gum, poop and paint

It's not that I'm less upset by children who wake up with a wad of green gum mashed in their hair, or three year olds who poop their pants three times a day or open ziplocked bags of wet rollers and paint themselves and the just completed bathroom white. I'm plenty upset. It's just that I'm not surprised. I've done this before; I've already seen it and lived it. I can't predict the behaviors, but like a recurring nightmare, it all seems so familiar.

The gum was in Max's hair and was quickly resolved with a close shave before school. The poopie child was thrown into one of the TWO (hooray) available tubs upstairs while I scrubbed the paint off of the walls. I like this phase of motherhood when problems are solved like the rehearsed and practiced lines of a play. It's too bad my oldest boys will never experience a well choreographed Mom in action. Their naughtiness slaps me in the face like a cold wet washcloth and while I try to think of what to do next, I've lost.

Coming off the Christmas high was only made possible by an awesome New Years with the Lughesworth family. Despite our ski trip not going as smoothly as I would have liked, it was a great weekend. All my kids but Marcos are self sufficient on the slopes, even without Daddy. The highlight of the weekend was James and Betsy's DVD of the last 10 years. I cried through the whole thing. We spent lots of time discussing in pseudo-relief society-presidency meetings and Andrea and Betsy made me feel 100% better about the house. Betsy offered the perfect suggestions for furniture arrangement and Andrea knew exactly what the molding should look like at the back door.

My new year's resolutions are still forming. Foremost is getting our silly loan paid off. I'd like Eliza and I to start harp lessons this year. I want to double my temple attendance.

Andrea's theme for the year is "increase thy offering." I really like that focus and think this is my season to kick it up a notch in terms of service. Being in the nursery is dreamy, so I have no excuse for not being more available to others. I have no excuse for not being a really good visiting teacher for the first time in my life.

Just saying the words "2010" sound good. I can tell this is going to be a great year.