Halling Go To Alaska

Santa and Mrs. Claus Sweet Pea digging on her new Hello Kitty purse from Gramma. My girls before their first skating experience of the year. The Daddy helping Sweet Pea (That's Sass on the right side of the picture) Go check out what everyone else captured as their holiday favorites at Beth's.  

Wow.  We are entering the last week of 2010.  Amazing.  Sunday Nothing like a birthday party at a bowling alley in a casino.  Happy Birthday to my niece!  She's now 6.  Her and Sweet Pea are the same age for 10 days every year.  Monday Taken on the drive to Idaho.  This was in Oregon. Tuesday This is Tiffany's little man, Sammy.  He was smiling at Sass.  Oh.my.cuteness. I sniffed his head and snuggled him.  (taken with the phone - sorry for the fuzziness of the picture) Wednesday Thanks Pam for my awesome Christmas present! "Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock!" (Name that show!) Thursday Our tree Friday Me (obviously). With my glass of wine on Christmas Eve at my parents' house.  The girls opened presents there.  My brother, the chef, cooked us dinner.  Yum! Saturday Our first family picture in front of the tree.  We actually all look happy! We were. 

I'm testing out blogging from my phone. Today I spent 400 miles in the car with my girls. It was good. Here's a picture from our drive. They were good. Currently Sweet Pea is restlessly sleeping. The other two are "sleeping" in the bottom bunk of a friend we've known since the 10yo and friend were 3. Can't believe they've known each other that long. The 3 of them are talking and giggling. But I've got a kitty. Life is good. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

AACK!! Sorry.  Had to put that out there. How can we really only have two weeks left of 2010? Dang I can't believe that I actually have done pretty good on accomplishing a year in pictures.  Granted, I still have two weeks to go, but I will have more time, so I should have no excuses.   Sunday T and Sweet Pea playing Angry Birds. T *might* be addicted.  He's on level 10. Started playing a week ago. Monday Coffee at work time.  Tuesday You can always tell when a storm is coming.  The mountains start disappearing. Wednesday Love the clouds in this one.  Thursday Time when I was done working.  Earliest all week.  Friday Freshly fallen snow on a branch in my front yard. Saturday My snuggly boy.  

So it's been a while since I participated in You Capture.  Frankly, I've missed it, but I haven't felt inspired. I'm barely taking a picture-a-day - even though I can hardly believe that we are down to the last few weeks of the year.  Amazing. I can't wait to go back and see all of them. But this week's you capture was "outside".  I've got this one.  It's snowed and been sunny and the sky has had clouds.  In other words beautiful.  Here are my favorites. See the steam rising off the fence?  And the yellow lichen up against the snow?  And the blue sky?  Makes me happy. Sunsets are so pretty here.  So check out Beth's place at I Should Be Folding Laundr y for more beautiful outside pictures.  

This past weekend had a very full schedule.  Essentially every minute was spoken for between 9 am Saturday morning and 6 pm Sunday evening.  When I looked at what I had planned and scheduled, it freaked me out.  I don't normally do that to myself because I know better.  I hate feeling hurried and late.  It overwhelms me and then I'm not a happy person to be around.  Mix in the "stress of the holidays" and I was expecting to not enjoy my weekend as much as I should. But yesterday? It dawned on me.  I must have awesome friends or something, because even after everything was over, I never once felt overwhelmed.  Those that I surround myself with love me no matter what.  I don't need to impress them with a perfectly clean house.  We can all sit around my living room, on the floor even, and eat, drink and be merry.  Birthday parties for the preschool set don't have to be overwhelming.  They can be short and sweet and fun and enjoyed...

Sunday My trusty water belt for running.  Monday Mmm. Chocolate! And it was free! Thanks Sisterhood and Attune Foods! Tuesday Mmm. Chocolate! This wasn't free, but samples at Costco? Can be a bad thing. Wednesday The kitteh has a tree in the house to hid underneath! Thursday Self portrait of me at work.  I don't have those hair wings anymore.  Finally got my hairs cut.  Friday The 10yo and 8yo made a Christmas tree out of duplo blocks.  Saturday Sweet Pea at her birthday party opening a present she  *really* liked but was to shy to be loud about it.  This face? Is true contained joy. 

My Sweet Pea at 4 hours old.  Oh, man, did my heart explode that day.  And now I have this And it continues to explode Most of the time with sweetness and laughter And vogue-ing And sometimes it explodes from the sassy But I love this girl.  And she's 5.  Hold me. And when you try to get a picture of 3 girls?  This is what you get. 

Sunday Love Joe-Joe's. Went to get a box and eggnog. Found *chocolate* eggnog and had to try.  Monday My new Baltic Amber necklace.  Tuesday The beauty that surrounds me every day.  Wednesday The new phone.  Thursday This was the snuggly bed Sweet Pea made in the living room while watching a movie. The bed included 5 pillows and a fleece blanket.  I wanted to join her.  She wouldn't let me. Friday The handmade cards I won from Jaime ! Thanks! Saturday Delish popcorn that I had for dessert.  A little butter and seasoned salt. 

I have to blog about this, discretely, but blog I must.  Because I might explode otherwise. These are the days I want to hand in not only my parent card but my adult card.  I want to be carefree and playing freeze tag or hide and seek. I have to have a conversation.  One that could be much harder, but a conversation nonetheless. And do more safeguarding.  Even though it makes me so so so sad.  I must. And maybe I'll be able to clarify more later.