Year's biggest regret

December 31, 2010
Quite possibly, my biggest regret this year was letting my kids stay up for the New Year's Eve party. The bags under my eyes today are all the proof I need to say I'm tired. Exhausted. Worn out. On the verge of catching some horrible, rotten illness from lack of good sleep. And wishing my kids were 16 and sleeping in until noon.

Pearl had a blast, until we told her the party was over and it was time for bed. Cole, not so much. That kid wouldn't fall asleep. Having just gotten over (sort of anyway) a high fever, cough, and nasty virus over Christmas, he needed to avoid the Martenilli sparking cider (or "bubbly" as I call it) that Jeff breaks out once a year, streamers, and late night gluttony and just go to bed. It was almost the new year before Jeff finally got him to lay down. A few hours of respite until he woke up TWICE that night. Story of my life lately. I know I need to enjoy this time - and believe me, I don't want him to keep growing up - but I'd sure enjoy it more if I got a full night's rest instead of getting up at least once every single night for the past seven months.

So, the first goal of 2011... learn how to apply makeup so you can't see the bags under my eyes 'cause I'm not so sure the whole good night sleeping thing is going to happen anytime soon!

Getting organized

December 30, 2010
Hundred-year-old houses come with lots of character but not a lot of storage space. We didn't really notice until kiddo #2 came along and suddenly our lack of closets, cupboards, and square footage was staring us straight in the face. There is a good thing about not having a lot of room though - it forces us to de-junk every few months.

Poor Pearl has taken the brunt of it. Every time she gets a new toy, we make her donate an old one to the D.I. It's quite traumatic. But I promise, it's out of necessity and not just because we are mean parents. With a bunch of new toys from Christmas, I knew we had to do some major re-organizing in her room. I've learned that if I want her to not only be able to play with her toys, but to pick them up afterward, we need storage bins she can open herself. Luckily, there are about 300 million storage tubs to choose from. And we've found the perfect ones for her little hands to pry open. Now every new toy has it's own bin and is organized, clean, and in their right place. If only she found this as exciting as I did.

Snowblower surprise

December 29, 2010
This football field sized driveway is ours (I'm not exaggerating). It's long. Really, really long. Oh sure, in the summer it's heaven for sidewalk chalk but in the winter? It sucks.

With a big winter storm that blew in tonight and a husband in Logan watching his beloved Aggies beat Hawaii (I think we get a major storm every time they come to the mainland), I thought to myself, oh a lovely night all to myself... well, once Cole is in bed. I had nearly plopped by my fat butt down on the couch to do nothing but watch TV when a tiny voice in my head said, "Oh, Jeff will be so mad if he has to drive on all that snow when he comes home - it will turn to ice where the tires go. I'll just go shovel two paths for the tires so he can drive into the garage."

So I found some gloves, a beanie, and my sneakers and headed outside, shovel in hand.

Then that tiny voice said to me, "Oh, it would be really nice if Jeff could get to his car in the morning without having to trudge through snow." So I kept shoveling.

Once I had a path to the car made, that stupid, I mean tiny voice said to me, "Oh, Jeff's back has been killing him all week. He'd really hate to come home and debate about whether he should snow blow tonight or get up early and do it."

So I kept shoveling... heavy, wet snow. Then the voice said, "You really should shovel the sidewalk. The poor mailman shouldn't have to trudge through snow and what if someone is crazy enough to be out walking in this sub-zero weather? They would certainly appreciate walking on the sidewalk and not through snow."

At this point there was simply no turning back. So I shoveled, and shoveled, and shoveled. All while cursing about where my 15-year-old neighbor kid was when I needed him. An hour later it was done, to which I celebrated my workout with a Snickers.

I sure wish I knew how to start our mammoth-sized snow blower.

The wheels on the bus

December 28, 2010
I really need to up my list of children's songs because I typically sing "The Wheels on the Bus" about 3,000 times to my kids from the time they are born until they can tell me the words to songs they actually want to sing. But they seem to like it.

This is how Cole and I do the verse about "the babies on the bus go wah, wah, wah..." I put his chubby hands on my eyes and he giggles and giggles. I find it hysterical and simply adorable and so we repeat this verse a lot.