Growing Up In Oz

I had an amazing 10 days off with my family.

There was delicious food of which I indulged a tad too much.

There were day dates & hand holding in a move theater.

There were endless viewings of Tangled, putting together the same puzzles over and over and plenty of sibling spats.

There was snow……….. and then there was ice.

There was one failed trip to the park because of viciously cold wind.

There was hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Wine and beer.

Lots of football. (too much in my opinion,  although probably not in Clint’s).

There was lots of hugs and tickle fights and requests for “more.” More playing, more books, more presents (oy!) and more movies.

We spent our mornings (and if I’m being honest, sometimes our afternoons) in PJs and princess dresses.

And through it all I kept thinking I needed to update my blog. I started crafting my 2012 Year in Review post in my head. I thought about all of the ups and downs (mostly ups) that occurred and although I could probably come up with an eloquent way to summarize it all for you, I started to wonder who I was writing for. Oh sure, I’m writing for myself (and for family members near and far…. Hi Grandpa James!). And yes, that does make me a tad bit remorseful for my salty language… but well, I’m me… and I curse. It happens.

But I’m not writing for any of those people.

I’m writing for two little girls.

Because I don’t keep a baby book. I can’t tell them their first words and the day they took their first steps (awful right?). I don’t even own their birth certificates. For some reason this space is the only place I can manage to keep up with and I do it to leave them with some memories of their childhood that go beyond pictures.

I don’t know what I’ll do with these words. I’d like to print off the posts I love the most and make a book for them. But we all know what happens with the best intentions. Perhaps it will be some place that they will google some day and roll their eyes with disdain that their mom word vomited all of the internet about them.

I don’t really know how that will all play out.

But I know there were 10 days spent living…. really, truly living and I loved it. It was the perfect culmination of a year that tried us to our core and also brought us closer together. It was enjoying the product of hard work and faith.  And when faced with the task of writing about it at the end of the day or having another glass of wine with Clint on the couch next to the twinkling & sparkling of the Christmas tree…. well, I’ll let you guess which one I would choose every time.

And yes, in 2012 I lost some weight. And it made me a happier and healthier person which made me a better mom which makes my kid’s lives more important.

And yes in 2012 I also got a job I love that makes me value the time I have with my kids and also provides for food on the table and a playroom full of toys and a lovely house over our heads which makes my kids happy, warm and comforted.

You see what I’m getting at? Everything I do, even when I do it for me…….. ends up being for them.

And that’s why there was no 2012 wrap-up or a list of resolutions for the New Year.

I know a lot of you have come up with a “word of the year” and while the idea is nice, I’m not entirely comfortable with arbitrarily assigning a word to the next 12 months of my life. Perhaps if I had to pick one it would be family.

More time spent with my family.
More memories made with my family.
More loving on my family.
More growing with my family.*

I don’t know anything about what 2013 has in store for us, but I do know that moving forward I intend on keeping my eyes on my husband and my two girls and reminding myself that at the end of the day they are what is important. Everything else is just the cherry on top.

I said with, not “of”… this oven is closed.