I’m not sure just what it is that this child does in his sleep for his head to look this way when he wakes up. This picture taken after his nap the other day. I swear, I did not do anything to enhance his “nest”, this is exactly how he looked when he woke up.  We’ve dubbed Brady, the Bedhead Master.

Resolutions. Bah! I can never keep them, so why bother.

After catching up with a couple of my blogging friends blogs. I decided I was a little weak in the New Years Resolution department and needed to scratch my entire post and start over. Since no one follows resolutions anymore, it’s now called a “To Do List” for the new year. So in following Jessica and Laura here is my 2009 To Do List:

• Become a better blogger. Writing and reading.
• Seperate all my sons toys into two piles, box one pile up and pull it out for him 6 months later. Surprise, it’s like all new toys.
• Finish decorating Gavin’s room.
• Organize, or at least start to, (lets be real here) the storage area in the basement.
• Do better at actually putting laundry away instead of having this growing heap(s) of need to be folded and put away clothes all over the house.
• Give Gavin chores.  The kid is almost 6 and does absolutely nothing around here.
• Try and maintain some sort of schedule with the twins. This fly by the seat of our pants just has to end.

So there you have it. My resolutions “To Do List” for 2009.

Christmas was nice. My sister was in town. It’s always great having her here. I miss her so much.  Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Here’s to a great new year for 2009!!

In stealing another idea from Laura. Please see the previous post that was an added in post to end 2008.

Thank you Laura for this great idea. You should go check out her Year in Pictures too.

January

Solid foods officially become a part of Blake & Brady’s daily routine, time to move up into the high chairs.

February

Gavin turned 5.  Two days after this picture we had a huge party with friends and family at his favorite place, Pump It Up.

Blake & Brady are 6 months old.  In an attempt to save some money, I took their 6 month photo myself.  They were very cooperative and had fun sitting in the basket.

March

I think this was the last time the boys all laid still long enough for me to get a decent shot of the 3 of them.  After this, their newfound mobility would not allow them to sit still for more than a few second.

Both Blake and Brady cut all four top teeth at once. That’s 8 teeth! Ugh, we were all miserable that week.

April

Blake and Brady are officially hooked on Baby Einstein videos.

May

Blake and Brady are introduced to Jungle Java for the first time and they have an absolute ball! 

Gavin graduates from preschool and we have a fun picnic at the park with his class & teachers.

June

Gavin goes to work with Dave.

Dave drives Niklas Kronwall in Detroits Stanley Cup Parade.

We attend a Stanley Cup party at Dave’s work.

July

Blake and Brady turn one year old.

August

My dad visits from Texas. The last time he was in Michigan was for my wedding in Sept 2003. It was so wonderful having him here.

We take our 2nd road trip to my sister, Renee’s in Indiana. This is as we were pulling out of the drive way to head back home.

September

Gavin starts kindergarten.

Gavin joins the mini-mites hockey team.  This was his first day.  Three weeks later, he was skating like he was born to skate.

The Stanley Cup comes to our house for a visit.

October

We all enjoy a family day at the park.

Blake and Brady are introduced to Great Wolf Lodge for the first time.

Gavin is the Incredible Hulk for Halloween, his most favorite holiday ever.

November

My great aunt passed away and Gavin & I go to Northern Michigan for her funeral.  This was taken at the Mackinaw Bridge before heading home.

I reach that 40th 29th milestone birthday.

December

We attend Dave’s company Christmas party downtown. Gavin had fun skating on the home ice of the Detroit Red Wings.

Our Christmas family photo.

Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season. Happy New Year!

Ahhh yes, my least favorite time of the year.  Am I ready? Hardly. Here it is after 2am and I’m still addressing my Christmas cards.  It seems I get them out later and later each year.  The past couple years I find myself rushing to the 24hour post office in the middle of the night so that folks can get my cards by Christmas Eve.  Needless to say, I’ll be hitting the 24hour post office tomorrow night.

My sister is coming in town on Christmas day. Am I ready? Hardly. I have to rewash the sheets in the spare bedroom because the boys like to go in there and jump on the bed. Suppose I could just wash the pillow cases since that’s all that is exposed to the endless amounts of drool that pour from my childrens mouths. I’ve never known toddlers that drool so much. And at almost 17 months. When is it going to end?

November, as I mentioned, was a crazy month. My great aunt passed away and we went out of town for her funeral.  The stomach flu also made a visit to our house in November.  First Gavin, then the twins, then Dave. Luckily for me, I did not come down with it. I was washing my hands so much while cleaning up buckets of vomit and diarreah.  I was determined to NOT get it.  Just goes to show you how frequent hand washing is a huge defense against these kinds of things.  I’m now an even bigger fan of hand washing.

Well, for now, I’ll leave you with this. Every year we make a gingerbread house. This years was quite a turn out. Gavin is very proud. Now if I can only keep the twins from pulling the candy off.

I had planned on sitting down tonight and posting a nice lengthy catch-up entry. But it seems I get distracted so often these days that now all I can say is that.. a catch-up entry is coming. I’m still alive. November was a busy month. More soon. I promise.

I have done it. I’ve crossed that line. The one I swore I wouldn’t cross until the twins were at least 3 years old. I gave them french fries from McD’s. And from the moment the fry passed through their lips, they were hooked. Brady looked at me and with eagerness in his eyes, he said, “mo, mo, mo” all the while frantically making the sign for ‘more.’  Blake, he’s a little more nonchalant about it all. He’s so happy go lucky about everything. He’ll take the fry and walk away with this little happy swagger of his.  Then the other day, Brady is in his high chair with a fry in his hand and he kept motioning toward my plate. I couldn’t figure out what he wanted. I offered him a bite of what I had but he insisted it was something else he wanted. So I picked up my plate and had him show me. And what did the child do? He dipped his fry in my ketchup.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween.

This picture of me was taken Easter 1972 at my grandmothers, I was 3 and a half. I have vague memories of this day. I do remember though, that the boy standing next to me lived next door to my grandma. He and I played together often when I visited my grandma. I remember I had colored him and egg and he colored me one. We had exchanged our eggs for one another when this shot was taken. I remember I loved my Easter dress. I always loved dressing up for Easter. My ensemble always included a white bonnet, white patent leather shoes, white gloves and even a little white wicker purse.  You don’t see ensembles like that any more at Easter time. I’m not sure if it’s that the tradition is lost or that those things just aren’t “of the times” any more. At any rate. I loved it.

Stumbled across this game while clicking away at blogs in my blog ring. Answer the following questions by googling images for your answer.

What is your middle name?

Where would you like to travel to?

Where were you born?

What is your favorite color?

If you decide to play along, please let me know so I can check out your answers.

The November issue of W Magazine shows Anjelina Jolie on the cover, breastfeeding one of her new born twins. Apparently this is inappropriate to some readers. Inappropriate? I think it’s wonderful. First I think it’s amazing and fantastic that she is breastfeeding her twins. Having breastfed my own twins, I know the struggles, the challenges and the reward of nursing two newborns.

I just can’t understand why breastfeeding in public creates such controversy. Why some mothers have to hide in shame and feed their babies in public bathrooms or any where else unclean and disgusting. I’ve been fortunate in that I never recieved any grief for nursing any of my children in public. No one finds it disgusting when they see a baby calf nursing from it’s mother cow. Still women can walk around in public wearing barely any clothing, and yet the mother, off in a corner somewhere, discreetly feeding her baby the way nature intended is the one asked to ‘cover up.’

I think Anjelina posing while breastfeeding can influence a lot of young mothers to come out of the filthy bathroom and feed her baby more comfortably. I used to be bothered by Anjelina. She was just “too much” in my book. But this new, motherly Anjelina is my hero.

In other news, I’ve been tagged by Rachael with this fun little note. So to follow suit, I’ll now tag some of my favs.

1. Laura
2. Karen
3. Georgette
4. Kim
5. Another Laura

Thanks Rachael, for the blog ‘sticker’!

On a side note, I can’t believe no one commented on my Stanley Cup post. I had the Stanley Cup at MY house and no one even admits a smidgen of jealousy? 😉

A video is worth a thousand words.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itHBb1LZ2lU]