Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 Picture Recap

I take a lot of pictures and if I hadn't been so busy the last few weeks I probably would have done a "year end review" photo montage to entertain you. Instead, I'm going to give you a 2010 Month by Month photo recap, sharing with you a favorite picture or few from each month of the year.

Our 2010....
Apparently the highlight of January 2010 was SNOW because I have a lot of sledding pictures, like these:

In February, Hannah turned two! Her birthday fell on show-and-tell day for Brooke, so Brooke took Hannah to school for show-and-tell.





March had us going to see Sesame Street Live,

and hosting Brooke's Pirate themed birthday party, (that red room is my office if you didn't know!):

April was a big month with Brooke turning 6,

and Matt getting his pilot license! We went flying with him;
but we haven't really gone much since....he got the license on a company scholarship (thank God), but now it is $50/hour to fly and build up time to the bigger plane. Should you wish to contribute to the flying fund, please contact me.


May....ah....my favorite month of the year. Not only does it have a wonderful holiday--My Birthday-- and Matt's birthday too--but we usually take our vacation in May. This year was no exception. We had a superfabulous trip to Disney World where we stayed at the property we "own" at for the first time. I spent a lot of time recapping it on the blog starting with this post, and then another post here, even more here. I had a lot to write about so there was also post four, and the final post. If you are bored this holiday weekend and looking for some reading material, check out the Disney posts if you haven't. Seriously the highlight of our year I think. Here are a few of my favorite pics from that trip:



One of my favorite pics of brooke from the entire year;



Matt's parents went with us;

I hope you're not bored yet because we're only halfway through the year! In June, we had a family get together in Kansas City with my mom's side of the family. I can't find the pictures, but it was so great spending time with them! We also did a night at Great Wolf Lodge.


I got highlights for the first time:



Brooke lost her first tooth:


And I completed my first month of cake classes:

July found the summer in full swing with us spending A LOT of time playing outside. We love to go swimming and play in the sprinkler. We got a fence finally this year too, so we could send the girls out back to play on their own while we got dinner ready, etc. It was a fun summer!



One of my favorite pics of Hannah from the entire year;


In August we had a fun trip to Iowa to visit family. We enjoyed the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Indianola, spent time my mom, step dad, nephew, bro and sis in law. Then we went to Red Oak to see my dad's side of the family. It was our last hurrah before school started, and we spent our 11th Anniversary in Iowa.



Brooke started First Grade on August 17th.


We didn't have our bus driver from last year, but after a few weeks of difficulty with the new guy, we got Greg back. It was a very important part of the school year!
September is usually a pretty laid-back month...settling into a routine, enjoying the fall weather. We did just that, but got some cute pics of the girls in the meantime:

My accidental little side gig of doing cakes/cookies/cupcakes really started to take off and I gave it a name, "Worthwhile Moments Sweet Shoppe"... I'm amazed at how busy it has kept me the last few months, which worked out nice with it being a slower time in my travel biz!


In October, we had a trip to Great Wolf Lodge

More cakes


a trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

I took some pics of the girls for their "1/2" birthday:

and of course, Halloween:

The weekend after Halloween weekend, my brother, sis in law and nephew Brayton came down to visit us! They'll be having a little girl in January to add to our family! We always love it when they come to visit!


Started decorating for Christmas after they left. We put up 8 trees, so it takes awhile! We also enjoyed going to see the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular;

My mom and stepdad came down Thanksgiving weekend so we could do our Christmas with them

Whew...almost done...! It's taken forever to get all these pictures dragged to the right spot. Is dragged a word? I'm usually such a grammar person but my brain is fried after this Christmas break!
So December.... A visit from Papa Terry and Grandma Diane,


A slew of Christmas pictures, Christmas decorating, and Christmas enjoying.



Thanks for hanging in for the long post.... since I was a total slacker on Christmas card letters this year, hopefully this makes up for it!
Wishing you a wonderful New Year filled with many blessings!!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Crickets.

Do you hear that?


Crickets, I think.

Because the ol blog has been quiet over the holidays!


Rest assured, our house has been anything but!

I've got a lot of blog ideas rolling around in my head, but don't have time to get a one of them done right this second. I've got a headache, a movie to watch with my husband, a house to clean, Disney quotes to work on, and fondant Winnie the Pooh characters to make for a cake for this weekend.

But I promise.... a post recapping/highlighting some of my favorite things from 2010 before it turns to 2011. Pinky swear. Because I know you can't possibly ring in the new year without some highlights from me.


In the meantime, a few images from our Christmas celebrations. I hope yours was wonderful!


The girls with Grandma and Grandpa after Christmas eve services, before they ditched their dresses.



Matt and I on Christmas Eve.


The girls in the jammies they opened on Christmas Eve. My family was always an "open all gifts but Santa stuff on Christmas eve" whereas Matt's family has always done the whole lot on Christmas morning. The compromise is that every Christmas Eve, whomever is at our house opens some jammies, and the kids get a book or puzzle to open also. Next year I might have to do something besides jammies for the adults, because we only need so many.
Brooke opening her American Girl doll from Grandma and Grandpa. She was a little bit excited! This was snapped in mid of her leaping to her feet and jumping for joy.
Hannah got the American Girl Bitty Baby Twins. I think she was excited too, but by this time she was ready for a nap and I think a little dazed!
Playing with their new play-dough sets on Christmas night.
The girls in their matching PJs made by grandma. Brooke's doll has some on too, Hannah's doll's are still in Grandma's Sweat Shop sewing room getting the finishing touches :)