Looking Back at 2010

I can't believe that it is almost 2011. Here is a look back at all of the great things we did in 2010.

In February we flew to Texas to see my brother, sister-in-law, and my two sweet nephews! We had a lot of fun while there.

We took the kids sledding for the first time. It was so much fun, even though it was the longest trip ever because we went to the wrong side of the mountain.

We removed all of the flooring in our house. We put tile in the kitchen, laundry room, and bathrooms. We put wood laminate everywhere else. We still haven't finished painting the trim or putting the quarter round on the stairs. I do LOVE the heated floor in the kitchen and bathrooms. So nice, but it makes the wood feel that much colder. We need to buy some rugs.

Our dear friends came to visit from Montana. It was so nice to see them. We hadn't seen them in 6 months and that was the longest we had gone without seeing them...ever.

My brother and his family came to visit soon after that. What fun the kids had playing at the beach, in the swimming pool, and eating apple fritters and feeding the animals at the cider mill.

We officially became a diaper free house in 2010!!! Yippee!!! Although we still have more accidents than I like, I am so happy not to buy diapers anymore.

Littlebit also gave up her binkies! We put them in a Build-a-Bear, so they are always with her.

Lovey started 1st grade and going to school all day. Wow, I am totally blown away by his reading skills. He loves school. Littlebit started preschool two days a week. She was a little slow to warm up to it, but now loves it.

What an exciting year! Looking forward to 2011!

Christmas - the aftermath

The wrapping paper is in the recycle bin. The toys are mostly put away. The living room is still somewhat of a disaster, but oh, what a wonderful Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve as our little family. We went to church and then came home for clam chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum! We tracked Santa on the NORAD Santa tracker and then put up the stockings and put out the cookies and reindeer food. The kids quickly fell asleep after Big Daddy read The Night Before Christmas.

Big Daddy and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to put the ham in the oven. Yikes! Lovey woke up by 6am and we had to then wake up Littlebit. Littlebit was a little sleepy, so when she looked at the Santa gifts, she asked where her gift was. It was right in front of her. Santa brought Littlebit a bed tent cottage and Cinderella. Lovey received soccer goals, a baseball, and legos. Santa didn't bring an X-Box for Lovey, but Lovey said that was okay, maybe next year.

I loved watching the kids open their presents. They were so excited and animated. Lovey kept saying, "This is what I have always wanted." We enjoyed a breakfast of cinnamon rolls, raspberry turnovers and scrambled eggs. Lovey bit his fork while eating and caused his front tooth to become very loose. I told him to leave it alone because the tooth fairy doesn't work on Christmas.

Gramma and Grandpa came after breakfast and there was another round of opening presents. The kids were thrilled to receive their pillow pets. I don't think Littlebit has let Uni the Unicorn out of her sight. Nana arrived a little later and more presents were opened. Littlebit received a book about fairies and at the end their was a pop-up and when it popped up, she yelled, "Oh my."

It was so nice to relax and spend time with family. By the end of the evening, I was very full and tired, but enjoyed a very merry Christmas.

and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Merry Christmas Eve!

The house has been decorated, the food is prepared and soon we will be on our way to church.

Getting the tree this year was an adventure. The grand firs that we normally buy were way to tall for our house. We ended up getting a noble fir. Yikes! That hurt the pocket book.

It is actually fuller than we originally thought, so we had to move it to the front room. It looks so beautiful decorated. This was the first year Littlebit helped decorate the tree. She would just lay the ornaments on the tree. I went behind her and fixed them.

Lovey's new ornament was Green Eggs and Ham. This was the first book he read by himself. I can't believe how well he reads. 

Littlebit loves her fairies. This little fairy was just too sweet to not be Littlebit's ornament this year.

Big Daddy has his Popeye ornament on the tree. In fact, I think we have three different Popeye ornaments.

One of my students gave me this little nativity quite a few years ago. 

The little elf stocking holder is mine. I have had it since I was a kid. It works out well because our stocking holders spell JOY and we needed one more.

This cute little snowman, the kids and I made from paint sticks.

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Cookies - a series of unfortunate events

I was putting my second pan of Mexican Wedding Cakes into the oven when somehow I touched the side of my hand and wrist to the inside of the oven door. Yikes! When I pulled my hand back, all of the cookies rolled off the pan and onto the bottom of the oven. Instantly they started burning, so ignoring the searing pain in my hand, I started to scrape them off the bottom of the oven. Finally I was able to rinse my hand under cool water. Oh, that feels so much better. Wait - now a child is crying. Littlebit wet her pants and created a lake on the bathroom floor. Argh! No more cool water for my burning hand. I clean up the mess, get her changed, start the oven on clean mode, and finally can soothe my burning hand when the smoke detector goes off. Unplug the smoke detector, remove the battery (I know - bad -but it just my oven) and finally I can take care of my hand.

...We will build a snowman...