Resolutions

I come from a long line of overachievers. Serious overachievers. My mom got straight A's her ENTIRE school career...elem, Jr. High, High School and at the Y. (She would correct me here and say that she did get ONE B...in tennis. And really she couldn't help that, I mean you have to have talent in tennis to get an A there. Don't worry she would agree with me : ) My dad lettered in almost every sport available in high school, and was named the Most Outstanding Athlete Ever or something like that his senior year.

They had high expectations for themselves, and that transferred to their kids when we came along. In our house there were no rewards for straight A's, they were expected. They also expected us to be involved in clubs, sports, church activities, service in the community...you name it, we were involved. That is just the way we worked.

I didn't realize that not all families were like this until I got married and Tim told us all one day that we were the biggest bunch of overachievers he had ever met...in that kindest way he could.

So, a few weeks ago I decided to make some New Year's resolutions. I will be the first one to realize and admit that I have not-a-small amount of self improvement to make in almost every area of my life. I settled in with a paper and pen and decided to write down the first few things that came to mind that I felt were vital to improve this year. Thirty-seven goals later I set my pen down, fully determined to complete every goal I set for myself because, after all, they were all important. If that is not overachieving, I don't know what is. They included everything from #12. Lose the rest of my baby weight to #24. Read to each of my kids twenty minutes each day (add that up, that is a full hour) to #3. Study my scriptures for a 30 minutes each day to #35. Mop my floors twice a week. As I reviewed my list later that day, I realized that I should have just made one goal #1. Attain perfection in every possible way and in every facet of my life this year. I also realized that I would need about 50 hours in each day to complete all of my goals. Just rereading the list made me tired. So, I bit my lip, fought against every overachieving bone in my body and whittled the list down to just four goals. Much more do-able with three kids. (none of whom nap well during the day, even Ashlyn, they just don't want to miss one minute of fun). I wrote this to remind myself each time I post, that I made goals for one thing, and so I could check my progress on them. Hopefully next year I don't still have the same four goals. : )

On to more fun happenings, Braxton started his little preschool and loves it. He is so dang cute and has been saying the funniest things lately. Here is conversation we had yesterday.

Brax: Wow, mommy those are pretty pants. (Tim got me some very loud looking pj pants for Christmas)

Me: Thanks, Brax.

Brax: They have hearts and snow on them, and the letter P. They are very pretty.

Pause...

Brax: Mommy say "Thank you Braxton."

Me: (I didn't realize I needed to thank it twice for the same compliment) Thank you Braxton.

Brax: You're welcome.

Ashlyn is officially a very fast crawler now. Her new found movement has made her much more aggressive and she and Brax got in their first fight a couple days ago. He took her toy away, she crawled over, pulled herself up on his back and yelled in his ear while trying to grab for the toy. I am glad she isn't afraid to stick up for herself with her brothers : )

Jace has become very inquisitive and is asking me questions that I can't answer. I am glad he doesn't know how lame my answers really are. What would you say to questions like "What does 'is' mean? Why are some people girls and some people boys? Can I fly to other planets someday? (He has been learning the names of all the planets) Why not? It is hard to keep the answers on a 5 year old level.

My new brother-in-law Andrew was nice enough to take some pictures of my kids with his fancy camera. It was late in the day and they were tired but there were some good ones I like that just show their little personalities. Below are a few of my favorites. Thanks again Andrew. : )

On a related note, Andrew has recently started a little announcement or print business. He is really talented and I heard he works for pretty cheap. : ) Check out some of his sample designs at 2nd-street.blogspot.com (someone really needs to show me how to link things. I am sure that it is incredibly simple and I am making myself look totally lame by not knowing how to do it, but so be it). So if you are having a baby and want to announce it or know someone getting married, or just want some super-cool stationary, give him a call. : ) I am such a good sister-in-law, he didn't even ask me to plug him like this. : )