Happy New Years

Here we go, it's almost here 2006. 3 1/2 more hours to go. We are watching Jack's friend Maya for a few hours tonight, they are in bed right now not sleeping. Today I sat down and thought a little about my year and what I want to happen this year, here's what I came up with.

In 2005 I:
- Learned and continue learning how to be a mother to two kids under 2. I think my patience has grown, and I learned to be a little more easy on myself.
- Ran in the "Bay to Breakers" in San Francisco. I ran it with my friend Gretchen, we didn't run the whole way, the first 3 miles and then ran/walked the rest. I'm really proud of myself for trying it.
- Celebrated Stella's 1st birthday and Jack's 2nd.
- Read some great books
- Started this blog

In 2006 I want to:
-Bond with God. Pray and read. Make my time with Him sacred and special. Sing, light candles, kneel, read out loud.
- Eat less Junk food, drink more water. Focus on health and not a number.
- Have more fun with the kids: dance, run, laugh, play outside.
- Have a more passionate marriage.
- Read lots of good books, don't waste time on crap.
- Take lots of photos, learn to knit, bake and experiment.
- Have more friends over for dinner, once a month.
- Do small things for people, write notes, give coffee and hugs.

Our Friday

I'm so glad the weekend is here. Jack has been sick the last 2 days, and I haven't been feeling so hot either. This week was hard, I was impatient and angry at the kids a lot. Having John here to help for the next 3 days is just what I need.
One good thing about today was dancing to the new Madonna album that Heidi got me for Christmas. I really love it. We also signed up for Netflix and I had fun going through all the movie titles picking what I want to see. I also enjoyed my favorite day time show "starting over". I'm addicted to that show. Sometimes I just really wish I had a full time life coach living with me to gently encourage me and give me big warm hugs. I also found out that a book I have been eagerly waiting to read is now in on the hold shelf for me at the library. "The year of magical thinking" by Joan Didion. I can't wait to start reading it. Have a fun new years everyone.

Little Cars

Why is my house still a mess? I have worked my butt off today trying to straighten up, I've done all the laundry, the dishes, and made the bed. I've vacuumed and undecorated the Christmas tree. My mom even came over and played with the kids all morning while I cleaned and STILL the house looks a mess. There is dust on the TV, the kitchen needs to be swept, I need to clear the counters off, pick my dirty clothes off the bathroom floor, and wipe the milk my daughter just sprinkled all over the couch off. There are little cars EVERYWHERE. The kids room is a disaster area I cannot stay on top of. I'm stopping now, I'm a little frustrated that this place isn't sparkling, but I've done the best I can.

Self Portrait Tuesday: Reflective Surfaces #4

Heidi gave me this mirror many years ago, I've always loved it. It used to hang on Jack's door but now it's living in our bathroom.

we had a merry Christmas

On Christmas eve day we went to Fairy Tale Land and the Zoo, it was free and there was lots of kids and families out. We met up with Heidi, Bee, and Tracie. It was a great way to spend the day.

On Christmas morning Heidi and Grandma came over for breakfast and to open presents. It was so much fun watching Jack and Stella getting excited over unwrapping the gifts and looking at their new toys.
John had as much fun playing with Jack's new toys as he did.
Grandma got Stella this cute little pink pop up tent. She loves it, though Jack is now constantly "crashing" into her tent with his new big bus.
In the afternoon we went and had a tasty dinner at my brother's house. It was a wonderful day.
Now onto the new year! I'm excited about taking some time to reflect, and planning things for the new year.

December 23rd

We are ready for Christmas, all the presents are wrapped, the house is decorated. We've made cookies and tasted eggnog.
Tomorrow is free admission day at the zoo and Fairy Tale Land so we might go do that. I do still want to go and get a big bean bag chair for Jack today. I have a couple of books on hold at the library ready for pick up today too "Jarhead" and "The good body", so we'll be heading there. Last time we went to the library Jack yelled "no library" over and over again as we went to the hold shelf and up to the counter. Then when the Librarian said hello to him he scrunched up his face and said meanly "don't do that" to her...Sigh... gotta love 2 year olds.

Peace

I love to watch Jack sleep. I always want to crawl up next to him and circle my body around him and hold him. I want to kiss his little warm cheeks and smell his sweet hair. He is my little boy, I never dreamed I could love a being as much as I love him.

Self Portrait Tuesday: Reflective Surfaces #3

John scrubbed our bathroom this weekend. It sparkled when he was done. I didn't even know it was possible to see my reflection in the facet handle.

Christmas Party

Last night was our church Christmas party.

It was a big potluck. The kids had lots of fun running around and dancing to the music.
The funnest part for me, besides eating yummy deserts, was talking with my friends and watching all the kids laugh and run around. Santa came and we had a big slide show of the year. It was a fun time

Saturday Morning

Goodmorning!! John cooked breakfast this morning, my favorite, pancakes and bacon. Jack had a bacon fit, he wanted one piece after another, we finally cut him off after 4 and he lost it. Today John is going Christmas shopping for me YAHOOO!! Tonight we are going to try and see "The Chronicles of Narnia" hopefully we can get in this time. Have a great weekend everyone.

Violently Happy

We are dancing to Violently Happy by bjork. I love this song and it makes me go crazy when it's on. The lyrics describe me and how I feel about John. Sometimes just the thought of him calms me and makes everything alright. Today I'm feeling a mixture of depression, exhaustion, energy, and silliness, a weird combo I know, but that's what's there. Looking forward to John coming home in and hour, making lemon sponge pudding tonight, and watching The Apprentice.

Tired

I'm so tired, it's 10pm and I'm about to go to bed. It felt like this day would never end. John is working overtime everyday to make a little extra money so both of our days feel longer. Jack took a really short nap today, and we babysat for some friends this evening. My ears are ringing from all the noise they have endured all day. Stella was especially fussy this evening. I'm sort of dreading tomorrow. It's just another day, but I don't feel like I can handle another day right now. Bed is calling. Goodnight world.

Self Portrait Tuesday #2: Reflective Surface

MULTIPLE ME

I think my family used to think I was a few cards short of a deck, as a teenager and into my 20's my emotions would swing radically. If I saw a sad movie I wouldn't just cry a little in the theater, I would cry all the way home, then go in my room and cry some more. I could go from happy to sad in the blink of an eye. I used to define myself in my head as an emotional basketcase, I felt like something was wrong with me, I was too emotional. I'm still a crier but I don't define myself by that now, at least I don't put a negative spin on it anymore. I am emotional, I love a good cry, but I also love laughing and getting angry, and feeling peaceful. I am not a wreak, just a girl who feels fully, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Weekend

John and I had a nice weekend. We went to John's company Christmas party. It was held at the Crocker Art Museum. It was beautiful.
John has never been to the museum so the first thing we did was walk through it. The Crocker is really a beautiful place, the building is gorgeous. They had it decorated for Christmas which made it even more pretty.
Then we made our way downstairs to the party. They hired a local band Mumbo Gumbo, they were fun to see. The party itself was super crowded, I think they needed a bigger tent, it was a maze of food/drink lines and tables crammed together. Despite all that though it was just nice being out at a Christmas party. The weather was crisp and we dressed up, it was fun.
On Saturday we went to a Waldorf winter fair. It was nice, there were lots of local artisans selling their goods. We heard a story and played in their playground. The story teller was so calm and quiet Jack and Stella just sat quietly listening to her tell a story, which is amazing, I felt like curling up in a ball at her feet with a blanky and listening to her all day myself. I want to learn to tell stories like her. I really loved walking into all the classrooms and I really really loved their garden and play area, they even had a couple chickens running around. I would love our kids to go there, but it's so darn expensive. We ended up buying the kids a couple musical stocking stuffers. Hope you all had a great weekend

I'm feeling much better now. We are getting ready for Christmas. Making decorations, hanging garland, tomorrow we are getting our tree. Here's Jack painting his ornament, he is really concentrating. It was fun to watch him, he kept layering on the paint. It turned out really beautiful. I'll show you all the finished ornaments soon.

a mess

I'm a mess today, sick sick sick. Jack and Stella have a little something too.
This is what happens to clean laundry sitting on the couch when mama's sick. I don't even really care.
He's having so much fun, why stop him? At this point if I can just sit around and do nothing today. I'll be happy.
If that is at the expense of the house, so be it. (John if your reading this from work, I would brace yourself, it might look like a tornado swept through our house by the time you get home).

Self Portrait Tuesday: Reflection #1

My cool kid, me reflected his dad's sunglasses, if only I could be so cute and cuddly and purely adorable.

Georgetown

So Saturday we dropped the kids off at our friends so we could spend the weekend together without the kids to celebrate our anniversary. We planed on just staying in town due to a lack of money. So we were going to go out to eat, catch a matinee, and then make it up as we went along.
Our first stop was Infusions, a coffee shop downtown, this is us swinging in their hanging chair. Then we went over to Chipotle for some lunch. After we ate John ask to see the list of movie times I had wrote down, so I dug it out and began to go over it with him. Then he said "oh wait I made a list too" and put a piece of paper over my list. I looked at it and it was a map to Georgetown. He told me we were heading home to pack a few things and then we were off to a bed and breakfast. I was totally surprised.
This is the bed and breakfast, It's called the American River Inn. It had 15 rooms all decorated differently. They were all really beautiful and old fashioned.
This was the Christmas tree. The owner was Betty, she said every year a family comes up the day after thanksgiving and decorates the tree for them. They have been doing it ever since their kids were little, now they are all grown up but they all still come. What a fun tradition. We had a cozy fire place in our room and a whole floor to ourselves, there was only one other couple staying in the inn that night.

Abe Lincoln showed up too, he was kind enough to pose for this picture. The town was really small, only one street. There was 3 antique shops and we spent quite awhile looking through them. The local Luthran church had a big cragt fair going on too. We had a super time. John gave me a beautiful gift of a framed photo from our wedding. I can not tell you enough what a kind, wonderful man he is.

Six Years

Today is our sixth wedding anniversary. John surprised me and and took us to a bed and breakfast in Georgetown. It was romantic and we had a great time roaming around the Inn built in 1863 and around the cute little town.
This is John and I dancing our first dance, as you can see we were so happy, I think we laughed through the whole thing.
This was shortly after our wedding on a trip we took to the Philippines. We are underneath a waterfall in this photo.
This is us on our honeymoon in Maui. We spent 2 whole weeks there. We did everything we could there and had a blast, we still talk about it all the time.

Facts about John and I.
- He proposed to me in French, on a canoe in the middle of Donner lake.
- Neither of us speak French, but he knew I loved the sound of the language, so he walked around for a week listening to a recording of a proposal a friend of ours made into a tape recorder for him so he could propose to me in French.
- He was visibly shaking when he proposed to me, and I thought that was the sweetest thing.
- That night he left me a dozen red roses with a note attached that said "Heather, sleep well my love. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you."
- John and I met, dated, and were engaged all within a year and a half.
- I believe that he and I are soul mates. There is no one else out there that would be more perfect for me than John.

The Coolest Mom Ever

I have the coolest mom ever. She is a super grandma, playful and energetic. Jack screams and runs to her when he sees her. She is a scholar. At the age of 58 she currently attends Sacramento State University with a double major, Ethnic studies and Woman's studies. She already has 5 other AA degree's earned from a community collage. She recieved honors in all of them. She earned all of these while she was in her 50's. She also works at a food bank, packing up boxes to send to people who are hungry. My mom is a loving, caring, gently, thoughtful person. Last night she took me to a play at Sac State. It was about the Harlem Renaissance. I swear my mom was a African American activist, or a Native American wise woman in a past life. I have so many wonderful memories of fun and unusually things we did growing up, from going on weekly "volksmarches", to climbing Half Dome with her, to helping her nurse back to health owls and hawks she would bring home from Animal Rescue. We are blessed to have gotten her as a mom, they don't come any better.