2009 in Review

JANUARY


We started the new year organizing. Don's tool collection paid off when he built us a beautiful entertainment center.

The boys were slowly but surely getting to be best friends with the trains of Sodor Island. Thomas and his friends were the new favorite toys to take on car rides.


FEBRUARY

In February, the boys started doing boy things, making monster pictures while using monster voices.


We also had some family in town


and once again, Jax needed to sleep with gloves on to help him not touch the "boo-boo" on his forehead.



MARCH

We finally gave in and planted a garden.


Beautiful baby Elise was born


And Uncle Carl and Donny came into town and really left an impression on the boys.



APRIL

Aunt Leigha invites us to her work and it becomes the boys new "special place" to go to.


Don's work hits him with a 7 week lay off -giving him 7 weeks to hang out and teach the boys stuff that only Dad knows.



MAY

The boys turn four, meet Mickey Mouse and have their first water fight.




We also see (and meet) more family in one month than ever before. We drive to to states of California, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and New York to see as much family as we can.



JUNE

We finish our Road Trip 2009 after visiting more family in New York, Virgina, North Carolina and New Mexico, not to mention stopping to see the sites in both Washington DC and Texas.


By then, I am sure the boys have peed on the side of the road in at least 20 states (no, really) and am ready to get home.


Unfortunately after we get home, our Belle girl passes away a week later.



JULY

We spend most days at the community pool and the boys turn into half fish


And we continue to eat the vegetables of our labor.



AUGUST

Our last summer road trip is to Huntington Beach.


But luckily at home the boys have plenty of trains and tracks to keep them busy before school starts.



SEPTEMBER

Don and I celebrate a decade of love and marriage.


Then a trip of so much happiness mixed with much sadness as we we drive half way across the United States to bury two of our Grandmothers.



OCTOBER

My Dad introduced the boys to some bad (albeit funny) manners when he put their faces AND HIS own in my moms birthday cake.


The rest of the month was all about putting on a fantastic Halloween party.



NOVEMBER

Seems to be a month that I get to refocus on me. A long weekend in New York allows me to see my favorite gals and get back to my roots.


Days later, my mom and I have another open house of our sewing business.





DECEMBER

It has been so much fun creating the magic of Christmas for the boys. We have been very blessed this month with so many friends and family around us. Just an over all feeling of "life is good".