12.31.10 - last day of 2010...last photos of 2010!!!!

just a normal day today. got mr. happy a haircut for his shaggy little head. :) we kinda like it a little bit shaggy...just not quite that shaggy. after the lady finished cutting it she said, "ok, let me just blow dry it a little bit for you." mr. h. said, "oh no!" (meaning...oh no...here comes a bunch of warm air blowing my hair all crazy...) she pulled back and turned the hair dryer off and said, "no?" ...he stuck out his hand towards her and said, "oh, i'm just kidding! it's ok!" she thought he was pretty great after that. :)

hanging out with some of my favorite people in the world tonight. one of my tutus is all claire wanted from me for christmas. i let her pick out the ribbon and the flower and she is quite thrilled. :)

well...i did it! an entire year (ok, minus just a couple days when i was sick as a dog...) of photos! should i do it again next year? leave me a comment and tell me what you think. what was your favorite photo of 2010?? i would love to know!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

12.30.10 - family

two of my "other" families represented here. :) did christmas all over again tonight. and celebrated evan's 8th bday...and david's ??th.... (i won't say what number...but he's a DECADE older than i am.....)

12.29.10 - ahh...memories!

soo many inside jokes from the cruise...had to remember them all...and even left off a couple!

12.28.10 - happy birthday, joshie!! ;)

went out to eat with lauren's family for her brother josh's birthday tonight...chef dude make a hello kitty for him...aahaha...just what he wanted! :}

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSH!!!

12.27.10 - sick baby

back to work as usual. :\ so happy to see my kiddos and get the hugs and snuggles i missed...buuut kinda wishing i was back on that ship...! and this sweet boy has a fever today. :( all he wanted to do was be as close to me as he could get...not that i minded a bit! :)

12.26.10 - pretty tree

so, not much going on today. there is snow and some ice on the ground so i am tucked away in bed for the morning watching narnia on my laptop instead of risking my neck trying to get to church. this afternoon the roads shouldn't be bad so i'll head over to my mom's to hang out with ben and play some games. great day. now...if that boat would fiiinally stop rocking...!!! :}

12.25.10 - merry christmas!!!

hangin' out with two of my favorite guys. (ben is my cousin...he's allowed to put his arm around me... ;)

12.24.10 - home again

i'm exhausted. woke up feeling like i'd been hit by a train. and it feels like i'm still on the ship - everything keeps swaying!

but i'm home again. and doing Christmas with my kids like i always do on Christmas eve.

i love him. :) and as much as i loooved the cruise...i am always ready to get loved on by mr. happy! :)

12.23.10 - baaack in the car...

no cell phone coverage (unless you wanted to pay out the wazooo...) on the cruise = cell phone withdrawals. everyone got their "fix" the second we were back on land! and now for the 15 hour drive home....

12.22.10 - beach bungalow

on the island of princess cays for the day. sooo beautiful! good times...good times... :)

(how big was that octopus?? it was THIIIS BIIIG!!!)

12.21.10 - moonlight

the view from our dinner tables tonight. amazing. michael actually took this pic with my camera. i l.o.v.e. it. it looks like a painting!! awesome. might have to frame it.

12.20.10 - grand turk island

seven mile bike ride to the other end of the island. possibly my favorite pic of us ever. or at least in a very long time. :) (edited with a cool texture on picnik) thanks for coming on the cruise with me. p13. always.

12.19.10 - plot

(it's a good thing this is my blog and i make the rules...because once again...couldn't pick just one photo!)

so all we were trying to do was get a picture of the people who randomly all decided to wear some shade of gray....but if anyone knows catrina or anita...combining the two of them is a dangerous mix! teehee!!

(clicks her tongue...) good heavens. ;) it's ok...he got back at catrina later. which is an image i will not soon get out of my head. most definitely a side of my bf i have only rarely glimpsed!!! (bahaha!!) ohmyword i'm cracking up just typing that right now!

007? mission impossible? charlie's angels??

yup. they're just so cool.

aaand...

HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY, LAUREN!!!!!

you looked soo beautiful and grown up tonight. thanks for spending your bday with me on the cruise. i'm glad we got to hang out a little bit today just the two of us. :)

ILY!!!!

12.18.10 - onboard!!!

after a year and a half of plannin, 15 total hours driving, and crashing at erin's parents' house to sleep for a few hours, we are HERE - onboard the crown princess getting ready to sail away to warm air, blue water, and white beaches!!!

12.17.10 - on our way!!!!!

despite a rather shocking piece of news that was dumped on me all in one enormous chunk about ten minutes into the trip... (!)...i am soo excited to be on our way down to FL...and on to the carribean!!!!!!

stopped in savannah for the night. erin took us to her all time favorite seafood restaurant where michael tried huge crabs for the first time. he might have loved them just a little bit.... :}

12.16.10 - ice!!!

i am L.O.V.I.N.G. all this ice and snow!!!!! it is making tomorrow and this next week all the more exciting!!

12.15.10 - christmas craft: fingerprint snowmen

12.14.10 - christmas craft: pompoms

so i had planned to do a craft every day this week...but it turned out to be a much different week than i expected...so i just rolled with it and we did only a couple. these pompoms were so easy to make and fun and colorful - i chose to do them not in christmas colors...sometimes you just have to have a break from the red and green! :)

12.13.10 - new washing machine

somehow we can just stare into this washing machine for minutes watching everything go swirling around! :)

12.12.10 - aiden :)

had to bring a cd of annie pics over to leah's today...(oh darn...;)...and stayed to help decorate her christmas tree. victor happened to come by also. and aiden is swinging in annie's swing...the one that used to be his...because sometimes you just need to try things out! :)

ok, i loved this. aiden's little guitar hanging up next to his rockstar daddy's guitars. :)

12.11.10 - new

one of my new favorite bands. didn't even realize they had a christmas cd out! found it in the wrong spot when i was looking for a different cd...sweet!

12.10.10 - angel tree

every christmas, my church has a couple angel trees with cards on them representing a person we are in direct relationship as a church. i love this and michael can tell you i always make a beeline to pick out my cards as soon as i can. i usually get three cards - a single mom, an elementary girl, and an infant girl. this year, however, i decided to get two little girls and one little boy and i explained the angel tree to my kids and we went to toys r us and they helped pick out the toy present each child on the card wanted - and then to target for the clothes each child needed. i loved doing this and will definitely do it again - it helped take the focus off the "i wants" and made my kids stop and think for a minute about the fact that there are so many children in our world who have so much less than they do!

my favorite moment by far of this whole process was when we were leaving target and LM Giggles says completely on her own, "kiki, on my birthday next year, instead of me getting a bunch of presents, can i take a bunch of presents to some kids who don't have any toys??" now, of course, that may be completely forgotten by the time her bday comes around again...but i love her sweet heart and am praying that God will keep her heart tender just like that. :)

12.9.10 - retro

you just never know what wonders wendy will bring up out of the basement next...! ;)

12.8.10 - happy! :)

well, after missing my weekend with these kiddos back in october, i got to have them spend two nights with me this week!! although one stayed back at home with a friend - an impressive new experience for him! :)

mr. happy loves him some snuggle time after he wakes up from his nap - emily is one of his favorite people anyways so the fact that she was already chilling on the couch was just perfect. :)

we made some yummy cupcakes while everyone was here...

and even used edible cupcake liners!!! so cool!!

12.7.10 - mesmerized

totally mesmerized by the video email message from santa!

12.6.10 - goofball

this would be my brother, the goofball! the quarter-of-a-century-old goofball! with his birthday pie. yum.

HAPPY 25TH BIRTHDAY, DANIEL!!!!

12.5.10 - christmas pics with annie

got to do some of this today. soo much fun!!

however, i think i have to say that this...

...is even better! :)

12.4.10 - last red leaf

ok, so i exaggerated the colors in this pic on purpose. can you see the last red leaf? it almost looks like a cardinal - i actually had to go walk up to it to see if it was or not. you could see the red all the way across the yard.

12.3.10 - mr. happy santa

i was excited that this still fit him from last year...well, ok, so the sleeves are actually a bit short...but the pants fit perfectly...and it was too cute not to let him wear it again!

except...

it gets a little bit hot when you're a super busy three year old...so he ran around like this for half the day! lol i loved it. :}

12.2.10 - gingerbread men

mommy got us a fun gingerbread man craft...it was a box of 24 gingerbreads...so everybody got to make as many as they wanted!

12.1.10 - always drawing something

11.30.10 - cardboard boxes...

...make the best toys! mommy just got a new washer/dryer and dishwasher...and we got the boxes! we made a tv out of this one...and my other two were cracking this girl up!! :) (these pics were taken right after she has said, "eh, this isn't really all that funny." ha! they were just warming up!)

11.29.10 - fantasy of trees dance

this actually happened yesterday but i already had a pic up for yesterday...so i'm posting this today. lauren's dance was beautiful...it's just hard to get a good shot in the semi-dark with a moving target! :}

11.28.10 - practice

borrowed my cousin for a quick photo shoot. it was too short. and at the wrong time of day. the light was all wonky. if i was better, i would have known how to work with it. oh well. i like this one. :)

11.27.10 busy day!

today is my dad's birthday. happy birthday dad!! he had a birthday pie. his request. it was delicious.

before heading to my parents' house for dad's party, i got to go to a birthday party for this little cutie. i cannot believe maddox is (almost) one!! (his actual bday is later this week) he was just chillin' before everyone got there in this pic. :)

11.26.10 - artist of the family

i might have a little bit of creativity...but ben most definitely got the art genes of the family! working on homework - drawing his dad. :)

11.25.10 - happy thanksgiving!!

LOVED having my baby cousin, ben, here for thanksgiving - and my aunt and uncle too. missing jonathan so much. it was so warm we even got to eat our pumpkin pie outside!!