Goodbye 2011

Easily, 2009 could have been called "the year of the concert" - for whatever reason I went to a LOT of concerts that year ("a lot" compared to the none that I usually go to!).  2010 was "the year of the fire departments".  Between visits, activities, open houses, etc., we spent a lot of time in and around fire trucks, fire houses, and with fire men and women.

This past year, 2011, will definitely go down as The Year of the Travel.  I took so many trips this year, I can't even remember where all of them took us!

The boys and I traveled to Long Island for a week in January and to Albany in May to visit Tiffany and Brielle while they were there on a work detail.  The whole family drove down to Pennsylvania in May for a fireman's convention and the boys and I made the trip again in August for a friend's wedding.  We took several trips up North to see family and stay at Grandma and Grandpa's "camp".  We went camping in various locations with numerous friends and frequented many festivals, carnivals, parades, and County/State Fairs.

 NYC, January 2011

 Pennsylvania Fire Expo, May 2011

Alex with Pink Eye in Albany

Albany, May 2011

Pennsylvania, August 2011

The highlight of our year, of course, was our cross-country train trip from NY to Portland, OR.  The boys and I traveled a total of nearly 140 hours on the train trip of a lifetime!!!  It was definitely a trip that will live in my my top 5 experiences of all time!

We had a lot of firsts this year, too...first ice skating trip, first family bowling excursion, first demolition derby, first controlled burn with the Fire Department, first day of school (Kindergarten for Nate and Nursery School for Alex), first swimming lesson, first tee ball game, first tractor pull....We got our first baby chicks who grew up to give us our first fresh eggs.  We found our first baby turtle that we made a friend until he grew up to outgrow his cage.  

I did my first photo shoots for people outside my immediate family, got my first kayak for my birthday, lost a couple classmates from high school, welcomed my new niece, Coraleigh Shae, met some photography goals I had set for myself, and had a stellar year at work with my grant success rate!  This year was also the first year (since getting married 6 years ago!) that Dave and I actually got to spend our anniversary together!!  He got Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, too...finally his work rotation paid off!!  We'll take it every 6-7 years :)

This coming year I hope to meet more goals, purge more clutter from my life, be more positive, and spend as much time as physically possible with my family and friends.  I hope you all have a great 2012!  

Christmas Memories 2011

I feel inclined to document at least some of our Christmas goings on for posterity so bear with me.  I'll keep it brief.

Christmas 2011

(My niece, Kensington and Alex)

Christmas Eve was at my Mom's as usual.

We had lots of fun time hanging with the family.

We all got a ton of snuggle time with my new niece, Coraleigh (also know as Ardie or Ardie-chokie)

Grandpa and Ardie shared some quality time (somewhere I have photos of my Dad doing this very pose with both my boys, I should dig it out for comparison!)

As per tradition, we did a grazing meal where we each bring appetizers and stand around and gorge ourselves all night, vs. a big prepared meal we sit down for and someone has to slave over.  So we had FOOD, lots and lots of food...(including my Mom's Choco Acorns, my FAVORITE!!!)

There was lots of excitement over great gifts!

All were comfy, snuggled up, warmed by the woodstove

(Brother-in-law, Chris, with Coraleigh)

There was playing with cousin, Ian (who Nate now calls "Sport" because of 

the shirt he was wearing on Christmas Eve)

Then home to put cookies out for Santa, and get to sleep!

Santa brought Alex his very own tool box...he's been "fixing" stuff all over the house ever since!

Nate got a fire house and Santa brought him his very own Red Ryder BB gun (!)

It took less than 20 minutes to create this destruction on Christmas morning.

Big brother, Adam came over for presents and breakfast and helped Alex build with his new tinker toys.

Then he brought out the "big guns: and helped Alex assemble a wooden boat kit he got...such handy men!

Alex got to ride his ATV while Daddy and Nate went out back to try out his new BB gun.  I guess no snow for Christmas wasn't ALL bad.

We had Dave's family over for dinner/dessert on Christmas Day.  Then had a completely lazy day after Christmas.  That night, we loaded the boys up into the car with their PJs, blankets, and bags of popcorn and drove out to Waterport to catch a light show we had heard about.  

The spectacle boasted some 40,000 lights set to music and was pretty impressive!  Totally worth the 15 minute drive!  

It was nice to have Daddy home with us to enjoy the WHOLE holiday weekend!  Usually he has to work most or all of it so this year was quite a treat!

Now, the massive job of un-decorating has to be done (my least favorite part) but for now, we'll just enjoy the lights, mess, and chaos as we ring in the new year!

Giant Baby Steps

A couple months ago, I bit the bullet and decided to take some ACTION in achieving my dreams.  Sitting back on my laurels and hoping for something to happen wasn't getting me anywhere.  So, I established Dream Big Day (Monday) to give me some concrete time set aside specifically to chisel away at my to do list.  That very first DMD back in August, I decided to start small and upload a photo I had recieved much positive Facebook feedback on to Kodak's Picture of the Day website.

Well it paid off!!  On October 14th, Kodak picked MY picture for their POTD!  I stumbled upon it a couple weeks later and was SO excited to see MY picture staring back at me from their website!

As silly as it sounds, I felt RECOGNIZED for my photography!  It was one of those things on my "bucket list" that I could officially check off.  One (giant!) baby step made...now I can move on to my next "big" thing.  (Whatever that is!)

Since then I've received requests to purchase copies of the print and it spurred enough confidence for me to set up my first THREE photo shoots for families other than MINE!  It's definitely a start!  I have so much to learn, but I have the best support system in the universe so hopefully 2012 will be a BIG year for me and for Queen Among Kings Photography!

SOS

Is anyone still out there?!?

It's been so long since I posted anything here I feel like I need to write a long, rambling post complete with minute-by-minute details of our life from the last month or so just to catch up.  *Breathe*  But that would be REALLY boring for those of you (still) reading this blog.  :)  So, as 2011 draws to a close, it is my intention to post a few (shorter) stories to share (so as not to forget them) but to hopefully try and keep your eye bleeding to a minimum. 

So much to say with so little time!! 

Hope your Christmases were fabulous, fun, and filled with friends and family!   I'll be back!  (No, that's not a THREAT!)  :)

Random Updates

Hello!  I feel like it's been forever since I actually wrote anything of substance on here.  What a whirlwind life has a way of becoming!  I thought I'd write some brief updates for anyone still reading :)

It's November.  Opening day of deer season is tomorrow (!!).  Thanksgiving is less than a week away.

Nate had the nighttime pukies earlier this week.  Except for the time of day (3 AM!), it's actually pretty easy for me.  Nate's what I like to call a "champion puker".  Does he deserve a medal or an award for his skill?  Perhaps.  But I call him that because he is the only kid I know to treat throwing up like some grand adventure.  The other night he came excitedly into my room and said "Mommy!  I just puked ALL OVER!  Come look!"  He then regaled his father with a tale of his early morning pukings as if he had just fought a pivotal battle in a war.  The kid throws up, gets it out of his system and then carries on.  No crying, no fuss, no drama.  All day he was fine and then at night he'd have an episode.  Bizarre, I tell you.  But at least I'm lucky with his sort of simple ease.  Champion.  See?

Alex has fallen comfortably into those Troublesome Three's everyone talks about.  He has piss and vinegar running through his veins.  Sweet and charming one second, and evil and rotten the very next!  Love him to death but man, three is a challenging age! 

I've been doing big things (for me anyway!) and marking things off my bucket list at record speed (OK, so that's an exaggeration, but progress is something!)  :)  I'll talk more about that after our big hunting weekend (wherein I'll hopefully have photos of me with my big buck to share!)  :)

Until then, enjoy a camera phone photo (or two) of my sweet boys (since that's all I have at my disposal right now):

Wordless Wednesday...Slip Sliding Away

Introducing...Mr. Stink Eye

You met Mr. Ugly Face some time ago.  

Well, now I have Mr. Stink Eye to introduce you to.  

He's mean.

    

Angry.  Evil.  Up to no good.

But he sure is cute.

10 on 10 : October 2011

I totally forgot about the 10 on 10 today until almost 10 (oh, the irony!) while I was already at work.  So I decided to do this month's challenge using only what I had in my pocket (my cell phone) and my office (see photos below).  As a reminder, the premise behind 10 on 10 is to take one photo an hour for 10 hours, forcing one to notice the little things in life and find beauty in ordinary moments.  Enjoy! 

For more 10 on 10 compilations, be sure to check out here.