Another one bites the dust...

So here we are...another year has come and gone.

Goodbye 2009.  You were very good to me.  I'm not entirely sure where you went so quickly, but alas, you are gone.  This past year was a busy one.  Full of many adjustments (a newborn at home, a new school for Nate, going back to work after maternity leave), sadness, and many adventures!

I started off the year strong with a resolution to get in shape after having recently had Alex.  Mom and I made a plan to exercise together three times a week, either by my visiting her at work and using the treadmill there or her stopping over on her way home from work to rock out to Sweatin' with the Oldies or Tae Bo.  It lasted a month or two and then Mom started a project of remodeling her living room and her attentions were diverted.  Without her motivation, I lost all mine.

We finally started going back to church to get to know the interim pastor so we could see about getting Alex baptized.  We had been gone so long people at church hardly even realized I was pregnant so Alex was a bit of a surprise.  On January 25th we had him baptized and had a nice cake and coffee ceremony for all who could attend in the church social area after the service.

In February Dave got into an accident with my car while on the way home from running out to get pie.  He decided one night he wanted pie so he ran to Big M and on his way home some woman took a turn in front of him and **CRUNCH**.  Luckily he wasn't hurt but my Millie (my 2000 Honda Civic) didn't fare well. More than two weeks later we got her back all fixed up and less than a week later I got into an accident with her and she was crunched yet again.  She stayed crunched and in June I got a new car and we sold Millie to our neighbor's son across the street.  It's nice to still see her (and her still crunched door) every day!

I would call 2009 The Year of the Concerts.  For me, I saw a lot of concerts this year.  Ok, so there were three, but for ME, that IS a lot.  I was lucky enough to see New Kids on the Block (yes, I am still a die hard fan of NKOTB!) not once, but TWICE!!!  Fantastic blast from the past for me.  I felt like a 12-year-old pre-teen all over again!  I also got tickets to see David Cook (love him!) at SUNY Brockport!  What a great show!

In March the family traveled to New Hampshire for my cousin's wedding.  It was quite the experience as this was the longest trip we'd taken with the boys EVER!  It worked out well though.  The whole 8 hour drive there we told Nate that where we were going was "far, far, away" (like in Shrek) and when we finally arrived at the hotel we'd be staying in, it turned out to be an old castle looking building.  When he saw that he gasped and said "Hello, Princess Phone-uh!"  It was perfect!  The wedding was beautiful and wee had a nice long weekend visit with my family.

Two short weeks later we were headed up North to see the family again after hearing the news that my dear Abuelita (little Grandma) passed away.  It was a rough weekend but we were able to stay in a house my cousin owns that was GORGEOUS and in between the calling hours and the funeral and the family stuff, it was nice to hang out with the kids and my immediate family.  The kids got to play and it was nice to see everyone for a whole weekend.  Life doesn't often allow for many experiences like that.

In May we sent my brother off to Qatar on deployment for the Air Force National Guard.  It was hard to teach Nathaniel what it all meant, but we sent packages, made pictures to send, talked to him on Skype, and welcomed him home safely in October.  It was quite the experience for the whole family!  It gives me a whole new respect for military families across the country who are serving to keep our freedoms.

We had many adventures with Tiff and Brie!  Namely a trip to the Syracuse Zoo, a couple Red Wings games, carnivals and parade nights, many trips to Melon Bean, the Apple Fest, Zoo Boo, Springdale Farm, and many more!  We love our adventures with Tiff and Brie and look forward to many more in 2010!

As a family, we took trips to the Strong Museum, the Pick 'N Patch, the State Fair, and a week's vacation in the 1000 Islands.  We spent a lot of time out on the boat, fishing, swimming and riding.  We took the boys to see the circus and tagged along on field trips with Nathaniel's class to the Zoo, the pumpkin patch, and watched their Christmas program with pride and joy!

I spent a lot of time meeting up with friends for lunch, dinner, parties, shows, and full-fledged Mama Reunions.  A few friends got married, a couple welcomed babies, and my own baby turned ONE!  Somehow in the past 12 months, Alex started crawling, pulling up, walking, and finally RUNNING.  He got his first tooth (on 6/2) AND his second just two days later.  Somewhere in there he got his 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th tooth, too!  We spent some time in the doctor's office and the emergency room with pink eye (Nate), roseola, chest x-rays, urine samples (Alex), croup (Nate and Alex), possible concussion (Alex), scratched cornea (me).

I am proud to say that I got my first deer during hunting season this year.  It was a great experience and I'm glad to finally be among the "elite"!

With the exception of a few bumps in the road, 2009 was a great year!  I hope to make 2010 even better by being present with my children, simplifying my life as much as possible, and truly enjoying my family as these days go by much too quickly!

Wordless Wednesday

2009 According to Facebook

I participated in this little application on Facebook that pulls a random samplings of your status updates and puts them into a collage like this:

I love this!  This past year I've kind of felt like Facebook has been a journal of my life.  While I rarely have time to write daily in a journal, or jot down the cute-isms that my oldest has spouted this past year (a friend recently called them Nate-isms), it seems I always have a second to update my status or send an update via text to my Facebook account.  Some people probably got annoyed at my daily ramblings and quotes from a three-year-old (albeit a rather witty three-year-old, if I do say so myself!) but I found it cathartic.  At least I know these thoughts and the little things I might forget otherwise are logged somewhere.  And I was able to share them with people, get positive reactions and share a smile or two with my friends.  I intend to go in and make a couple of these specific to each of the boys to put in their baby books.  It's a clever little thing...

Merry Christmas to all...

...and to all a good night!

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas, full of wonder and joy...family and friends...magic and spirit...

Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday

Nature's Playdoh

As I forecast here...Winter has (finally) arrived!

 Just when it seemed we might see temperatures in the 50s right through Christmas, Mother Nature came through for us and delivered a fresh white blanket of beautiful snow to cover up the brown landscape Autumn had left behind after her departure.

 

Unfortunately, the fascination doesn't last long as adults.  We quickly start griping about the hazards and tedious chores that come along with this winter wonderland.  However this year, I hope to hold on to that wonderment a little longer than usual - To see the beauty beneath the black ice and snow drifts.

It's amazing how the miserable scraping and snow brushing and the dreaded winter driving can be so easily transformed into joy when a three-year-old runs to the window on a snowy morning and exclaims, "Yeah!  It's WINTER, Christmas is coming!!!"

 

Wordless Wednesday

Overstuffed

My plate is OVERFLOWING these days.  Not much unlike anyone else's I know this time of the year.  But I feel like my potatoes and my meat are all getting squished together and my beans are falling off onto the table.  It's a mess.

My life, my home and my mind is in a constant state of chaos.

It should be telling to say that I got notification that my Women's Day subscription (a magazine I've been getting for some time, for unknown reasons, that would be interesting to read if I had time but instead has been piling up, un-perused, since I started receiving them) is up for renewal and I was thrilled.  The expiration notice I received via email actually brought a flash of relief and instead of saying "Oh, drat!" (which I wouldn't say anyway, but whatever...), I exclaimed (out loud, which probably looked odd since I was sitting in my office, alone, with only my computer), "Thank God!".

Why would receiving such news bring such joy?  Why would one rejoice at notification that money was due or that something was being discontinued?  Simply put, because it's one less thing.  One less thing to sort, one less thing to stress about (yes, I stress about such things), and one less thing to deal with, store, and eventually dispose of.

I've previously made reference to my stress about stuff and my desire to simplify my life, as well.  This magazine subscription expiry is a natural, unsolicited blessing.  Thank God for small blessings.  Now if only my Christmas cards would address themselves, my presents would magically be wrapped, and my house would somehow clean itself in preparation for Holiday guests, I'd be less stuffed and more relaxed.  There's always the 1st of the new year for relaxing....HA!

Wordless Wednesday

I ♥ Faces...Sweet Dreams

I ♥ Faces is having their weekly photo challenge with this week's theme being Sweet Dreams. I have hundreds of photos of my boys sleeping and would love to share one of those with you but my hard drive that houses all of my photos has crashed so I am somewhat limited. I was able to find this shot of my youngest, Alex.  I took this when he was two days old and comfortably snuggled up on my chest after feeding.  I was able to catch one of those priceless content grins (gas?) which certainly looks like he was having sweet dreams, to me!

Be sure to head over to I ♥ Faces to check out some other beautiful shots of peaceful slumber!

Silver Lining

You know the saying..."Every cloud has a silver lining".  It comes from an old proverb often quoted to remind us of the hope and promise that lays even in the darkest clouds in life.  How true it is!
 

Lately I have been obsessed with the clouds and Autumn skies that have graced our area.  It's generally gray and dreary around these parts once the gorgeous leaves fall from the trees and the cold winter blows in.  So I've been extremely grateful for the gorgeous colors, textures and dimensions found simply by looking up.  Some days it's just a layering of various grays but the sun that tries to peak through or the way the different clouds come together is just beautiful.  It's like a painting I wish I could reach out and touch.

With this recent obsession with the sky, comes an uncontrollable urge to capture this beauty with my camera so all the photos here are of actual skies I have witnessed (usually during my drive to or from work).  I apologize for the quality of these photos as they are all taken with my cell phone and I assure you 95% of them were taken while standing still at stop lights or in traffic.  (I live in the City and therefore stop a LOT en route to just about anywhere.) 

There are a ton more where these came from but they seemed too pretty NOT to share!  Next time you're having a dreary day, just look up.  It works for me!

Wordless Wednesday

I ♥ Faces...We ♥ Tooshies

Ok, so I already posted once tonight about my being short on time but I have the perfect picture for this week's challenge over at I ♥ Faces so I had to post again.  Check out their website for many more adorable shots and tooshies galore!  

The theme is : We ♥ Tooshies

(You may remember this photo from this previous Wordless Wednesday post)

Hourglass

Have you ever played a board game where the object is to do something quickly or see how much of something you can do in a specified amount of time?  Perfection, Scattegories, Outburst, Pictionary.  You know the kind, where there is usually a timer clicking away while you try to think or an ominous looking hour glass pouring sand from one hemisphere to another...taunting you to go faster,   f a s t e r,   f  a  s  t  e  r, before you

                         run

                                       out

                                                      of 

                                                                     time!!!

Fun stuff, right?  The stress, the pressure.  Seriously it is fun, when it's a game.  But I think those games were loosely based on my life.

I feel as if every day starts with an hour glass being flipped over and as the day goes on, the sand seems to fall faster and faster and faster until *poof* it's midnight and I have to get to bed so I can get my 6 hours of sleep and start the next day.  Invariably the list I had in my head - the to do list I wanted to tackle for the day - never gets finished because I ran out of time.  So the next day starts with another flip of the hour glass and a modified to do list that gets longer and longer with added leftovers from the day before.

And so on, and so forth.

It's never ending.  Especially this time of year when the days are even shorter and the to do list is even longer.

Anybody up for a game of Boggle?