we're already fairly sick of this bad boy, but it's better than watching TV!)
The inner workings. We have nine long and skinny bins put into these two drawers. We left the back part of the second drawer for the large buildings that accompany the train table. There is no way any particular feat of engineering can include them all. The theory behind this is that each bin is categorized: one for plastic dinosaurs, one for Matchbox cars, one for trains (that aren't in the Roundhouse), one for legos, etc. When Mason wants to take a toy elsewhere, he can just take the bin out and we can load it up and put it back where it goes. The jury is still out on whether this will happen, but isn't it pretty at the moment?

The train track dad built to "celebrate". Look at that thing! And he's disappointed that all routes lead back to the roundhouse! This is the kind of thing dads are for and moms gladly let them have it.

More on the job chart later. This post turned out long enough already!

Christmas Highlights

We had a fun, busy holiday season. We hope yours was as fun as ours. Much thanks for the grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins who kept us going and kept us full of love and the holiday spirit!

We spent Christmas Eve with Alan's side of the family, following tradition that was established many years before I came along. One thing we do is play "chimes", which are pipes cut so they (in theory) play the proper note when they are (theoretically) hit with a knife handle at the proper time. Each pipe has a number, and our parents have carefully charted out several Christmas songs. With so many kids in the next generation, we've learned how the parents must've felt when the cousins were all small; it is truly noisy and mostly indecipherable, but it's a tradition we continue.

Mason was focused on the toy dinosaurs, in keeping with this new favorite theme of his. When not playing "Rudy" (the T-Rex in Ice Age 3), he was busy playing trucks and trains with the other boys; it was a little bit of boy heaven for him to have kids his own age and gender around.

Claire enjoyed being one center of attention and hammed it up for most of the night. I actually got to eat a meal with two hands. Thanks, Erika!

Alan's brother's girlfriend, Leah, made a beautiful and yummy red velvet cake that put the dessert I brought to shame. It was so fancy, and I'm sure it took so much work!

We spent Christmas morning solo at our house, just the four of us, and then headed over to my parents. Again, this was following tradition. Without all the hustle and bustle of 12 kids ages 6 and under, it was much more relaxed and a whole different kind of fun. Claire didn't get it (we knew she wouldn't), but I think in the long run she will like her toys and she already loves her books. As can be seen above, her very favorite thing is snuggling with Grandma. This was not in conjunction with a nap; it's just how they are together. It's so cute!

I bought Mason a 100-piece puzzle. There is nothing between the chunky toddler puzzles and the ages 5+ puzzles, at least not at Toys R Us. So I bought the big one knowing that his smaller ones have become routine and also that I would have to help him. We put it together as one of the first things, and I was once again shocked by how smart this kid is, and he even stayed focused long enough to finish it. His other present from Mom and Dad was "Hungry Hungry Hippos", which we have already devoted several hours of our lives to. Santa brought him a red scooter. He's ridden it a bit, but I think he'll enjoy it more when the weather warms up a little.

I could go on and on about the two days of exhausting excitement, but I won't because I know we're all in the same boat. I also have a squeaky little girl telling me to come get her out of bed. Hope your holidays were merry and bright and all that and hope you are all looking forward to the year ahead the way we are.

Seven Months... in Heaven?

This sweet baby is getting so big so fast. I hate how kids do that! But I love it at the same time. She is so exuberant and sweet that it's hard not to enjoy it. Seven months old already -- time is flying. She is almost crawling, and I'm sure Mason's world is going to change drastically very, very soon. She has taken to eating solids very well. She will usually give you a dirty look on first taste of something new, but then quickly shriek until you give her more.

Likes: talking (and blowing raspberries), starting intently at any object she can get her hands on (mouths, noses, hair, toys, clothes hangers), eating (grilled pineapple is a new favorite), singing songs, rattles, Christmas lights, being in motion, her brother

Dislikes: being put down, being hungry

Sittin' pretty.... ish....

My mother-in-law helped me take the kids to get their pictures done today. Overall it was a fun outing, and as you can see we got some good pictures.

It was also the first time Claire has had professional pictures. She didn't enjoy the parts where she had to be put down; she definitely made the photographer earn her wage. The only smiles we got involved feet being tickled with a feather duster and a small stuffed dog "getting" her. Of course, once someone picked her up she was all smiles and very chatty. Maybe this will get easier as we go.

Mason was handsome as always, but he tired of the activity quickly and was more excited about Grandma being with us.

Much thanks to the portrait studio and to Grandma.