Goal!

I don't have resolutions for the upcoming year, just goals.  Somehow the latter feels better than the former. It seems that resolutions are made and forgotten, broken or just not made at all.  There's a guilt associated with resolutions, the knowledge that you'll say "I WILL do it!" as you drink your champagne on the 31st, but in your heart you know its just something you say, that once the New Year loses its shiny newness, you'll have shrugged it off, pushed it aside like too many turkey leftovers.

But a goal seems to be something to strive for, to work at, to mould and adapt as you see fit.  Your goals will grow with you as the year takes shape around you, fill you with pride as you rise to each challenge and see your efforts pay off.  They are your guide to the changing year, your map to the road ahead as you navigate the days and months to come.  Goals are good. 

And I have some good goals for 2012.  I've been thinking about them over the past few weeks, deliberating on how I want the year to proceed, what I think I can handle and where I need to push myself further.  They may change over the coming months, but at the moment, here's what I've been deliberating:

Training and Running The Niagara Half Marathon
I love running, but its something that has been neglected this past year.  I was really strong in January of 2010, had some wonderful 10km runs on sunny Sunday mornings, but then it all seemed to fall to the wayside. Part of it was that Elly got fed up of being pushed around in the running stroller, and walking back home for 5 km in the snow with her in my arms wasn't much fun.  But I think a big part of it was that I didn't set myself any goals.  I had a mini-goal to look somewhat presentable in a swimsuit in February when we went down to Florida, but once that was over, I got lazy and used Elly's stroller-angst as an excuse not to keep going.  Basically, I got lazy. 

But this year, my mum has decided she wants to run a half marathon in October to mark her 60th birthday.  I can't think of a better goal than to be able to run that race by her side.  I once thought that 21km was the perfect running distance and I hope that I get back into that groove and rediscover all that I love about running. 

There will definitely be some challenges with this goal - Elly being one of them, my sore feet (two pregnancies have not been kind to them, and I've had a lot of metatarsal issues) being another - but ten months is a long time to deal with them and find ways around them.  I'd like to run at least one 5km race and my brother and sister-in-law, Dwayne and Karen, are already talking about doing the Ottawa National Capital 10km race in May with me. Dwayne and I have spent the last couple of days talking about training schedules, clothing and equipment (I'm obsessed with getting an iphone just so I can use an app to calculate and chart my distances and progress), and I've been creating the ultimate playlist to get my feet going.  So I'm excited to start and see what my body can do!  As one Iron-Man facebook friend wrote, Merry Fitness & Happy New Rear!

Organized Eating
I asked for and received Michele Borboa's book Make-Ahead Meals Made Healthy for Christmas and I'm hoping it helps get dinners back on track in our house.  I love cooking meals, but as you can imagine, with three children, two of whom are happily involved in after-school swimming and skating lessons and one of whom loves nothing more than to hang off my hip like some newfangled accessory, it can be hard to find the time to make healthy meals.  Even worse trying to make ones they don't deem "vomitrocious", but that's a whole other issue. 

My goal here is to create healthy, tasty meals that I can make on the weekend, freeze and then reheat on our busy days.  I'd love to see my freezer full of nicely stacked tupperware containers, labelled with things like Good For You Mu Shu Pork, Quick Turkey Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Calzones, Red Lentil and Couscous Veggie Burgers (Mark is probably rolling his eyes and muttering at that one) and Family Friendly Chicken & Wild Rice Bake.  Or how about some Banana Coconut Muffins, Whole Grain Parmesan Herb Twists, Bake Ahead Fig & Brie Tartlets or best of all, Decadent Dark Chocolate Mint Cake?  I'm definitely looking forward to trying out all these recipes and more, and hopefully my guinea-pigs will be happy to eat them.  Of course there will be days when I resort to take-out, but I'd like to keep them to a minimum. 

I'd also like to see how the kids handle their own snack drawer.  One of my biggest pet peeves is the kids constantly asking "Can we have a snack?".  We have a pantry with an easy-to-access lower drawer that I'd like to use to place various individual snack servings.  I've seen some good ideas online like this and this and now I just need to see if its something we can implement with Owen, Will and Elly.  My concern is that when faced with as many snacks as they want, they'll go nuts and eat everything in sight and not have an appetite for dinner.  But I think I have to hand that responsibility over to them and see how they manage.  If it works in the pantry, perhaps I can put other snacks that need to be refrigerated in the basement fridge, near the playroom.  I guess the worst that can happen is they eat us out of house and home within a week, but at least they'll have done it by themselves and I won't have to get up every five minutes to get it for them!

Time For The Kids
I spend too much time on the internet.  I know this.  I spend a lot of time on facebook and on silly gossip sites.  I say to my children, "yes, yes, just a minute, I'll be there in a minute. Go play together", when really I should be playing games with them and doing crafts and baking and all sort of other wonderful bonding things.  Of course, as any parent will tell you (well, perhaps they'll tell you if they're feeling honest) there are days when the last thing you want to do is play Candyland or pretend to be a firefighter.  But really, kids are just so ridiculously happy when you do that it seems mean to refuse. 

So my goal here is to try harder.  To show the children that when they ask me to come and play, they are so important to me that I will stop surfing and say "Sure!"  I have a great book called 501 TV-Free Activities For Kids - a great resource for crafts, games, science projects and family fun.  I used it a little bit this summer at the cottage, but I'd really like to take it out on a Sunday night, mark a few ideas for the week ahead and try to incorporate them into our afternoons.  I find that when I have these things planned out, it helps reduce those afternoons when the boys are antsy and saying "we're booooored!  Can we watch tv now?"  A little effort ahead of time means way less hair-pulling and gnashing of mummy teeth down the road. 

Time For Mark
Poor Mark.  He's so neglected.  He comes home from his 12 hours at the office (seriously.  He leaves at 6:30am and on a good day he comes home at 6:30pm) and I throw the kids at him, or hand him a list of things that need to be done, or he eats dinner in front of the computer to put in another few hours of work.  He rarely has time to do things just for him. I'd love for him to have time to go for a run, or hang out with his friends more.  But mostly I just want him and I to hang out more in a kid-free environment.  We rarely go out alone anymore for dinner and I can't remember the last time we went to the movies (although this might have more to do with the fact that we think the movies are overpriced and its waaaay comfier to watch movies on our couch at home.  No rude strangers shoving your elbows out of the way, no lineups, no...okay, yes, we're old fogeys).  I always thought the sound of "date-night" sounded corny for married couples, but now I think it sounds kind of nice. 

My plan is to get a regular babysitter and then get out!  We're always saying we don't use our city enough, I think its time Mark and I discover Toronto again.

Time For Friends
And lastly, but by no means least, I want to see my friends.  I want to be Pascale and not MummaBumma (or Mean Mumma, as Elly has taken to calling me.  Its delightful).  I want to hang out and laugh and have a couple of glasses of wine and talk about life and books and the kids and our husbands and where did you get that cute top and our kids and that person at work who always does that weird thing with his eye and our kids and laugh some more.  I love my friends dearly.  I owe at least three of them a dinner date (Dee-Ann, this most definitely includes you!) and I don't want to go another year saying "We really need to get together more often" or "I miss hanging out with you". 

At the beginning of December I had a craft night at my house with seven of my girlfriends.  It was awesome.  My online buddy Jen has gotten me addicted to pinterest.com (warning:  this is a black hole site...you might not emerge for a few hours/weeks if you click on this link) and its sparked a creative fever that is still burning hot.  At our craft night, we made this and these and I made two of these for the boys' teachers and one for my mother-in-law.  Amber started making something like this and will hopefully finish it this year ;).  But it was so much fun hanging out with those ladies, so great to sit and gab and make and drink that I'd like to make it a monthly event, and maybe more friends will want to come too.  I'm already looking forward to planning the next one.

So.  Those are my goals to date.  I know they're not earth shattering, not going to get me on the shortlist for any Nobel prizes, but they're good for me right now.  I'm sure they will change and grow over time and more will emerge as the year progresses.  For now, I'm setting my sights on these five and looking forward to what tomorrow brings. 

Merry Christmas To You!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I hope 2012 brings you much joy and happiness and that the year ahead is full of love and laughter.

(Thanks Jen/Brazenlilly for the awesome card design!)

Your Wish Is My Command

In case you needed it, here's more proof that Elliot rules our roost...

First off, she shows us all that a good firefighter knows how to accessorize.

And at lunch, she pulls off her sock, then demands that Woah-Woah put it back on again.

It has to be just right for Her Ladyship

Then she promptly pulls it back off....

 And demands that Oh-Oh now resocks her precious toesies.

 "Like this, madam?"

 She's pointing at Daddy to tell him he's next....

Ah precious children.  Love it when they play nicely together and/or submit to Elly's will.

I know I've been pretty absent from the blog, but its not on purpose.  Life keeps getting in the way somehow.  I'm hoping I have some time over the holidays to sit down and write about such things as the tooth fairy, parental temper tantrums and just how ineffective they are, my feelings about a potential future being someone other than "mumma" and many more photos, including this year's Christmas Photo...Stay tuned!