One Little Word

This new year, I made a lot of internal resolutions. Paramount on my list were two things, getting back in shape (ie: getting my tushy off the couch no matter how tired I feel) and finding motivation.

My first resolution is easy to conquer, it just takes a bit of physical effort. Working out, cardio, eating well and vitamins. Done.

The second took a bit more mental effort on my part to really define. I knew I needed to motivate myself, but how? What is it in my life that is keeping me unmotivated? Then one day I was reading a friend's blog and she linked to this page. It talks about the One Little Word Project. Listening to yourself and identifying what word keeps trying to catch your attention. Then, once you find it, you invite it into your life and let it speak to you. Basically committing to making it yours for the year. By doing so, you bring that into your life and fulfill what you've been needing. While I was reading, I was giggling inside. Sounded like a bunch of hocus pocus. Well maybe, but perhaps the motivation I needed would come from a new way of thinking, a new perspective; an optimistic outlook and acceptance of the power of positive thinking. I've been around a lot of people lately who feel that if you believe something enough, you will find a way to manifest it in your life. So, I figure what the heck. It can't hurt to try.

After I decided to give this whole "one little word" a whirl, it was time to find mine. Easier said than done, that's for sure! I waited and went about my routine. I tried to calm the chaos of life, slow down my mind and listen, but I heard nothing. So I waited. As I did, I noticed an internal whisper. More of a roar really, but I think with everything going on I only heard it as a whisper. Be strong. Thats when I discovered how many times a day I was quietly calling out. God give me the strength to: Get out of bed today. Be patient and breathe. Not fail in my endeavors. Find a way to smile on my worst of days. See happiness through the chaos, anger and resentment. Laugh when I want to cry. Love and raise my kids regardless of the circumstances. Find myself.

The light bulb went off! Hello A, there's your word!! All these months (and possibly years) I've been willing myself to be strong. For me, my family, my friends. So, its time to start enabling that; finding new ways to build inner strength and reminding myself daily that I am stronger than I could have ever imagined.

So with an optimistic outlook, my one little word for 2011 is STRENGTH.

Beaver Creek

There were too many cute pics of the kids to not post about our trip to Beaver Creek. We stayed at a condo/lodge that had a catwalk and lift right out the entrance to the lobby. Talk about ski in/ski out! If only the kids were big enough to take advantage of that! Maybe in a few years...

Either way the trip was wonderful. We relaxed and played the whole time, watching movies, de-stressing, and keeping the kids happy were the only priorities.

Checking things out...

Toys everywhere....business as usual

Everyone has their sippy cup

Follow the leader?

Sweet petite mid sneeze....mom should be a pro photographer!

Prepping for a venture out in the single digits

View from our room...hello chair lift!

First time sitting in snow...they weren't happy!

Getting the bugs out

I've been remiss in my blogging habits over the past month, so I figured this is as good of a time as any to try and recap the month of happenings in the jungle.

Like almost everyone alive, December is one crazy month. Its awesome because most people are in festive and fabulous (ie: happy) moods, so dealing with your typical schmuck isn't quite so daunting. I even noticed an improvement in the level of road rage witnessed on my usual 2 hour commute. Ah the holidays! However when you take a glance at your calendar its booked. Can you say stress? Ah the holidays!! Thank the lord for williams sonoma mulling spices & wine!

My goal for this year was to be done with all my shopping by Thanksgiving, have my Christmas cards and 12 recipes made, and just sit back, bake & enjoy the time w/ the kiddos. Sometimes my delusions of granduer seriously amaze me. What the crap was I thinking?!?!? My christmas cards were printed (cry) and I still haven't started the undertaking that is the 12 recipes (2010 edition may have to be released for xmas in July). The only thing I came close to achieving was getting the shopping done by Thanksgiving. While I didn't quite hit that mark, I was close. Typically I'm one who is all for going to "town" to shop and fun, but not after Nov 1. Who wants to deal with holiday crowds and mall parking? That's where those festive & fabulous mentalities go right out the window and people's claws come out. Forget trying to navigate that mad house with a duallie stroller and two rather impatient twinnies. Hello internet!

As part of an annual tradition, D and I head to the mountains the weekend before Christmas for a quick weekend getaway. Its typically filled with lots of skiing & snowboarding, hanging out at the local bar for yummy food and drinks, and relaxing by the outdoor fire pit sipping cocoa. This year we snuck off to Beaver Creek. I was super excited since I've never been there. The place was beautiful! However our typical getaway was vastly different this year. No skis or snowboard in the car....those were replaced with all the kid's gear. It was still an awesome trip, sitting in the condo playing with the kids and watching the snow fall. I bought them fabulous snow gear to keep them warm and felt that as long as I got one pic of them out in the snow it was a successful trip. Truthfully, visions of next year's Christmas card photo op danced in my head. All I can say is, what was I thinking? They hated it...and closely resembled the poor kid in Christmas Story that couldn't move his arms. I had to laugh. Maybe next year...

December is also the time when little nasty flu bugs come out in full force. Now I'm not talking about the typical head or sinus bug, which can be nasty (and I know because I've been perpetually visited by them for the past 5 months) but are no match to the stomach flu bug. Lucifer of all lil buggers. Well, you guessed it, we got it! The kid's had their holiday party at school on the wednesday before christmas. I picked them up earlier than usual, and by 3 pm my sweet petite couldn't hold anything down. It was wretched. So, I opted to sacrifice my sleep to stay downstairs with her (she'd already thrown up in her bed & mine)...so down to the couch we went. About 13 hours later, she was better but I wasn't. YUP, she shared!!! So, christmas eve I was laid up with the worst stomach flu I've had in years. To add to the misery lil D got it too and both kiddos were in rare form. There really should be a magic pill moms can take to avoid getting sick when their kids are young. Anywho, thank god it was only a 24 hour bug because santa claus was coming to town (and I was hosting christmas dinner and had done ZERO prep thanks to lucifer). Christmas morning greeted us with fabulous gifts from santa and big D hauling cookies to the bathroom. Lucifer struck again! Other than that, Christmas was lovely. I made a huge brandied ham and turkey roulade thanks to Martha Stewart.

So after the bug had "passed" I figured we were in the clear. NOPE! New Years was coming and that meant....another bug. Well actually not a new bug, but the residual toll of all the other bugs screwing with my sinuses. I ended up with an adult ear infection (or ustacian tube dysfunction if you want the urgent care diagnosis). Layman's terms...fluid behind my ear drum. I was in ridiculous amounts of pain...shooting pain in my ear, throbbing head aches, and the spins! Now, lets not forget that I've got 2 little ones to take care of...who made it abundantly clear that they didn't care how lousy I felt. This lasted for about 5 days. Happy 2011....leave it to me to ring it in with style!

Here's the highlight reel from last month:

Lil D finally got his top two teeth and is sitting up on his own

Lil A went from army crawling to crawling and pulling up to stand

Lil D is a chatter box - mostly da & ba sounds (but we're working on ma too)

They both finally figured out their sippy cups and have graduated out of the baby bathtub

Beaver Creek

All Dressed up for Christmas

Santa Goodies

Lil A up to no good

Big kid tub time!