Life as usual

It is nice to have life back to normal. I work 4 days a week, usually 1 from home. The kids are in daycare, Tim is at work. No stressful shopping, no hurried trips to the mall, no late night wrapping or big holiday feasts. I like it. (No, I am not a downer on holidays, it just feels good to be routine again.)

The kids are great... albeit full of energy. I am not sure if it is due to the cold, the deep snow, or what, but they are bouncing of the walls lately as they are unable to play outside a lot. They have been climbing through the windows in their little playhouse, running from room to room chasing each other, wrestling, and just being goofy. Fun goofy for the most part, sometimes rough-house goofy, which I don't enjoy. I really like that they are playing together more and when they laugh, they laugh hard and it is contagious. They enjoy playing Cars together, playdough, and chase. Chase will include either pushing Evan's tractors & trucks around the house -or- chasing each other riding on their little ride-on toys or Evan's new trike. Sometimes they color or do homework, but that activity has lately resulted in fighting due to similar wants of crayons or coloring books. Just little kid stuff, nothing serious, but draining sometimes nonetheless.

Emma loves playing dolls lately, either Baby Alive or PollyPockets/Barbies/Littlest Pet Shop. Emma has discovered some of her old baby doll toys, such as a swing, stroller, and diaper bag, so many times she is pushing Baby Alive around in the stroller or tucking her into bed in the swing. One day, I was the Nana and she was marrying Evan's large Buzz Lightyear Doll. That was a fun one! When we play with the other dolls, I always play the Mommy Doll and sometimes the evil Mommy Doll and she always plays the little girl who is kidnapped by the evil Mommy Doll. Fun times! I love the way her imagination is developing and the interest she has in roll play... except the whole evil Mommy bit. Where did she get that one? Too many Disney Movies maybe??

Evan usually plays Cars at night or wants to play his Thomas the Train computer game. Now, mind you, him playing Thomas is not physically him playing. Either he sits on my or Tim's lap or squished next to Emma on the chair so he can watch. I prefer playing real Thomas with him, so we try to build a train track once a week as well. He is definitely mimicking our behavior as of late and has told Emma at times "You Naughty Emma. You time out!" or telling her to do something and then doing a countdown until she does it. My favorite phrase?? "You whiny Emma." Lovely.

Both kids have been enjoying helping us in the kitchen lately. Evan, every night it seems, wants a salad, so he will help me wash and tear the lettuce leaves. Every so often we let Emma pick out a meal and she will always pick pancakes. So, she helps me mix the mix and even flip them in the frying pan.

Both kids are in swimming lessons now. Emma is doing really well with swimming lessons. She is in level one and really hoping to pass and get to level two next time. I am not so sure about that as it is much tougher to pass classes in the new place we go, versus the Y, and she actually needs to be able to swim on her own to pass. She is close and will go a few feet on her own, but not quite enough yet to pass. But, she loves it and I love how they really force the kids to swim and try. Every night at lessons they dump buckets of water over the kids heads and I really like that. I am not a fan of the classes that try to shield kids from getting faces wet -- kind of defeats the purpose in my mind. Evan is in waterbabies, which is okay. The hard thing is that he is in a class with babies that are maybe 6-9 months old and up to his age. So, they don't really do much with the kids. We sing songs, he gets to jump in off the side (which he has no fear about) and then use a noodle and play with water toys. He likes it as he gets to be in the water, but I wish there was a class between Waterbabies and Level 1 (which Emma is in). Not yet.

My job is going well. I am now about 4 months in as a project manager and so far am really enjoying it. I like the guys I work with and we all have fun. Stressful at times, but fun. Tim is happy to be adding responsibility to his plate and has hopes of really growing his team, so he has some exciting possibilities coming up.

All-in-all, life is good. We were up at the cabin this past weekend for a long weekend as Tim and I both had off on Monday. We had a fun Packer Party (what an AWESOME game!!) went ice fishing and took the kids snowmobiling. I really have to get a picture of the kids in their snowmobiling attire as they look like little bobbleheads with their big helmets. Evan loves wearing his helmet as he still feels as though he is Buzz Lightyear! We went for about a 25 miles, with a fun stop in the middle for supper at a local restaurant. The kids really thought that was exciting and I love sharing with them some of the things I enjoyed when I was a kid. The rest of the weekend was really lazy, which is always nice about the cabin. I took naps, worked out, watched TV, and didn't do much. Tim was the same. That's why the cabin is awesome; we both say that the worries of the week seem to melt away on the drive up and the world is more quiet up there.

As for New Years Resolutions and all that jazz, nothing much. I hope to keep in shape, keep working out, and relax more. I hope to find a good balance of work/school/family and keep my patience. I hope to excel at my job and be a good Mom & Wife. Tim and I are hoping to take a trip either big (London) or small (cabin) to spend some quiet time together. And - I cannot wait to meet the newest little members of the extended family with baby boy and baby girl Kellogg due in March. I am in one of those times where someone should pinch me as all is well. I sit back and look at the health and happiness of my whole family and feel incredibly blessed and lucky. Here's to a wonderful New Year, full of opportunity, blessings, and happiness.