Happy New Year

We made it.

It's officially 2010.

This is how we started off 2010...

And yes, it was indeed colder than the forecast led us to believe it would be [-16° to be exact] But when you have a new toboggan, and you're waiting very patiently, you just have to go for it! We bundled up and headed out to the nearest hill, which is thankfully a very short drive from us. We had a blast. It's the first time I've been on a toboggan in years, and to feel that wind on your face, and tears running down your cheeks, well let's face it, there's nothing like it.

The kids felt I didn't go down the hill enough times. They thought I was kind of a wimp, but let me remind you a little something about being at the tobogganing hill... You ride down, yes you do. And it's fun and exhilarating. But you have to turn around and come back up. These two rug rats run up, no problem-o. But me... That's another story. A sad state it was when I surfaced the top of the hill huffing and puffing...[legs AND lungs burning] Indeed I'm out of shape. When these two sweet little faces are begging me "Please Mummy, can we go tobogganing again" How can I possibly resist? Good exercise it is at that! Can't wait to get out there again!

My word of 2010 I've decided is:

DOCUMENT - noun - any written item, as a book, article, or letter, esp. of a factual or informative nature.

Some of you maybe think I do a good job of documenting already...I do scrapbook. I do keep a blog. I do take pictures. I do record events. To be honest, I always thought I did a good job 'documenting' our lives. Then I took a class by Ali Edwards [which is over now] and as I tuned in and listened to her lecture once a week, I realized with a fright, that I don't even come to close to documenting my life, my kids lives, my families life etc. in a way that 5 years down the road I'll look back at and be glad at...

I realize that I am my own person. I know I don't have to compete with any one, and I certainly don't want to compare myself to others. But one thing that Ali will be able to do 10 years from now, is look back at something, read it and REMEMBER it. If someone is going to be the story teller of our family, then I WANT it to be me. In my kids short 7 and 4 years, I've already lost track of who said what, the words I never wanted to forget. I remember that all Mason's L-words, started with a 'Y'. Yips = lips, "Stop Yooking at me"... But if I don't document them it's not exactly something I'll remember when he's 16 and just got his driver's license. The same way I won't remember that when Madelyn is trying to say words that begin with 'th', she says 'f' as in 'fank you Mummy, fank you very much'. Or how she has memorized 'her' version of Hark the Herald Angels sing this Christmas. These little tidbits are what completely endear me to my kids, and I don't want to forget any of it.

So my goal this year, is to document 2010 in a 365 picture a day style. I don't really know how I'll do it. I don't know that it will all be pictures. I think it will be a little bit of everything. I do know that it is going to keep me thinking, and in the moment. I'm not going to set myself up for failure. I realize that I might not get a picture every single day... But what I will have is a tidbit of information, or a paper clipping, or a bit of journal ling. And it'll come together as I go.