The Old and New

We bought a washer and dryer. On New Year's day. Yay for us! They're going to deliver & set them up tomorrow, and then I'll finally, finally start doing cloth diapers again. See, some pipe dreams do come true!

Since we've been married, Avram and I every New Year's have taken time to list all of our accomplishments/memorable experiences from the previous year, and then our goals for the next year. This is (most of) this year's lists.

2008 in Review
Avram got into and received a University Fellowship for the OSU.
Don and Barbara (my mom and step dad) visited us in England, and we visited France together and saw Paris.
Lydia learned all the letters of the alphabet.
Elisheva Anne was born on April 28, 2008.
It was a natural birth.
Avram got distinctions in Biblical Hebrew and Ancient Israelite Religion.
Avram earned a Master in Jewish Studies degree from the University of Oxford.
We moved from England to Virginia to Ohio.
Avram lost weight (like 25 lbs).
Thora lost 10 lbs (not including losing post pregnancy weight, which she also did). Of course, I gained five of it back again during Christmas.....
Avram got his driver's license.
Thora knit Elisheva a stocking, and Lydia a scarf.
Elisheva first learned to scoot at seven months, and to officially crawl on Christmas Eve.
Elisheva has six teeth.
Lydia has an early (7:00 pm) bedtime, and goes to sleep easily.
Elisheva has moved from our bed to a crib in the girls' room, and sleeps through the night.
We finished reading the Book of Mormon together and read almost all of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Avram matriculated at the OSU.
Avram attended the SBL conference in Boston.
Avram got a 4.0 Autumn Quarter.
We had the Duck Incident of 2008 at the Columbus Zoo.
We visited Tennesse for Christmas.

2009 - Goals

Potty Train Lydia.

Use Cloth Diapers.

Thora begin babysitting from home (which I will starting in Mid February. Its a long story, but I'll be switching to babysitting for a six week old baby boy then).

Avram present a paper at a conference.

Read the Book of Mormon as a couple.

Incorporate more exercise and wholesome recreational activities into our family (once per week at least).

Pray kneeling as a couple every night.

(This is my personal one); brush my teeth twice a day and floss them daily.

Also, for a very incomplete list of books I've read this year:

1.Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell.
2. Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.
4. The Ladies of Grace Adieu, by Susanna Clarke.
5. Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens.
6. Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke.
7. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.
8. Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien.
9. Tea With Mr. Rochester, by Francis Towers.
10. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh.
11. North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell.

12. All eleven books of the Wheel of Time series, plus the prequel, by Robert Jordan.
13. Mistborn Trilogy; The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages
14. Mother Ocean, Daughter Sea; The Sea Lark's Song; Twilight Rising, Serpent's Dream by Diana Marcellas. These were pretty lame-o.
15. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, by Winifred Watson
16. The Field Guide, First book in the Spiderwick Chronicles, by Holly Black and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
17. Twilight. (Yes, I actually read this, and more surprising to me, I actually quite enjoyed it.)
18. A Thousand Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Marquez.
19. Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson.
20. Cold Comfort Farm, by Stella Gibbons.
21. A british book about active labour that I can't remember the title of for the life of me.

22. A novel that traces a fictional vermeer backwards through its owners. I can't remember the title, though.
23. These Happy Golden Years, Laura Ingalls Wilder.
24. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott.

I read a lot more young adult/kids books that I tend not to record, like re-readings of the little house books, or a bunch of books by Diana Wynne Jones, like the Chrestomanci Series. It's a little embarrassing to me that there is only one non-fiction on this entire list. I've never been very good at reading non-fiction; perhaps this is the year to begin being better. I do often check out cookbooks from the library and read them, but I don't read every single page, so I don't count them.

Although I didn't get the idea for writing this post from my sister in law, Aleatha, she did it before me, and inspired me to actually post it, instead of just always intending to post it.