2010 Goes Down in the Record Books ...

So, I'm postdating this by about an hour so it still "counts" in my December posts ... I think it's fair since I haven't gone to bed so "technically" it's still the same day as when I woke up, right? We stayed up to ring in the New Year - all the way until midnight - and then I still had to get the pics downloaded and post written. Sheesh.

We started the day with breakfast ... made by me, again! I think that's a record on the number of times in a week that I would actually make breakfast. Today was pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and *perfect* bacon. Seriously.

I hopped on the treadmill after breakfast and then we got everyone ready for the day. Steve only had to work a half day today so once he got home the games began! Skip-Bo was first on the agenda.

Cougar helped make his own lunch - a bologna face! These are pretty popular around here ;)

I had to make a trip to the grocery store go grab some goods for dinner tonight, plenty of snacks, and things needed for dinner tomorrow ... the grocery store was PACKED!!

I got home just in time for everyone else to decide a quick run to In -n- Out was in order for a late lunch. While they were gone I headed to the airport for the 5th time in the past 2 weeks ... Grammy & Paca were returning from their week in Seattle!! They came back to our place for about an hour before getting on the road to head home. Since they weren't here on Christmas this year they got to see all of the kids' loot, play a quick game of Pirate's Cove, talk some Bowl games, and get a french horn performance from Brinley. A group hug and they were on their way!!

Pam took some time to make Steve's favorite guacamole dip ... I've tried to make it several times and just can't get it right, so he only gets it when his mom is around.

I got busy making dinner. I'll be honest ... it was good {in my opinion}. It's been unseasonably cold here the past few days (got some snow flurries in the valley yesterday and temps dropped into the 20's - BRR!!) so soup sounded awesome. Baked Potato soup in bread bowls sounded even better!! That's what I decided to make for our last dinner of 2010 - pretty darn good choice, if I do say so myself! I think EVERYONE was extremely pleased and I am THRILLED to have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow!

After dinner and clean up it was time to prepare ourselves for some New Years festivities! We had gotten "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from the Redbox so we sat down about 8 PM to watch it. Kendyl decided that she didn't want to see it, so she took a movie up to the playroom to watch on her own. The pic of her is dark but I had to take it ... when I went upstairs to check on her she was sitting in the dark, had turned on the lights on the Christmas tree in the playroom, and was sitting and singing along to the Disney Princess Christmas movie that she had chosen ... it was so cute!

The movie ended at 9:52 PM ... just in time to get ready for the ball to drop at midnight in NYC!! I love that we can watch the ball drop at 10PM so the kids feel like they got to ring in the New Year without having to let them stay up until midnight ;)

We had hats, party blowers, clapper rings, leis, masks, and party poppers all ready. We partied like rock stars, drank sparkling cider, blew out every party popper, smooched, and then it was off to bed for the kids!

The party didn't stop there, though. Tonight we busted out the cards for a game of hand & foot. We hadn't played in quite a while and it seems we always play when Ed & Pam are in town. The ladies were on a hot streak tonight, taking the first 3 hands. The men came back to win the last hand, but were too far gone to catch up ... gotta love a good win {since I NEVER seem to win}!!

Our game ended just a few minutes after midnight and thus ended 2010 ... and my December "on the go" challenge. It became a lot more than what I had originally planned in terms or the number of pics and the details I added, but I'm so glad to have done it!! My family, on the other hand, has told me more than once how glad they will be when I am done taking pictures of everything and writing everything down. It's funny - I don't blog for 10 months and people complain. I blog every day for 2 months and people complain. Clearly I need to find a "happy medium," right? My girls have started to tell Pam stories and she's said "I read about that on the blog!," to which they have replied "we don't have any stories to tell you cuz they're all on the blog!" I think it's funny ;)

2010 has been awesome. I'm sad I didn't write more of it down, really. I am totally looking forward to what 2011 has to offer ... should be an interesting ride!

Hostess with the Mostess ... NOT!

Well, my lack of photos for the day will clearly represent that I was not the best hostess, wife, or mother today. Here's why ...

I am in charge of Hybrid Project Friday this week (on sale for $1 until Sunday *wink*) which meant that I had a major deadline today. I am normally a project procrastinator, but with having company for almost 2 weeks now it makes it even more difficult to carve out the time to work on a major project like this without feeling like ... well ... a bad hostess. I was up until 4 AM, slept until 9 AM, and then dug back in to finish up photographing, uploading, writing my tutorial, finishing my preview, etc.

Steve took his parents in for eye exams this morning while the kids were busy cleaning so they could earn the trip to the movies that they had been waiting all week for! Steve took over for lunch today {whew} so I could grab a shower and then we were off to the theater to see Tangled ... FINALLY!!

We loved it as much as we expected ... we'd heard nothing but wonderful things about it and were not disappointed!

After we got home I headed back to work finishing up my tutorial and the crew hung out (being ignored by the hostess) and finished the puzzle that was started yesterday.

I did come to the surface again to whip up some dinner - beef enchiladas {using London Broil that I canned this fall}, beans, and peaches {again, that I had canned ... aren't I domestic?}. Turned out pretty darn well, if I do say so, myself ;) My father-in-law even said so :D

After dinner brought a wild game of Phase 10 Dice - lots of fun!!

Kids tucked in, I settled into the couch to watch a bit of TV and call it a night ... too many late nights, early runs, and go, go, going lately! Can't believe it's the last day of 2010 tomorrow - where has the time gone? I've blogged for 60 days straight now. I bet you guys are ready for a break from my rambling, huh?

Rain, Rain ...

We got rain again today. That's twice in a week ... pretty much unheard of for Arizona. Nice of the weather to cooperate while our company has been in town, huh? Lucky for me I got up to run early and made it home before any raindrops started to fall. Once the rain started, it just kept on falling. In fact, it's still falling as I'm writing - I feel like I'm back in Oregon!

The kids started this morning showing me their mad musical skills - rockin' the new Paper Jamz! that Ashton got, vocals sung into a Webkinz pony, and drums being played on a Crayola Color Wonder case. Awesome.

Homemade breakfast was on the menu again today ... breakfast burritos!

The girls played their new Lego Pirate's Cove game while I took care of the kitchen and daily laundry. They loved it and I know it will be played a lot!

Ed had to go to dialysis this afternoon so we dropped him off at the dialysis center for 4 hours - he probably enjoyed the peace and quiet!! We are praying that a kidney becomes available for him soon!

Lots of time playing games and puzzle putting together. Not lazy ... just relaxed. Cougar got to take a nap today - FINALLY! He is way off of his game and the late nights and late mornings are taking a toll on him. The grouchy can only be taken for so long!! Brinley was called on to babysit for a little while this afternoon, which she loved. I had work to do so I sat down with the laptop and listened to the rain and the quiet while the others read, played games, and splashed in the rain just a bit ;)

For dinner we headed to Chick-fil-a for another Wahoo Wednesday! I got a text yesterday that our receipts for today's purchases would get us the same goodness for free any day in February, so we couldn't resist! Pam hadn't had a chance to get a peppermint chocolate chip milkshake yet so it gave us even more reason to make the trip ;)

Steve and Ed headed to the Suns game tonight while the rest of us planned on a quiet movie night at home watching Despicable Me. I even got Steve to join in the blogging fun by sending a picture from the game!!

L*A*Z*Y

A week and a half without bootcamp and early rising is making me feel so darn lazy!!! The days that I don't get up early to run I find myself staying in bed too late and moving like a snail to get things moving around here. I'm lucky that my kids are old enough that they can get up and take care of themselves, but it makes it easy to be LAZY!! I stayed in bed until 8:30 this morning {I had 2 kiddos sleep until after 9 AM ... unheard of around here}. Then I folded laundry for over an hour (yes, the piles had taken over). I have usually worked out, straightened the house, put away dishes, run a load of laundry, and folded the laundry from the day before by 8:30 AM - Oh, the joy of a schedule!!!

I did do something nice in my state of laziness ... I made waffles for breakfast {at 10 AM}! I rarely make breakfast around here so the kids were thrilled ;) I also have bacon and sausage thawed and ready to make later this week - I'm planning to make cinnamon rolls and even breakfast burritos (on 2 different days, of course ... wouldn't want to shock anyone)!

Cougar got his light sabers back today ... he had them taken away for hitting people and causing tears one too many times ... and promptly brought them to Papa so they could fight.

Once we had everyone moving in the forward direction, we loaded up the crew and headed to Target so the kids could spend their gift cards that Mamo and Papa had sent for Christmas. Cougar was THRILLED to find the shield he had desperately wanted and the girls all found things that they loved.

What did I get myself at Target? TREATS, of course!! Gotta love holiday candy on clearance ;)

After our shopping trip we met Steve at Paradise Bakery {obsessed much?} for lunch ... Yum-O!! Kendyl and I had a table to ourselves since there were no tables big enough for our group. Her sandwich was as big as her head!!

We headed home to be lazy again ... I did some work - Hybrid Project Friday this week, Ed read a book {aka took a nap}, Pam and the kiddos played outside. I love the pics of Cougar taking a "picture" of me with Kendyl's new Barbie camera!

And look what I polished off today ... not exactly sure where they came from {okay, I know they're from Trader Joe's but I don't know how they got in my pantry - I'm guessing Grammy} but I did not share a single one and I ate the entire box in the past 5 days. Lucky for me there were only 10 in the box!! They were massive and delicious and I'm pretty sure it's a good thing that Trader Joe's isn't around the corner or I would be going back for more (and hoping I could find some on clearance)!!!

I did make a good dinner tonight to redeem myself from my sheer laziness ... lemon cream pasta, rolls, corn, and pears (that I had canned this fall). I guess I should quit thinking of it as lazy and consider it "laid back," right? Low key ... unstructured. It's sometimes hard to remember that it's okay to sit down and just BE every once in a while.