Looking Back

Happy New Year!  Until now, I haven't blogged all year!  Ha Ha Ha.  

Here's a little recap of our 2009.  If you've been following along on the blog, this might be a little familiar :)

2009 was a year full of travel, family, milestones, and as you know if you know us- diy projects!

In 2009, one or all of us traveled to and/or through Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, California, Utah, and Texas.  These travels included spending time in such notable cities as Pittsburgh, Boston, SLC, DC, San Francisco, San Antonio, and Baltimore.  

Much of our travels were to visit extended family.  Bob and I became aunt and uncle for the first and second times this year (and the girls got two first cousins).  We got to visit our niece and our nephew who live in Boston and in Utah respectively.  We attended a family reunion and if it weren't for the aunt and uncle who live in Austria, we would have been the ones who came the farthest distance to be there.  Bob and Kiree went to his Grandma's funeral in October.  

We also had a couple of people visit us in 2009.  Both of Bob's parents came out for a visit and the girls loved playing with them.  Bob's Dad got to come a couple of times for work meetings in Baltimore.  Just before the new year, my dear friend and old roommate from college, Amber came out to visit.  The girls missed you after you left Amber!

We hit some of those annual milestones this year.  Jaide turned 5 in July and began kindergarten.  She really loves school and is getting better and better at reading.  Just the other day I spelled out a word to Bob so the girls wouldn't hear, but Jaide knew what it was!  Kiree started nursery at church in May and turned 2 in November.  She has been talking very well for several months now and is still working on potty training.  Bob and I celebrated our 7th anniversary in June.  Bob is still working at the same company and enjoys playing volleyball on a rec team and playing the wii (our combined present for our birthdays, anniversary, and Christmas this past year).  Meg still stays home with the girls and enjoys working out at the gym and with the wii.  Meg took an independent study class this year and got an A!  

We enjoy doing home improvement projects together (you do too, don't you Bob?)  and this year we did quite a few.  We did a whole lot of interior painting.  We will probably have painted every wall in this house at least once (and several more than that) by the time we sell it.  We got a new front door/screen door and a new HVAC system this year, but we let the pros do those projects.  Our biggest DIY project in 2009 was redoing the kitchen cabinets.  We painted all of our upper kitchen cabinets and added knobs to them.  The rest of the kitchen will be done in 2010.  We also put more insulation in the attic and built more area for storage in the attic as well.  We've also spent some time trying to maximize our storage elsewhere in our house and get ourselves more organized. 

2009 was a wonderful year.  We have been greatly blessed!  We're looking forward to a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year.

Surgery! "you hurt your bottom?"

Today I had surgery to remove a lump from my scalp. I had to fast and then go in around eight this morning. Bob had to come with me and so the girls came too and waited in the waiting room. I was all ready to go and then the person in surgery ahead of me had to be taken to the emergency room. Great! The surgeon had to go with so I got to get dressed and go back home for about two hours. It was 10 am by then.
We used our time at home to play lego starwars on the wii for the first time. It was pretty fun. Then at 12:30 I called and they told me to come back in. This time I just had to wait for one guy ahead of me- a colonoscopy. A lot of people seemed to be getting colonoscopies today. But not me.
I finally got in to the operating room at 2:03. I should have brought a book or something. They waited to drug me right until the doctor got in. Then the next thing I knew it was all over. I was a little woozy but that cleared up pretty fast. My head hurt and still does a little. Now it mostly just feels tight. It was nice to eat food again. The nurse gave me some snacks and gave the girls more cookies (she gave them cookies before we left the first time too). Then we went home. I've got some funky crunchy hair, but I can't wash it for two days. At least I don't have a huge bald patch. I think this surgery ended up tightening up my left eyebrow area a little- we'll see if it lasts. It used to be a little bit more saggy than the other side, so I don't mind.
Later on Kiree was asking me about my surgery. She pointed to my head and said, "you hurt you bottom?" I told her that I had surgery on my scalp. "scalp" she repeated. Then she said, "you hurt you bottom."

Christmas 2009

Christmas Eve- Dora pajamas and It's a Wonderful Life.

Coming down the stairs to see what Santa brought.

Lots of art toys this year.

That's the Diego wii game from Aunt Cindy.




Jaide sure is excited to open presents!




Bob gave me a gift for him. It was a card that said "Bob, Half the wii is yours. Love, Meg"

Christmas dinner and games with friends.

A calendar from Rathy.











No more markers for you Kiree!

Playing the wii with daddy.

Wii Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very merry Christmas!  

Kiree, Meg, Jaide, and Bob

and here are the outtakes

Giving and the Trains

Yesterday evening we went to the firestation near church that has a Christmas train display each year. We forgot to bring the camera, but it was very cool. It was different from last year. We also went to the "safety room" to go on a safety hazard scavenger hunt. I think that is Jaide's very favorite part. It's their training room set up with pretend fire safety and other hazards.
All the firestations were having toy drives up until last night. The girls and I bought some toys at the craft store on Monday to donate. Jaide was so excited about it she kept mentioning it to random people in the store. I also had a duplicate of one of the toys we're giving Kiree so we decided to donate it too. I bought it at Target a long time ago and then found a better and less expensive one on Black Friday. Of course, I had recycled the receipt after I'd entered it into the budget because I "didn't need it." Kiree wanted to hold that particular toy in the car on the way there. Then we had to keep telling her that we were going to donate it and share with someone who really needed it. Two year olds are not much for charitable donations. But she calmed down about losing "her toy" as soon as she saw all the cool trains.
It's hard to believe it's Christmas eve already. I've finished up my elf-work, this last advent blog post, and now we'd better get to bed. There are going to be two very excited little girls tomorrow morning and now they can both get out of bed on their own.

Snow Days in Pictures and Video

Jaide has really enjoyed playing in the snow, especially with daddy.  It sure is much less stressful trying to get everyone dressed and keeping everyone happy out in the snow when there are two adults!  Kiree likes the snow more in theory than in practice.  We made a small ramp in our back yard but the hill in the common area is better.  
You can see our Christmas tree through the back window. 
This year we put up lanterns from Ikea outside (the lights inside of them are a set of outdoor party lantern-y lights we've had in the closet for years).  Someone stopped to compliment them one time we were outside.  Too bad almost half of them have burned out :(  Our little paper advent village is almost complete.  Jaide wanted me to make a church every Sunday.  One was enough for me.  Note the row of townhouses in the front.  Mary and Joseph were completely covered, but the snow is starting to melt.  Maybe we'll have to help it along before we put baby Jesus out tomorrow.   




Some sledding videos.  One of Bob and the girls and one from my viewpoint going down the hill with Kiree.  They're better if you can hear them too.