Time to Finish 2009!!!

Well, today has not been the best day that I've ever had. I am cranky and tired and taking it out on my boys, which makes me feel even worse. I think I need a nap but they started theirs so late that I thought I'd take some time to do a few things I wanted to on the computer. Though, even this is getting more difficult because my back is starting to bother me when I sit at the computer too long. I am now 6 months pregnant and while this pregnancy has been pretty easy, it's definitely felt different than the others, which makes it harder, in some ways! I am looking forward to a long weekend and hopefully getting some rest and a few things done around the house!

Now, here is the final batch of pictures from 2009. I can't believe I finally got them all on here - now to just get them all scrapped! I'm done up to week 5 so I have made some progress.

Day 354 (Dec 20):

The day after Christmas, we went to church and then just hung out at my parents' place and at my brothers' place. Most people left so it was very low key but enjoyable! We played some new games (like my niece's Extreme Jenga above) and snacked. It was great to hang out and that Extreme Jenga is kinda crazy!

Day 355 (Dec 21):

Really, my picture should have been of the fried fish lunch that I finally got to have at Mom & Dad's thanks to a gentleman from their church! I've been trying to snag some fresh lake fish for a meal for a while now both because I love it and Xander wanted to try it. It was a yummy lunch, even though I wasn't feeling particularly good. However, this was the first round of the playoffs for our football pool. My Dad, brother, husband and I all play in it and the four of us were the ones who made it past the first round! I am NA, my husband is TC, my brother is PH and my Dad is TD. After that, it was a family affair that my husband won for the third time in four years! (I won the other year :) ).

Day 356 (Dec 22):

That not feeling well turned into actual sickness. Tonsillitis or some such thing. I used to get it all the time when I was little and doctors threatened to remove my tonsils but I wouldn't let them. Anyway, I was pretty impressed that I called the doctor's office and was able to get in the same morning. My mother-in-law came and stayed with the boys and I got to go get these lovely pills. I love the fact that I can get pills, too - I used to hate that banana flavoured medicine. As soon as I could convince the doctor (about gr 1 or so) that yes, I CAN swallow a pill, I never had to have it again. All is took was another day and I was feeling much better (after wasting two vacation days from work sick).

Day 357 (Dec 23):

This was the day we got a big dump of snow. I was really glad that we didn't have to go anywhere. I guess it was a good thing that we'd been at my parents the weekend before. We got several inches of snow, as you can see on the picnic table and got this nice drift right outside our dining room doors.

Day 358 (Dec 24):

This was after the Christmas Eve service (but before supper, I think). We do our celebration then. It was a tradition in my family and I like the coziness of doing the presents and stuff at night. I figured we needed a family picture, too, and I think it turned out really well! The boys loved the timer on the camera and would grin like crazy while the lights were flashing so we got great smiles from everyone (even though Evan wouldn't put down his trains - oh well!)

Day 359 (Dec 25):

We had Christmas Day at our house with Jason's family. His mom wanted to start a new tradition of reading the Christmas story and having each grandkid be a character. When their character came into the story, they would light a candle on these cupcakes. I wasn't sure about the lighting the candle part (the oldest is 7 and the youngest 2) but it worked out OK. Evan was baby Jesus and he just ate the cupcake instead. What do you expect when you ask a 2 year old to hold a chocolate cupcake for the duration of the Christmas story? He devoured it, too - it was kinda cute. Then, everyone sang happy birthday to Jesus. It was kinda nice.

Day 360 (Dec 26):

Boxing Day was a day to just relax and hang out...yeah!! Xander even slept in until 10:15! Here he is have a relaxing jammie time just playing video games.

Day 361 (Dec 27):

This was my niece's birthday (isn't she cute?). She picked that cake out all by herself! We went swimming with my brother and his family to celebrate her birthday that day. Man, do the kids all love that! We need to do it more often. Then, we went back to her grandparents' for pizza and cake. It was a lot of fun and the kids always have fun playing together.

Day 362 (Dec 28):

Here is Xander tucking Evan in for the night. It is so cute when they do this but I'm glad that Evan usually still needs some cuddles from Mom afterwards. They're getting so big and independent!

Day 363 (Dec 29):

These were my nails after the manicure (or my "new nails" as Xander called them). I took my sister-in-law for her gift this day and we went and got manicures and then went for lunch. It was nice to get the pampering and to be able to just hang out and visit. My brother brought all the kids to our house and they all hung out together, too, so it was a good day had by all!

Day 364 (Dec 30):

This is a friend of ours who came over with her husband to visit. They seriously live not very far away but we hadn't seen them in ages. Jason & Allison are also friends with them so they came over, too. It was our friend's birthday so my nieces picked her out this adorable pink ice cream cake (not really her style so I had to take a pic). The moment Evan saw it, he beelined for it and tried to stick his finger in it. He loves ice cream cake! Hence, he got in all the pictures, too!

Now...DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

Day 365 (Dec 31):

New Year's Eve and the last of my pictures. New Year's Eve means very little in our house since we had kids. It didn't mean much more before then, either. We spent the evening playing video games with the boys. Evan really love Mario Kart Wii and was so excited when Xander was playing it. Then, I remembered that we had this plush Mario that we'd bought a few years back. I dug it out and Evan was so excited to see it! He was smiling and hugging it - so cute!

Wow - that's a year's worth of pictures. I'm glad I did this project. I think it turned out well..now I can't wait to get the book done up. Now, I'll have to start posting my 2010 stuff. It's not really a P365 or a P52 so I'll just call it my year by the week!

Until next time...