Goals

We decided to have themes for our goals for 2009

Our family theme is :: Petersens follow the Prophet :: easy to reference as we make family decisions and goals. I think we will have it as our family motto, not just for this year. We made a sign to hang up so that we see it often. I think we will focus our energy on health and try and incorporate these ideas: 

• eat slower and enjoy our meals as a family

• pay attention to hungry and full cues, especially with Wes

• drink a glass of water instead of snacking and stay hydrated

• have a veggie salad or a good serving of veggies everyday

• eat sweets sparingly (this will be hard)

• exercise five times a week, getting out of the house and going to the park for Wes once a week

• use as many fresh ingredients as possible

• eat a low cholesterol healthy breakfast everyday

• get to bed early (early to bed, early to rise, makes a family healthy wealthy and wise)

My personal theme is :: A House of Order :: which I would like to achieve using these four goals

• Consolidate and Donate :: get rid of all the stuff we don't need, use, or want and organize what we want to keep. So far we have done tons of this and it feels amazing.

• Food Storage :: organize an emergency plan and gather all the necessary food and equipment. 

• Budget :: get a system down that allows me to track and use a budget for our family expenses.

• Journal :: keep a record of our everyday joys, inspirations, and experiences, which I will do using this blog, hence this post and other recent and future posts.

John told me that his theme for this year will be :: Get Rich or Die Trying :: no other explanation necessary. Seriously though, he does have a lot of career plans for this year and he does such a great job taking care of his family.

Well so far so good, we have been working hard and are excited for this new year and our new adventures. 

Hungy

Last night Wes woke up in the middle of the night crying and calling "Mom!" I went and got him out of bed and he kept saying he was "hungy" so I took him into the kitchen to get a snack, which I usually wouldn't do but he didn't have much of a dinner last night. While he was eating he looked up at me and said "Happy" with a content little smile on his face, this was the first time he has ever expressed an emotion besides scared to us. So Wes and I had a happy little snack of toast and juice at four in the morning.

We usually understand most of what Wes says to us, he has a great vocabulary, but there are a few things that he loves to say over and over very excitedly and we have to idea what he means by them. Saby! and Mission! are his usual expressions but lately he just yells Eight Dollars! like he won the lottery. We have no ideas where he heard any of these but it's hilarious.

Monsters

this is Wes' scared face

Last night we were hanging out in our bedroom, I was writing, John was reading and Wes was running back and forth turning on and off our table lamps. Then Wes ran out of our room and ran back in really quickly and hid behind my closet door. He was pointing out into the family room and saying "man, man" "scared" over and over. So John grabbed a broom and searched the house to make sure no one was hiding somewhere. Wes has all of a sudden developed a very good imagination. He tells us a lot that there is a monster in his room and makes his scared face, where does he get this stuff? Today he told me very seriously that there was a shark in his room. During every meal he pretends his food is different animals and he bites them. His favorite are bears and elephants. It works out well if he won't eat something, we just tell him his food is a snake or something and then he will eat it.

Healthy Fun

I have been meaning to do a muffin tin lunch for Wes for a while now. We tried it this week and it worked out so well! I try and put something from every food group into his tin, in this particular one he ate everything but sometimes he leaves a little left in one or two (usually whatever is green). It works out great because I feel like I can see what he is getting and know it's a well rounded offering and he has fun moving his food around into all the different cups while he eats, perfect.

Love Her

Cutest

I absolutely love it when Mae smiles, her eyes are so cute!

Fun

Wes got these crayon rocks for Christmas and has had some fun coloring and eating them.

Best gifts

I think my favorite and most unexpected gift from Christmas was my Wusthof chef's knife from John. Way to go for thinking of something that I would love but didn't even know I wanted! It is super sharp (will cut through anything) and very well made.

I have to say in close second is the bread making supplies and class that Rose got me, again, I love it but didn't know I wanted it. I have been dreaming of bread and rolls and braids all week and made my first batch yesterday, it turned out ok but I will definitely be perfecting as time goes on.

Some other things I received and am excited to use soon are my cast iron skillet, food processor and baking sheet. I will be busy in my kitchen for the next six months at least. Thank you to everyone who gave us wonderful gifts for Christmas, especially Wes' exciting gifts which keep him busy so we can get things done.

In the Kitchen

This is a really good article from the New York Times about organizing the food in your pantry and keeping up healthy habits. Some of these things I already do but most of them I'm excited to try. Check it out.

Holiday Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the holidays. We have moved in and finally have internet so I will post more pictures soon.

Day 365

For New Year's Eve I thought I would try using our double stroller for the first time, I got the kids all bundled up and we walked up to John's office for a fun visit, Wes managed to find the dirt in the potted plants and all the hidden candy in peoples drawers as soon as we got there. Then we headed up to Salt Lake and met Joel and Natalie for dinner at the Dodo, it was great food and we topped it off with a delicious coffee cake in a bowl of caramel, yum. Later we met up with all the Collettes and played games and hung out till it was 2009.

Update: We still haven't moved! We are sitting in a house full of boxes using paper plates waiting for someone on the other side of the country to write up the paperwork!

Christmas

Christmas was in beautiful snow covered Idaho this year. We decorated the tree, shopped, played games, went bowling, made snowmen and snow caves and snow tunnels, watched Son of Rambow, the Dark Knight, and Mama Mia, made pizza, caramel apples, and a gingerbread house. We spend Christmas Eve with the Jones' and had traditional manicotti and played Christmas Bingo, then John and Nathan spent a few hours setting up Wes' kitchen. Christmas morning we opened presents, had a delicious breakfast, played games and watched A White Christmas.

Wes had so much fun playing with his Aunts, Uncles and Grandma and playing in the snow with Grandpa. Mabel's present to us was sleeping through the night once we got there and being extra smiley. We had a super fun time and were sad to leave and come home to a house full of boxes.