First off, I need to apologize for the dismal amount of photos in this post. After the past couple of weeks, I'm a bit photo-ed out.
But that's where my resolution comes in. Now I'm not big on resolutions...we all know the majority of us have a snowball's chance in H-E-double hockey sticks of keeping those. But as I sat snuggled up with Russ and watched the kids snuggled up to their Bubba, watching the ball drop at 9pm on New Year's Eve, I thought of a resolution I could handle.
Live in the Now.
I really struggle with this. There are always dishes that need to be washed, laundry that needs put away, bills that need payed, groceries that need bought...and I am a BIG list maker. I have lists for the day, the week, the month, the year. Lists for groceries and reminders and ideas and inspirations. And I have such a tough time letting go and just being.
So along with living in the now, I'm going to try and do my best at chronicling our daily lives. I've gotten out of the habit, and while I welcome the reprieve of not feeling like I need to document every little thing, I find myself incredibly sad when I go back in my journal to read about certain instances...and they aren't there.
I only have so much time with my kiddos, and then I have to grow up. Sigh.
Anyways...so let's get on with it, shall we?
The entire morning was taken up with a visit to the doctor. Fun times. After dropping Russ off at work (he had the kids while I met the new doc), we hit up Les Schwab to get the danged tire with nail in it taken care of. Bonus: That cute guy behind the counter must have caught my wink as the fix was on the house. Woot! ...although it could also have something to do with the suggested purchase of 4 new shocks and struts for the low, low price of only $650..."And we can fit you in now if you'd like!" I prefer to believe someone just thought I was one hot mama.
So with the tire finally taken care of, we ran back home for some lunch and read a handful of our new library books (we're researching cow birthings and the sphinx...completely unrelated to me, but apparently they go hand in hand to a 5 year old). We found out there is an Egyptian museum around here, so we're hoping to check it out and see if they have any good sphinx stuffs.
Finally, the time arrived...the time that Brooklyn has been bugging me about every 5 minutes for. Our first meetup with locals from our homeschool group. She was so excited, she could hardly contain herself! We pull up and she is out the car door, sprinting across the grass before I could even get my keys out of the ignition.
3 and a half hours later... Lets just say that we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I was extremely impressed--there were a good 15 parents there, and at least 30 kids ages from newborn to probably 13 or so. It was so much fun to watch them all--they would run off into some bushes and were pretending to be spies, and then they ran races across the field, then it was tree climbing and Hide And Go Seek and Tag and whatever other pretend games they made up. I pretty much showed up and didn't see my kids again until we had to go (which was when I was shivering so bad, my teeth chattered). And the moms (and dad) were all so nice. I'm excited to try and make it each week.
After we left (the kids dragging their feet behind them, pouting that I was making them leave), I realized it was 4pm and we had to pick Russ up from work at 5, so we'd might as well stay out and about since we were close to Sandia, where he works. So we went to another park down the road. It happened to be an elementary school. There were some fun toys and lots of kids...but once we got there, wow. The differences between the group of kids at the first park and the group of kids at the second park were like night and day. Granted, the ones at the second park are kids who have to stay at school all day, waiting for their parents to get off work....I might be a bit crazy as well if I had to be at school from 8am-5pm. But the screaming and yelling and throwing things and more screaming and yelling...kids who were being called names and being pressured to call other kids names. I was just in awe. I think my kids were too, as they just sat and watched them like they watch the monkeys at the zoo. Ha!
5pm finally came. We picked Russ up (and a bag of tortilla chips at the store, since it's Russ's Friday night and all), and I got to work on assembling the chili for dinner. I had a glass of wine while I was cooking and was a bit unnerved when Brooklyn walked up to me and asked for some. Of course I thought, "What in the world..." but believing that she is a fairly intelligent child and that there was a method to her madness, I asked her "How much?" "A half cup, please."
So she rummaged through the drawer with the measuring utensils and finally brought out her half cup. Then she went out and got another cup and looked at me expectantly. I followed through and poured that half a cup. Of course you can imagine Russ's reaction as he walks into the kitchen and sees me pouring my 5 1/2 year old some wine...but I shushed him and he watched. She poured that half cup of wine into her cup. And then added water. Then a splash of Russ's beer. And the rest of our dish soap. Then some salt. And pepper, of course. And then olive oil. I think she threw in a kitchen sink...
Each time she would tell us the reason she chose that item, and what she thought would happen.
We were all pretty impressed with the results, actually...it was really very pretty. There were 5 different layers, all different colors and textures. Of course Brooklyn declares that it's what she was aiming to do all along, and it turned out perfectly and exactly as she had imagined...
But that's where my resolution comes in. Now I'm not big on resolutions...we all know the majority of us have a snowball's chance in H-E-double hockey sticks of keeping those. But as I sat snuggled up with Russ and watched the kids snuggled up to their Bubba, watching the ball drop at 9pm on New Year's Eve, I thought of a resolution I could handle.
Live in the Now.
I really struggle with this. There are always dishes that need to be washed, laundry that needs put away, bills that need payed, groceries that need bought...and I am a BIG list maker. I have lists for the day, the week, the month, the year. Lists for groceries and reminders and ideas and inspirations. And I have such a tough time letting go and just being.
So along with living in the now, I'm going to try and do my best at chronicling our daily lives. I've gotten out of the habit, and while I welcome the reprieve of not feeling like I need to document every little thing, I find myself incredibly sad when I go back in my journal to read about certain instances...and they aren't there.
I only have so much time with my kiddos, and then I have to grow up. Sigh.
Anyways...so let's get on with it, shall we?
The entire morning was taken up with a visit to the doctor. Fun times. After dropping Russ off at work (he had the kids while I met the new doc), we hit up Les Schwab to get the danged tire with nail in it taken care of. Bonus: That cute guy behind the counter must have caught my wink as the fix was on the house. Woot! ...although it could also have something to do with the suggested purchase of 4 new shocks and struts for the low, low price of only $650..."And we can fit you in now if you'd like!" I prefer to believe someone just thought I was one hot mama.
So with the tire finally taken care of, we ran back home for some lunch and read a handful of our new library books (we're researching cow birthings and the sphinx...completely unrelated to me, but apparently they go hand in hand to a 5 year old). We found out there is an Egyptian museum around here, so we're hoping to check it out and see if they have any good sphinx stuffs.
Finally, the time arrived...the time that Brooklyn has been bugging me about every 5 minutes for. Our first meetup with locals from our homeschool group. She was so excited, she could hardly contain herself! We pull up and she is out the car door, sprinting across the grass before I could even get my keys out of the ignition.
3 and a half hours later... Lets just say that we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I was extremely impressed--there were a good 15 parents there, and at least 30 kids ages from newborn to probably 13 or so. It was so much fun to watch them all--they would run off into some bushes and were pretending to be spies, and then they ran races across the field, then it was tree climbing and Hide And Go Seek and Tag and whatever other pretend games they made up. I pretty much showed up and didn't see my kids again until we had to go (which was when I was shivering so bad, my teeth chattered). And the moms (and dad) were all so nice. I'm excited to try and make it each week.
After we left (the kids dragging their feet behind them, pouting that I was making them leave), I realized it was 4pm and we had to pick Russ up from work at 5, so we'd might as well stay out and about since we were close to Sandia, where he works. So we went to another park down the road. It happened to be an elementary school. There were some fun toys and lots of kids...but once we got there, wow. The differences between the group of kids at the first park and the group of kids at the second park were like night and day. Granted, the ones at the second park are kids who have to stay at school all day, waiting for their parents to get off work....I might be a bit crazy as well if I had to be at school from 8am-5pm. But the screaming and yelling and throwing things and more screaming and yelling...kids who were being called names and being pressured to call other kids names. I was just in awe. I think my kids were too, as they just sat and watched them like they watch the monkeys at the zoo. Ha!
5pm finally came. We picked Russ up (and a bag of tortilla chips at the store, since it's Russ's Friday night and all), and I got to work on assembling the chili for dinner. I had a glass of wine while I was cooking and was a bit unnerved when Brooklyn walked up to me and asked for some. Of course I thought, "What in the world..." but believing that she is a fairly intelligent child and that there was a method to her madness, I asked her "How much?" "A half cup, please."
So she rummaged through the drawer with the measuring utensils and finally brought out her half cup. Then she went out and got another cup and looked at me expectantly. I followed through and poured that half a cup. Of course you can imagine Russ's reaction as he walks into the kitchen and sees me pouring my 5 1/2 year old some wine...but I shushed him and he watched. She poured that half cup of wine into her cup. And then added water. Then a splash of Russ's beer. And the rest of our dish soap. Then some salt. And pepper, of course. And then olive oil. I think she threw in a kitchen sink...
Each time she would tell us the reason she chose that item, and what she thought would happen.
We were all pretty impressed with the results, actually...it was really very pretty. There were 5 different layers, all different colors and textures. Of course Brooklyn declares that it's what she was aiming to do all along, and it turned out perfectly and exactly as she had imagined...
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