see and flip

Jeff got new seeing spectacles. Kinda resembles a young Martin Scorsese in them. :)

And here's my new pet, Flip. He goes with me everywhere.

Cause I would hate to miss any dance breaks like this...

American Idol reference, in case you've been living under a rock. :)

And lovely video vocals provided by my Mom, Tarisa, and Audra.

my desktop

Currently, my computer desktop setup includes

this old-school flip-clock screensaver

that I discovered a few weeks ago HERE.

And I've loved my wallpaper this month that I found HERE.

And he just put up the new one for February. Yipee!

Just wanted to share a couple good finds with friends. :)

happy dance

Happy, happy. Joy, joy.

Wearin' my TOMS today.

Go see, HERE!

not disneyland

I won't say we went to Disneyland again, cause I won't hear the end of it.

But I will say we went to California Adventures.

It's a different park. It counts. :)

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We were swarmed by the characters! But this is as close as we got. They're still kinda scary.

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And we got our dance on at the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,

with the characters far away on stage.

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And then... we braved the bears...

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The reaction. Not bad.

But Jeff needs help.

What better way to end a successful bear encounter than to jump on rope bridges.

We love California Adventures!

........

I will not post about Disneyland anymore.

I will not post about Disneyland anymore.

I will not post about Disneyland anymore.

I will not post about Disneyland anymore.

I will not post about Disneyland anymore.

I will not post about Disneyland anymore.

I will not post about Disneyland anymore.

passes in use

Well, we had plans to go to Disneyland today to see my brother sing with the school choir. But with the rain and recently being sick, we figured it was best to stay home. We did get use of our passes a couple weeks ago with Liana, on the last January date with the holiday decorations. :)

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We have a thing for goofy's piano. Well, pianos in general, really. :)


First Peter Pan Flight! After we survived the loooong line.


Reliving my marching band days. Just needed my flute. :)

double your fun

Happy 27th and 31st to us!

Two sickies on their birthdays. A good time. :)
...

At least we danced it up in Vegas a couple weeks ago...

Hehe. Becca and I tired hard to pump up the excitement. :)

playful boy

Can we have a day without Ewan's tongue obsession?

Nope.

The simplicity of a 17 month old is great.

I still can't believe he hasn't gotten sick! :)

recovering

{bunny found here}

Have you ever been so sick you hallucinate? Jeff informed me that inbetween sleep, I demanded that he to take me to the hospital because I wanted an IV and Xray, and if he didn't, I would just walk.
...
I am finally up and about, outta bed today. Happy to have Ewan home for the first day since Wednesday, when I left him with my mom to head to the doctor. I'm thinkin' after all this, I need a tshirt that says "H1N1 Survivor"... not to mention the bronchitis I battled as well. :) Jeff caught the bug for a couple days, but HALLELUJAH Ewan has not gotten sick. Sanitizing round the clock hoping to keep it that way.
...
In the spirit of the new year, we have taken on Ali's word challenge once again, as we did last year. I'd like to share that Jeff and I have declared our word for the year to be healthy! Cheers to a healthy (rest of) 2010!

saturday night

What to do while the baby spends the night at his grandparents...

well, make an 8 hour roundtrip drive to vegas of course. :)

The crazy shenanigans included a 6 hour stay at the Luxor...


good times with this crazy couple...

a drive through the strip, food, dancing, more food, more dancing, and $100 slot win!

Then it was time to high-tail it back home before the sun set.

All the while, this little man sidewalk-chalked-it-up!

Thanks mom and dad (and Audra!) for letting us squeeze in a last minute, early birthday celebration!
And thanks Corey and Becca for being the "best we've ever had in vegas!" :)

souvenir shirts

From my traveling aunts.

Felicia in NY and Becca in SD. Thanks guys!

...........................................................

In regards to the last post... thanks!
I'm immediately feeling back to my old blogging self thanks to your sweet words. I had held that post in the draft queue for a while wondering if it was worth even mentioning. So glad I did. SO happy to meet new peeps! And last night as I was bouncing around catching up on blogs I found a slew of people feeling the same blah-blog-bug. Guess it was just the end of a long 2009. But I'll totally have to speak my mind more often, the affirmation is addicting! Your comments are like a sweet bread crumb trail, luring me into sharing more. And who doesn't like bread crumbs? :)

hello!

So the holidays have come and gone, and the new year is here!! What to do now? Where to start? I've been putting off posting, and was really slow about it through the holidays, not because there is a lack of pictures or fun things to cover, but a lack of excitement in sharing. That sounds depressing, but I assure you that's not the direction of this post. :) I'm just at this point where I feel like I don't know who I'm sharing with. You? Are you reading this? Not you mom, I know you read. :)

I started this blog back in 2007 (happy 2 year blogoversary to me!) to keep my family informed of the first grandchild/great-grandchild/nephew on the way. We did not live near any family at the time, and was so excited to share all the details with everyone in a special way. I wrote each post as if I were directing it specifically to my mom or grandma and that made it easy and informal... and true. I literally had 2 people reading about our happenings. Now, 2 years later, I have followers (I love all 24 of you!), friends I've reconnected with, new blog friends across the country, and new blog friends even in my own town! And now my family has even joined in and each have their own corners of the internet along side me. All very exciting, and fuels the blogger in me to keep posting and keep connecting with others.

But I ask myself often, is anybody reading this? After I put Ewan to bed and enjoy the company of my husband before he falls asleep on the couch, I spend the rest of the late night posting pictures of our day, assuming people are interested in reading about it. And then I read about your kids, in-laws, holidays and latest recipes on your blogs! And even crazier still, I do all this and try to remain anonymous. Anonymous?! Crazy I tell you. Just the other night I was chatting with my bf, debating if we should go private or not. Cause then you know exactly who's reading and who you're addressing when describing your latest and greatest. But instead of such a drastic move, I'm going to just try this...

My new goal on here... is to connect with you. We all want to be part of a community on here and connect with others who care about what we post, and understand why we post it. :) Unlike scrapbooking where we perfectly put together a page of smiling, loving family photos of a big event- blogging is more about the imperfections of daily life that other's are able to connect with. I look for those connections with other moms on here. If you're reading this... more likely than not, I read your blog too. And even more likely, I've never stopped to say hi. That's it. I will no longer be an anonymous stalker... er, reader. :) And I hope you will stop to say hello too, and let me know I'm not talking to an empty internet. I also plan on actually writing more instead of just posting pictures, as a way of connecting on a more personal level. But don't hold me to that, I'm not the writer of the family. :)

I'm looking forward to a very exciting new year! First up, Jeff and I both have birthday's to celebrate this month. We are exactly 4 years and 4 days apart in age. Cute, huh? :) Then come February, we're moving! Again. Always exciting, but always such a pain to pack and unpack everything. We then have a roadtrip up the California coast planned for June. And looking ahead towards summer, Ewan will be turning 2 and plans for baby#2 are a go!

Here's looking at a beautiful 2010! And, hello. It's nice to meetcha. :)

happy new year!

It's 2010?!
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Lots of love for a wonderful new year. Muuuuuah!

goodbye 09

Christmas 2009 header is outta here.