Knock my socks off

Friends and family members travel many miles during the holiday season, gathering together as though no time has passed between visits, yet spending hours catching up on all that has been missed over the past week, month, year, even more. There was an eight day stretch last week when we were either out of the house or hosting a party under our own roof every night. Then we left town.

Our travels were mostly local, though, except for the trip north, and today we hopped in the car for a day trip to the west side of the state to see friends who had travelled all the way from the west side of the country. Not exactly meeting in the middle, not even in terms of time spent en route, but we did what we could.

The joy at seeing friends, the type of people who you can not have spoken to for months, even a year, and pick up right where you left off, is always immeasurable. But the joy at having both those friends and snow for a holiday visit? Well knock my socks off.

These are good times.

Resolve

I don't usually do new years resolutions. There are a lot of reasons for this, the least of which is not my inability to follow through with them. I do set goals; last year I planned to read 60 books, run in a 10K, and successfully get back to making our family's bread products. As of now I've finished 61 books, run a 10K (though not in a 10K), and am still buying all things yeasty. 1.5 for 3 isn't too bad, I guess.

In any case, I've never really felt the draw to set new years resolutions, but this year I'm feeling ambitious. How is that even possible? Our Christmas decorations are still up, barely half of the laundry is done, and the only reason we had dinner tonight is that we had enough cheese left from the holidays to conjure up a vegetarian dish on the fly, yet somehow I'm feeling ambitious? Yes. In November I joined some friends in challenging each other to run at least one mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Years. I created a chart and got jogging, and not only did I complete the challenge, I improved my time and my distance enough to get courageous, and announced to my fellow streakers (as in holiday running streak, not what you're thinking), that I'd be training for a half marathon this year. Goal number one.

So that got me thinking about the whole resolution thing, and I decided that there are plenty of areas in which I need good solid goals. I thrive on the whole list making thing. I'm one of those people who will add a chore to the list after I've done it just so I can cross it off. It's a trait that is rubbing off, and I often find random lists with item such as "eat lunch", "play with Legos", and "hug blanket" floating around the house. In fact, when Calvin starts dragging his feet on certain chores or projects, all we have to do is make a schedule for the day with cross-offable items. There is value in having well-defined and achievable goals, and being able to mark progress and accomplishment.

So for this year I actually have a number of goals, one of which is to run in that half marathon (13.1 miles), but I'll also be picking up the 365 photo-a-day challenge again, and the 60 books in a year challenge, and there's a 25 day home purging and organization challenge we need to try—numbers, numbers, numbers, because tallying accomplishments is almost as great as crossing items off a list.

And how about some homeschooling goals? I've actually done really well over the past few months, finding the delicate balance between too much scheduling and not enough, so my real goal is to keep on keeping on. But then there are some things that have gone neglected, like exercise, so I need to get us out and active every day. Calvin's goals are more lofty: he plans to learn all about ancient Greece and Rome, he wants to become "proficient in nutrition and cooking" (his words, not mine, although I'm sure they are an amalgamation of earlier quotes from me), and he plans to read the entire Redwall series.

And I think another goal of mine will be update here a little more often. Happy new year. Again.

Up north for new years

Coming north for new years is a beloved tradition of ours. This year's trip was full of all the usual goodness, like great company, fattening foods, hilarious gifts, and even plenty of snow. We visited all of our favorite haunts and cooked our favorite dishes. We laughed, we had fun, we got some rest, and we came home ready to tackle the new year.

I didn't take the camera out as often this year, and several of these shots are actually from my phone. I think reinvigorating the camera hobby will be on my list of resolutions.

Noggin Room

New Year's Eve

"Duck, duck, MOOSE!"

English party poppers

English party popper hat

Dessert with Chambord infused whipped cream for adults...

...and possibly a couple of kids as well

Key Hole

2012

The end of the year makes me both nostalgic and hopeful. I long to look back at the days that have gone by while also heaping upon myself great, or insane, goals and wishes for the coming year. So here's a look back at some of the things that we did this past year, which has served in part as a reminder of all those wonderful things, but also as a reminder to myself I get back to it, since the past month or so has been a little slack around here.

Happy new year.

January 2012: Snap Circuits, Legos, and lots and lots of books, and we were just closing up our look at human evolution and venturing into human migration and the history of civilization. Calvin started classes through our homeschooling group on Friday afternoons, and toward the end of the month we went to Disney World.

The North American International Auto Show

February 2012: I comment on the strangely warm weather in several posts, longing for snow. When it finally came, it was for only the second, and what would be the last, time all year, and there wasn't much of it, but we built a snowman. We were out of order, getting an overview of world civilizations before starting at the beginning. Calvin had an MIR, went to his first true musical, and started getting an allowance; we adopted Iris, and our blog images got bigger.

March 2012: We said goodbye to our Dachshund, Moose, with a lot of heartache. Warm weather came early, and with it a tornado that hit the neighborhood nextdoor. We went museuming. Calvin was in his first stage play, he fell in love with the My Father's Dragon trilogy and read it umpteen times, and he filled in his first journal, prompting what is probably my favorite post of the year.

April: Spring. There was fascination with the Titanic, and a museum visit to appease, but mostly history took us to ancient Egypt. There was a big Lego sorting and organizing project, and art.

May 2012: a month of travel, to Holland (Michigan) and Chicago. Plus Calvin performed in his second play (The Wizard of Oz), and we completely alterred our homeschooling approach.

June 2012: Most notably, Calvin turned six. The rest, like his mid-year recital, or learning about gravity, or taking a quick trip up north, was just icing on the cake. Oh, and we raised butterflies.

July 2012: Camping on Lake Michigan, biking around Mackinac Island, watching the fireworks in Harbor Springs; swimming at Independence Lake, hiking, biking, and playing in the sprinkler; three trips to the zoo, two to the Natural History Museum, and one to Greenfield Village; the Rolling Sculptures Auto Show and the Ann Arbor Art Fair. How were we ever this busy?

August 2012: To Niagara Falls and Stratford! Were we ever home this summer? In other news...it was hot.

September 2012: No first day of school here, just good old standard homeschooling. What? Another trip to Chicago, and football season arrived, along with some cooler, wetter weather.

October 2012: Time just flying by. Back from Chicago, headed up north; book reviews, a science experiment, a trip into history; and of cousre, Halloween, my favorite time of the year.

November 2012: An election, one final trip to the zoo for the year, and Thanksgiving.

December 2012: It wasn't that long ago, but it had Calvin in one play and watching one play, a trip to Greenfield Village for Holiday Nights, a winter piano recital, and all the usual trappings of a holiday season, even snow.

Finally snow

All of last year we waited for snow fall like this, the kind of snow that required shovelling and welcomed sledding, that burried the grass and the plants and cried for a fire in the fireplace. It would have been nice of it to arrive before Christmas, but we'll take it even after.

The holiday season calls for family time. Jon worked from home today, and while he did so Calvin played with new toys, I straightened up and went for a run. But the snow and the sunshine are a beautiful combintion, and while I shoveled after my run the boys came out and joined me there, then continued their play with sleds in the back yard. Calvin's only disappointment is that it was not good snowman snow.

And another great treasure that was missed last year, the family dinner with my extended family with all my cousins and their children present. The years go by, but they just seem to keep getting better. Like wine.