2011?! Happy New Year!

Here we go again. 2010 is out and 2011 is IN! I think its time to reflect on 2010 before I talk about whats to come in the new year. 


First, lets take a look at my resolutions from last year:



Lose Weight
Eat Healthier
Finish the Basement
Give blood 
Do More to Help Others


I thought that these five things would be easily done. Not true. The first one, lose weight - I'm happy to announce that I lost about 25 lbs! WOO! The second, eat healthier - was also achieved although certainly not on a daily basis. That is still something I need to work on. Third, finish the basement. HA! hahaha. HAHA! After plumbing issues,redoing plumbing, redoing duct work, moving the furnace & water heater and changed minds we have one less wall finished, another no longer exists & the ceiling is ripped out. Which means more gaming room but less "finished". *sigh* Fourth, give blood. Didn't happen. Lazy+Scared=Procrastination.
Fifth, do more to help others. I'm not sure that I did but I really felt like this was my year to find myself and I really got myself out of the 'rut' I was in. Even though I didn't know I was in it until I was out. :)
2010 was the year that my baby turned 3 & celebrated my 3rd anniversary of marriage to my great husband. <3 I read more books this year then I have in a long time. I finished the entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Muah ha ha! I discovered Dexter & my love for neat monsters. I started dance classes. Traveled. Saw my brother off to his mission. I had a successful garden. Maybe a little too successful. I still don't have to heart to give the cats away. So we still have them. I successfully sewed & was more crafty. I decorated cakes for money. :) & we made it through December with a Christmas Advent Calendar with only a few tears shed. 


I feel really good about 2010 & I hope that 2011 is as good or better!




Alright, so here are my resolutions for 2011:


Lose more weight (I have about 20 lbs left to lose)
Gym (mostly my Zumba class)
Diet, Rich & I are both doing it!
Basement - at least have the framing up & the layout worked out. 
Have a potty trained child!!!!!




Wish me luck!!!




*Note: For those of you who have been wondering; We are still working on having another baby but due to my angry ovaries I'm not sure when that will happen. We have been trying for over a year so maybe with a little luck we will have one by this time next year? We'll see. :)

Merry Christmas

I seriously cant believe that Christmas has come and gone already! We had so much fun during the holidays. Amir especially. He loved the gingerbread house making, tree decorating, present opening - all of it. 

This was the first year without my brother being here but I got to talk to him on the phone. He had an hour and a half to talk. It was pretty amazing. He also has one awesome British accent!

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas morning:

 He could tell which ones were his. They were all wrapped in Toy Story paper. :)

 He was very interested in one of the books we got him. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. He was discussing the quality of the book when I took this picture.

 His new ottoman. He liked playing IN it rather than opening it. We put a Bumblebee Pillow Pet  in it and he said: "OH! This is from Sami!" (My brother who is on his mission) Hilarious.

 Next were some gifts from Grandma W. Before he opened this he shook the box and said: "Oh! Tools!" ... He was right. Play-doh tools!

 By the end of unwrapping he was a little burned out. The last one he picked up and said "Oh, another book" and just set it back down without even opening it. He was right, it was another book. Ha!

Our Tree this year. Brown, Green & White birds. Yep, year number two where the cats used it as their home. 

Mini Pies

This year for Christmas I decided to make mini pies as part of gifts for friends and family. They were super fun to make and I found the idea here.

I made blueberry & apple. I got packaged pie crust and canned filling. 

Supplies: Canned filling, pie crusts, cookie cutters (I used Amir's transformers cup for the crust and the cookie cutter with the star center for the tops of the apple pies) brush, mini cupcake tin & egg whites.

Apples. Only fill about half way , some of mine exploded because I put waaayyy too much in the first time. :)

The blueberries were super fun but really time consuming to do the tops. I just cut strips of the unused pie crust. Brush the tops with egg whites.

Bake each batch for 15 min on 350 F. 

TAA DAA!! Finished products. They taste delicious!

Aquarium

On Monday we took a trip to the Aquarium near our home. Amir LOVED it, I wish we would have gone sooner. There were a lot of kids there but we still got to see everything. 

He thought he was king of everything. He was pretty awesome. 

Sea Horses snuggling. Amir LOVES Sea Horses. 

Shark, he was sleeping.

 Giant Clam. It really was giant.

 This was the biggest lobster I have ever seen. It was amazing.

This thing was cool. I cant remember what it was. :( 

Tiger Shark. In the same tank as this guy was a Sea Turtle. I tried getting a picture but he moved too swiftly. :) 

Advent Calendar

Well I did it.... I actually SEWED something! Crazy right? I made an advent calendar for our family this year. I'm really excited about it. Its pretty big and we can use a marker or fill it with stuff. I'm almost done. I just have a few more buttons to sew on. Here are some pics....

Button marker. 

The calendar. A few of the buttons are on. 

I also made a tree skirt (unfinished) out of the leftover red felt. I'm pretty excited to see that done too.

How to Train Your Dino!

Yep, thats my dino rider & thats me in the corner of the shot. I was adjusting the tail. Oh, I was a skeleton. 

At a Trunk or Treat with my mom. 

Before Trick or Treating 

My little Edward. Haha.

A Summer of Firsts

This Summer has had many firsts for Amir... Here are a few pictures to go along with those firsts. :)

First time swinging by himself in the 'big boy' swing.

First time climbing up the ladder on the playset to get the the slide.

First time getting to the top (without walking up the slide)

First time going down the slide after going up the ladder by himself. 

First time camping.

First time playing the matching game alone, successfully.

First time falling asleep while (partially) standing.

So there you have it. All my boys summer 2010 firsts. :) He's growing up fast. He will be 3 years old in a month! 

Camping

This last weekend we went on our first camping trip as a family. It was a ton of fun. We went with a few friends and Amir LOVED it. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Amir & his pal.

At the beach. We tried setting up a canopy, twice. The first time we didn't have the instructions (or so we thought) then the second time, after finding the instructions we put it up the right way only to have it almost blown over by the wind. So much for that idea.

Day 3. We both look exhausted.

Amir getting ready to sneeze. lol

Amir didn't want to look at the camera. Bum.

Silver Lake

Last Sunday we went to Silver Lake with some of Rich's side of the family. It was an adventure. The plan was to walk around the lake and then eat dinner. But not even a quarter of the way around the lake it started raining REALLY hard. We all huddled together under umbrellas to try to wait it out. Then the thunder and lightening came and we decided to go back. We ended up fitting six adults, Amir & a somewhat large baby (haha) in a mini van. We ate dinner in the van together. It was a crazy experience and I loved it. 

Here are a few pictures that I took before we got drenched: 

..

First, Second & Third

First:

I love this kid & this picture. They were setting up the tent together in the back yard. :)

Second:

Second harvest. Two little jalepenos (They survived the attack of the squash plant!) & two zucchini. I also found some WATERMELON! Thats right, they also survived. They are mixed in with the squash. Cant wait to pick those.

Third:

I just love this picture. :)

Get Away

This last week we spent a few days in Denver, Co. We left last Sunday and came back the following Friday. We had lots of fun, here are a few pictures from the trip:

First thing in the morning on Sunday. He was not happy to be awake.

On the way there. Pretty skies.

Denver.

Eating a chocolate cupcake. YUM.

Lexie (my cousin) and her little boy, Harlan.

Harlan.

My great grandma, Amir & I.

(Left to Right) Me, Amir, Mariam, Grandma R, Shannon, Lexie, Gavin.

Me, Amir, Mariam, Grandma R.

Mariam, Amir & I at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. 

View.

Amir & I playing in the Space Odyssey in the Museum.

Amir trying to land a rocket. :)