For the Love of Playdough

Will would sit all day and play with playdough...that is of course if I am sculpting everything he demands me to. :)...

Our family of snowmen. (Dad is the green one because we ran out of white playdough)

My attempt at Buzz Lightyear. :)

Our cupcake creations. Mine is white cake with strawberry frosting and sprinkles. Will said his was a green monster cupcake with lots of blueberries. :)

...My cutie...

cold, not so cold, and cold again

What a crazy week...It hit 60 degrees mid week and then down to like 10 degrees by the end of the week. In January!! Crazy, but I love it! I am not much of a winter person. If it wasn't for the beautiful fall, I think I could go live at the beach. :)

Last weekend we took Will ice skating for the time. He had a blast! At first I thought it was going to be a disaster for is all he did was play limp legs and Thad was bent over dragging him through the ice. The first lap around took like 10 minutes, then he finally started to catch on. He really liked watching his daddy skate. Thad used to play hockey so he was super speedy. Then we had Will try to skate with a cone, but it wasn't until about 15 minutes before we left that he started to catch on to moving one foot in font of the other and he was able to hold on to Thad's hand and balance with the wall on his other side. Every time he fell he wanted to make snow angels...we don't know why, but it was pretty funny to watch. :) He really liked it, and it really wore him out. I think next time we go he will really start to take off.

Then mid-week it started to warm up so we pushed our winter activities to the side and went to the zoo! I was so excited to make use of our membership one more time. This time of year there are only about half of the animals out, but we still had fun, and it was so refreshing to be outside! Will also got lots of practice on his scooter going around the block.

outside the new sea lion exhibit at the Blank Park Zoo/scooter ride

Then of course reality hit us again and it was winter a day later. Cold. Brrrrr. So with some of his Christmas money we went out and bought his first lego set. I can not tell you how exciting this was! It is pretty much all we have been doing around here lately. He likes to build monkeys and Buzz's, and other people to go in his "town."...and then constantly asks me to build everything he can possibly think of. Good times. :)

kind of blurry...Will and new lego town

...and Karlie was sound asleep in the ergo during all of these things. (just felt funny not including her)... :)

Goals

photo by lululemon

Happy New Year!...yes, I am still alive. :) I know. I know. Time has seemed to slip away from me and some of you have emailed me wondering where I am. ha! sorry, life has seemed some what busy, interesting, upbeat, and much much more. We had a fabulous Christmas with our families and a super fun low key new years with a couple of our very bestest friends. It is hard to believe that a whole year has gone by already. It is kind of fun to peak over my post from New Years last year to see what goals I wanted to accomplish. I didn't really set any standards or specific goals, but just a few ideas that I wanted to be better about doing. I did so great in 2009! I set specific goals and checked in with myself through out the year to see how I was doing, but this year I kind of failed. Well not horribly...I did finally figure out a cloth diapering system, I have been lifting weights again, and I really took interest in adding more raw foods to my diet. In fact that was one of the things I was most interested in this year. Not only raw foods, but learning, researching, and spending time in food preparation. It feels so good on my body to eat well-simply stated. :) Although there are a few things I failed horribly on, cutting my cravings for sugar (that kind of came and went), and not eating after 8pm...that maybe happen like twice. oops.

A couple of things I did learn this past year was:

1-I heard a pastor say that what you think about all day is what you will become. I think about this quote quite often now; what am I filling my mind with? what is really important?

2- Parenting is like chasing a moving target. Each child is different and always changing, but that keeping a calm is key.

3-To set a routine and relax my standards. Who really cares if my house is perfect? I do have a 2 year old. :)

4-That I LOVE fresh onions and garlic sauteed with veggies and shoyu topped with sesame and pumpkin seeds. :)

5-That exercise every day is totally needed for thinking, energy, and health. How could I do without it?

6-To never bring Will anywhere if I am not carrying any snacks.

That's all I can think of for now. I am sure there is a whole lot more that will come up as I am reflecting, but now it's time to look forward. What should my goals be for 2011? There are a few main things I want to keep in mind daily that maybe I will write down so I can see everyday; to always be thankful, gentle, and content. Also to do a better job at organizing my life around knowing and loving God. But I was thinking that since I did such a bad job in 2010, that maybe I should set some small more specific short term goals that I am more active at remembering on a daily basis. I thought maybe about setting a new goal for each month and sticking to it. So for the month of January I cut out all white sugar. This is a simple goal for 31 days that I know is doable and will help me get out of holiday treat mode. :) What are your goals for 2011?

Happy New Year!...oh and click here for a few pics of our Christmas.

Yay!...the snow is melting...