2009 Recap: December

No pictures taken in November. None! I'm not sure that has happened in years. Oh well. To round out and round up my recap of the year, here's a little picture story. My creativity got thrown out the window recently so I forgot how the story was going to go. Anyone want to make up words to the story? If you come up with something really funny I'll send you something.








Happy New Year's Eve, Merry Blue Moon, Good Riddance 2009, and Welcome 2010!

2009 Recap: October

Building a leaf fort in the back yard. I'm sensing a 2009 "fort" theme... We even have had multiple forts inside the house this year.






Hannah singing in the church choir.

2009 Recap: September

On Emme's birthday we hung out in LaCrosse, WI, for really no reason other than there's a Chuck E Cheese. On the way home we stopped at the Shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It's just beautiful up there, but we arrived 15 minutes before it closed and it was pouring rain :-( Every time we go there, something messes up and we can't ever see the whole thing.





I had never seen this statue of Mary with lost unborn children, though, and through the rain it was quite poignant.

2009 Recap: August

My nephew on the slip 'n slide. Doesn't this just scream summer? August was a beautiful month! Of course I was sick for most of it and it passed in a blur (pregnant again, you know), but the weather was nice anyway.






This is Max in the tub, which is where I scooped him up and landed him after I found him behind a chair eating marshmallow cream out of the jar with his fists. I really don't even know why I had marshmallow cream in the house, since that's more of a Christmasy-baking-type purchase around here. I'm also going to maintain that I have no idea how an open jar of marshmallow cream could have landed right next to my favorite chair in the living room when I just happened to have gotten up for a minute to "use the facilities". I think I'll blame this on the kids as long as I live...

2009 Recap: July

Our group got together in July to watch the town festival parade at one of the member's houses. This is Killer. She does have a real name. It's an old lady name and I know what it is even though nobody is supposed to. She prefers to be referred to as Killer.






This is Father John from our CL group. He is from Sudan and has an interesting yet heartbreaking story of his past.






Emme and her BFF waiting anxiously for the parade to begin.

2009 Recap: June

All three kids worked diligently on a massive card for their dad's birthday. It was made on the back of a Hy-Vee paper bag just for him. Notice the sprawl of art supplies on the school room floor; when they get into a project they really get into a project.





This fort was made entirely of leftover metal tomato stakes, an ugly sheet, and duct tape and lasted pretty much the whole rest of the summer. I will say one thing about these kids, I do admire their creativity and ingenuity! I'm also thinking that on this 10-degree wind chill day in December, I am coveting the very green-ness of our yard...






Speaking of creativity and inginuity...ahem...Max thought he'd turn sand into food. Yummy.

2009 Recap: May

In May we traveled to the west side of the state for my aunt and uncle's 40th anniversary celebration. However, we spent a good deal of the day taking all the kids to the park to get them out of the adults' hair. I was mostly entertained by my husband and my brother making fools of themselves on all the playground equipment.




This picture looks more scandalous than the real situation, which was Max made a new friend named Anika when our good college friends came to visit, and they gave each other a quick kiss. Next time, though, I'll need to specify on the cheek. :-)

2009 Recap: April

We actually had a pretty warm April up here, and the fun was all about getting outside. I swear, I think we went to one zoo or another about every week at first. These first two pictures are both taken at separate zoo trips.





This monstrosity is Conrad's first attempt at a cold frame for the garden plants. It actually works quite well and is made from scrap wood and an old crank window. Our kids and neighbor kids nearly killed the contraption a few times over the summer, but it still lives and is ready to be used again in a few short months. Hopefully short months, anyway.





We have a large marshy wasteland-type area behind our house, and since when we moved in to our house in October 2008 it was nearly winter, the girls couldn't wait to get out and explore it this spring.

2009 Recap: March

Flowers from a dear friend after my D&C. Aaaand, that's about it for March. Photos from April more than made up for the lack of ones in March.

2009 Recap: February

This past February started out with me being pregnant. Max was very excited to wear this shirt, although he wasn't entirely sure what all the fuss was about. This one is a little bit hard to look back on, knowing now what the outcome was going to be. The one thing that makes me smile about it, though, is that the shirt still slightly fits him nearly a year later.





Cousins are always fun!





We went to South Dakota for a quick weekend and my mother-in-law had a birthday supper for her and I. Notice Max chowing on the ice cream cake.

2009 Recap: January

2009 has been a year that I wouldn't necessarily ever want to repeat. Like all years, it had its peaks and valleys, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready for it to end. And so, in the spirit of reminiscing and bringing 2009 to a close in order to open wide the doors of 2010, I'll be sharing some of our not-yet-shared-on-this-blog-or-on-Facebook highlights (maybe a couple lowlights, kept to a minimum, of course) in photo form.

Pretty sure January was a relatively boring month. We did have company early on, which was fun but I don't have any pictures from that particular visit. I think we were so worn out from hosting three different Christmas get-togethers at our home, scrambling to finish putting in our new kitchen floor, scraping wallpaper, and painting to really do much of anything.

However, we did manage to get to see the traveling Vatican exhibit at the Minnesota History Center right before it left. Also, just as an aside for a moment, someone really needs to take down that billboard on I90 advertising this exhibit coming to The Cities. It's starting to grate on my nerves. I mean, what if someone saw that billboard, was interested in seeing the exhibit (because really, no one can pass up a traveling Vatican exhibit, right?), and decided to take a detour north, only to find out they were about one year too late?

So....where was I....oh yeah, so the exhibit was great and the kids really enjoyed it, but it would have been more productive for the grownups to have gone on their own. Sheepishly I am admitting that I have no recollection of what this exhibit in the photo was about. It's just the only picture that turned out and was outside the main exhibit hall where no cameras were allowed.

Stars of 1979: The End

In honor of my birthday week, I'm going back in time thirty years and going to share amusing little tidbits or flashbacks from that sweet, sweet year--1979!

It's the Year 1979

My little friends and I thirty years ago!

Lying in my purply lead paint-encrusted crib. I teethed on that crib. Yum, yum.

Stars of 1979: Day Five

In honor of my birthday week, I'm going back in time thirty years and going to share amusing little tidbits or flashbacks from that sweet, sweet year--1979!

It's the Year 1979

Stars of 1979: Day Four

In honor of my birthday week, I'm going back in time thirty years and going to share amusing little tidbits or flashbacks from that sweet, sweet year--1979!

It's the Year 1979

Cost of a new home: $71,800.00

Median Household Income: $16,461.00

Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.15

Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $0.86

Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.85

Cost of a gallon of Milk: $1.62

Stars of 1979: Day Three

In honor of my birthday week, I'm going back in time thirty years and going to share amusing little tidbits or flashbacks from that sweet, sweet year--1979!

It's the Year 1979

The first case of AIDS is reported.

Saddam Hussein becomes the President of Iraq.

Margaret Thatcher becomes the Prime Minister of Britain.

The guerrilla war against the Soviets begins in Afghanistan.

American hostages are taken at the embassy in Iran.

The Three Mile Island nuclear plant malfunctions and causes a panic.

Stars of 1979: Day Two

In honor of my birthday week, I'm going back in time thirty years and going to share amusing little tidbits or flashbacks from that sweet, sweet year--1979!

It's the Year 1979

At age 16, tennis prodigy Tracy Austin wins the U.S. Open.

The Pittsburgh Pirates win the World Series.

The Pittsburgh Steelers win Superbowl XIII.

Alabama wins the College Football Title.

Michigan State wins the College Basketball Title.

The men's and women's Wimbledon champions are again Bjorn Borg and Martina Navratilova .

The Seattle Supersonics win the NBA Championship.

Stars of 1979: Day One

In honor of my birthday week, I'm going back in time thirty years and going to share amusing little tidbits or flashbacks from that sweet, sweet year--1979!

It's the Year 1979

Francis Ford Coppola releases Apocalypse Now.

Andrew Lloyd Weber's Evita hits Broadway.

Kramer vs. Kramer is awarded the Oscar for Best Picture.

Dustin Hoffman is awarded the Oscar for Best Actor.

Sally Field is awarded the Oscar for Best Actress.

William Styron publishes Sophie's Choice.