Moving on ...

Where to begin?  I don't even remember what was going on when I left off blogging, but here it is 2011 and that doesn't even seem possible.  Since I last posted, Ruby turned 2, we left the kids at home and took a 4-day trip to San Francisco (amazing!), we drove up to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving with Matt's family, we celebrated our first Christmas together as a family of 5, we flew down to Texas for a week with my family after Christmas, and now we're back!

Finn & Gus ready for Halloween as some sort of Star Wars characters.

Ruby as Cookie Monster with our neighbor Scarlett - guess who loves trick or treating?!?

Me in SF!!

Matt in SF (not sure why we didn't ask someone to take a picture of us together, but you get the idea - no kids!!)

In the midst of all of that, Ruby was on a fun little roller-coaster ride of emotional highs and lows, so from one minute to the next I was not sure what was about to happen with her, and my little business (www.dinnersontheporch.blogspot.com) kept getting busier and busier, and things just seemed to be in a constant state of confusion and chaos.

But now, after a few weeks off from making dinners and with the kids back into their routines at school, I feel a little more sane.  Not totally sane, of course, but getting there.  Over the past few months, there were so many moments when I wanted to try to summarize what was going on with Ruby, in particular, but whenever I would sit down to write, I couldn't quite put my finger on what was going on.  One minute she would be happy and loving, the next throwing a world-class tantrum over something pretty minor.  Things seem to have evened out now, and I think her growing vocabulary is helping alot, but she's definitely a willful little person.  So independent and determined to do everything for herself - which is great in many ways, but a little dangerous too.  I love that even though she is barely two years old she can dress herself, put her shoes and socks on, put her toys away, use the potty with some regularity and lots of other big-girl things that I don't think the boys were doing until they were at least 4.  But.  Of course there is the other side of the coin.  I'm trying to be careful not to let her jump straight into self-sufficiency without a little mothering.  I don't want to wind up on the other side of an argument 14 years from now where she can rightfully say that she's been taking care of herself all of these years and now I have no business telling her what she can and can't do.  Love those mother-daughter politics!

Anyway, lots of good stuff to work on (always), but in general everything is ticking along.  The Christmas decorations are down (I think it counts that I have them in boxes, even if the boxes are still stacked in the living room, right?).  I've got another week before I start back to being a delivery girl, so I'm enjoying the relative peace and quiet.  It's a snow day today, so we're laying low.  After naptime we'll make cookies and hot chocolate, during which time I will try very hard to be patient even when things spill.  I will try to start (and finish) a few loads of laundry and I will most certainly wait until 5 pm before I have a glass of wine.  And then I'll start trying to think of ways to keep everyone occupied tomorrow, which will almost certainly be another snow day.  I'm trying very hard to keep New Year's Resolution #7 - I will only allow myself one Mommy Dearest outburst per day!!

I know we have more pictures proving that we did have Thanksgiving and Christmas together, but I can't find them, so will have to add that later!