Tis the season for weird pictures of kids with a random stranger.

I think I like this idea better. The other kids were cutting out snowflakes.

While we were in Wyoming for Thanksgiving, we went exploring and found this wonderful place. We played here all afternoon, the kids enjoyed climbing rocks.

We decided to go out to my twin sister’s house for Thanksgiving. There is a bit of risk in driving through Wyoming during winter. The roads were actually closed when we drove out, but we drove through anyway. And then I clipped a deer on the way home too, so we need to fix our front headlight.

We left at 3:00 am and got there in plenty of time for a wonderful Thanksgiving day.

Curtis had his winter preschool program. It was awesome to go see him sing and play with his classmates.

We love his teacher, and he has blossomed in preschool!

This picture describes my boys. A shy smile from Curtis, a huge smile from Henry, and Peter reading in the background.

We were outside just as soon as it was light.

I find being myself very challenging. It’s much easier to compare myself to others and try to be like them. But of course that also generally means I’m discouraged and not really living how I like.

I’m a gardener, but I’m a slow, lazy, gardener and tend to let the weeds grow. I’m a mother and I like my children to be independent and try not to interfere too much. I’m an early riser and had to laugh when someone apologized for the “early hour” at 7:30. I’d already been up for a couple of hours of my own choosing. I’ve always had curly hair, even when stick straight hair was super popular and everyone owned a straightening iron. I go to parks with my kids in the winter, when there isn’t anybody around. I love yoga, but still cannot touch my toes without bending my knees. I like learning, and read non-ficition books and go to classes for fun.

I am myself. And I’m learning if I ever want to truly enjoy life and be successful, I should be Liz and not anyone else.

Life has been normal. We have developed a routine and it works. The kids are all doing pretty well in school. We had parent teach conference for Peter a while ago. He is smart and has a great teacher that still tries to challenge him. This year has been a great year–he usually loves going to school. He still has little problems with his classmates and absolutely hates to get in trouble. Or be last. He’s one of just a few kids who doesn’t like P.E. I think the reason he doesn’t like it is he isn’t always first! He half-heartedly drew a maze for a school art contest, and ended up getting a runner-up award for it. Not too bad!

Curtis is also in preschool. I just got an evaluation from his teacher. He’s quite and a bit of a loner, loves to be first, and loves manipulative play. Curtis is doing better at talking at home, and he started reading lessons that are very challenging and he is doing quite well at.

It’s fun to just have some Henry and mom time. He’s such a happy kid. One day, his dad got him all ready, and I knew he wanted to go with him to work. Luckily his dad said it was okay and he spent an hour in the therapy room. He was ecstatic the rest of the morning. I’ve been turning on Mr. Rogers for him sometimes, and he loves it. He’ll say, “Watch Rogers!” again and again when I tell him we are going to.

I’ve been focusing lately on enjoying life. I’ve learned there’s a balance. I enjoy what I have. I’m at a certain place in my life, and I can choose to enjoy it even when it’s not perfect or at times frustrating. I can love my husband, my children, my home, my community. The kids might spill milk all over the kitchen repeatedly, my house is old and always in need of some repair, the garden is full of weeds. But I can still choose to enjoy it by being present and grateful. And really, it’s easy to enjoy. I have a very blessed life.

I also seek out things to enjoy. But I’ve learned this isn’t going out and trying to make life perfect or awesome, but more taking notice of the things that bring me and the people around me joy and striving to do them more. And doing less of the things that are optional and don’t really bring the same level of joy. So I’ve been going up to the lake or wandering around a campground, and I’m careful when I sign up for new activities.

My kids are doing so well lately. Curtis has gone from hardly talking to asking questions all the time. My main mental exercise is how to explain time to him when he doesn’t really understand what a half an hour or next Thursday is. He’ll keep asking, “Well, when is that?” until he understands.

 Henry is starting to talk. His favorite words are titty, shoe, gock (sock), and he has the hilarious habit of calling his older brother Pe-pe.

Peter is excelling at school this year, and loves to ready. Lately, he’s been reading hours every day to help his class at school get a pizza party.