Bob and Jillian have nothing on these guys.

Every morning, I go down to our basement workout room and spend some time on the treadmill and then do weights, or legs, or abs. Every morning, Polka and Ella follow me down, watch me walk and then the minute I am on the floor, both of them are there "helping". Because when I am hot and sweaty and trying to do crunches or to stretch, what I really want is a hairy, hot dog body pressed up against me or even worse, a furry friend trying to kiss me every time I crunch up.

This shot is from this morning. We are dog sitting Lola, my parent's lab while they are out of town. Here you can see my personal trainers keeping me on track. Well, two of the them anyway, the black one was busy trying to eat my earbud. I think it is time to have the personal space discussion with them again.

Scouts Honor

Ethan's best buddy, Noah, recently joined Cub Scouts and asked if Ethan would like to join. Drew told him he shouldn't join because then he would have "to sell those cookies". After I clarified the difference between Boy and Girl Scouts, Ethan decided to go to one meeting to try it out. After the first meeting, I asked what they did and he said, "we learned about the flag and then practiced folding it the right way". Inside, I was thinking, booooooorrrrring but when asked if he liked it Ethan said, "it was AWESOME!". So he was hooked and we now have a Scout in the house.

Last night was his 3rd time going and he finally had his uniform. He was so proud of his shirt and told me to take his picture and to make sure to put it on Facebook so I can show my friends. He was awarded his first pin last night for learning about weather and he was super excited about that. He was asking me how long you can be in Scouts and I told him a person can get an Eagle Scout award which is the highest award in scouting. He said very determindly, "I am going to get that award".

Visiting the neighbors

The kids had Monday off for MLK Day. I took them to the doughnut shop and we went up to an overlook near our house to eat. It was one of those gorgeous Colorado days and we enjoyed our sugar and our panoramic view of the mountains. On the way home, we stopped to check out our bison neighbors who were happily munching their hay. Ethan was cracking me up telling them through the fence what tasty burgers they make. He is such a little comedian and he is right, they do make an excellent burger.

Some lessons learned in 2009

Last night as I was laying in bed at midnight (yes, I am boring but I am also well rested) listening to the fireworks and hoopla outside, I was thinking about this past year and some of the lessons learned this year.

* Here is the big one for me personally this year: we can't choose what happens to us in life, the only thing we can choose is whether we decide to suffer or rise above. Easier said than done in a lot of instances.

* Family is always important. Whether you are meeting all your first cousins for a laughter filled lunch or you are rushing to Utah to be with your dad for his bypass surgery, family are the people who remind you of where you came from and who always have your back. Always make time for them.

* When your oldest son tells you after school one day, "my penis was tingling today at school", it is imperative not to burst out laughing.

* Stubbornness, while it has some benefits, can sometimes not serve a person well. For example, when you have a herniated disc in your back, you don't stubbornly ignore it and run a half marathon anyway. You will be kicking yourself during the 2 outlandishly painful months that will follow.

* Having a friend who will call you everyday to ask how your back is feeling, listen to you complain about it and then tell you it is going to get better and she knows that because she has been through the exact thing, is a rare gift.

* It is nice to feel understood. Having a fun, supportive group of mom's to walk on this special needs journey with is priceless.

* Life is too short to wait to do the things we want to do. Which is how I ended up with this year's Christmas present and blistering fingers but a big smile on my face and a sense of excitement at learning something new.

I am sure I could go on and on because isn't life constantly full of lessons. I hope 2010 is a good year. I think almost everyone would prefer something better in the coming year than 2009 brought us all. I am optimistic that it is going to be something better if for no other reason than we all learned some things in this past, harder year.

Happy New Year!!!