Happy New Year!

It's new year's eve.  (New Year's Eve?  Is that supposed to be capitalized?)  The day to make resolutions.  And I have a few, of course.  Most of them have to do with bringing who I feel like as MOM in line with who I felt like PREMOM (or as "Angie," only not quite so bratty and inept.  More like how I felt as "College Angela," who was, if not cool, at least more fit, energetic, and daring).  We are done expanding our family (unless God decides to surprise us) and it feels like there's a completeness to the baby craziness and a sense that it's time to discover who we will be as a family with kids.  Not babies.  Not toddlers.  Not preschoolers.  But KIDS.  Kids who think and reason and get dressed all by themselves and know how to use the potty and play board games and go to school and all that jazz.  We still have a few years, but I think it's good to start figuring this stuff out now.  Kind of a "Steven-Covey-Begin-With-The-End-In-Mind" sort of thing.

Resolution 1: Lose the baby weight

I know, I know.  EVERYONE has lose weight as a resolution (except my friend Lori, who has gain weight as a resolution, but that's its own struggle).  But if I'm done having babies, then I no longer have an excuse for the extra poundage.  And I want my kids to see that exercise is important, and Mom has the energy to be fun and active.  Plus this belly fat is not healthy or attractive and although my husband doesn't mind, if I don't feel sexy, I don't want to be sexy.  So the belly weight has got to go.

The Plan:
I want to detox myself of sugar by eating as many unprocessed foods as possible.  I also want to try going a year without sugar.  My friend Pam says that it affects her mood and energy level when she eats sugar.  I want to see. 
It's going to be hard, especially since I love to bake.  I'm thinking I'll have to bake things like muffins and breads.  But we'll make January a NO BAKE month to see if that helps. 
I'm going to focus on eating more protien and vegetables and fruit, try to watch portion sizes, and continue to eat every two hours, but make the snack times more healthy.
I also want to start getting up with the alarm at six am (which means going to bed earlier) to get some time alone with me and the tv and an exercise video.  I used to do this before kids, and I find it's very helpful for me to have a set in stone workout time.

Resolution 2: Become more interesting again.

I've always been a big reader but I used to have other interests as well.  Now when date night comes along I don't have much to talk about aside from kids and books I've read.  Plus the kids don't see me doing anything that I find enjoyable, aside from taking a break with a book.

The Plan:

Here are some idea for hobbies I'd like to cultivate:
-Working on this blog!  (Woo hoo!  I'm on my way!)
-volunteering someplace like a zoo or museum on Saturdays (this one is hard because it takes away from family time, but I think it would be worthwhile)
-starting an Etsy shop for some of my cool inventions (first I have to make sure I can MAKE my cool inventions!)
-playing with Sculpi again to make beads and miniatures (I LOVED this in junior high.  It's probably the only time I can remember that I LOVED doing detail work)
-reading up on important things (like evolution and why it sucks as a theory.  Darn it, I'm gonna actually READ Origin of the Species and find out what it says!)
-writing (yes, Mom, I'm going to start writing again... Maybe I'll start with some ethnography observation exercises.  I LOVED doing those in high school and college.)
-photography (I'm thinking of saving my money and getting a more interesting camera.  I used to have a Minolta with interchangable lenses.  It took FANTASTIC pictures and was fun to use.  But I traded it in for something smaller that I was more willing to carry around.  Now I want the cool one back...)
-hiking (I loved following trails when I was a kid, and when my husband and I went to Maine we both said we should do more hiking when we came home.  We didn't.)

Resolution 3: I can't remember...

I feel like there were more resolutions when I was talking about them in the car... oh well.  I think this is enough for now. 

Happy New Year, Everyone!  And may God bless you and keep you in the new year!

New Year's Project

Start a scrapbook for each of your kids to celebrate who they were this past year.  It doesn't have to be anything big.  We do a three page layout in our scrapbooks.  Two facing pages have pictures, quotes, mementos, etc layed out in a nice way.  The other page becomes a pocket for letters and other mementos that didn't make it into the "artsy" layout. 

Superboy, now that he's old enough to have an opinion, helps me pick the three sheets of paper for the backgrounds.  I pick five or so pictures from the year to print.  The whole thing costs maybe three dollars once you've bought the scrapbook.  And Superboy LOVES to flip back through the past years.

I also put a pocket at the back of the scrapbook where I put sealed letters from me to be opened when Superboy or Little Miss are 20.  Kind of a time capsule of how much their mom loved them.

I do the letters around the kids' birthdays because they don't take very long, but the scrapbook I do in January for a couple reasons.  1) birthday time is too crazy with making plans for the parties and 2) it gives me a nice project to do when I'm feeling bored that the Christmas stuff is done.

Why I should ALWAYS get dressed when my feet hit the floor...

"Superboy's hair is looking a little shaggy..."

Ah the little comments that change our days...  A Thursday, in fact.  A Thursday when I didn't have to babysit the princesses.  A beautiful Thursday with no agenda (besides Little Miss's six month pediatrician visit, but that wasn't until 10:30!), where we could sit around in our pajamas and play games on the iphone and Nook without feeling bad...

Normally I'm very strict about sticking to my morning routine.  It keeps both Angie and Superboy in line...

But not this Thursday.

Which is why, of course, when Superboy woke up, cow-licked hair going everywhere, that I remembered what his Dad said the night before and decided to get the clippers out.  Before breakfast.  Before we were dressed.  Before Little Miss woke up and wanted a diaper change.

Now, let me explain something.  I've been waiting MONTHS for Superboy's hair to get long.  We have a great picture from summer before last of Superboy with shaggy hair, playing on the slide in the yard, and it's fantastic.  Then I put him in preschool for half a year and I freaked out about the possibility of headlice and buzzed his head.  (I worked at the same preschool, and I NEVER wore my hair down!  I'm just not willing to risk it...)

So of course, first slide of the clippers and I FREAKED OUT that I cut it too short.  This is what happens when I let Angie choose the order of our day. 

So now I've got a poor kid who's getting a complex about his hair because his mother is screaming that she messed it up, hair all over the living room floor, and thankfully, a still sleeping baby.

(I swear, Superboy will never let his wife cut his hair.  I guarentee that he will always budget for professional haircuts just because his mom was a wack job.)

I did manage to fix the hair cut.  And although it was shorter than I wanted, it doesn't look too bad.  Then I got two kids bathed, started the laundry, and jumped in the shower (that was the wrong order... that shower DEFINITELY woke me up!).  We vacuumed up the hair (Superboy has recently discovered the wonder of using the vacuum hose!  The area under my dining table is clean for the first time in four years!), and I made breakfast.  Then realized we'd have to eat it on the run, because did I mention we had a pediatrician appointment at 10:30?  Yeah, that kind of snuck up on us...

The whole incident reminded me of when I actually WAS little Angie and I took a pair of scissors and cut the hair on my aunt's favorite doll.  At four I didn't realize doll hair doesn't grow back...  My aunt was NOT pleased.

Good to know I've learned something in 26 years...

A good idea for scissors:

CUTTING SNOWFLAKES

Now I just recently learned how to cut paper snowflakes so they actually have 6 points!  I will do my best to explain it below, but you could also have the kids just fold the paper any old way.  Just watch them carefully so they don't:

1) cut anything other than paper (like each other, their clothes, their hair.  Although they might do a better job than mom!)

2) cut the paper into confetti-sized bits that will blanket your floor under the table

3) wave the scissors around like swords and result in something from number 1

How to fold the paper:

1. fold one corner down to touch the opposite straight edge.  Crease and cut off the bottom strip so if you unfolded it you'd have a square.

2. Keep it folded like a right triangle.  Fold the triangle in half equally.

3. Now it gets complicated.  Hold the triangle so it looks like the roof of a house.  Now you're gonna fold it into thirds.  Pinch that top point and fold each side over towards the middle.  They should overlap.  It will look a bit like an arrow when you're done.

4. Flip it over and cut off the bottom points of the arrow.  Now you're ready to cut out little snippets to make a snowflake!

Or if you aren't because you can't follow my directions, Google "How to cut a snowflake" and find someone who has pictures.  That's what I did.

When you're done, tell the kids to pretend they're vacuum cleaners and see how much they can pick up off the floor.  And make the noise.  That part is VERY important to get them thinking this is a game and not clean up.  :)

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas... (But only for that one day...)