Snow Much Fun!!!

Monday, January 26th we started getting sleet, freezing rain, etc. I was SO not looking forward to another ice storm like we have had the last 2 years. We just kept praying that the power would not go out! Tuesday, everybody stayed home from work and school. The nasty stuff was still coming down. Then Tuesday afternoon it started snowing... and actually accumulating! Wednesday James went ahead & went to work, but still no school, so the boys and I decided it was time to play! AJ had an absolute blast! Hunter on the other hand, was not quite as thrilled. He cried the whole time I was putting his snow pants on, he cried when I zipped up his coat, cried while I put his hat & gloves on... I kept telling him "Just bear with me...you are going to have so much fun!" We got outside & he was only slightly impressed with the white stuff for a very few minutes. Then he started crying again, trying to take off his snow suit & gloves. He managed to get the gloves off, threw them in the snow, and then stuck his little bare hands in it, which only prompted louder, harder crying. He did NOT like it! So I took him back inside and stripped him down to dry clothes. He was fine until he realized AJ was still outside -- then he started crying and pointing out the door saying "outside! outside!" It is not easy to explain to a not-quite-two-year-old that you can't go outside and play in the snow with no coat.

Thursday (this time while Hunter was taking his nap) AJ and I went outside to build a snowman. I realized that I have never in my life build a traditional looking 3-balls-stacked-on-top-of-each-other type snowman. I was halfheartedly shoveling the driveway, throwing all the snow & ice in a pile, and AJ was forming into a snowmound that evolved into Mr. Snowy. Mr. Snowy has green food coloring for eyes, a chocolate chip nose (we didn't have any carrots) and red hots for a mouth. AJ wanted to put clothes on him, so we settled on gloves & a scarf. I learned 2 things about my son during this adventure. #1 - AJ likes making snow angels more than he likes making snow men. #2 - AJ likes throwing snowballs at Mommy even more than he likes making snow angels. He is such a boy...

Welcome to 2009

Ugh. Resolutions. I hate the idea of new year's "resolutions". I think it is a dumb tradition where we set ourselves up for failure. "this year I resolve to do such and such every single day...blah blah blah blah." What in the world? Is this everyone's chance to be a politician for a day and fill people's ears with our empty promises? Even worse, an excuse to lie to ourselves and set standards that we know are unattainable or make promises to ourselves that we have no honest expectation of keeping? sad sad sad. On the flip side of that coin however, I do like the idea of a fresh beginning. I take it as a chance to freshen things up a bit, to re-evaluate, re-prioritize, and re-focus. In that self-evaluation we all find things that we need to work on, things we need to work at changing. However, I think that change needs to come through baby-steps, not by trying to make drastic changes all at once. You can't say "I need to lose weight, so starting Jan 1 I am going to work out for an hour every day". It doesn't happen that way. If you try it, you will burn out and quit. You have to start slow, and establish new habits that help you reach your final goal. It takes a month or so to really establish a new habit. It won't happen overnight.

I like to look at last year, see what needs to be worked on in my personal life, and use those observations to set personal goals for the new year. Instead of taking the "I will do x every day..." approach, I like to use a more-or-less approach. For example, you could say to yourself, "Last year, I did X about once a week. This year my goal is to do X more times a week." or "last year I did X 4 times a week, this year my goal is to do X fewer times a week." I am a type-A perfectionist. If I say to myself I will do x every day, and it doesn't happen on January 5th, then in my mind, the whole year is already shot. I have failed. I didn't make, so I might as well stop trying. (harsh, perhaps, and yes, my poor husband absolutely hates that about me.) Using the more-or-less approach allows me some room to miss a day or two, or "goof" without failing.

All that being said, a few personal goals for 2009 in no particular order:

• eat out less, cook at home more
• spend more time doing fun activities together as a family
• spend more time in bible study (actual study vs. simply reading)
  
• spend less money on personal hobbies (nobody ever said scrapbooking was cheap!)

So there it is, out there in the open for the whole world to see. Confession is good for the soul, they say (who are "they" anyway???). Friends with information are good for accountability, I say.