OUR STORY: 2010... ready or not!

For some reason I absolutely love beginning a new year, and this year more than ever I am looking forward to a new year and a new beginning. I have so many things to look forward to, be apprehensive about, to improve on, and to learn to from, but I welcome all these changes. I think so many times we can live in fear of the unknown, of changes, of obstacles, and I am usually the first to respond this way. I am hoping this year to break that response and just enjoy where life has brought us, and survive (and enjoy) the last half of graduate school.

So this is how we brought in the new year…

dinner reservations at our favorite restaurant, Marina Grogg and Galley. The view was beautiful and the food was even better. We chose to take Emilia with us to dinner, and she was not surprisingly the only child in the restaurant, which she thought was quite special. When we called ahead for reservations, they told me they were having a special menu, and when they were listing off steaks and prime rib, I simply asked if there were any dishes conducive to a toddler’s appetite… you know like pasta or something simple. I was quite surprised when they told me it would be a waste of money to spend $60-80 on a meal for her, and I should just bring her favorite food from home and they would take care of serving it to her with our food. So I made her favorite Annie’s aged cheddar mac n cheese, and sure enough when we walked in, the host asked for our name then asked if we had brought special food for the “guest of honor.” She smiled so big and proudly is was absolutely adorable! After dinner we headed to JP Coffee to grab some hot chocolate and make one last holiday season run through Christmas in the Park. At JP's Emilia decided to play photographer...

Wait, honey, you have to move your finger from in front of the lense! :)

Much better... not too shabby, Milliebug!

Did you know it was a blue moon that night? I never realized what the saying "once in a blue moon" meant until now! Anyways, so now it’s back to school and lots and lots of reading. Christmas break went by so fast, probably because we did so many fun things like take Emilia to her 1st movie (Alvin and the Chipmunks) and to her first time iceskating….

She actually did really well... I love the look on her face when she 1st stepped on the ice. She had absolutely NO fear, though!

We had the company of my sis, Heather, and her fam, as well as my mom and Uncle Danny!

As you can tell, she was one happy girl, and quite tired by the end of it!

When I was showing her the photos of us skating, she asked, "Mommy, where are the photos of me spinning around and around, all by myself, like a beautiful princess?" I must have missed that shot, sorry Emilia!:) Maybe I was blinking at the time that was happening!

We also went bowling with a couple good friends, Catherine and Lily...they had so much fun, although it took over an hour to bowl 1 game. I guess that is what happens when you roll the ball at 4 MPH!
Oh well... it was fun none the less!

We also spent a lot of time over the holiday break...

BAKING! Lots of yummy breads, muffins and cookies!

Just to warm up after this...

Yup, thats what I will do to my nephew, Ty, when he tries to pull this...

While I realize he is less than half my size... he is quite freakishly strong!

Thank goodness I have all sorts of fancy ski gear to play in the snow with kids... I think I only wore these ski pants twice previously to actually ski...money well spent! :)

There's little G-man

and my little Milliebug!

Lily was quite the little helper and actually stayed outside the longest to help me shovel the driveway... oddly enough I really like doing this, and enjoy it even more with a little helper!