My 10 Favorite Photos of 2009

I got the idea to pick my top 10 photos from Our Daily Big Top. It is hard to pick just ten when you take as many as I take. Most of these are not the best technically but they are my favorites because they capture a great moment.

Jumping for Joy

The annual Christmas tree shot by the random tree guy.

Davey getting up close to the trains.

Another random guy took this shot of our first sledding trip of the season.

Davey is always moving.

'noculars.

My attempt at posing them.

Silly boy.

Dancing queen.

Summer time.

Sledding Rules!

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos.

A Martha Stewart Christmas. Not!

This post is part of the fun of Not Me Monday. It is a time to admit to somethings you might want to forget. MckMama is our host at My Charming Kids . Go over there to see what other people are not doing this week too.
Davey does not have his own plate of Christmas cookies because no one else should be subjected to eating them. He is not totally gross.
I did not find Christmas ornaments all over the house. Davey does not take them off the tree and bring them to me and sing "Merry Christmas." I did not find Cinderella beheaded.

My Christmas tree is not half decorated.

I did not place the sugar cookies too close together and create giant snowman cookies. That was totally planned. Not!

I do not have an explanation for this mess.

I did not accidentally leave potatoes in the car. They did not freeze. When they thawed, they did not make this sticky brown mess.

Despite all these things that did not happen, we did not have a wonderful Christmas.

My Favorite Moments from the Past Week

These are my favorite moments this past week that I caught with the camera. Be sure to go to Sarcastic Mom to check out more weekly winners.

My daughter wanted a desk from Santa to do homework. She started Christmas morning.

Davey loves his trains.

Santa brought Maximus a duck, which he loved squeaking.

I know it is blurry but I like this shot taken while driving to the Grandparents' house on Christmas Eve.

Dave and the kids getting ready to go down the hill.

Family shot taken by a stranger.

My snow angel.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas. Hoping those who don't celebrate it enjoy some down and your own celebrations.

Some of the Many Uses of a Hamper

Best seat in the house.

A great hiding place.

A good drum. This is mom's favorite use.

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos. Don't forget to head over to see how all the cool kids are dressing at Heathen Family Revival. Davey can't be the only one rocking out in his mismatched pajamas.

Who Taught Her This?

I consider myself a feminist. I don't think it is a negative thing. I believe that men and women should be treated equally. My four year old daughter seems to have a 1950s housewife attitude. We was discussing all the schools people can graduate from. I went from preschool all the way through graduate school. I assume both my children will go to college as my parents expected of me. My daughter tells me girls can't go to college. I don't know where she is learning this attitude. I have my Bachelors and Masters degrees. I again explained that girls can do anything that boys can do.

This is not the first time that we have had similar conversations. She often tells me her dad is smarter than me. Her dad is smart but he wouldn't say he is smarter and especially not to our children. She has a strict sense of what boys and girls can each do. It is driving me crazy that she feels this way. It is driving me crazy that I can't figure out where she is picking up these attitudes. It certainly is not from our house. So for now I continue to promote equality and show her examples of women doing amazing things.

What's ticking you off this Tuesday?

Things I did not do

I did not decide to become a brunette again. My hair is not darker than it ever has been before. I do not love it. My 4 year old daughter is not terribly upset that I am no longer blonde like her. It is beyond her comprehesion why anyone would choose to not be blonde.I do not think my hair always looks better than usual before I get my hair done.

My new dark 'do.

My husband was not excited to see my post title Bare but Beautiful. He was not disappointed that it was a photo of some bare trees. He is not disillusional enough to believe/hope that it could be a photo of my tush.

My son, Davey, does not cover his ears when you scold him for doing something wrong. He is not doing something wrong almost constantly recently. This behavior is not infuriating. Davey does not rat himself out sometimes by covering his ears before I discover what mischievous thing he has done.

This post is part of the fun of Not Me Monday. It is a time to admit to somethings you might want to forget. MckMama is our host at My Charming Kids . Go over there to see what other people are not doing this week too.

Weekly Winners

I didn't take a lot of photos this week but here are my favorites. I hope to take some today of the snow we got.

The best part of making Christmas cookies is eating Christmas cookies.

Fun running around the track.

Be sure to go to Sarcastic Mom to check out more weekly winners.

Back but Slug Like.

I'm feeling a bit slug-like this week. I'm over my cold so no more excuses to not exercise. I did the shred once this week and the elliptical machine 4 days. It hasn't been my most intense workout week but at this time of the year I think it was pretty good. I wasn't able to make it to the gym to jog and it is too cold to take the boy with me. I'm grateful I was able to jog with him in December at all. Maybe next week...

I'm hoping to exercise more intensely next week despite the holiday. We'll see what happens. We host Christmas Day so I know I have a ton of stuff to do around the house. Never mind my mother and mother-in-law are making me feel guilty. My mom thinks it is a crime that I'm not baking some cookies from scratch. I think the sugar cookies from the tube are as good as scratch. The part the kids and I like is the decorating anyway. My mother in law is putting me to shame in preparations. She has literally been cooking for Christmas Eve for 3 weeks. But I'm the least stressed of the three of us. My philosophy is just do the things you like. I don't do things that make me stressed. I'm taking time to do the fun stuff with the kids like our advent calendar activities. Maybe I am slug-like but I'm happy.

Bare but Beautiful

Go to Skywatch Friday to see skies from all around the world.

WW-Trying to Tire Them Out for Naptime

It was warm here on Monday. The ground was too wet to play in the yard so I took the kids to the track to burn off some energy. They had fun but there was still no naps this day.

Check out 5 Minutes for Mom, Momspective, and Wordless Wednesday for more wordless photos.

You have to accept your mom's friend request, right?

So my mom joined facebook. My mom can barely turn the computer on. I can't figure out why she joined. I use to have this blog linked on my profile page for friends. I removed it before I accepted her friend request. You can't ignore your mom's friend request right? I am her only friend so far.

I asked her why she joined. She said she wanted to see how it worked. If she was reconnecting with friends, it wouldn't seem so weird. I got paranoid that somehow she heard I had this blog, and knew she could find it on my facebook page. I don't think that is the case anymore. At least I hope it is not. It is not like I post inappropriate things on this blog or on facebook but it is nice to have places to share my thoughts without worrying about offending my parents or in-laws.

I talk to my mother at least 3 times a week. I write a family blog that she reads. We do not need to connect more. I can't help but feel like she is picking up the phone extension and spying on my conversations. I caught her doing that when I was in 7th grade and tried to meet a boy at the movies for a date.

So I'm ticked off that I can't figure out why mom joined facebook. If I know you in real life, please do not let it slip that I write this blog to my parents or in-laws. I value these "private" conversations too much.

What is ticking you off this Tuesday? Feel free to share in the comments.

More Advent Activities

Here are more Advent activities we did this week.

We had fun admiring the ornaments.

Dave gave Davey a boost to hang an ornament.
Most of the time we decorated Davey preferred to play "robot."

The kids made bubble beards.

We watched a Christmas movie and enjoyed popcorn balls. Note to self: The kids need to eat these in the bathtub next time due to the mess.

We visited Santa at the mall. After posing with Santa and getting two smiles, which is no small feat, the kids were rewarded with candy canes. We believe Davey is allergic to this type of candy cane considering the hives he got all over his body. The hives didn't put a damper on the visit. Davey didn't seem to even notice them. These hives only lasted 2 days. Much better than the 5 days he had hives after his yellow jacket sting.

Weekly Winners-First Snow Addition

We had our first snow of the season. Despite the rain, I took the kids out to enjoy the snow. Here are some of the better shots. Be sure to go to Sarcastic Mom to check out more weekly winners.

Maximus loves the snow too.

In Awe.

Snow Angel.

That pathetic thing was our snowman. And Maximus stole his eyes.

Little Drip.

A last bit of green.