Oz Day

Happy Australia Day! Not sure what I'm talking about? I explained it more last year, or three years ago, when we were actually in the land down under. I really can't believe it was three years ago. Wow.

This year we celebrated this day of Oz by eating meat pies with our family. I used the same meat pie recipe from last year but decided to go with the surfer dude instead of Australia's flag decorative top. It took far less time and was equally delicious ;). Buttermilk mashed potatoes, salad and homemade bread rounded out our meal.

And I even decided to tackle Pavlova this year. Never heard of it? It's a meringue-like dessert with whipped cream and berries. It's one of the only truly Australian desserts. I have to say, the process of making it kind of intimidated me in the past. But it was way easier than I thought it would be (thanks to the Barefoot Contessa). Too bad Australia day falls in the middle of winter here. Berries are definitely not in season. I think each blueberry cost about a quarter. But it was worth it!

The girls even ate a bit of the Australian deliciousness this year. And of course they enjoyed the opportunity to play together and be with family. Here are a few pictures of our gathering...

The good news is it's not too late. Today is the official day, actually. We just had to celebrate yesterday because of a commitment we had tonight. So go buy some puff pastry and whip up a little meat pie in honor of the land down under!

ABC's

Thanks to our little leapfrog refrigerator magnet and yet another elmo video, Clara has added a new song to her repertoire.

It is risen in the ranks to one of her favorites almost overnight. I'd say it's a close second behind "happy birthday", which is sung often and to a variety of people/things. I was blessed to hear a recent "happy birthday moon" rendition on the road to home group last week. I suppose it's not that surprising that she loves to sing. But I'm happy about it nonetheless.

Here it is: ABC's. Listen carefully to the h-p section. Clearly we need to work on it a bit ;).

P Town

We took another quick trip to Portland this weekend. Even when we arrive home late on a Sunday night after being gone only forty eight hours, we never regret making the trip to see my brother and his family. Sweet Everett will be a year old in just over a week! A few months in baby time is equivalent to something like ten years in the life of an adult, right? He has changed so much since we last saw them in October. Our time was sweet, even though it was short.

We did nothing more grand than hang out, play with the kids, and enjoy our time spent together. It was just about perfect. And Everett loves being naked, so Clara shed her clothes too. You already know she's quite good in the clothes removal department.

It was so sweet to watch their little relationship begin to form. Except when Clara terrorized Everett (and his toys) at every opportunity. Then it was not sweet. But in these pictures, they were playing nicely. At least it looks as if they were, right?

The Latest

I don't want to forget these days around our home. Clara is full of so much energy and life. I've said it before, but now would be another nice time to push the pause button on life. She's sleeping well, eating well, and loving pretty much every part of her day. It's funny how the mood surrounding cold, dark & gloomy days has almost no affect on little ones. Having this little girl around is a constant reminder of the joy and excitement to be found in all the little things.

I think it was at about the nine month mark that I predicted her future personality. Yes, it was something about easy-going, care free, observant and happy. I'm not too sure I got it right. At all. She's still quite happy and she likes observing the world around her. But she has a serious amount of spice. The first words that come to mind describing the Nator these days are: easily excitable, silly, wild, and social.

Here are few of the latest Clara happenings...

*Pajama removal skills. We have been duct taping the top of her PJs since she is a professional Houdini these days. Last week we went in to check on her before going to bed and found her naked, on her tummy sleeping. She had removed her footy pajamas entirely, as well as her diaper. And yes, I certainly had to do bedding laundry the following day.

*The little lady is very interested in the potty. And no, I am not ready for it. She's been asking to "try it" on a daily basis for weeks now. It's pretty hit or miss - but I'm liking the fact that I have about one less poopy diaper per day to change. I'll just add "potty excitement" to the long list of things I never anticipated being quite so entertaining about motherhood.

*She sings! Well, in her own little way, at least. Favorite songs include: Skip to my Lou, the ABC's, Mr. Sun, Tinkle Tinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, Jesus Loves Me, Happy Birthday and (of course) her very favorite: Jingle Bells. How do you explain to a twenty month old that certain songs are only to be sung one month out of the year?

*She has become quite the little side-kick. Her favorite ways to "help, mommy" include mixing, dusting, sweeping, and washing dishes, among many other tasks. She scoots her little stool all over the kitchen so she can "watch mommy" doing all these important things. I still do not understand how she can stand for ten minutes straight next to the sink, on her little stool, as I explain for the hundredth time how I use the brush and bubbles to clean the plates and spoons. Maybe someday her toys will have more of an appeal?

*Books + elmo have become serious obsessions. It's a bad combination. We bought her a four-pack of elmo books for Christmas and it was a serious mistake. Of all her lovely books (it's my one area of weekness, surprise surprise), she chooses her elmo books over and over again. And they're not the least bit interesting or well-written. We've taken to hiding them at night, just before reading, and then sticking them in her crib to occupy her in the morning. Total parental manipulation, I know. I think the end (sanity) definitely justifies the means.

I haven't taken too many pictures of the little munchkin lately. I snapped this one today as she sat on daddy's lap, watching an elmo video on youtube (P.S. I am officially trying to teach Clara the dance moves shown in this video). This picture confirms what I hear over and over and over about how Clara looks exactly like Jono. And I don't deny it. But I think I may be in there somewhere, just waiting to emerge. Only time will tell.

Double Date

On Saturday we went on a double date with our dear friends, Carly & Neal. Our date started at 8:15 am, when we met for Rocket lattes on the way up to the mountain. And it ended as we dragged ourselves down the mountain after three hours of cross country skiing bliss. Now how many of you can say you went on a great date, sans kids, that ended at noon? Not many, I'm guessing.

It was the first time Carly had ever skied and she did great. I love that I got to introduce her to my favorite winter sport.

And no, this double date did not count towards my resolution. Jono and I actually got a second date out Saturday night to Outback Steakhouse, compliments of one of my lovely volleyball players this fall (and our amazing babysitters, nana & grammy). The year is off to a great start ;).

Join the Cause

My dear friend Kelly and her husband David are in the process of adopting a baby from Korea. We are so excited for them! They're raising awareness about adoption and funding their adoption by selling these cool shirts. Jonathan and I are actually getting ours today. Follow the link to join their effort.

Also, if you are interested in reading more about their story, check out their post about why they're choosing adoption as well as why they're fundraising.

Blomgrens, we're so excited the meet the new addition to your family!

Ringing in the New Year

We celebrated the transition from 2010 to 2011 with some dear friends. It was a pretty low key gathering of our homegroup from church. We ate yummy food, enjoyed good conversation, played a game that got a bit rowdy, and toasted some fancy goblets as the clock struck twelve.

Clara celebrated with us for about ten seconds before going to bed. She packed quite a punch in those ten seconds, though. She showed everyone her amazing eating and dancing skills.

I can't wait to see what is in store in the year 2011.

Resolutions

Tis the time of year for reflection. And revisiting the resolutions from last year. Which can be affirming and depressing at the same time. At least is was for me this year. I pretty much batted a .500, which is pretty good for baseball and far less impressive for goal setting. Still, if I try and look at the bright side, I did pretty well. But then again it depends on the way you look at it. I failed miserably in a few categories. But I guess that's the challenge, isn't it? Why set a resolution you can accomplish without any effort?

To start out with the positive, here are the resolutions I kept:

#1. Run my first half marathon. Check.

#2. Read twenty books. That was accomplished by the skin of my teeth. Many of them have been listed along the side here, but they are (in order of completion, and without authors - sorry, authors)...Blink, The Memory Keepers Daughter, Grace Based Parenting, Friday Night Knitting Club, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, Committed, Unaccustomed Earth, The Story of Hansel and Gretel, Half Broke Horses, The Red Tent, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, Mockingjay, The Winter of our Discontent, Water for Elephants, Into Thin Air, Hidden Power and House Rules. Whew! Twelve of these were read for book club and the other eight were random additions. I have been watching way too much Friday Night Lights lately and haven't read nearly enough. I have a long list that I'm hoping to read in 2011. We shall see...P.S. They were not all good books, so this is not a public endorsement ;). My favs? It's hard to say but my top three would probably be: Guernsey, Into Thin Air & Grace Based Parenting

#3. Launch my bow business. Check. It's not going crazy or anything, but it's about where I want it to be. It keeps me busy from time to time without being too busy, which is a very fine line. I enjoy it, so it's a nice little release.

Now that I'm feeling pretty good about myself, this little list brings me back to reality. My failed resolutions:

#1. Make at least one new recipe a week in 2010. Hmmm. I really did try on this one. For a while, at least. I even kept a list of all my new recipes with star ratings along the side. Impressive, I know. I think I made it through the second week of March before my little system completely derailed. I really don't know what went wrong besides life (and my patheticness) getting in the way. Of course I made new recipes here and there throughout the rest of the year, but not with quite the same intentionality.

#2. Meet or chat with my Younglives mentee once a week. Ashley, if you read this, I'm sorry. I know that we have kept up over the last year, but not with the intention I had wanted. There were certainly weeks that went by, especially in the summer months, where I basically fell of the planet. Lesson learned from my first two failures: Resolutions that require weekly commitments do not work well for me (unless it's eat ice cream or chocolate or something like that. Sigh). It must be a personality flaw.

#3. Learn to sew. Now this one is probably my most embarrassing failure yet. If you want to maintain any amount of respect for me, just skip this number. But it was a resolution so I must reflect upon it. I asked for a sewing machine for my birthday in March. I got it. I was also invited to about ten "sewing club" parties hosted by a friend. I did not go. And then I met a new friend this fall, Kelly, who asked for a sewing machine for Christmas this year. She asked me if I had a machine and which kind. Only then did I open up the amazon box and find out. Oh yeah, and this conversation happened about a month ago. So yes, my brand new sewing machine sat in a box downstairs for about nine months before I opened it.

I used to tell people that dressing up for a workout was half the battle. I could absent-mindedly put on my running pants, sports bra, t-shirt, and shoes. Then I would eventually think "gosh, I'm already dressed. I may as well go". I thought this same logic might work for my sewing machine. If I got it as a birthday present, I'd pretty much certainly learn to sew. Wrong.

I will say, however, that I did get out my sewing machine for the first time three weeks ago. This is entirely because my same friend (Kelly), ended up buying the same machine. And my other very inspirational go-getter of a friend (Carly) practically dragged me to her house to make a project that she a) found b) planned and c) held my hand through. And after Carly and Kelly threaded my machine and walked me through it, I did finish my first project (this is what it was supposed to look like) and this is what it ended up looking like (a purposeful view - can you really see any of it? Not really.)

But I will not say that I accomplished my resolution because I still do not know how to sew. The good news? If my friends stay as diligent, I may be close to accomplishing this roll-over resolution in the year 2011.

That brings me to my new resolutions:

#1. Learn to sew.

#2. Go on a twice monthly date with my husband. We're hit or miss right now in the date department and I think he deserves a resolution. He is the love of my life, after all.

#3. Become a birthday remembering, hand-written-card-sending person.

#4. Spend quality God time each day. Stop putting ridiculously high expectations surrounding it. Start planning it around Clara's schedule, not necessarily before she wakes up, when I'm a lazy pile. Stop getting mad at myself for my inconsistency. And start really praying for people,every time I say it, especially whilst hand-washing all my dishes, which takes about an hour each day. Geesh. This one may be a little hard to reflect on. My education background keeps whispering at me "measureable and attainable"...

#5. Start selling my bows at my hairdresser's business (who offered) so I can make them on my own schedule.

And that seems like enough for this year. It's an odd number so I'll either do better than this year or worse. Hopefully not worse.

In all seriousness (since half this post has been sarcastic...which my lovely friend Amy recently pointed out is kind of my writing style), this time of year is a great time to reflect and goal set. There are things that I'd like to improve on in the year 2011. And I'm excited to attempt to accomplish my goals. What I'm even more excited about, though, has nothing to do with me and my plans and that is watching the Lord work in our lives this year. I know that he has much in store for us, and ultimately, that is what I want to see in the coming year.