playing outside

the kids have been playing outside so much this week. i love it. it is fun to watch them run around together. the weather has been so beautiful and warm that dahlia insisted on wearing her swimsuit. so funny. it really looked like a scene from summer. i should have made some sun tea. connor is fully walking now. it took him a while to get started but now he walks every where. we are going to have so much fun this year.

mommy's little helper

we are drowning in homework over here. it is really crazy in my opinion. mason had nineteen pages of homework this week. in kindergarten! part of it is mason's fault for not finishing all of his work in class. the work that he doesn't finish we do at home in addition to the usual homework assigned. we are starting to think that perhaps he did start kindergarten too early. i don't know if you can tell but he is doing subtraction in the photo. addition and subtraction in kindergarten? what ever happened to finger painting?

every night we seem to struggle to get mason to do his homework. it is a long process that is extremely frustrating. his attention span is so short it takes five minutes of coercing just to get him to write his name. tonight i decided to make myself a little cocktail before we sat down for homework. and you know what? it worked. homework was so much nicer with a pink martini for me.

day at the bluffs

mason went back to school today. so sad. we were having so much fun sleeping in and not doing homework. we decided to get out today and have some fun. after school we went to visit jen and bodhi at their house. it was a beautiful day. we walked to the bluffs so we could look at the ocean. the kids had fun digging in the dirt and climbing trees. i had fun sipping my starbucks and watching the occasional sailboat. sigh. i miss living by the beach. maybe someday we will get to move...

happy new year

hello 2011. wow. just wow. i really can't believe it is 2011. i never even got used to it being 2010. i am excited about the new year though. i plan on making big changes this year. huge changes. so of course i have a whole set of resolutions.

1. be more positive. i feel like i have been so depressed and negative lately. i just want to have a more positive outlook on life.

2. simplify our lives. we just have too much stuff and too much going on. i plan on getting rid of a bunch of junk and not making as many plans this year. i don't want to be overwhelmed all the time.

3. keep the house clean. i am going to make a chore chart and start making the kids (and miles) clean up after themselves. i am the only one cleaning around here and i am seriously losing this battle. this has got to stop. the mess really gets me down. i just can not be happy in a messy house.

4. learn how to use "the good camera." miles has a really nice camera that i don't ever use. i think if i took the time to learn it i could get some really nice photos.

5. eat dinner as a family at the table. we have really gotten bad about this. lately the kids have been eating together and then miles and i eat separately later. i don't like that. we need to sit and eat together. it is important family time.

6. turn off the television. this one just makes me crazy. i am always turning off the television and someone will turn it on moments later. ugh. i don't like it on all the time. we don't need the extra noise. i am going to start enforcing the two hours per day of television watching.

all in all, i really just need a little less chaos. a little more time to read, cook, hang out with the kids without being crazy and stressed. hmmmmm. is this possible?