Goodbye 2009

What a year of highs and lows.

I was joking with Craig this morning about how much money we had lost this year. Selling our monster house in VA is is tops on the list of things I want to forget about this year. Well, it was all for a good cause. I imagine we can call it freeing ourselves from a materialistic lifestyle and bringing our family home to a place that matters. We have surrounded ourselves with love, support, and simple comforts and living 500 miles away in a 5000sq.ft house never compared to this feeling.

I want to spend more time teaching my girls this year instead of just doing. I'm in the habit of just doing everything to get it done. I'm going teach my girls how to do the things we might take for granted. They are little, but they are no longer babies and I think it would benefit us all I let them have more input in our decisions. They're not going to be doing their own laundry or making their own dinner daily! But we can start with limiting our wardrobes choices for the day and putting our laundry and dirty dishes where they belong. :)

I want to travel this year. We're not moving again for a long time, if ever, so I want to have a family vacation. Disney would be fantastic, as we've haven't been, but I would be absolutely content with a little break somewhere closer. As long as it was interesting & not just Buffalo! :)

I want to take more pictures this year and write more stories.

I want to be a better mother, wife, & person this year.

And if by chance I finally find the natural blond hair I had and the body I once had this year would ABSOLUTELY rock!

editing photos

Lost in the land of editing photos from December. Be back soon, isn't this one silly?! Totally completely Charlotte!

blizzard...

Dec. 3rd

Manhattan Square Park

Skating Rink

Roch., NY

Dec. 4

same place

Can't get enough of the ice skating.

Well...I'm not skating...just walking Pinky who pulled

a Marley & Me at the rink.

You know the ocean scene. Yuck.

Dec. 5

missing photo.

Craig & I went out for Chinese.

I have a picture of Craig drinking a flaming volcano on my cell.

Dec. 6

Strong Museum

Allie & Lulu
Madeline's Christmas

Dec. 7

Making marshmallows
YumDec. 9
Snowed.
I actually shoveled the driveway.
Proof.

Dec. 10

Blizzard

That's Craig shoveling the driveway.

The tiny black speck is him!

Difference between Rochester & Richmond

We don't cancel school when it snows.

December what?

My December daily is kicking my butt and it's only 5 days into the month.

We went ice skating 2 nights in a row which should have provided me with a ton of great pictures, but really didn't.

Hmm...we're going to make Martha Stewart's recipe for vanilla marshmellows. If I don't get a cute photo today, I may have to reconsider this project!

Hello December

December started with a snowfall!

Nice.I'm attempting a December Daily.

For non-scrapbackers, it's a monthly journal filled with pictures taken daily

and the thoughts wriiten down to remember the day.
I like a snow shot for my first entry. It kinda sets a nice wintery

tone to my journal.

Things to write about on December 2nd.

Aunt Sue watched Charlotte while I volunteered in Nora's kindergarten class.

I tried to watch a tivoed Rock & Roll 25th Hall of Fame Concert.

Charlotte wanted to know why Bono was doing the pee pee dance.

He does spent quite a bit of time semi-hunched over tapping one foot.

Hmm.

I never thought my 4yr old

had anything in common with him.

Nora thought Mick Jagger was old and why does he sound funny?

Good valid questions.

I definitely thought that myself about ol' Mick.

Counting down Xmas ABC family style

Things I'm doing to kick off the Christmas season.

1. Getting up at 2am to start shopping on Black Friday.

It was wild, it was crazy, and there's a rumor that I may have been

a little extreme in my reaction to $7.50 puffer vests in Target.

When I was through, they needed CSI to make sense of it all.

2. Getting a two hour "nap" after returning from Black Friday

2 little girls jumped on my head waiting

for me to get up so I can start Christmas decorating.

3. Hop out of bed and go to Home Depot to get a real live tree.

Where an unforeseen meltdown occurred because I would not

purchased a seizing reindeer for my front yard.

4. A picture does not convey the wretched state of this reindeer.

He's my nightmare and a 4yr old's dream.


5. Yay! A shot with the flash when all else fails.
We're happy we found a tree.
That lost a thousand needles in the back of my minivan.
And through the house.
That I vacuum up everyday.
It smells real nice though.






6. A tree lovingly decorated by the hands of 4yr & 5yr old.



7. I can take the pictures to prove it, but I'll leave it to the closeups
to convey the serenity of a loved tree.

8. Me - "Nora, can I take your picture by the tree?"

Nora: "uh huh."

Me: " Can you look at me and stop watching 'The Dog who Saved Christmas'?

Stranger in a strange land.

Hello sweet freedom!

Yep. We're healthy again and both girls are back in school.

Charlotte wanted to play with her leapster this afternoon and told me she wasn't going to school.

Hmm.

I almost had a mini panic attack and then a firm "Put your shoes on,

Leapster will be there when you get home", may have been uttered by yours truley.

And out the door we were!

Crisis averted.

( bad picture of this layout. It looks very cute in person. This photo...not so much!)
It's bad enough when I have made little trips out of the house I feel like a stranger

in a strange land. Now is not the time to be disorientated.

I've got to be on my game to get all those toys that are wanted by my twosome.

Charlotte has already discovered one present. I have to find a good hiding spot in this house.

She's quick. She found it in my closet which she's never gone in before. Nora neither.

Oh well. At least it was only the one.

Bored and .....oh yes BORED!

I've been home with this little cupcake this week. She's been sick, mostly that heavy wet sounding cough. We've had one night with a fever, but our days have been fever free. Still not sure what we have. But let's get healthy again ALREADY!

Someone in Nora's class has strep according to the note that came home yesterday. Please don't breath in Nora's direction. Can I say that?!

Nothing else happening in our spunky little world. Come on, I've been house bound! I know when I get out I'll probably be talking too much to everyone I see.

Trolling the black Friday ads online and I think I know what I'm getting everyone for Christmas, except Allie. Allie...you're hard to buy for! I just can't buy you any more clothes....that will end up on your floor, books you won't read, or music you can download. I was thinking a gas card, but there are no cool gas stations like Sheetz or Wawas. Hmm...

Drive by

Title hard to read.

"Little Adventures"

Nora is on the road to recovery after an epic battle with high fevers and a rattling cough.

We missed a week of school and assorted activities.

Now I'm on a Charlotte watch. Craig and I have managed to stay healthy so far.

We did pass a few cooties to Uncle Bobby and we're VERY sorry for that!

We've had a rough week so this was super cool to see today!

Go me!

we are.

are we or aren't we?

.

I'm stressed out.

I've been so cautious about keeping us cootie free that I'm tuckered out.

Is the flu season almost over?

Nora had a cough last week and I kept worrying it was going to develop into something worse.

She looks and sounds good today, so Charlotte told me she wasn't feeling well.

Nora received an invite to a birthday party at a bounce house on Monday and I've

called the mom to tell her we can't make it. In my defense, Nora almost always does get sick with a germ after those places. A trip to the Strong Museum closed us down half a week!

Yes, we sanitize all the time. Maybe too much? Can you become immune to it?


(Charlotte's not in the bubble! She's outside in the previous picture and decided to go in!)

Is it possible to be too paranoid of H1N1? Is it as bad as I've read about? The girls had their flu shots and I was ready to call for the swine flu shot after Halloween, but I have yet to hear anything good about it.

One family told us after our neighborhood Halloween parade, they each got the shot and were never sicker in their lives.

Oh be over flu season, you turning me into a paranoid hot mess!

evidence.

Here I am editing pictures to send off for developing and I come across this sequence. It cracks me up! Typical storyline of two sisters.

Sweet pose for mama.
I'm going to throw you out of my picture now, lovingly of course.

You're taking too long, must use more FORCE.

reaction

"MOM!"

(the getaway.)

One room at a time....

Dorothy and Cinderella hope you had a Happy Halloween! So we've been missing in action around these parts since early August I see. That must have been when we started the renovating the scrap room. We have been living limbo wise computer wise since then. Plus we were busy with new schools, schedules, and getting a new routine going. Well it was certainly worth the wait because we have a MARVELOUS scrap room now!
I will post photos soon because right now three crafty tornadoes have hit it hard!


Nora has a new haircut. We call it her "kindergarten cut" and it is not visible in this photo but it brushes her shoulders and she looks adorable. She is in the afternoon kindergarten class which runs from 12:00- 2:30. She absolutely is loving kindergarten and is making new friends. She even has some friends on the bus who are in 1st and 2Nd grade! She is so darn cute getting on and off the bus everyday. Craig usually has Thursday and Fridays off and Nora likes to have her out front bus wise on those days.

Charlotte has preschool 2 days a week at Seton School. She probably wishes she had more days there. I initially signed her up for 2 days because I have Nora and Charlotte's schedules coordinated and I was worried about Charlotte's pick up time conflicting with Nora's drop off from the bus. Turns out we have a 45 minute window between the two. Charlotte is making little friends as well.

We have been making little steps forward on the house since we moved in during July. We've taken down some enormous pines on the side of the house. We've had the scruffy weedy backyard cleared so we can plant some new trees in the spring. Craig has gutted a bathroom and has done more projects than I can remember and the best thing to happen was he built us the best scrappy room ever! I can't wait to share pictures.

Family and friends love our scrap room and understand our need and enthusiasm for our room. When I talk to the neighbors and they ask what we've been up to, I tell them we finished our scrap room/ craft room, I'm met with a blank stare. I have to tell them Martha has one. I still think they don't understand!

Ducks & dinner

Craig has been working non stop since he moved up from Richmond, VA. So yesterday

was his first day off in Forever and we decided to make a family day out of it.

First we headed out for a delicious breakfast at the Highland Park Diner.

Then the farmers market which was very crowded. Each girl got their own tote to carry the fruit and veggies they each picked out. Nora spotted some fuzzy peaches and green pears. Charlotte spied some broccoli.

A stop in the afternoon in Pittsford to walk along the Erie Canal.

Which would not be complete without stopping to feed the ducks.

Love this picture! :)

My diet was destroyed this weekend because we had a kid free night out. My glorious niece

Lulu kindly said she would watch the girls and Craig and I were free to go out to dinner.

We went out with my brother Kevin & his wife Debbie to Veneto.

I love living in Rochester!

Monday the diet will be salvaged.

Used a sketch from Two peas class Super Sketches to create this layout. It was super fast to make. Love when that happens!

Lesson for today: Proper footwear

So in my never ending quest to drop some lbs. I've been walking.

Also trying to eat the right foods, exercise, blah, blah, blah....

Not exciting. I do like to walk though.

I missed my morning walk so I made an effort to get a walk in the afternoon.

Why I walk in the a.m.

1. Craig is still home until 9am and he can watch the girls while I walk unfettered.

2. Nobody's out and I don't have to stop, talk, or wave.

3. It's still pleasant in the morning. No overhead sun or heat making it sticky.

4. Did I mention the lack of parental responsibility?!

So I grabbed my camera and my kids after admonishing them to wear proper footwear and we left for Cobb's Hill Reservior. It's literally at the top of our street.

It started off pleasantly enough.

We walked a bit, stopped for pictures in front of the breathtaking (insert joke)

Rochester city view.

Then we continiued our 0.69 mile walk. How do I know this? It was posted all over.

Maybe it was in case someone freaked out they were walking too much.

Who would that be?

Maybe the two little girls who took off running and were chased down a red faced

woman screaming their names and mumbling some others!

After we took picture above (why is the dog the only one looking at me?) we started walking again at a leisurely pace. Maybe that was because Nora was wearing flip flops and Charlotte's shoes were on the wrong feet. I did try to be a good parent and fix them, but I was told by Charlotte she liked them that way.

Halfway around the reservior and the girls were Done.

Done.

Hence why I sneak out of the house and walk alone.