Thirty seconds before the ball dropped I wiped out on the ice, hard. As I lay in pain staring at the sky I had to laugh. What a fitting end to a fall-on-the-ice sort of year. Mourning a loss, losing a gallbladder, life path indecision, bills, bills, and more bills - many a fall-on-the-ice moments to be sure. Yet, with that last big fall a fresh start comes. Brandon helped me to my feet and we heard the fireworks all around, welcome 2010 and the promise of better times ahead.

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I think my only resolution this year is to be intentional with my time, with my love, with my money, with my words, with my soul. We'll see.
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For last year's words belong to last year's language

And next year's words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

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-- T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

Even more fun than I had hoped.
See all the photos HERE.
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We played three rounds: family trivia, puzzle building and photo quiz
Team Gold were the victors - and they will proudly hold the title until next year!

Much like childbirth, the assembling of a 200-page Blurb book last-minute is pain that is quickly forgotten. One would think after last year's insane rush to beat the shipping deadline I would have learned my lesson. I even made a New Year's Resolution to progress little-by-little through the year...did I keep that resolution? Ha.

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In fact, before the holidays get in the way lets just review how pathetic my resolution keeping has been:

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1. Let the people I love know that they ROCK. I tried, hopefully they felt it, this will be a carry over to next year - its a good one.

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2. Cook more - include children. They aren't making anything french yet, but at least they can properly break an egg (sorta) and measure (sorta).

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3. Keep to our budget vigilently. Thanks to my gallbladder going bust, thus went the budget.

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4. Complete a triatholon. I'll blame this one on the gallbladder, too.

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5. Continue to develop my sugar cookie skills. Certainly have not explored this to the extent I had hoped. Haven't had a cookie cutter out in six months. Sigh.

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6. Work on our yearly Blurb book monthly. Fail. But here it is, all done. (At least a preview of the first few pages).

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7. Pottytrain the little one. SUCCESS. Finally one I can check off with a resounding - you betcha!

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8. Pass the PE (Professional Engineer) exam. Postponed until April (types while biting nails...)

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9. Learn to sew. Fail. I'm not precise or patient enough for this one. At least not yet.

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10. Get the children to sleep, everynight, alone, all night. Success. Except for the "alone" part. But at least its on our floor and no longer our bed.

Sometimes I like to make pancakes for dinner.

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Tonight I felt guilty (and nervous) about the massive amounts of sugar in the traditional syrup I normally float my pancakes in.

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So, I made THIS blueberry sauce that was one of the easiest recipes ever and got two happy thumbs up from the handsome one.

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In other news, the granola bars have received rave reviews - here's the link in case you missed those as well. They're moderately easy, too, but seriously my kids could make the blueberry sauce...it was that simple.

Tonight we made sugar cookies in the shape of Texas. (That was for you Jen and Becky!) I guess sugar cookies aren't just for the later-half of the year afterall. I must say my 'skills' with the sugar cookie are weak sauce, mostly just pour a bunch over the top and spread it around the great awkwardly-shaped lonestar state.

It's really a pity I'm passing on my weak skills to these children. These children (child) who claimed to be potty trained but then soiled her pants so badly that Handsome and I just stared at eachother for about five minutes in disbelief, not knowing how to remove poo-filled underpants without getting it EVERYWHERE??? And what's with the plant in the red bucket out the backdoor you ask?...

The girls happened; poor plant, poor carpet, poor poo-filled undies, poor Texas-shaped-badly-decorated cookies - but happy girls, sweet girls, lovely girls who make me smile.

A mid-year update on the Resolutions:

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1 Let the people I love know that THEY ROCK

I guess it's going alright, ask the ones I love, they know who they are

2 Cook more...include children

see exhibit A above, making pancakes for dinner tonight

3 Keep to our budget vigilantly

i'd rather not talk about it

4 Complete a triatholon

CANCELED, sorry body, you're not meant to be in shape, get over it

5 Continue to develop my sugar cookie skills

this is a later-half of the year goal, as I see it

6 Work on our yearly Blurb book monthly

yikes, whoops, gotta get going on that or december will be u-g-l-y stress

7 Pottytrain the little one

DONE and DONE!!! this is exciting stuff actually

8 Pass the PE (Professional Engineer) exam

registration went out last week, now I study my brains full until October

9 Learn to sew

I now know enough to be dangerous (actually just enough to annoy my mother-in-law with non-stop questions should I ever attempt another project)

10 Get the children to sleep, every night, alone, all night

and this, the most impossible of them all, has been very much accomplished and I must say evenings are very pleasant at our little house.

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And if that wasn't exciting enough for you, here are some pictures our own little paparazzi took tonight. C is a hoot to watch, she picks an object and then gets about 2 inches from it before she clicks the button. Photography runs in the blood around these parts.

PS - That baby doll ain't right

One for the fruit pizza, one for me, one for the fruit pizza...

I hope you all had a beautiful Memorial Day full of rest and memories {old & new}.

[picture from Martha]

In the few minutes I had to browse the interweb today, I found these boxes that would surely help me to fulfill my first [love people] and fifth [perfect the art of cookies] resolutions. Sadly the third resolution [keep to our budget] keeps me from going nuts and ordering every shape and size. {Huff...}

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And in other news, the children survived their day-o-fun with Aunt Anna. The excitement included making wedding invitations for Cousin Jenny's wedding (C is just sure she will love them), watching Mama Mia four times in a row (J can now be heard singing 'Honey Honey!'), and making puppy chow!

2009 New Years Resolutions
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1 Let the people I love know that THEY ROCK

could include making homemade gifts, sending a thoughtful card, blogging about their awesomeness, taking out to dinner, the list goes on

2 Cook more...include children

remember the health food kick? certainly the excema will return soon and so will my determination to fill their bellies with good eats

3 Keep to our budget vigilantly

this is serious people, of all the goals this is the one I most hope to celebrate attaining on New Years Day 2010!!!

4 Complete a triatholon

July 12th, I am SO there...though I haven't run a lick since mid-October, not to mention ridden a bike since I was 12 or swam a long distance ever, never ever

5 Continue to develop my sugar cookie skills

strange goal, but pretty sugar cookies make me smile, and smiling a little more wouldn't be a bad thing - and I'm going to do it with the help of this site

6 Work on our yearly Blurb book monthly

as opposed to 3 days before the shipping deadline as I've done the last two years

7 Pottytrain the little one

her sister is ready, her mommy is ready, and I hope she's ready because as soon as we get off that plane from Disney we're going full-steam ahead on the de-diapering

8 Pass the PE (Professional Engineer) exam

yes by the end of '09 I hope to be a professional nerd, as right now I'm only a nerd-in-training

9 Learn to sew

with a little, I mean a LOT of help from my mother-in-law I hope to soon be making projects like this, and this

10 Get the children to sleep, every night, alone, all night

it's a tall order, and we are beginning to think its darn-near impossible, but nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, right???

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[NOTE: I was considering a 'No more pop' resolution, but that only lasted the first 12 hours of the new year. The rest of the list has stuck thus far, and I'm on hour 20 - only 8,740 more to go!]

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['NOTHER NOTE: My cousin is shaving his beard for 2009 and his post makes me want a beard just so I can shave it, too - cracks me up]

Check it out - a teaser for the #7. J wanted to try 'potty pants' tonight.

It was a Potty Pants party at our house