2011

It's been quite a year. Here's what happened:

Remember this girl?

Made lasting friendships

There really are no words

Learned how to read

Barney graduated from the NBA MBA program

And got a job at a a little company called Mozenda

Keeping the ducks fat

Child labor Helping mom

Being cute

Meeting baby Alice for the first time/feeding Baby Alice cookies for the first time

Halloween: the princess and the pea

Daddy recovering from 3 surgeries and taking care of two hooligans at the same time=superman

Thanksgiving (yes, we only ate pie for Thanksgiving)

Alice Joy on her blessing day

Nice action shot

"Give me more cookies!!"

The first snow

Hanging out

Meeting Santa 
Notice Millie's look of horror. It was only slightly less traumatic because he gave her a candy cane.

Thanks for the great year everyone.

Love you. 

Amazing how much excitement a few white flakes can produce

Some pictures so I can feel better about my blog

Today, I am thankful for the miracles

In the past month, I've felt keenly aware of many of the blessings I often take for granted.

1. Sight. I've had eye problems for over a month now: what I thought was an eye infection, broken glasses (twice), an eye appointment, a broken contact, another eye appointment, the wrong contacts, new glasses ordered, then finally after the new contact came, another one had to be ordered. Wow. I can honestly say that I've never been so grateful to be able to see. I was young enough when I first got glasses and contacts that I don't think I've quite appreciated what a great blessing it is.

2. The ability to walk. About a week ago, my hip suddenly started acting funny. It has been hurting with every step. This morning I woke up, and it felt fine. What a blessing.

3. Sleep. Most of you know what your sleep schedule is like with a new baby. Well, they wake up even more when you work a cold into the picture. For two nights now, Alice has slept at least 8.5 hours straight. Though I wake up wondering if everything is okay, I am so grateful to sleep well. I feel like I'm a much better mom when I am well rested.

The Big Reveal

Here are the long awaited pictures of Halloween. As you can see, we didn't get many pictures, nor did we get great quality ones. I had a pillow strapped to me (to be a mattress), and Barney was wearing a blanket on his shoulder as he forgot his pillow.

Note: The tape on Barney's knee is because he had surgery on it.

For those who struggle being healthy while being a mom...

I think about this a lot. So, I'm starting a new blog on the subject. I'm including my workout experiences along with healthy variations on recipes that I make. For those who are interested:

runningmom-mary.blogspot.com

Enjoy.

Halloween and Picture Dump...Okay, mostly just pictures

For Halloween this year some of our friends came over to join us for a dinner of ribs (thanks for the ideas Jen!),

Green slime and pumpkin guts,

Cake

Mashed potato ghosts and breadstick bones with blood (not pictured)

We dressed the girls up as the princess and the pea, with us as mattresses and took them trick-or-treating to a few people. Millie was so high on sugar that we may never do it again. I'll post some pictures of the costumes when I get them.

On an unrelated note, my super talented friend/sister-in-law Jen took some pictures of the girls. Considering the disastrous timing of Alice's baby acne plus neither of the girls cooperating, I'd say she did an amazing job. I guess someday we'll enjoy the true nature of our lives being shown in the pictures.

And here are a few more cute moments we've captured lately...

Nice spit up stain, Alice!

... including this creepy scene we saw when Millie got up from her nap. Should we be worried?