2011 in Review

Looking back on the year is always fun for me. It allows me to remember the ups and downs of the year. 2011 has been a busy year with us having just moved back to the states, buying a home, having a baby and still managing to have some fun. While looking back on the year, one month stood out to me - March. Nothing really exciting happened that month. We didn't go anywhere and nothing really worth reporting happened. I am going to blame it on being smack dab in the middle of Ian's busy season (he's an accountant). Because of March 2011 being such a mundane month, I am going to work on making sure March 2012 rocks!

And without further ado, 2011 in review:

January - Ian started his new job and I came to grips with living back in Modesto.

February - I found out I was pregnant with little miss Isla, though no one else (besides Ian) found out about it for a while. I also started house hunting . We took Connor up to the snow and were once again reminded, he doesn't like the snow!

March - Uhhh...

April - We went into escrow on our house and told everyone I was pregnant. I turned 30. And we went camping.

May - We got the keys to our house and moved in.

June - It was a bumpy road moving into our house...with ants moving in with us and all. And, Ian and I celebrated our 8th anniversary.

July - Those pesky ants came back. We got out of town . And also hit up the fair.

August - Our friends from Scotland came to visit!

September - We finished Isla's room. And I made laundry detergent for the first time, which by the way works GREAT!

October - I went to the pumpkin patch too many times (wrote about it here and here). Oh, and I had a baby!

November - We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and "saw" the US Capitol Christmas treewhen it passed thru Modesto. And my baby little boy turned two years old.

December -  Well December was filled with Christmas related things - like twelve dates of Christmas, visiting santa, Christmas parties and the actual day itself.

This year was filled with some great memories and a lot of happenings in our life. I am excited to see what 2012 has in store for me.

Christmas in Review

I love Christmas. Christmas eve service is my favorite service of the year. Watching Connor enjoy the lights and presents made this year even more special. Some of this years highlights included:

Isla enjoying the lights on the Christmas tree. She laid under there for almost an hour staring at the lights and grabbing the branches.

Connor opening presents. Of course, as soon as he would open one, he only wanted to play with that one and not open any others. Except if it was clothes. In that case, he threw them and moved on.

Connor wore his kilt on Christmas day...and looked so adorable.

More present opening; this time at my parent's house. And more trains as presents!

Isla with her stocking from my parents.

Isla was definitely enjoying her first Christmas. She was all smiles, having just woken up from a nap.

Isla enjoying one of her Christmas presents. She was staring at herself in the mirror and pulling on the toys. It was really cute.

Though Christmas can be stressful with running back and forth between families houses, it is still fun seeing everyone. And, we started a little tradition of our own this year. We did Christmas eve as a family - went to church, came home and had dinner, the kids opened their presents (well, Connor opened his AND Isla's), then we read the Christmas story (from the bible...a kids bible this year) and off to bed the kiddos went.

It was a great time. I look forward to watching the kids grow up and hopefully love Christmas (and the reason behind it) as much as I do.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a wonderful day with family and friends. Never forget the reason Christ was born. To die on a cross for YOU (& me). Merry Christmas!

Twelve Dates of Christmas {seven}

On the seventh date of Christmas, my true love gave to me I gave to my true love...

A quick coffee break

With both babes down for a nap, Ian made us lattes and we enjoyed a quick minute to ourselves. We could actually carry on a conversation (and hear ourselves think) in our own home. Pretty nice! 

 

Now I realize that Christmas is tomorrow and I am barely halfway thru my twelve dates of Christmas. But that's ok. It will just be the gift that keeps on giving. I'm not giving up. There will be twelve dates...hopefully finished before the end of January! 

Twelve Dates of Christmas {six}

On the sixth date of Christmas, my true love gave to me I gave to my true love...

A different date than planned

 

You see, given that we are on a budget and all, I couldn't afford for us to go out for all our dates. So, I planned something nice for us at home. I arranged for the kids to go over to my parents house and I was going to make Ian a nice dinner at home...that we could enjoy in peace. But, when Ian got home from work, he told me get got a little Christmas money from work, so we used that money to go out instead. It was a fun, unexpected surprise for me. 

 

 

We went for sushi. Yummy!  While at dinner, I managed to make Ian spit out beer all over, like something you would see in a movie. I said something (something not even that funny) while Ian was taking a drink. Apparently, he found it extra funny and couldn't contain his laughter. Thus beer everywhere. And, weird looks from people sitting by us. Because of this, neither of us could stop laughing until we left the restaurant. Good thing it happened at the end of our meal.

Camera Fun

I saw this idea and thought it was an idea worth stealing trying. Once I figured it out, it was rather fun. And given that this fun was practically free, it made it even better!

All you need is your dslr and some paper. I tried it with two different lenses before I realized one worked better than the other. I also did three different shapes - tree, star and heart. The star was my favorite.

I just taped the "homemade filters" on the front of the lens. Be sure to turn off auto focus so the tape doesn't get sucked into the lens...that may or may not have happened to me. Set your aperture as low as it will go and have some fun!

I tried taking pictures with my kids in the foreground and the fun shapes in the background, but it never worked out for me. One kid can't hold herself up and the other one is extremely squirmy these days. I should have made Ian my test subject...maybe tonight!

If you have a dslr, you should give this a try. And if your husband is anything like mine, he will think you are a dork for doing it...and if you are anything like me, you will think it is über cool and addicting!

Twelve Dates of Christmas {five}

On the fifth date of Christmas, my true love gave to me I gave to my true love...

A very unexpected food date

We go to church on Saturday nights. Connor had a cold, so we had my in laws watch him so we could still go to church. That gave me an idea...have my in laws watch Connor a little longer and we could sneak in a date. So during church I slipped Ian a card letting him know of our surprise date.

After church, I let forced Ian to pick where to go to dinner. So to Tahoe Joes we went. It was a nice (and delicious) meal. And Isla slept thru most of the meal. It was a really enjoyable time. And this time, no one was sick!