Ellen is Four!

I am now the mother of a four year old! I really can't believe it. Time sure flies by!

I remember waking up at 3:00 am when my labor started with her. This morning, I woke up at 3:00 am. I thought that was strange because I usually wake up at 2:00 or 4:00, but almost never 3:00 am.

Ellen got to make her own birthday cake at preschool today. She was as excited about that as she was anything. Funny how the little things seem to matter so much.

Happy Birthday!

Today we will celebrate both kids' birthdays. Ellen will be 4 next week and John will be 2 in a few weeks, so we just decided to do it all at one time. This year they will have a family birthday party. I've decided that every other year we will do a "friends" birthday party. Winter birthdays are hard when you try to have a big party and every one has to be inside. Another option would be to go somewhere else, but that gets expensive. I'm tempted to celebrate their half-birthdays in the summer.

For today we are meeting the grandparents at Chic-fil-a and then coming back to the house for cake and ice cream. We have two cakes. John's cake is CARS and Ellen's is Dora. They both have separate plates and napkins. Ellen is really excited. John doesn't understand why he can't open his gifts now and got in trouble earlier today for tearing into one. This was after he had found a Sharpie marker and drew all over one side of his face!

A New Year

I wish I took the time to post more to this blog. Some people start blogs in order to stay in touch with family and friends. I originally started it as an easy way to record my thoughts and to possibly scrapbook those musings at a later date. I have always kept a diary, so this seemed like the next step.

We made it through the holidays in one piece. The kids had a great time. After each holiday season, I go through the house organizing and decluttering. I think this arises from the need to find a place for all of the new stuff we all got for Christmas. I'm doing pretty well this year. I recently purchased Peter Walsh's book It's All Too Much and it is changing the way that I think about our material possessions. I remember reading on one message board about one lady who cleared her house of anything that she didn't love and basically started from scatch. As a result, she now uses and loves everything she owns. She also has a lot less clutter. I want to be like that. I want all of the extra baggage--physical and mental--to just vanish!

I've set forth several goals for myself this new year. One of them is to take a walk every day. Today is January 3. I've taken 1 walk. I don't feel guilty about not taking walks on days where the temp doesn't get above freezing!