Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 Pictures

A photo a day for a whole year...it doesn't sound all that hard....until you attempt it. I'm proud that I've completed the task 2 years in a row. I was going to pick my favorite from each month for this post, I couldn't do it. I started out with 2 a month...but some are 3. I guess I don't like picking favorites. I picked some because I thought the photo was nice, others were because of the subject matter. More pictures, less talk...here they are.


January

The First of the series of Hallmark Rocking Horse Ornaments in front of my tree.


Brian coming home from school.
February

Willow Tree Angel

Skylar and Czar spotted something interesting.

March

Daffodil from my "Watch Em Grow" pot.

Billy playing video games.

April

Scilla in my mom's backyard.

Hepaticas in the woods....one of my favorite flowers.

May

I didn't take this one, but I love it...Eric and I with Brian before prom.

Billy, my mom, and Brian after Billy's confirmation.
June

This was the year for the daisies, they were abundant!

Billy on the baseball field.

Billy at bat. One of my favorite things to take photos of...baseball!

July
Day lilies...this feels so peaceful to me. I like taking pictures of flowers too.

My niece Stephanie with baby Avery on Avery's baptism day.

Brian after church.
August

Billy and the boys friend David on the St. Croix River...love the tones in this one.

Brian playing goalie with flies all around.

Billy at a football scrimmage...he made the catch. :-)
September

Breezy...a new boarder at the farm.

Waiting for their game to start. A brand new fall team, no one knew each other at first
....but there's something about playing baseball that brings kids together. Billy is # 10.

A quick snapshot of the sunset. Just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

October

Billy on the football field. He was busy in the fall playing both football and baseball.

Brian with his new "airsoft" rifle in the morning light. Happy boy. Happy mom with a new camera.

Billy carving pumpkins. I regret not getting the pumpkin in the shot...but like the picture anyway. He's still just a kid.
November

A Heron on the beach at Anna Maria Island in Florida....girls weekend. Good memories.

Brian in the snow at the farm. So handsome.

Brian, Grandma Barb, and Billy on Thanksgiving day, Brian's 18th birthday!

Billy and Brian, our Christmas card photo.

Brian dressed as Horatio Nelson. I keep thinking how few High School events are left for him now being in his senior year. Sniff**

My niece Stephanie, husband Jim and sweet Avery at the Como Park Conservatory. Honored and really nervous about taking their Christmas card picture. This one was my favorite.
So there you have it, my favorites from 2010. I'll leave you with this...even though I'm the one taking photo after photo, it's really Eric that is the natural photographer in the family. Think of how good he'd be if I ever let him use the camera! A rare photo of me, taken by Eric on Christmas Eve...he's always showing me up darn it!


The end of one year, the start of another. I hope your year is filled with good health, family, fun and photographs!
I'll end with a quote from Oprah:
Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Winding Down

The days in between Christmas and New Years seem to have a pace all of their own. The pressure of getting everything done is gone, the boxes and wrappings and gifts are put away, the boys are off of school and Eric has taken a few days off from work. The New Year is just around the corner and things will pick up again...but until then, I'm enjoying the slower pace.

Our decorations are still up, putting them away will be one of the first tasks of the New Year. This is my snow village, the picture was taken in the early evening. I like the light.

Unrelated gratitude...the Vikings game was postponed until Tuesday night because of snow. It's been a strange and dismal season for the Vikings...but Tuesday night they showed some life....and they won! A glimmer of hope for next year.

Back to Christmas stuff. This is an ornament hanging on my dining room chandelier...with the Christmas tree behind it. It was the first year that we put the tree in the dining room....I liked it there!

With Eric having a few days off I've been treated to Super America coffee and a muffin in the morning. The healthy stuff can wait until January 1st.

This little snowman was a gift that I received quite a few years ago...a friend brought it home for me from Sweden. Thanks Sherry...I haven't forgotten! Every tree needs a cowboy snowman don't you think?

The nicest part of this slow paced week has been spending more time with the boys. Mostly with Billy though, since Brian has his days and nights mixed up. Billy is at that age where some kids feel pretty awkward, teetering between boy and man...but he's just rolling with it. He can be a goofball one minute, then a kind and caring teenager the next. He makes me laugh and makes me proud....what more can a mom ask for? Well, picking up after himself would help....

....but all in all, he's a pretty good kid to have around....

....I think I'll keep him around for a while.
I hope that your day is slow paced and wonderful....winding down until it all starts up again!



Monday, December 27, 2010

Snowed Under

It's been a busy few weeks since I've posted last. We got snowed in, and then I was snowed under with all of the Christmas stuff that had to get done. And now it's over and I'm wondering why I rushed and fussed and tried to do it all, when all that is really important is this...

...Mary and Joseph and their precious baby boy.

Now that the hustle and bustle is behind us, I'll try to catch up with my gratitude and my photos of the day. Here we go. Eric was in France for a couple of weeks before Christmas. There's a lot more for me to do when he's gone as it is. Add Christmas stuff and a blizzard to that and I was a little stressed. Playing volleyball and being active saved me a couple of times!

This is Molly, under our tree. I was wondering why the tree skirt kept getting messed up. Here is the answer. Guilty cat.

Brian was busy on a Friday night, Billy and I went out for dinner, just the two of us...what a treat.

On Friday night it started to snow. It snowed and it snowed and it snowed. Almost 20". My snowman says "Let it Snow". I was thinking "Let it Stop!"

By Saturday afternoon, early evening, I decided to tackle the driveway and sidewalks. Our snow blower is small, I knew I had to move some of it before the pile was too high. This was round one. Then it snowed some more...and then the snowplow dumped a huge pile at the end of the driveway. Ugh.

But how can a person complain when they are safe and warm?

It seemed like a good day to take a Christmas picture of the boys, since they were stranded with me, so we did. I think they're awfully cute...but I'm their mom, what do I know?

The storm messed up Christmas shopping for a lot of people, but I was glad that it happened on a weekend when most people weren't at work.

These are Christmas packages used as a decoration on my front step...I wondered if they would stay there through the season, they have. We are in a good neighborhood I guess!

Eric was in France on business for his birthday, it made us all feel bad! Birthdays aren't as much fun when you are by yourself.

An officer tipping his hat in my snow village. There is as much snow outside as there is in my village. Crazy.

Some kids had a few days off from school because of the snow, not the boys, school as usual. I enjoyed the quiet day and cooked a roast in the crock pot. Yum.

After the snow it turned cold, bitterly cold. It gets dark so early, the Christmas lights make the early nights a little easier to take.


Brian was in a mock trial at school for his European social studies class. He played Horatio Nelson...also known as Lord Nelson. He borrowed a jacket from school, but needed a hat and a ruffle for his shirt...so after venturing out on Monday for supplies, I spent a couple of days figuring, cutting and sewing to make his costume look authentic. It was a hit!

The sewing was done in between removing more snow, designing a calendar to be given as Christmas gifts, designing our Christmas picture to send with our cards, more snow removal, picking up and dropping off, making Christmas to do lists, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and all that jazz. I was feeling a little overwhelmed.

Friday was a beautiful day though, and a day to get a lot of shopping done. I started in the mid-morning and shopped til I dropped...shopped until the sun went down. I caught the pretty sky with my cell phone camera on my way home. The only photo I took that day...I like it.


My niece asked me if I'd take some pictures for their Christmas card, what a nice break from the busy-ness. We met at the Conservatory in St. Paul, the poinsettias were beautiful! This is a shot that I took before they got there. Taking pictures of people makes me nervous, but they found one that they liked...so that made me feel good. Then it was off to the Airport to pick up Eric. What a perfect day.


Sunday night Billy told me that he needed some help taking pictures for his digital photography class. What? He couldn't have told me that when there was some sunlight? We had to take the pictures in the house. This is a picture showing texture. It's a garland on a mirror in the living room. I like it!


Monday brought some more snow. Of course. It was nice to have Eric home to help remove it!


This little sculpture was one of the first Christmas gifts Eric's folks game me after Eric and I were married, it's one of my favorite decorations to take out every year.
Eric and I send out a Christmas letter and a picture of the boys with our Christmas cards. That meant going through the address list, printing labels, writing, printing, folding and stuffing the letter into the cards. Signing, stamping and finally sending them. I like doing it, but it takes some time. And is on my excuse list for not blogging.
A Nativity set in my window, I made this from a kit when I was in High School. It came with the lead-like frame and plastic bits. I crinkled some tin foil so the "glass" would look textured, put the frame on top of that, filled in the spaces with the plastic bits and put the whole thing in the oven to melt. Good memories.



On Thursday before we left I made some Christmas treats to share. These are round pretzels, Rollo candies on top, melted in a 300 degree oven for about 4 minutes and then an M&M on top. Easy and yummy! Then it was time to load up the car to go over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house.



Christmas eve at my mom's, with most of the family there to celebrate. So much more fun with a little one to bring some joy to the day. Hi Avery!

Christmas Day was at Eric's parents house. The boys had a fun time with their cousins. They all got swimming goggles from Grandma and Grandpa....looking pretty cool I'd say.


We came home Sunday afternoon and found our gifts and Molly waiting for us. She was happy to see us after a few days by herself. The boys were happy to see their gifts! It felt good to be home.


This morning we were treated to a sunshiney day. I think most of the month was cloudy or snowing, the sun looked so wonderful! The trees and shrubs were covered with a sparkly frost, it looked like the branches were covered with diamonds.

The beauty outside made the pile of laundry, the boxes and wrapping and all that stuff we hauled home and haven't put away inside not look quite as bad.

And with that, the longest post ever, I think I am caught up. Four more days and it's a brand new year, full of hope and promise and fresh starts. I can hardly wait. :-)