i have decided that i need to live in a tv show. well, one of two actually. desperate housewives or brothers and sisters. (um, both of which i never watch, because that would be trashy......). see, the thing is that the weather is always perfect in these shows.

brothers and sisters is set in southern california, so obviously the weather is beautiful. but seriously, i'm almost done with season 1 and there has not been a single rainy day, or even a cloudy day. that is my kind of life.

and desperate housewives is set in fairview, some mythical town with perfect weather. the only time there is ever rain or storms, it is only for thematic elements in the show. in the last season that i watched, they were wearing long-sleeved t-shirts in the christmas episode and looked very comfortable jogging outside in the middle of the summer.

the last two days, we have had amazing weather. temperatures in the mid 60s - 70s, mostly sunny, slight breeze. and no bugs or humidity. so i've been able to leave the back door open and let hiba and matthias go in and out as they please, which has resulted in very happy kids and a very happy mom.

so where are these tv towns? because, seriously, i want to live there.

family dinner

i have this thing about family dinners. in my mind, they are a great idea. they are a time for us all to sit down together, jason and i can talk about our day, hiba can tell funny stories, matthias can throw food on the ground. you know, special moments like that.

in reality, they usually end with me yelling at hiba and/or matthias and on the brink of yelling at jason. the kids don't like my cooking, i have to feed matthias the whole time so my food is cold by the time i eat it, hiba whines about everything from the food being to spicy (aka having any flavor at all) to where we set her napkin down. the meal is usually ended by matthias throwing his half-eaten plate of food on the ground. by the end of the meal, i am usually convince that home-cooked meals are over-rated, goldfish for dinner could be a balanced meal, and eating in front of the tv is the best idea in the world.

but not tonight. tonight, we had a successful family dinner. i'm trying not to get too excited about it, because i'm sure tomorrow will more closely resemble the paragraph above. but tonight, it was a success.

i made spaghetti and meatballs, french bread, and fresh green beans. hiba actually ate the spaghetti, mostly by herself, and completely with no fits. she tried the green beans, which she very over-dramatically told us she didn't like, but hey - she tried them. and she didn't fuss the whole time.

and matthias. he was amazing. i decided to skip the spaghetti and just cut up the meatballs for him. which he ate on his own (messy - yes, but still), and he at his green beans, and he dipped his bread pieces in the extra sauce on his plate. and the most amazing part - he ended dinner by taking a drink and calmly pushing his plate towards me and signing "all done". which he has NEVER done before. i almost didn't even know what to do.

tomorrow will probably be a family dinner filled with melt-downs, thrown food, and complaints, but hey - i have have tonight to hold on to.

i hate new years

i realized this year that new years is my least favorite holiday. there is just so much pressure. pressure to do something fun. pressure to stay up late. pressure to wipe the slate clean and make all sorts of unattainable goals for yourself. pressure to completely turn your life around overnight. and i don't like it.

i like having a good time, but i don't like feeling like it is forced. like i have to come up with some epic event that will go down in history or else i am a loser. and i do like staying up late, but only if i know that i won't have to take care of my kids the next day or the week after while i recover. yes, i am one of those lame moms now. i think it's hereditary. (boom, roasted!).

and i realllllly hate new years resolutions. i think they are stupid. because you can't make reasonable resolutions, like "i won't eat chips". it has to be something extreme, like "i won't ever eat anything unhealthy for the rest of my life". which obviously isn't a realistic goal.

so some of my friends have written lists of goals or things they want to accomplish instead of resolutions. these seem to be more reasonable, so i thought i would do it too. and then the list got really long, because there are more than a few things i would like to start/quit doing. so that overwhelmed me too. but after having a small meltdown when jason informed me that we had a lot of extra crap in our house to get rid of, i decided to take a second look a the list and take a little advice from jason.

just pick something. something small. something that i can get done. and then do it.

so it started by me taking the small things and extra clothes to goodwill. and some of our baby stuff to teen mops. and boxing up the rest, in a nice and neat way, to tackle another day.

and that wasn't nearly as hard in reality as it was in my head. which calmed me down enough to look over my list and narrow it down. so here are some things i want to do this year. maybe they won't all start right away. maybe they won't all continue all year. but it's a doable list of small life changes, that will hopefully develop into habits and eventually just my way of life. here's to 2011.

-finish decorating the kids' bedroom

-start (and finish) decorating our bedroom

-finish the half-way started projects in the kitchen

-work-out three times a week (even if it's just a walk around the block)

-do one family activity each month - go to the zoo, have a picnic, go to a water park

-have people over for dinner at least every other week, hopefully turning into each week

-do fun projects with hiba and matthias, and do fun things with them. no more sitting at home and watching tv! (well, maybe a little sitting at home and watching tv....)

-become more involved in our church and get to know the people there

-clean my house on a regular basis (i originally said clean each room every week, but let's not be ridiculous...)

-write letters, we'll start with one a week. maybe by the end of the year i'll even be sending birthday cards.

so there it is. my 2011 list. i think i can do it. it doesn't make me hyperventilate and i don't think it's so drastic. it's almost even doable. so maybe after this year, i won't hate new years quite so much.

hibaisms

so i have a lot of things i want to write about - christmas, new years, resolutions (or lack thereof), life in general - but they are all kind of overwhelming to me at the moment, so instead i will share some awesome things my daughter has said recently. i really need to write these down as soon as she says them, because i feel like i am missing the best ones. oh well. enjoy!

"there's still snow outside, but it's stopped snow-flying".

in response to me telling her to say in bed at nap time: "don't worry mommy, i'll get back in".

hiba and matthias are sharing a room now. last night, i told her that when she wakes up this morning, she needed to stay in bed quietly until i came and got her. instead, she got up and woke matthias up by trying to get into his crib. i told her that this did not make me happy. so she said, "ok, i'll get back in bed and try to stay there until you come get me. then will you be happy?"

we were at a restaurant with some friends the other night and hiba was being super whiney, so jason told her if she didn't stop, he'd give her a spanking. well, she kept whining, so he picked her up and took her into the bathroom, while she was covering her bottom and saying "no,no,no, i don't want a spanking". when they got in the bathroom, she looked so relieved and said "oh, good. you just have to go pee-pee. it's ok, daddy, you can go to the bathroom".