"I just got a shot."

We went for our shots today at the doctor and Desmond had a little difficulty afterwards...

Activities

My New Year's resolution to take a picture of the boys everyday has been a fruit full endeavor so far. Not only do I feel better about heading off any future awkward "why didn't you take any pictures of us?" arguments I have also come to realize that our days are not as monotonous as I thought. But don't take my word for it, check out our busyness:

Happy boys hangin'.

The boys hate messy hands (weird?) so we 'finger' paint with brushes.

Potatoes are a new source of entertainment. Add to dump truck and you get hours of preoccupation, well, many minutes at least.

"Get in the boat with us, Mama!"

The ever popular, necessary for 'normal' childhood, iconic playdough. =)

This is a great activity. The boys love it. If its below freezing outside you can blow bubbles and then catch them and watch them freeze and they pop far less easily than in warmer temps. Very neat.

Learning about snow melting (the flashlight is our 'sun').

They say imitation is the highest form of flattery but in this case, it is the amateur Yoga Mama that should be imitating the boys' close-to-perfect execution of this Yoga pose.

New game.

For some reason, my boys eat better when served a plate of food rather than recieving food from big recepticles onto their empty plate. So I've been toying with some make-food-fun sorts of ways to present lunch and supper. Here's two: smiley faces and sprinkles. Not professional-grade but makes my boys giggle and that's what counts. =)

Monkey see, monkey do. Desmond had a hoodie on so Jaxter decided to make his own. I eventually just gave him his own hoodie so he would quit stretching his nice sweatshirt! =)

At our Rec Center class, lots of fun. It is technically for 3-5 year olds but Jaxter stays focused and keeps up pretty well... until they start 'racing', then he lags way behind but he smiles the whole time he's doing it. Desmond is fun to watch while they are racing because you can see a physical manifestation of his internal turmoil trying to decide whether to stick with his brother or keep up with the big kids. Very cute and heart warming that he thinks of his brother. =)

Hopefully my mother gets the bigger meaning behind this picture. I remember many a night when my mother would hand me a tupperware container full of pudding and tell me to shake it for the required 2 minutes. Here I am passing on the tradition. This is the boys' first time 'shaking' pudding. =)

Learning about measuring. We are measuring Monte (Desmond's idea, not mine) and Monte is smelling Desmond trying to figure out what is going on. That cat is SO good with the kids, he lets them do whatever and has never so much as hissed at them let alone scratched or bitten them.

We celebrated 10 years of blissful marriage this month. The picture of my hand is because Marc, unbeknownst to me, purchased a anniversary band when he picked out my engagement ring, 10 years ago! He has since hidden it in various places until he presented it to me over a romantic dinner. Pretty neat, huh? This story elicited quite the response over facebook and yes, he is a keeper. =)

Last but not least, we celebrated Marc's birthday this month, as well. The boys were excited about a birthday and we had to call the pie: pie birthday cake. Evidently it is a mortal sin to not have "birthday cake" on a birthday, hence the nickname for the pie.

On a side, self-accountability, note my New Year's resolutions, for the most part, are going well. Although, I find it increasingly difficult to do Yoga (clear your mind) with two toddlers running in and around your legs/arms. We may have to re-approach that technique for getting my Yoga in.

As you can see from these pictures my house is still a bit messy. The reason, though, is not a failed resolution but rather a purging process that is taking place in order to fulfill my resolution: Just Do It! The more I purge and organize the more I feel like keeping my house spotless (a little lofty of an expectation but you know what they say about aiming for the moon).

I'm a day late in my blog once a week ambition, but I'd say that's still a success.

Hope your resolutions are going well, as ..er.. well. Thanks for checking in on us!

Christmas

I feel a bit overwhelmed with the task of trying to recap our lovely Christmas. Let me just start by saying that we were blown away, yet again, with the generosity and hospitality of our wonderful families! I have to apologize because I forgot to bring my battery charger for my camera on our winter excursions and so all our pictures are stolen from other cameras and I don't have them all organized or even downloaded yet, but you'll get the "picture" of our lovely holiday, regardless.

We had a little family Christmas at home the week before the 25th. We found a great steal on a train table for the boys on Craigslist and they loved it. They still frequent it during our play every day.


We headed to Montana first, over the break, to see my younger brother, Jared (in addition to Nanannette and Grandpa). The boys always have so much fun with Jared. He is a great Uncle who is always on the floor interacting with the boys and looking for ways to connect with them. Thank you, Jared. We opened presents, played all sorts of 'games' and made gingerbread houses.

Opening presents.

Christmas smiles.

The note-worthy event of our time there was the Christmas Eve service! It is a challenge to remain Christ centered during a season that has become commercialized. And, while I appreciate the tradition of giving gifts, I cherish the Christmas Eve service where the sole task is to dwell on the incredible gift that God gave us with the birth of His Son. We loved sitting as a family enjoying the musical celebration of Christmas (and Desmond was quite enamored with the candles).

Another notable event was our trip to U. Maury's firehouse. Desmond has been once (twice?) before but this was Jaxter's first time. It took awhile for them to warm up to the idea of playing in the big trucks but they were running back and forth driving to and putting out fires in no time.


We then headed to Gramps and Grandma's house to have Christmas with them. A.Corrina and U.Maury joined us for our celebration. We got some time sledding, but most of the time it was too windy to head outside. We made the most of our time inside with projects like making sugar cookies with Grandma and, of course, chasing the cats.






I am embarrassed to admit that we have not yet sent out our Christmas cards this year. I have it on my to do list so look for our smiling boys in your mail box soon. Happy New Year to all of you. We hope that your Christmas was filled with joy and the New Year holds promise.

Just Do It.

I am not a New Year's Resolution type gal. My usual resolution, with tongue in cheek, is "I resolve to not make any resolutions." Haha. This year I've decided to use the New Year as an excuse to kick myself in the behind and maybe change a few things in my life (and subsequently the lives of those I care for).

Really, if you think about it the title of this blog sums up most, if not all, resolutions. The basic principle behind any attempt at "getting better" is merely to put the wise above the selfish. So, my resolution this year is to "Just do it." Just bend over and pick up the toys, just make the call, just do the errand, just send the card, just fold the laundry, just put the laundry away, just DO IT. You get the picture...

I am always convicted by the example my predecessors have left me. In my (and Marc's) childhood pictures you never see a mess as a backdrop (except at Christmas, wrapping paper and all) and yet (I am embarrassed to admit) my children's captured smiles are often flanked by unkempt spaces. So I will remember the women before me and be inspired that if they could do it with dirt floors and woodstoves (not you Mom and Marge) then I certainly can with modern conviences such as crock pots and Norwex (wink to Sharon and Tressa).

Some of the specific "its" that I will be particularly focusing on are:

• To blog/update pictures once a week.
  
• Getting the literal dozen books on my nightstand read. I read a lot but these books, specifically, I want to get 'downloaded' to my brain before the next 6 months. I wish I had a Matrix type brain port to literally download all my literature! =)
  
• Doing Yoga 3-5 times a week. I started this last semester but it seemed to fade in December when we got busy. I really, really like Yoga - you should try it if you haven't!
• Doing preschool activities with the boys 2 times a week. We do lots of activities but I would like to have a focused effort on a regular basis.
• Purging my house, again. =) It feels so good to get rid of THINGS and make room for function.
  
• Getting birthday cards out on time.
• Calling my friends more often to stay in touch.
• To keep current with my 3 (yes, 3) journals that I keep.
• To take a picture of my kids everyday. (Excessive? Perhaps but I feel convicted to make sure I am still documenting their lives instead of forgetting to and regretting it later.)
  

I have a few more but by now you're probably wondering "Where are the pictures?" =P

How are your resolutions coming? Any creativity in any of your best intentions this year?

Ok, here is our life in pictures lately:

The boys sporting their Pittsburgh Panther shirts from U.Jared.

I have no idea why he was doing the splits, but you gotta admit his flexibility is fairly impressive. =)

Desmond's new trick: winking. Pretty cute, huh?

Disregard the background of laundry - this is the boys newest favorite activity. Boat. They drag out this big Tupperware and get in it and have all sorts of adventures in their boat. This day we coaxed Monte to come along. =) He didn't stay long.

I have a lot of Christmas photos that I'll post another day. We have a lovely Christmas with family, although our time was limited this year due to Marc's very short school break.

Happy New Year!