Friday, January 25, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

These little twin devil children turn 2 today. I love them so much. 

Philippa, just reading the paper like normal

their favorite books (upside down farming magazines)

Greta acting normal

WOOF WOOF WOOF

Philippa

Greta


"mouth!"



the other one can say it too, I just can't catch them both on camera



p.s. Happy Australia Day!

Monday, January 14, 2013

O Tannenbaum...

Let's just ignore the fact that it's after Christmas. The twins like music and hake kind of joined in whenever I've sung to them for a while, but this was the first song they put words to and it's probably their favorite. Although Old MacDonald might be moving on up, at least the e-i-e-i-o part.

The first time they heard this song was at the Christmas tree lighting at the chapel in the closest village on the first Sunday in Advent. We sang some songs, and then I went in with the twins and all the kids there to hear a story. Except Philippa did not want to hear a story. She kept whimpering O Tabam to me and I finally figured out what she was saying.

And then they started singing it all the time but as soon as I tried to get it on film they would quit or walk away. This was the best I could do.



Saturday, January 5, 2013

2012 in Photos


I ran track,
and pole vaulted,
had a fantastic last spring break where I refused to leave my bed unless absolutely necessary,
had a great last semester of college with great friends,
I graduated,


coached another great group of kids,

rode my bike from Nice to Paris through the Alps,

went to Seattle,
and moved to Germany,

where I became an au pair to these little munchkins and their 3 siblings






Resolution Time!


2012 was a really great year for me, for the most part. A lot of good things happened and I felt really happy. And, I even stuck to most of my resolutions! That is, until a few months ago. I felt myself fall back into some old habits and ways of thinking that I know are not beneficial to my well-being. And I don't have the resources and support system I've had before to snap out of it. That being said, I'm determined to work towards being healthier and happier in 2013. 

So here are my resolutions and goals for this next year. It seems like a lot, but most of them are related:

Improve my German - basically this just means going to and finishing my German course I'm starting on Monday. It's 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks. 

Ride my bike to my course as much as possible - It's a 14km ride, but it takes about the same amount of time as public transportation and otherwise I will definitely not get enough exercise. So unless the weather's terrible (which could very well happen at least 4/5 of the time) I plan on riding my bike.

speaking of exercise, Run the Hannover Half-marathon - It's at the beginning of May, so I have about 2 months to focus on training after my course is over. But this means staying in at least the same running shape I'm in now for January and February by running on weekends and making use of the time I do have. I have a time goal in mind, but I will definitely reassess that as it gets closer. Part of being in shape for the race and just in general means working on my strength and conditioning and not just cardio. This is something that's hard for me to motivate myself to do over a long period of time, but I have a plan I'm following so I just need to stick to it. But it will most likely mean waking up 30 minutes early to get it done.

Become more mindful, especially by reintroducing yoga and meditation in my life. This starts by meditating for 5 minutes every night before I go to bed.

Eat less sugar. And less in general. Seriously, we eat basically the same thing every day, it's not like it's going to run out. And I do not need to try every kind of cake every time we eat it. There is always more cake.