But a blogger has their history laid out behind them, so it should be easy. Except for the blogger who forgot how to blog on a consistent basis.
"Hello, my name is Jon. I'm a lapsed blogger."
What's crazy, looking back I can see that I've put up a heck of a lot of posts this year, but fell off the wagon after Alya's birthday. You know, when pictures and things are happening at a rapid pace I stopped letting everyone know what's going on.
So the first thing to not do is make a resolution to post to the blog every week.
I took a look at my first post of 2009 ("Happy New Year"!) and it was going to be a retrospective. It never got past January.
Instead the better resolution is to write.
It's a bigger concept than just a simple "blog more" and encompasses more than this family life blog. And it will make a general improvement on my communication skills as a whole. And perhaps it will reduce some of that late night game playing, because I'll be writing instead.
[Jon waits for the laughter to die down.]
Okay, I had to put a funny in there some place.
***
Speaking of writing, that's one of Alya's big things of the past months. She can write her name fairly well, knows all the letters in lower and upper case, and seems just a half step away from reading. My squirrel's verbal skills are growing and her reasoning is going even faster. "Do you remember when you flushed the toilet when I was supposed to do it?" or any other item of remembering past events. It's so cool to see her grow like that.
Marcus is busy doing his own thing. He is quite the instigator and often starts stuff up with a quiet action that would serve to get his sister in trouble if we were not nearly as observant. Favorite lines include, "I don't like that!" and "More [batteries, suckers, screwdrivers, etc]." But then he says, "Please." in the voice of an angel, so it's hard to say no.
Sasha and I are doing well. Work continues for both of us with driving intensity. Sasha's load has been increasing in her department and will continue a steady climb. This is good for Manpower as her department (NASA) takes orders for national accounts. So more work equals more money.
My department will reach a fever pitch this year. Already I have had to pull weekend hours, but now the big roll out is about to happen and that will not be a cake walk.
On the personal side, we've not made major changes. Alya and Marcus have both taken their first class at the zoo and are already signed up for another this spring. Alya begins gymnastics next month, while Marcus has a return to swimming lessons.
Both kids had an excellent Christmas with far too many gifts, but lots of extended family time to show both sides of the holiday. Pictures may go up someday.
***
Anyway, it's time for me to roll. We've got a New Year's Eve ahead that will have the kids doing all sorts of fun things with their cousins while the adults get to have a little normal conversation with cousins as well.
Best of health for 2010 and may fortune smile upon each and every one of you.
Signing off for 2009!
Jon
