Dec 8- Dec 20

Picked up some new hangers while I was at Bed Bath & Beyond which led to cleaning out my closet, which led to painfully admitting that I am no longer the same size I was "BK" (before kids) and will never be again, which led to purging 3 giant garbage bags full of clothes for Goodwill.

I submitted a photo several weeks ago to one of Becky Higgins photo challenges...and to my surprise, it made it!  Talk about big time :)  Seeing my picture on THE Becky Higgins site.  Yay! 

I really wish this were not the sight I see every time I look down.  Unfortunately, the majority of the time, it is.  I sure hope this miserable, clingy, screechy phase will end soon.  I'm hanging on by a thread.

While Dan was off enjoying my gift to him of a birthday massage (that he drove himself to and paid for), the kids and I made him a birthday card/banner to surprise him when he got home.  Thank you Crayola for washable markers.

I was shocked to see Sydney carefully (and accurately) putting Bryce's cards away in a ziplock bag. It took her a while, but she picked almost all of them up.  I didn't tell her to, or show her how, she just got to work and did it.  Such a big girl!

This is what I found when I walked over to the door the other day.  Bryce has been matching up like items lately.  I've never done this with him, so it was so cool to see that he had done it all by himself.

Went with Cassie to the Design 1 Fashion show benefiting Helen DeVos Children's Hospital.  It was AMAZING!  We had a great girl's night out.  Horrible picture...but neither of us remembered to bring our cameras and this was a phone picture. (*note to self...do something with your arm when you take a picture to avoid looking like a behemoth)

Let Bryce talk me into playing outside for a very short few minutes.  It was freeeeeeezing, but he didn't mind, so I let him wander while I took some pictures.

Speaking of freezing...I accidentally turned the heat off instead of turning it down the night before.  Woke up to a 54 degree house and 9 degree temp outside.  Had to use the fireplace for a while to warm up the living room.

Dan and I went to our first Ugly Sweater Party over in Saint Clair Shores.  Fantastic!  However, these matching turtle-necks make it tough to see where Dan ends and I begin.  Yikes!

I love going out to get the mail each day and open up our Christmas cards.  We have them hanging up on the pantry doors and they are almost full!

Practicing my Bokeh pictures.  Not thrilled with the results, but I'm going to keep practicing.  Want to learn how to get this effect?  Click here.  or  Click here  I've got so much to learn!

Major cleaning day today.  Thankfully the kids were helpful and both slept a good chunk of the afternoon.  (which NEVER happens).  I pretty much just kept cleaning until they woke up.  Look at that floor shine!

Hop over to Project Life Tuesday  (even though it's Wednesday...whatever)at the Mom Creative and check out more Project Life Photos.

Nov 29-Dec 7

 We were getting jammies on and Bryce wouldn't cooperate, so I started being silly with him and put Sydney's jammies on him.  He thought it was so funny and played along with me. 

Tuesday-???

 I have really been struggling to keep the ornaments on the tree.  (well, at least the bottom half)  I gave Bryce the "one finger" rule, which seems to be working pretty well.  Sydney doesn't give a rat's ass what I tell her.

 We got quite a bit of snow this morning.  Some people love this...I, on the other hand...DO NOT.

 Dan and I had a neighborhood Holiday party which we were supposed to bring a dessert to.  After seeing this post, and this one, I decided to give these cake pops a try.  They were FANTASTIC!  I will be making these again!  (and again, and again.)

 More snow...ugh.

 We took the kids for a drive to look at some "rice krismas lights" as Bryce calls them.  It lasted about 10 minutes and both of them were screaming.  This is also a very bad picture, but it was a bad adventure, so it's all good.

 What a diva.  I took my velcro rollers out and Sydney was trying to put them on her head.  I love this girl when she is not screaming at me.

This boy is funny.  He comes out of the mudroom with my boots, his hat and two different gloves on.  He got them all on by himself too! 

Stop by the Mom Creative to see more Project Life pictures from the week.

Nov 9-Nov 28...seriously?

I swear...if I am going to try this again for 2011, I need to make it a priority to upload photos and actually journal them when they happen.  I don't even want to admit how behind I am on my journaling.  Thankfully I've been keeping up the blog better than the album.  Oh well, at least something is down in writing somewhere! 

click here to see more Project Life participants!

This girl is growing so much every day.  She has developed quite the little personality.  She is starting to really copy everything I do and say. 

In an attempt to learn more about my camera and get action shots that are not blurry with indoor lighting...I sort of encouraged the kids to repeatedly jump off the couch. 

Since these darn things are always all over the living room floor, Bryce and I made a rainbow.  He thought this was pretty cool.

Grabbed some supplies from the store and took advantage of one of the last warm-ish days we've had.  Dan and I managed to get all the exterior lights up before it started to rain.

Dan wanted to run to Best Buy to take a look at a new tv he was interested in.  Sure enough...he came home with it.   Yipee...now Handy Manny and Bob the Builder are even bigger...and in 3D!

Bryce was playing with his blocks and building his "sand castles".  It is so nice when he finds things to do that are quiet!

No reason really for this being the picture of the day.  He was just laying on the floor with his hands up behind his head and looked so grown up.  (of course he moved as I was trying to take a picture)

Dan took me to Chicago to celebrate my 30th birthday.  We left Wednesday afternoon and stayed through Friday.  It was so nice to have a quiet ride over and no kids to worry about!

Saturday was spent shopping, lunch, boat tour around the city, then dinner.  Such a nice day.  Click here for more pics of our trip.

Drove home Friday night only to find my house full of family!  Cannot believe Dan was able to keep that a surprise.  I'm one very lucky girl.

Aiden came over for a while to hang out while Cortney had her ultrasound.  The kids LOVE when "Ee-ee" comes over.

Tried to get a picture of our lights outside and it was just too cold.  This was the best I could get.

Normally I DO NOT appreciate being woken up any earlier than I have to, but this morning, Dan woke me up to take a look at the sunrise.  It was amazing.  Of course I had to run outside and get a picture.

Thanksgiving!  Yay!  It was so nice to have two back to back four day weekends.  We went over to Dan's parents for dinner.  Everything was delicious.  {cornucopia or megaphone?  you decide}

Friday we went to Allendale to cut down our first real tree.  Boy was it coooooold out side!  Found the perfect tree and even got a family picture.  Click here for more pictures of that adventure.

Dan was nice enough to hold down the fort for the day so I could drive over to Aunt Cathie's house with Mom and spend the day stamping!  We don't get to do this often enough, so when we do...we go all out!  I was able to get lots of cards done.

Dan made me bbq ribs and wings for dinner.  He did a great job, and I'm pretty sure he was darn proud of himself.