Manual

In an attempt to work through my new years resolutions, I signed up for a beginners photography class through Arlington County for the winter session. I had my first class (there are five) on Tuesday and holy schnikes was it eye opening. I actually learned what some of the buttons on my camera actually do. I also learned about aperture, ISO speed, and shutter speed and those in combination make for pictures that look good. Who knew?!?!

Yesterday morning I set my camera to "M" or manual and attempted to do what the teacher told me to do. Hi ISO speed for inside, large F Stop to let more light in, and turning the dial to play with my shutter speed. Here are a few of my shots from in the morning and midday with the kids. Definitely not professional but I am also pleased they didn't turn out totally blurry and dark. 

By the way if you were wondering how I took all my photos prior, I would set the camera to automatic and shoot away. Sometimes I got lucky with a decent shot. 

Soccer

Today Whitaker started SOCCER!!!! You might wonder why the need for all the capital letters and exclamation points but it is pretty much the only thing that I have done with Whitaker where he has listened, followed directions, was cooperative, interested, and engaged during [most] of the "practice." To his credit, we haven't participated in that many things. 

During the Fall we did gymnastics and it was a disaster. I half blame the place where we chose to do it (too long, no structure, not very interesting) but Whitaker just didn't care to be there and was a total nightmare the entire time - throwing tantrum after tantrum. Soccer on the other hand is Whit's thing (or at least the first practice went amazingly well enough for me to declare that it is his thing). It doesn't hurt that his "best bud" [his words], "Johnny" [his cousin] is in the class with him. I will also say the two coaches are great with kids and keep it interesting for them. Here are photos of Whitaker and John from today. 

Whit is looking at the coach and listening!! The boy next to him is a little boy named Lawson.  My sister and his mom are good friends and coincidentally, me and his mom were in the same sorority at JMU. 

He is listening, really!!!

They told him to put the ball on his head and he did it. 

John put the ball on his head as well. 

Best Buds. 

They were playing red light, green light. Here is freezing with red light. 

Trying to bounce the ball on his head. 

Number 1 Fan

I put Whit in his PJ's tonight and he went back to his room to put on his "Harper" shirt. After putting him to bed he came back out with his Nationals hat on. After three days of school cancellation and delays because of snow and cold, even Whitaker is wishing for the start of baseball season and Spring to come! 

Letting myself go...

Last night, here is what shook down at our house. 

Pearson: Wow you look like a real mess right now. 

Me: That isn't very nice, I actually showered today. [I said this with pride because it isn't something that  happens every day].

Pearson: Your hair is just...

Looks like a trip to the hair salon is in store AND the makeup counter to get some fun new products. 

Losing My Marbles

Last week, I seriously thought my kid's bike helmets were stolen off our porch. They were not, although, I really, really believed it and told multiple people about it.

This is what ACTUALLY happened to my kid's bike helmets. 

Last week (I believe Tuesday), it was a semi-nice afternoon so I told the kids to get their shoes and helmets and we were going for a scooter ride. We scooted to the playground, where the kids each asked me to take off their helmets while they were playing. After a little bit, we headed home but took a detour to the creek to throw rocks, where I took a few photos of the kids. We then went home and then left the scooters outside. A couple of days later, it had rained all day but at around 4 it got clear. I told the kids we were going to head out for a scooter ride. But when I went to go find their helmets, they were no where to be found. I searched high and low for them, I  texted and called Pearson frantically asking if he knew where they were, and then I assumed someone came up on our porch stole the kids helmets BUT left the scooters. I told my neighbors about it - probably getting them nervous about the alleged theft. I then went out and bought Mae and Whitaker new bike helmets.

Today I was scrolling through my phone and saw pictures of the kids from that day at the creek and what I realized was they weren't wearing their helmets at the creek, which was our next stop after the playground. I then realized I am a complete and utter idiot and probably left their helmets sitting on the bench.

Yep. The kids and I went back to the playground this afternoon and sure enough there they were.  

Really It Seems About Time - 2014 Resolutions

These are quite late in being posted. Based on how long it took me to get these up, I am thinking that one of my 2014 Resolutions should be to not procrastinate. Sadly, I think I have more areas of self improvement that I need to work on.

In no particular order of importance, here are my 2014 Resolutions, Areas of Improvements, Things that Need/Should Happen this Year:

1. Be less judgmental. I hate to admit this about myself but I am a pretty judge-y person. I hate to admit this even more but I will sit in church and be judgmental about what people are wearing. Seriously. I loath this about myself, it is really pathetic, and not cool. With that said, my mantra (stolen from someone else) for 2014 is Compliment people. Magnify their strengths, not their weaknesses.

2. Do more unexpectedly nice things for folks. - My older sister just received an email from an old friend via Facebook that she hadn't heard from since college. The message coincided with my sister's birthday but in it the woman told my sister that she still remembers what an amazing friend she was to her during a hard time in her life and wished her all the best for her birthday. My sister told me about it the other day and how that single email made her soar. I realized at that moment that I, too often, get caught up in the mundane and don't tell friends, family, acquaintances, how much they mean to me. I am hoping to work on this one.

3. Learn to work my camera. - Since this was on last year's goals and I didn't quite make it happen. I am going to get this accomplished this year. I have already signed up for a class through the county. It starts at the end of this month so stay tuned for an update.

4. Be more patient. - I sometime scream so loud it scares me. Yes, you read that correctly. I lose my temper way too often. I must work on practicing patience with my kids, with Pearson, and with others.

5. Volunteer - Since moving I haven't really been volunteering like I had in Seattle. I volunteer in Mae's school but I need to do more. So in the next month I am bound and determine to figure out my next opportunity to get involved.

6. Wills, Life Insurance, and Other Important Documents - Get 'er done.

7. Be more consistent. - When I thought about this one the other day, I was thinking that I need to develop more consistency in my parenting. I like the fact that I am willing to change my thoughts on things and even though I might go into a situation with the kids and vocalize that we aren't doing that/having that, I sometimes change my mind. I think, at times, changing your mind teaches your kids that we aren't set in our ways. However, I fear - in fact I am pretty certain - that I am not doing it on occasion but it has been a little too frequent in the house. As I type this, I guess I could also be more consistent in other areas of my life, working out, eating healthy, staying on top of household chores, etc..

8. Develop Better Sleepers - Ok I don't even know if this is possible and out of my powers but I am putting this one one here in the hopes that it will somehow happen. There are a couple of things in MY power that I can do. Whit is a dog shit sleeper and gets up a couple of times in the night screaming out for milk, for me, for who knows what. I partly blame myself for fueling this. The other night I threw down the gauntlet and said "NO MORE." No more milk in the middle of the night and NO MORE us coming into your room unless it is an emergency. The other hope is that the kids sleep in a little bit later. They are up most days at around 6. Whitaker is normally up in the 5 o'clock hour. I am actually totally fine with the kids getting up in the 6 o'clock hour but in the 5 o'clock hour. UNACCEPTABLE. Maybe we will get out the old Ok to Awake alarm clock.

9. Go Somewhere That We Have Yet to Go (on a plane) - I really, really want to go on a fun, exciting vacation this year with or without kids. Preferably I would love to go to Europe or maybe the Caribbean for a few days for our anniversary. This might be wishful thinking but maybe if I start planning now, it will happen.

10. Run a Few Races This Year - Last year I didn't participate in a single running race. That is not to say that I didn't run, I just never signed up for a race and ran one. I always have a hard time justify the entry fee. I always say to myself, "Why am I going to pay $40 to run a 10k if I can just go out and run a 10K for free?" I have decided is that I really need to change the way that I think of this. Training for a race (no matter the distance) is fun and being a part of the running community is even cooler. I have already signed up for the GW Parkway 10 miler in April. Now to pick out a few more races for the year.

There it is. I should probably print this and put it on the fridge so I am reminded of these on a daily basis, especially the patience and consistency. 

New Park

The weather has been either pretty cold or rainy or icy recently. It has been a bummer but I also realize it is winter and winter generally means staying indoors and cold/rainy/icy/snowy weather. The cold/rainy/icy weather has stopped us from getting outside as much as we need to be and I have felt we have all been a little restless. 

The other day we were driving to a play date and we passed what looked like a darling little park. I casually mentioned that we would have to go back in the near future "when the weather was nicer." Well the near future turned out to be the next day - it was dry and although it was a little chilly (low 30s), it wasn't anything that we couldn't be out in. I had mentioned the park to my sister, Heather and she said, "oh Will loves that park and refers to it as the Ewok village." So I asked her if he wanted to join and he did. The park was adorable. The main structure has a tree that is hollowed out with steps that take you to the next level. Even though we were only out for 45 minutes, the kids seemed happy to run their legs and be outside. I loved the fresh air and the entertainment of finding a new park. I went down the twirly slide a bunch with them and I remember all of us screaming over and over again, "clear" [to make sure no one was at the bottom because you couldn't see]. 

Also something to note, Whitaker did come with us. Somehow I didn't get a single decent photo of him. 

Seems About Time

Now that we are knee deep into 2014, it seems about time I should do a little assessment of how I would score myself on my New Year's Resolutions from 2013. (I will do my 2014 goals in another posts - I PROMISE). 

So let's get to it. These are my resolutions from last year. 

1. Remember friends and families birthdays. 
2. Live with the clutter.  

3. Be more humble. 

4. Relish the moment. 

5. Bring less stuff into the house. 

6. Read more. 

7. Learn how to really use my camera.  

8. Be more kind and loving to my husband. 

9. Get all our financial paperwork and wills completed.

10. Be healthy and lose weight.

Here is how I think I did. 

1. I think I started out of the gate solidly on this one. I was on top of Heather's [my older sisters] birthday in January, even mailing her a gift. I followed up with the next few family birthdays pretty good. I am notoriously bad at remembering friends birthdays but was more aware of people's birthdays on Facebook. In the last quarter of the year there seems to be a birthday celebration in our family every two weeks. Since we were here, I attended all the obligatory dinners but don't feel that I did anything super special for some of the folks. Actually I don't know what I am talking about. I bought Matt a 40 ounce for his 40th birthday. 

2.I think that it isn't in my DNA to live with clutter. I have decided that a little mess I can handle. By no means am I perfectly tidy or live in a pristine house but when things get too out of control, I lose my cool.  

3. To be perfectly candid, I don't know really how to gauge this one and whether I was more or less humble. I will say I was a little bit more mindful of it but not as much as I would like to be. 

4. Oh yes. With the kids especially. They seem to be getting older and older by the second. I am so nostalgic ALREADY of this time. They are so little, cuddly, and sweet (most of the time). They want to be with me and still think I am cool. I know this is all short lived so I try to drink in as much as possible. Now that is not to say I am not on my phone or computer or tinkering around. I probable tell them that I am busy doing [insert dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc] too often. But I am definitely trying. 

5. Yes, I believe I succeeded in this, especially when still in Seattle. With the impending move I insisted nothing come into the house and even made sure that for Whitaker's birthday party this year no one brought a present. In addition to not bringing anything into our Seattle house, we got rid of gobs and gobs of stuff. However, with the move into our rental, we have been less strict about this rule. First off, it seemed we had to buy some stuff to fit this space and we have more room then ever so even though we have a little more stuff then we left Seattle with, it doesn't feel like we are living with clutter. 

6. Yes. And I think I actually might have hit the 12 books. I came on strong at the last third of the year. 

7. Sadly, no. I still am pointing and shooting and not knowing what a single damn button means. However, I did try to register for a camera class this Arlington County tonight but it is full but I asked to be on the wait list. So if this class doesn't work out, I am going to take it the next time. I promise. 

8. Yes and no. We have had a lot of stress this year. Trying to sell the house, moving, renting, new job for Pearson, etc.. I would love to say that things have been all happy and rosy but they haven't been. As I have said, marriage is a work in progress. And thankfully ours still is. On the flip side, all this stress has united us on certain things. For example, I thought living with my folks would be really stressful on our marriage but in fact  it was the opposite. 

9. Nope. In all fairness we were on track to get this done. We even met with the lawyer and all. However, when we told him we were planning on moving, he advised us to wait until we moved state since we were just going to have to do it again in Virginia. So looks like that is going on my list for 2014. 

10. I guess this one always seems to go on my list and I am now even wondering why. I am thinking that instead of a yearly goal. Getting healthy should be a daily goal. I had some sports/post pregnancy related injuries that crept up on me at the beginning to middle part of the year that really forced me to slow down on running and working out. 

There you have my self scoring system for my resolutions for 2013. 

Unbelievable

Arctic temperatures are blasting the country. Most of the midwest is experiencing negative temperatures in the teens and twenties. That is just down out right frigid. Well we are also getting hit with some colder then usual temperatures and today's low this morning was 7 degrees. Cold but nothing that doesn't make you walk a little faster and make sure to be bundled up from head to toe. Well the school system didn't think so, so they delayed the start of school two hours which meant that Mae didn't even have school. Now I am all for safety but really starting school late because of 7 degree temperatures, it seems a little ridiculous. AND since Mae was just out of school for the last two weeks, I feel that we have exhausted the whole sticking around our house, hanging in our jammies, and playing with new toys. So, first thing this morning I declared we were going to a museum and that is just what we did. We headed to the National Building Museum - a place we have yet to visit - to check out their indoor play space and boy was it a good distraction. There are two rooms to play in. One that is for smaller kids called the Building Zone and another room that has a rotating exhibit every few years. This was the room my kids really loved! They also loved the building itself and ran around for 45 minutes on the first floor. The only negative, it isn't part of the Smithsonian so it isn't free and I got a parking ticket. 

This is right when we got there. "Thrilled to Be Here" is written all over their faces. 

Mae loved this play house and of course thought it was hers. She could have played in it all day long. 

There was barely anyone there. 

Whitaker building a tower then knocking it down. 

Mae playing dress up. 

Now the real fun begins. 

Mae made a wand and carried it around. 

I would love to say my kids constructed this but most of it was already constructed when we got there. Mae added a few pieces. 

Making wishes in the fountain before leaving.