the mojo life: January 2010

Thursday, January 21, 2010

my little italian

Maggie with her first (and my first!) homemade lasanga.....

last week I took Maggie on her first ice skating adventure! We had so much fun and i was so very proud of her! Forest Park has this little quaint outdoor ice skating rink. It was wonderful! Of course, she was wobbly on her ice skates and it took us about 30 mins. to get around half of it. She held on to the edge and I was behind her holding her and the edge.
I thought for sure when she got onto the ice that she would say it was too hard but she kept going! She loved watching the people fly by and wasn't discouraged at all when she would stumble. At the end I asked her if she wanted to do it by herself and she said yes, so I let go and she skated a few feet holding on to the edge and then looked at me and said, " I want to ice skate" so she let go to the ledge and of course, immediately fell on her butt.
She started crying but when we got inside she said, "I am ready to practice again!" warmed my heart! I cant tell you how proud of her I was for not giving up! I obviously didnt get any pictures of us skating but I will next time!
ready to hit the ice

making funny faces while we waited for the ice to get cleaned

freshly cleaned ice skating rink. beautiful huh?

Monday, January 18, 2010

snow daze

school was cancelled (well, except for the seminary of course)....so what to do when its snowing, below zero, and we are stuck inside all day? why chocolate pancakes& baking bread of course!
the nice thing about living so close to to our friends, is when its too cold to play outside they can run over in the jammies and eat breakfast and play. we love it here!
the older kids

the deep snow

post pancake pigout!

when the weather finally warmed up a bit (a week later) there was still plenty of snow on the ground and we had a great, although short time out playing in the snow! my kids are snow babies!
abraham obviously LOVED the snow. he was a happy, happy little guy. so cute, huh?

and of course, he wanted to lick it.

snow angels!

warming up with some homemade bread

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

still processing

I cant seem to really believe its 2010 because i am still processing 2009. sometimes i wish christmas was earlier in the year so we'd have time to celebrate that and then also have time to reflective and evaluate the end of the year. but now, its like it all happens so quick and then bam, youre writing the wrong year on your checks.

one reason its been hard for me to evaluate is because we live on semesters. our "year" starts in the fall and culminates in the spring with a couple lazy months in the summer. so spring of 2009 doesnt seem to "go" with fall of 2009. anyway, enough complaining.

last january seems years away. our little Abe was just sitting up and Maggie was just starting her preschool days. I have completely two different kids then i did last january. and i think i've grown on the inside as much as my kids have grown on the outside. 2009 was a wonderfully difficult year. I know our marriage is better for it, and i think i am a better parent and friend for it too. life is a blur, you know? but its the minutes and hours that seem long and thats where the real work of loving others begins. the lessons of 2009 will not be forgotten soon {and i hope never}. the lessons that its important to love others more than yourself, to be honest (to yourself!) about your own limitations, to slow down in the midst of this mad rush of life, to meditate on God's words to soothe the soul (because in the end, thats the only thing that does), falling apart doesnt mean you wont be put back together, needing other people is actually a good thing, & most importantly-in the end, everything will be okay.
JANUARY: