January

January is always kind of hard for me.  It's dark and cold.  And cold and dark.  (Although thankfully, not yet, sick).  And Christmas is over and there are the expectations of resolutions and/or goals for the coming year.  But goals are hard to meet, especially when it is cold and dark.  And then February comes and it all hits the fan in this house with birthdays...so January has the added burden (that I put on myself) of making birthdays super and wonderful and planned out.  And I think I have been spending more time alone than I have in years past, in part because my boys just don't really NEED playmates, in part because of the cold and dark and sick.  They play so well together (with occasional fights, true).  That means, though, that I tend to have fewer interactions with friends and I am an extrovert, people! 

It's been kind of a hard month.

After some thinking, though, I have at least made a few changes.  One is that I have decided (with "permission" from Nate and another friend) to change my running habits.  I have been getting up still 3 mornings a week at 545 to run.  But, you guessed it, at 545 it is DARK and COLD.  I think that part of my crabbiness stemmed from running then.  So I have given myself permission to run at the gym without even considering whether it will be "nice" enough outside in the morning to run outside.  I mean, it is still mostly completely dark when I'm done at 630 and that is miserable.  So until it starts getting light and warmer, I'm going to try the gym instead.  I don't mind my 545 wakeup call...and I like getting a run in...but the dark and cold are horrid.

Another thing I have started doing is listing blessings.  I think that this idea started with Ann Voskamp and her book One Thousand Gifts (which, in full disclosure, I have never even looked at.)  However, a lot of other bloggers have talked about it, and I have friends who have talked about it...  At any rate, I love the idea, and have committed to writing down 3 good things about the day every night.  It has made me more aware during the day as I look for things to write down.  It is good for me to look back at the day and see what was GOOD.  I'm thinking I might share them on Sundays here...not sure yet...that way I have permanent record of them.  And it is fun to look back at the good things...remembering my days that slip by so quickly. 

Speaking of (sidenote!!!), I was just working on putting together my blog book for 2012 and was collecting all of my FB updates.  So fun.  I put so many things on FB just so that I don't forget them.  And I found a site that lets me see all of my updates all the way back to November 2007 when I started FB...what a road!

So, all that said, I do have a few pictures.  :)  Oh, and another sidenote: I sorted through some pictures and my organization of them last night on Picassa.  Since we've had kids, I have taken 27,238 pictures.  That averages to 324 a month.  And, amazingly, I took more pictures in 2012 than I did in 2011...which are still less than I took in 2009 and 2010 when the boys were so little and changing so quickly and experiencing so many firsts.  Regardless, that is a LOT of pictures!!!

So here are the current pictures :)

I brought up one of my most favorite ever old toys.  It is called Capsela.  Yes, I was a science nerd even as a kid.  You can build robots with gears and wires and switches.  Z enjoyed it.  It is very late 80's ;)  

These two goofballs have been tight recently.  I love them sitting watching tv together with L's arm around N.  So cute.  I also love that there are not alliances in this house.  The boys might have a week or so where 2 are tighter, but it changes quickly, and it is all 4 of them interchangeably.   

 All 4 tried to share one blanket.  We are way past that size wise, but it was still cute. 

 There was a nice day and we headed to the zoo.  So nice to be outside and run. 

 I love the boys with their maps!

 They were cracking up at this little black monkey who kept coming back to the window to munch on apples and stare down the boys.  They probably sat there for a solid 5 minutes which is forever for them!