Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's the year 2010 already! This morning I made a new folder for my photos, and it felt so strange not to be typing 200x. 2010, a whole new decade - I'm excited, willing and ready! This year I decided not to make any resolutions, because I honestly don't need any more self-imposed standards or deadlines. Instead I decided to make a few guidelines and goals to strive for (with no deadlines, no time tables and no penalties for falling short):

1) Home and Family first! Because I work from home, it's easy to slip into the trap of working when I should be doing other things (like that mountain of laundry) and vice versa (like baking brownies when I should be doing quarterly taxes). This will be the year that I finally master the work-home-family balance! To begin, I am going to re-create our family chore/tasks chart - scheduling things, even daily tasks, always helps to keep me from feeling overwhelmed (and keeps me from doing the dishes or those darn quarterly taxes at 1 am).

2) Be present and mindful. My boys won't be little forever, so I'm going to make sure that I'm fully there, connected and loving every minute of it. ♥

3) Reconnect with the things I love about myself - starting with the interior design skills that I have and rarely find the time or budget to use. Because I'm at home so often, I want my home to be a place that I love spending time. Look for some frugal and crafty home decorating projects from me in the future. It's time for me to create my own happiness, starting with my environment!

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The house is so quiet this morning, it's almost unnatural after having a bustling house full of guests and visitors for the last two weeks. Here's what we've been up to:

Enjoying bikes and scooters in the relatively mild California winter. When I see photos of people who have been snowed in all winter it reminds me how lucky we are to consider 50 degree weather to be "freeeeezing!"

Baking brownies with Grandma (who always lets the boys lick the batter and decorate their own brownies with extra sprinkles!)


Grandma also brought some new board games with her: Candyland, Chutes and Ladders and I-Spy Bingo. We ♥ playing games together.

We built a bunch of new marble race tracks with Grandma and Grandpa too.

The boys' cousins (aka "the triplets") Rachel, Ryland and Jonathan came to play. We went to Wacky Tacky (an indoor play place) and then came home to play on the new Wii that we got for Christmas.

Everyone say "Cheese!"