What a bad blogger I've been...

Okay, so...it's been a while.  Like two years a while.  Not good.  This blog is for my kids.  Its for me to print out and hand them one day and say..."look, see! I was a good mom!  Or at least, I tried to be!"  It's to help jog my memory as I get old and start telling the same stories over and over.  It's to remind me of all that we have accomplished as a family.  The failures, the successes, the heartbreaks, the laughs, and the silly moments.

I have made no real New Year's resolutions this year, because I barely ever keep them.  So, instead I am making a real effort to start up my cataloger of embarrassing moments of my children and our lives that I can show their friends in high school and mortify them with.  That should really motivate me.

Quick updates-

Maggie, 6, 1st grade.  Still blonde and blue-eyed- she is funny one minute, frustrating the next.  We call her "Maggie 'take-it-too-far'" because she always does...usually to the point of her brother's tears or my breakdown.  But she is a wonderful kid.  She is still into dramatic play.  She loves to perform, especially to tell jokes.  She's got quite a dance style that I hope to capture one day on film and post here.  I surprised her yesterday at school as the mystery reader for her class.  She was so excited.  Its moments like this that really make me so happy that I am a mom and that I have such wonderful kids.

Ben is 4 and is in pre-K.  He will be joining Maggie at her elementary school this fall.  Its amazing how much he has grown.  No longer a baby but a little boy.  He's rough and tumble but still loves to cuddle and those are my favorite moments with him.  "Mommy, I just want to snuggle," he'll say as he climbs up onto my lap.  It's precious.  He has a best friend Jack who is the cutest kid and we like his parents a lot which is always a bonus.

I have a new job.  Left my company in November after nearly 8 years.  Jay is still doing his interior painting thing and we are still fixing up the house...right now we are doing the basement.  Correction- Jay is doing the basement.

I hope to write more soon!

Wax Poetic

Happy almost 2012! I, as many people do, wax poetic and make grand proclamations and promises on how I will do better, be better in the next year. But you know what? This year, I am just hanging at home, barely keeping awake before the ball drops ( hubby is already asleep on the cough, kids are in bed) and I am just plain thankful. Thankful for the year I have had and hopeful for the next one to be filled with as little strife as possible. Do I want to lose weight in 2012? Of course! Do I want to be more organized and sane and be Mrs. Perfect? Hell, yes! But more than anything, I just want to look back on 2012 the same way I am now looking at 2011. As grateful as I should be.
Happy New Year!

Nutcracker and A Lifelong Friend...

We went to the Boston Ballet's Nutcracker today.  The first annual with Maggie and her best friend Emily and Emily's mom and I.  Maggie is five and Emily turns five this month, and watching them today and listening to them interact with one another was one of the most amazing things.  These girls have been friends now since before they were two.  Our first ever outing together was Elmo live about 3 years ago.  Now they have gone from playing side by side to laughing at each others silly jokes, playing 'no block' tic tac toe, and admiring their dresses for the show. 

Bonus- the girls got to meet Clara after the show.  Mommy herself was too star struck to get a photo- oops!

 Maggie and Emily at 'Elmo Live' over three years ago!

Maggie and Emily at lunch before the show having a blast!