Seriously? It's March already?

I started this year of 2011 feeling behind. We came out of our Holiday season having celebrated 5 Christmases and still having one to go which didn't happen until January 8th and while it was very enjoyable, the whole timing of it left me feeling very behind. I know that this seems to be my mantra "I'm so behind". Hmmm, must meditate on that one...but when you honestly can't remember the last time your toilets were scrubbed and your kids are making comments about them...you're behind. The toilets finally got cleaned (not even 2 weeks ago - I said it was bad!) and with that, I finally felt "caught up" for the first time all year. I'm totally feeling the effects of being gone at my yoga teacher training all day every Sunday and not having that day at home. Apparently, I used to do a lot of productive things on Sunday that I didn't really notice until I wasn't around to do them anymore. Whooda thunk?

Some really great things have happened this year so far:

- S is officially POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more diapers. Ever. Never ever again. Wahoo!!!!!
- The twins are officially done nursing. That was slightly bittersweet but we were all ready. I said I wanted to nurse them until between ages 2 and 3 and they were 3 years, 2 months when they stopped. It was such a lovely experience nursing them for so long and I have wonderful memories of it. And I'm glad that we're done and moving on.
- M turned 11! It seems to get more "real" every year. 11, wow! He had a fun couple of parties and we honored him just right.
- Tim and I booked a vacation...alone...just us...no kids. Awesome.
- My sister "matched" for her doctoral internship which is a REALLY big deal. We're so happy for her and kind of selfishly sad that it will take her to California but they're going to have a great time...and then move back in a year. For real.
- I've started running again and I actually like it quite a bit. I never thought I'd say that.
- As part of my yoga teacher training, I've done a meditation series and a practice development series (both of which were really wonderful) and I'm signed up to study with Seane Corn for a week in August about which I'm totally stoked. I'm learning so much through this process not only about yoga, but about myself. And things are coming up for me and I'm working through them which kind of suck sometimes but it's all part of the journey and it will be worth it in the end. I truly love this teacher training process. I've been doing some practice teaching here and there which is helping me become more comfortable with things as well (like figuring out which arm is your left and which one is the right without having to look at my own hands or do the posture myself); it's not always as easy as it looks! It's very cool that I get to decide what kind of a teacher I want to be and what I want to put out there. It's also kind of intimidating for the same reasons. Again, all good stuff.
- We officially finished the Harry Potter series! We flew through the 7th book in record time (for us) and then suffered the inevitable Potter Void symptoms as we floated around the house trying in vain to find something to fill it. We did finally settle on some good ol' Raold Dahl books but we're still suffering some of the lingering effects of Potter Void. At least we have one more movie to look forward to :)

We've had tons of snow and despite the general feeling of dismay on Facebook, I love it. It's been beautiful watching it come down; so peaceful. We're just hoping for a slow thaw to minimize the inevitable flooding.

For some reason, I caught the school planning bug really early this year and have been having way too much fun planning what we're going to do next year. The boys have finally figured out that once they get done with the stuff that I have planned for them, they have plenty of time to study the stuff that they want to study. The cool questions are starting to flow more freely now and it's getting really fun. There's truly nothing more satisfying than having your child say "I just read something about the Tropic of Cancer and I don't know what that is. Can we look it up?" Music to my ears!! Even the little ones are getting in on it and asking to "do school" which pretty much involves looking at their letters, making sounds, identifying the colors of every truck we see, counting the number of cookies the neighbor lady gave us and roaming around the house pretending to be cows. Good times. It really is fun to have some older ones (we're starting Middle School next year - wow!) and some younger ones to stay in balance.

I have to say that when the twins were little I had so very many parents of multiples offer "when they turn 3, it gets way better". They were so right. 3 year olds are awesome and times 2 is just super cool...most of the time. Of course right now they're having World War III but it all goes along with the territory. Most of the time, they play together incredibly well and the way that they're participating in co-operative play is heartwarming. We delight in watching them.

So, life goes on as usual in our household. Our thoughts begin to turn to warmer weather and activities that go along with it: camping, summer fun, swimming, go to the beach, hiking, riding bikes, playing outside, etc. The twins are finally going to be old enough this year where we can really get out and do lots of things that we've had on hold for the past 3 1/2 years. It was worth the break but we're going to be really grateful to have some freedom this summer that we've not had in several years. BRING IT ON!