Happy Valentine's Day!

2009

A year in review...

*Colleen did this on her blog and I thought it was a great idea...so I'm copying*

January...the blog got off to a slow start. I started by stealing some photos from my sister. No real posts until the 9th of the year. I tried to play it off by giving the post a catchy title, "9 photos on the 9th of 09" But, really, I was just being lazy! On January 5, we lost Coleman. Such a sweet boy and strong fighter. My heart still hurts for Peggy, Scott and Caden. But with death comes life and in mid-January I announced the exciting news that my sister was having a baby!!!

February...We started the month with a week off from work and school. The city was practically shut down due to and ice and snow storm. I posted some pretty cool pictures of the "aftermath." Mid-month, I committed to run a marathon with Team in Training. I also began a long journey of dentist and orthodontist visits. Oh and Michelle got a surprise at her 3 month pre-natal visit...TWINS!

March...I took care of some sick boys and Annabelle learned to play "Fetch!"

April...We spent Spring Break in beautiful Gatlinburg, TN. I continued to train for the marathon and (sadly) had my braces put on.

May...Running, running, running. The marathon is at the end of the month! I took the kids to the zoo. And got teary when I came home and compared these photos! All the training cumilated in a great trip to San Diego. I finished the Marathon with a time of 6 hours and 11 minutes. It was long and hard and I never want to do it again! (well, until, 3 days later when the aching subsides!)

June/July...The First Annual (maybe!) Yours + Mine = Ours Bloggy Awards! I "honored" some of my great on-line friends with some made up awards! Mid-June, we headed to Daytona Beach where we spent the next month. Basking in the sun and sand and spending quality time with our Florida family! On July 21, two beautiful little girls entered this world (a month early!) and brightened all our lives! I couldn't love these girls more if they were my own children!

August...This little blog turns one year old and this old lady turns 32!

September...Cross Country season kicks in to full gear. Rachel shows amazing improvement. She cuts almost 6 minutes off her time from her first race of 2008 to her first race of 2009! Tyler starts the season strong and only gets better! He amazes us every week! He places second in Regionals and 21st in the Kentucky State Meet!

October/November/December...I only post 14 times in these 3 months. I claim to have no idea why. Upon reflection, I realize that I am wasting ALL my time on Facebook! By mid-December, I "de-friend" over 200 people I don't really care about and begin to limit my FB browsing time! It seems I have so much more free time!

That brings us to today. January 2, 2010. 2010...Wow! I remember one time when I was younger (probably under 10) and we were watching the Miss America pageant. I looked at my mom and told her, "I hope I'm still alive to see Miss America 2000!" LOL! Obviously, I did not realize that the year 2000 was not far away. Ironically, I did see the Miss America 2000 pageant and Miss Kentucky won!
........Anyway........
The point of that story was to point out just how quickly time flies! Before I know it I will be writing this same post for the recap of 2010. I hope that I will be a better blogger in the coming year. I want to try new things, re-do old things, meet new people, watch the kids in my life continue to grow and learn, spend time with family, catch up with friends, read a lot of books, lose some weight, etc, etc, etc....

Happy New Year to all my bloggy friends!
Here's to a great 2010!

Merry Christmas Friends!

One week 'til Christmas...

I can't believe it! I obviously have not posted any updates, but that's mostly because there is not much going on around here. I think we were all just trying to make it through the last week of school before Christmas break. Well, today was the last day. I sent 24 teachers' gifts to school today and came home to take a nap. Now I feel truly rested for the next two weeks! Christmas time is HERE!!!!

Since I don't have much to update you all with, I'll leave you with the following pictures from sketchysantas.com. I just found out about this site tonight and I highly recommend it!

I love the Santas that continue to smile...regardless of the children's reactions! Makes them all the more "sketchy!"

I mean, seriously, I know Santa is supposed to be jolly, but how can he laugh when those kids are so sad!
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I will assume the following 2 Santas are only trying to teach these young girls some modesty...

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Poor puppy...even your pets aren't safe from the sketchy Santas!

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And finally...Sketchy Santa, indeed!

Enjoy the pictures and the website! If you've seen any other good Christmas sites, leave me the link!

2 weeks until Christmas....

are you ready????

We are just about finished shopping here. One more week of school and then the real fun can begin!

How do you like the holiday background? More updates to come later tonight or this weekend!

(I just love these vintage images!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Easter @ Home

RED as "The Bunny"

Easter has always been a whatever comes up kind of holiday. We don't have any concrete plans for year to year. In years past, we have had dinner with family at my parent's, grandparent's and aunt's homes. One year we hosted Easter at our house complete with an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. This year felt like a stay-at-home Easter. It was just the six of us. I cooked a ham for dinner and taught the girls how to make deviled eggs for Big Daddy. He's the only one that likes them!

We also baked and decorated a yummy bunny cake!

Of course, the one tradition that always happens is the dying of the eggs. I started out with 16 eggs to boil and ended up with an even dozen. Three eggs each...just enough to tint their fingers blue! I didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few.

Look at that green! Reminded me of the C-man!

I hope you all had great Easters with your families!

Have a Great Day!

9 pics on the 9th of '09

So I updated my blog style for the new year and now I am (finally) going to post some of my pics from New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve Theif

That's me! These pics have all been stolen from my sister's Facebook page! I have been too lazy to blog and too lazy to download my pics. I am soaking in the warmth of the last days of the year. Too much food, too much drink (as to be illustrated in the following pics) and too much sleep!

New Year = New Me!

For now, check out this train wreck!

Prepping the party food

My family

Our best friends and favorite guests

We were a team for The Joke Game.
Notice the Margarita...

My son kept calling me drunk
and challenged me to
walk a straight line.
Not only did I do it,
but I did twice!
The second time as an Egyptian!

A New Year's Kiss! ;)

A New Year's toast!
This year's toasts were very special and touching.
(Don't worry...the kids had sparkling apple juice, like here)

A New Year's cigar!
Gimme a break,
it's only once a year and
I shared with Big Daddy

A group pic.
And I get mad when the kids won't behave?

And finally,
proof that I did take some pics myself.
Look for those in the next few days.

Til then...
Happy New Year Everyone!

With love,

Christmas Review

I'm still tired and I have a lot of chores!
Here are Christmas Day and the day after...

Santa came!

Lookin' good Mr. T!

A winter hat direct from Russia for JJ!

Miss Thing kept her back to me all morning!

RED got everything she wanted and more!

Even the kitties got a visit from the big guy!

These were the only nappers I caught on film,
but we all napped on Christmas Day.
The kids were up at 4AM!!!
We sent them back to bed until 6!

On Friday Big Daddy's brother and family came over.
They are in town from Florida
and they brought the warm weather with them.

Ready to feed the fam!

Plenty of treats left to share!

Jo Jo had a little too much ruffage!

My Allie!

So, that's all for now...the washer is calling my name!