I get by with a little help from my friends...

Somehow even being laid up doesn't equal any down time, so I am just now finding time to get to this little note about my wonderful weekend with my lovely ladies. Miss K and Miss S, you are incredible friends. Thank you so much for being such blessings in my life - and exactly what I needed in this season.

Is this creepy or what?

Okay, so I flew out of the big 'ol Hector International Airport on Friday. Why do they call it that, by the way? You cannot fly international from Fargo unless you are going to Winnipeg. The name is quite a reach, a bit pretentious to say the least. Walking through security was quite a riot. After passing through, the "guard" came around to the two people in front of me. He pointed to their suitcases, told them where their liquids were and said to make sure they remove them next time. Is there any other airport in the world that would let you walk through with anything liquid hiding out? I've been called out for lipgloss before - and that was in a purse which they then took out and personally inspected. They didn't even open these suitcases. SO I'm feeling pretty safe... My mom got me there in the beginnings of a snowstorm - I was so paranoid that this weekend of respite was going to be cancelled by stupid snow. I got to MSP and my connecting flight just in time. My husband was coming home connecting in MSP to fargo and got turned back to Sioux Falls. He ended up on a cot in the airport. I was much more fortunate ;)
I got my first dose of culture from the driver on the way to Miss K's house. We jammed out to Spanish radio with random bursts of "Single Ladies" while he tried to tell me all kinds of things I couldn't understand. He got me to the right place though, and I only briefly held on to the handles in fear ;) And waiting for me was this lovely girl:

Love this girl.

We went to this great Italian place for dinner that night. Lots of catching up and excellent food. We got into pajamas and began a weekend of crime show marathons. I've recently become addicted to crime shows after we came to live with my parents. Now I can't get enough! So this was perfect. Other than making sure Steve got on/off his plane, I turned off all communication. Silence was so great, and just what I needed.

The convertible we dreamed of....

The next day we slept in. My version included waking up multiple times thinking I should be hearing babies wanting to be picked up, but still. It was bliss. I eventually got up and lounged with a book. A BOOK! Loved it. Then we headed in to "town". I kept calling it town which she laughed at every time. We walked. A LOT. I kept thinking about how much Josiah would love all that we were doing. The subway. The Taxi. The bus! He would be overjoyed.

On the Little People bus.

Me with Spiderman's bum in the background.

What does this have to do with cancer??

We saw all of the main attractions, which I'd seen before but it was fun to not be there just to be a tourist. We went to this amazing Mexican restaurant called the Lime Jungle. It reminded me of a Chipotle, only a bigger menu and I must say, the food was much better! We passed the Chipotle on the way there and I was so tempted to get a burrito since I no longer have easy access to those - so glad I walked those ten extra blocks! We went to all of the necessary shops including Anthropologie (YIKES, a new addiction?!?!). We went to FAO and happened to show up at the BIG piano just in time for a show. Did you know that they perform shows on this thing? It was incredible. And these kids get paid to jump around on this piano all day. Nice. Again, I walked around thinking about how Josiah would be drooling through the whole store. And then to ToysRUs - another Josiah paradise. We just had to ride the ferris wheel - it was worth the wait in line surrounded by all the little kids. I must admit I was slightly annoyed that the girl in front of us got the Barbie Convertible though! We were stuck with the Little People school bus. It was worth it though....until the ride never ended. They switched operators in the middle of our ride and I am pretty sure they forgot about us. We were on this thing FOREVER. Every time we would come down we kept saying "this must be us" and then it wasn't. We started to get a little freaked out after ten minutes on this thing! Eventually they let us off and we then went to get some very important pictures for my boys. Bigger than life Chewbacca made of legos, and real-life Spiderman and Ironman. Turns out the real-life guys won't let you take their pictures for free, so we walked away a few feet and K set up a shot with them in the background. Good enough for me.
In Times Square we found all kinds of  'culture'. See the picture of the guy in florescent underwear? There were three of them, one was some kind of leader. They were out in freezing cold weather acting like they were shooting some sort of exercise video? He kept hollering about how "ya'll were feeling that burn" and telling some mysterious audience how to stretch it out. They had two little guys (clothed, luckily) with signs about how cancer affects so many millions every year. I am not making light of cancer, by any means... but what in the world does this scenario have to do with cancer?
We walked not even 100 feet when we were stopped by this lovely gentlemen who gave us this great offer: "Ladies, how about we get drunk and make bad some bad decisions?". So tempting - HA! If only I would have busted out the camera for a pose with this guy. Next time.
We got some cheesecake from Juniors - famous for a reason. It was delicious. And then, THEN we went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway. I had never been to a Broadway show, and of course my girl Friday knows where to get great tickets for great prices, so we ended up in the 12th row! I had goosebumps when Mary Poppins flew off over our heads with her umbrella. It was AMAZING! I still get giddy just thinking about it. I can't wait to see another show. Or see that one again. Either way I am hooked. All in all, it was an incredible day.

Hello cupcakes. Love at first bite.

The next day we went to SoHo. Random place for lunch which we made fun of the rest of the day. Then we started our cupcake tour. Those little pieces of heaven are everywhere these days and it was just necessary that we would taste test them all and compare. Our favorites were this little cart on some random street "Cafe Angelique's" where this fairy godmother handed us scrumptious bites of the moistest cupcakes ever - Red Velvet and Chocolate Cannoli. Second place was this incredible french toast cupcake - not nearly as moist but such a good idea for a cupcake! I'm pretty sure my little town needs a cupcake cart. It would make the world smile. We tried 4 places in all. (Because you have to make sure your sample size is large enough or your test results aren't really valid).

Peanut Butter Cup(cake). Not our overall winner, but delicious.

We then went to Old Navy. I know, I felt a little lame asking about Old Navy being surrounded by such great stores. But I knew they were having this amazing sale, so she humored me. AND we ended up getting these great pea coats for $10!! We found a few fabulous CHEAP things there, so it was worth it. And then we went back into the city to hit up all of the stores from the day before. Well, not really, but for some reason I am the kind of person that loves something in a store and talks myself out of it... only to be haunted by it all night and then drag everyone back the next day because I should have just bought it in the first place. Oh man. This pitcher at Anthropologie was just beautiful and I had birthday money so it wasn't even like I was paying for it ;) And then we hit up the Lego store for a treat for Josiah and Steve and then another cupcake store (HA!) and got treats there for the girls. We left fairly early and got pizza and pajamas (we had our box of dessert samplings from the cupcake store!). Miss S arrived shortly after and we spent the evening catching up in between bad jokes on the Golden Globes. It was so great. These are ladies I can just be lazy with and go months without seeing (unfortunately) but feel like it was just yesterday. And these are ladies that can make me LAUGH. This weekend was just such a God-thing. He knew exactly what I needed in this moment and provided for me. Yum.

Lunch. Mmmm.

The next day we got a great lunch and went to get mani/pedi's at this little mini-spa. It was great - even though by this point by foot was in so much pain I was fighting tears with every step. Boo. We got our hands and toes all pretty and it was great. I can't remember the last time I painted my nails. I haven't painted my toes since before Delia was born. It just feels so nice to be 'pampered' and also just to have these perfect purple nails for a day (managed to get my first chip that night racing for the plane! boo). We then found our final cupcake shop on our way back to K's house to get our stuff. ;)

Self portraits on the subway.

We were WAY late leaving for the airport...and then we got lost... We are two very smart individuals. We were looking at all of the signs and following a GPS. I swear there wasn't a sign! I got to LaGuardia after the plane had already started loading. Oh crap. I had initially asked for assistance (ie wheelchair), but she looked at my ticket and said we wouldn't make it unless we ran. So run we did. She pushed me to the front of the line for security, and luckily I wasn't checking any bags. And then we ran to the gate (her running, me hopping and cursing every time my toe hit down). I was the last person to board and off we went. Phew! (Although I don't think I would have minded missing that flight - staying a little longer would have been fine)...
Planes were delayed on the way home, and then there was yet another snow event, so I didn't get home until about 2am. I was so very happy to see those 3 smiley faces the next morning, but I couldn't help but think about how loud it was! And so chaotic! Clearly, I need these getaways more often. You come home to your family - and I'm not cold-hearted, of course I missed them - and life just hits you in the face instantly. Wouldn't it be great if there was a recovery room? Like after surgery you get to warm up to facing reality with heated blankets and ice chips? Sometimes I wish I had a room like that in my house.
I can't wait to go back ;)

Looking Through a Glass Onion...

I find that for most posts, most things in life really, there is a Beatles song that fits the bill. (I am aware that most of the truly applicable ones are from the later, drug 'enhanced' albums, but so it goes).
I spent last weekend in the big *town* of NYC. I'll get to that in a separate post, because it deserves its own and this one is reserved for a rant all its own. At any rate, we spent the weekend exploring and taking in all of the *culture* (you'll see that in the other post) and suddenly I had this outrageous pain in my foot. Annoying, but whatever. I figured I'd sleep on it and it would be fine.
By the time I got to the airport - where they had to RUN me through to catch my plane - I was literally cursing every time my tiptoe hit the ground. So, clearly, I had sucked in a ton of culture, eh? ;) I have a pretty high pain tolerance. The one time I experienced heavy labor, I thought it was no big deal and went in  casually after taking my time to shower, etc. The one thing that brings me to my knees is kidney stones. That became my "10" on the pain scale. This blasted foot was seriously a 9+. What in the world?!
So, I happen to be a bit stubborn and I decided I didn't need to go to the doctor for this. I thought for sure it was something I just needed to rest and it would go away. Maybe walk it off, whatever. Today I finally caved and allowed my nagging mother to bring me in. (Disclaimer, my mother is not a nag, but nagged me about this foot all week. The downfall of living with your mother as a grown adult is she is still mothering! HA!) Alas! X-rays revealed a big 'ol fracture. What in the world? I couldn't stop choking on the foot in my mouth long enough to ask her how on earth that could have happened without me noticing an actual incident to cause it, but how crazy is that?!
I went in thinking I'd be sent home told to take some ibuprofen and ice it a bit. Instead, I have a boot. I am not allowed to put any pressure on it. And the kicker? Youth-sized crutches. No joke. She didn't size me for them or anything, just seemed to know how short I am. Nice touch. And it gets better - she said it can take 1-2 months for these things to heal (ie no walking on the blasted foot for the duration). Um, doc? This doesn't exactly fit into my schedule?
I left there with my mother, who was loving the glow of the "I told you so" moments, and all we could do was laugh. Right now, God? Seriously? You chose this time to let me have this experience? Do You want to have a little chit chat about the million other things I have going on right now and how there is NO room for this today? Because I would, God!
Lets review (for my sake, bear with me). I have three beautiful, free-spirited, highly energetic, independent thinking children. My only reason for partial sanity is that my mom is currently unemployed and is therefore home with me most days. In the past week, we have both been in tears due to frustrations with my eldest. This transition has turned him completely upside down and it is just heartbreaking to be dealing with this version of him - knowing that somewhere in there my sweet boy is stuck and confused and anxious and doesn't know how to talk about that and so acts out instead. He is bored and doesn't have days full of structure, etc. He is about to turn 5 and I am at the point where I feel like I need to get us back to the relationship we had prior to this move before I lose him forever and turn around and he is 15 and still acting out and refusing to talk to me. And I read this amazing book that had a character that had Aspberger's and oh, my mind went nuts. Oh, and my husband has serious ADHD and this recent stuff with Josiah is bringing every possible worst-case scenario to mind. UGH. Miss E shares so many of his awesome characteristics and then some. She is walking/running now and wow does that mean trouble - and also means we are constantly running to catch her from hurting herself/her sister/the dog/shutting off the washer mid-cycle/etc. And Miss D is a roly-poly smiling angel, trying to survive her two older siblings. She still needs to be walked/bounced occasionally.
Okay. So this has been a full-time job for two halfway able-bodied adults. Now I need to be resting and elevating my leg? In addition, I have been very good about getting to the Y at least 3 times each week - determined to get my body back. What in the world can I possibly do to lose weight now? It was already hard enough with this other crazy junk going on. I have to wear a swimsuit at some point. Bleh. I think that might be the most frustrating part - I can get help with the kids, but nobody can lose my weight but me.
God? I totally agree that I needed a lengthier vacation. I think missing the plane would have been a much better solution. Just sayin.

(rant over)

On the eve of 25...

Tomorrow is the *big day*. If you ask Josiah, he will quickly tell you that I am going to turn 24. I have brainwashed my child from a very young age to believe that mommies never get older than 25. For a time I even instructed him that mommies could then get younger again, but he took that too far and soon I would be younger than he was, so it just didn't work. I'm okay with that - I can be 24 forever. The problem comes when I now have to actually think about how old I am going to be because I am so used to saying 24 all of the time. Oops!
I have a love/hate relationship with my birthday. Turning 25 (the first time) was really hard on me. For some reason when you are in your early twenties, you seem to think you are invincible to aging. The big 2-5 meant I was no longer in my early twenties - and rather, I was approaching 3-0 and that was just NOT okay. Thirty has always seemed so old (shudder). The age where you stop being young and fun and start wearing mom jeans and old lady reeboks, no longer able to do childish things like play Super Mario and shop at Old Navy. There must be a certain age where it will no longer be appropriate for me to buy jeans at American Eagle; where I must stop preferring clothes from the juniors section and cross over into misses. I wonder if at that magical age, the large supply of holiday sweater/turtlenecks/bedazzled sweatshirts suddenly looks appealing? I never want to get to that age! I know, 40 is the new 20, and so on, but that doesn't make it any more appealing to me!

Last time I turned 25.

I will never forget the day - about two years ago - when Steve and I were looking through old photo albums and he said "wow, you look so young in this picture!". Yep, he actually said that, darling husband of mine. I panicked! How did my skin start looking old? I immediately went to purchase a few great anti-aging or age-reversing creams! He'll never live down the comment, but I have received compliments on the skin since then, so it might have been worth it. Only a little.
On the other hand, I love my birthday. I love cake and candles (yep, still do!) and going out for a nice dinner, doing something fun in honor of my being born. My one selfish day where its okay to make things about me. Its nice to be pampered! But I am still such a kid at heart in this regard. I don't know that I will ever grow out of the need for the birthday cake and blowing out candles. Its just plain FUN, and there has always been something almost magical about that moment. Opening presents isn't nearly as big of a deal at this point, especially with a birthday so close to Christmas - but the surprise aspect is still fun.

Josiah's 3rd Birthday

Eden's First Birthday

Steve's 29th

This is why I try to make birthdays so magical for my kids. I want them to have this big, awesome day where we just celebrate only them. We go into Josiah's bedroom to wake him up with his birthday muffins with a candle burning in it, singing happy birthday to him. We let him open one present right away - before rushing around to start our day. We let him pick the theme of the party - and I get just about the same thrill as he does picking out all of the matching stuff. I make a cake to go with it - and I'm not talking the cake in the pan with candles. I'm talking 3-D Lightning McQueen style. Its just SO much fun to make a big deal out of them. Not that we should only do that once a year, but on their birthdays especially, we make a point to go all out.

Josiah's 4th Birthday

Steve is out of town for my birthday this year and I'm pouting about that just a *little*. It kind of takes some of the fun out of it for me, even though I know we'll be celebrating later. But maybe what I miss is the little kid part of the birthday, where everything is over-the-top and magical, and you just can't sit still all day in school because you know you'll get to pass out your cupcakes and play 7-up just after lunch and then your little friends are coming over for your party! All of it is just too much and you bounce off the walls all day in anticipation.
I'm pretty sure when the blasted 3-0 comes for me, it will be done at Chuck E. Cheese with Rainbow Bright plates and matching napkins. And balloons. LOTS of balloons.

Eight Days a Week....

Life is just busy! There is a random set of things itching to be typed, so hang with me on this one.
Last Thursday I registered my sweet boy for Kindergarten. I had to fight off tears- to the point where I called Steve at work to vent about it. I absolutely cannot believe that Josiah will be 5 in less than two months - and will head off to kindergarten in the fall. Where does time go? He is going 5 full days - and I know this will be great for him as he is so bored with preschool and is beyond ready for more of a challenge- BUT kindergarten is kind of the beginning of the end. It seems like once they are in school, time flies so much faster somehow. Life gets busy in other ways - activities, programs, sports, candy sales, etc. Plus it officially marks the end of 'little-kid-dom' - the stage of innocent, cute, pudgy faces and baby teeth. While he has already started to think he is smarter than us, this will only grow more rapidly now. Soon he will be doing multiplication problems instead of the simple adding and subtracting he does now. And I'm sure they will do math totally different then, so even if I am good at math, mine is 'old school' and won't help him. He will be reading his Freddy chapter books all by himself and need. me. less... (sigh). Yes, signing my name on the registration form was tough! On the bright side, Josiah will be in school all day, surrounded by kids his age, with lots of structure - he will do so well in that environment! And there will be more opportunities for the teachers to provide him with a challenge, which is exciting. And I have to admit, this 2.5 hour preschool stuff is kind of annoying - someone is always missing a nap to get him there/home, so it will be nice to not have that weird break in the day.

Delia is teething, if only in the very early stages. This marks the end of another chapter for us - she is no longer an infant, and we won't get to go through any of that again. Its been mixed emotions as she grows out of the cute new-baby habits, because we both know we won't experience that again until we have grandchildren. It even brought us to the conversation of reversing the tubal ligation! Don't worry, we ended that conversation with a resounding NO, but its been weighing on both of us as we deal with these "lasts". She is such a happy baby now - amazing what this past month has done for her (and lots and LOTS of prayers!). She is rolling from her tummy to her back, and halfway back to the tummy, but not quite there yet. She is exploring her vocal chords in a much more excited fashion than either Eden or Josiah did - but it makes me laugh out loud every time, even when she is squealing in anger. She is starting to giggle- the new-found kind of baby giggle that is kind of grunt-like. And she has the biggest smile! She likes her exersaucer now, and likes to be propped up or sit in her bumbo seat to get a new view of the world around her. She laughs at the ceiling fan. and she sleeps! She sleeps a lot like Josiah - sometimes taking 4-hour naps during the day and still sleeping 12 hours at night! LOVE it! For the most part she is putting herself to sleep and that is just awesome. We had her 4-month check up last week and confirmed that she is a chunky girl ;) She is just shy of 16 pounds (Eden is only 20!), and her head is almost off the chart - yet her height is only the 10th percentile. Too funny. We call her TubbyWubby - which we know is only appropriate and non-confidence-smashing for a short time ;) So many exciting firsts mixed in with so many 'lasts'.

Eden is in a category all her own. She is walking now - but only when she wants to. We still classify her as a 'walker' though - because she walks across rooms, down the hallway, etc... However, she will mostly only do this when there is someone there cheering her on. She likes to selectively do things when she can make people clap and say "yay" for her. Such a diva this one! And there we are like dummies, encouraging the habit by clapping and hollering when she walks to(for) us - but its just so hard not to when the thought that crosses your mind is "she wasn't supposed to live and now she is [fill-in-blank-with-any-new-accomplishment]". And so we'll keep clapping. We met with her new early intervention teacher last week and she was just in awe of all that Eden is doing. Even though Eden isn't saying words yet, she is signing a few and her motor skills are "amazing", so there are really no concerns. Its bothering ME that she won't talk yet, but the teacher is a speech therapist and saw all of the early communication skills and basic signing so she was thrilled with that. Phew! And then over the weekend we got "mamama" a few times ;) I'm still going to work on that one! She is just hilarious though - she has the biggest, or perhaps most vocal, attitude ever. She snorts when she is mad - or when she can get people to laugh at her, she has the biggest, crooked-tooth grin I've ever seen. She laughs hysterically at the dogs, or at Josiah, or when you tickle her - a deep, belly laugh that makes everyone else laugh too. Her favorite trick right now is sneaking treats to my parent's shitzu - she thinks it is the funniest thing when she hands him one of her goldfish and he bites it out of her hand! All you have to do is say his name and she laughs. Too funny. Most days she is still taking two good naps, and she sleeps so well at night - but she is anther early riser. She is up by 6:30 every morning. Usually this gives me about 30 minutes with her where we sit on the couch and read book after book before hunger kicks in. She LOVES books!

Steve is in AZ for his evaluation and graduation from this crazy training period. It will be so nice to have this over with! He is still loving his job, but the past few weeks have been stressful with all of the extra training criteria. He is definitely missing these kiddos, and I don't mind handing them over the minute he gets in the door :) He is anxious for more free time to master Rock Band 3 and the Lego and Green Day rockbands he got for Christmas. Boys and their toys!

And then there is me! I was supposed to be starting school next week, but it isn't looking likely due to a mix up at the admissions offices. They received my transcripts at the undergrad office instead of the grad school office, and it has taken them more than a month to get them to the right building - just a block away! This is beyond frustrating, since it should have been such an easy, instant fix and is now likely to prevent me from getting in this semester at all. Not only does that suck because I so badly wanted to finally get back to school, but because that leaves me home at least until fall. If you know me or you've read the previous posts, you know how I feel about that! So I'm trying to figure out what to do now. There are a couple of job openings in the HR field in neighboring towns that I would be qualified for, but do I want back into that field? And do I want to work full time? The whole idea of doing school now was that it would be like a part-time job until the kids were all in school. Plus if I go back to work full-time that means full-time daycare, which is fine, but expensive! So I am just praying that God will point   me in the right direction. Back to uncertainty instead of knowing "come January I will have school and be fine". I'm not a fan of the unknown, but I have to trust. and wait. and I hate waiting ;)

There you have it, sports fans. I can't wait to get back to speedy internet so I can put pictures on here without wanting to toss my laptop across the room! I'll try that again tonight maybe....

Getting into the spirit of things...I resolve to:

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions. Most of the time (for most people), they end up being big promises that one dreams up and quickly forgets about. Often, this would then bring a wave of guilt for not seeing it through - taking one more cigarette meant you might as well give up on quitting, eating a donut means you've wrecked your plan to fit into your red bikini, etc. I fall in with the vast majority of resolution-makers  here. I'm looking at things a little differently this time around though, so here is my list. I'm not even going to bother calling them resolutions. They are major life projects, but here is what I am jumping into this year.
1. Get back to healthy self. I know, everyone starts dieting on January 1. My dear friend Heather loves to discuss how much she hates her gym in the month of January because of all of the people that flood the place due to their resolutions...by February, they are mostly gone ;) BUT - to be fair, I started this project long before the first of this year, and in earnest about a month ago. I am not saying I want to "weigh this much" or "be this size". I just want to feel good. I don't want to be a toothpick, and pretty sure I would look like a freak if I ever ended up that skinny ;) I plan on tackling this life-change by continuing to visit the Y at least 4 times each week - making sure the other friends that go there are harping on me to go, pushing myself to do harder things/workout longer, etc. And yes, chocolate in moderation - HA!
2. Get back to happy self. In the midst of all of the chaotic punches thrown at me in the past couple of years, the past 6 months in particular, I've let myself get caught up in the stress of it all at times, instead of rolling with the punches and staying in a place of peace. My oldest child is handling this transition with great difficulty, and I am matching his stress level instead of showing him how to calm. I read a great blog a few days back (thanks Vanessa!) about how we can choose to let our kids steal our joy - or not. I can choose to respond to a freak-out by matching the frustration level and freaking out myself, OR I can choose to remain joyful, calmly talking him down from this and getting us both back to using our "nice words" to figure out why he is actually upset. Also, as his mom, I am well aware that this is not "him", and therefore should be confident that this is only temporary - so, I should be able to hang on to that truth and respond to the boy I know he is rather than who he is acting like. Make sense? And yes, I do have two babies at home. Thats stressful, sure. BUT things are getting much better (thank you for praying!), and I am learning to be constantly reminding myself to breathe first, and then respond. I am getting much better at tooning out the toddler that is screaming because she didn't get her way and letting her get over it on her own - amazingly enough, she does every time! At any rate, this change will be accomplished through a number of things. I am currently reading "The Busy Mom's Guide to Spiritual Survival" by Kelli Trujillo. I HIGHLY recommend this book, for many reasons, but the biggest is that it is proving to be an honest, practical book that actual has deep biblical truths - not one of those frilly "mom needs chocolate books" that don't teach you anything. At any rate, I plan to finish and then re-read it, implementing as many of the practices of spiritual discipline that I can. I cannot be a healthy/happy mom without the One true source of strength - and scheduling time to foster that relationship is part of my agenda now. Another thing that is going to be key is getting OUT! Getting out with the girls at least monthly (thanks girls!), getting out with my husband, by myself, whatever. As often as is possible, I will have breaks and allow myself to be recharged.
And I think the last thing on my list is going to be to waste less time. Now, I am not about to jump on the wagon of folks who say vegging on the couch with a mindless tv show is bad for you. I actually would beg to differ - I think its healthy to veg out now and then. BUT it seems that we have fallen into a pattern in that by the time we get the kids tucked in, we are exhausted and just pass out on the couch and get sucked in by the tv. There are so many other things we should be using this time for - not every night, but finding a good balance between various things. Reading good books, finally putting together Eden's caringbridge book, compiling home movies, scrapbooking, playing games with my hubby, the list goes on. My brain will be a little less mushy, and I will feel better about things knowing I am being more productive -sometimes. I will still allow nights to veg - because lets face it, there are days when that is pretty much all you can do ;)
Less major things I will tackle this year: a spa weekend (already in the works - so maybe two?), trips away by myself (ie NYC, Magic City, etc!), I may try running (sounds gross, but I'm debating!), take my kids camping/hiking at least 3 times (sounds puny, but I'm thinking its going to be quite a task to get three kiddos loaded up!), take more pictures, PRINT more pictures, get scrapbooks up to date, and learn at least 20 new recipes (only good ones count!).... The list is totally editable, of course, and I'm not about to feel guilty about the progress of these come 2012. I suppose, perhaps, the best resolution of all is just to commit to making the year ahead better than the last. Committing to choose joy... I'm in.