these two

 have been enjoying each others company. But tomorrow Aislynn goes back to school, and to be honest, we are all kinda glad. The other day she told me she misses school and I miss the routine of having her in school, even if it is only 3 hours a day. But I will miss these morning moments before they are all tired and cranky and they play nicely together:) I was folding laundry yesterday morning and Aislynn said she needed to do some exercise. So she started doing all kinds of moves and Kieran started copying her in his own way. It was too funny and cute:)

 My silly boy:)

Then this morning, I set up Aislynn's tent in the living room where we watched Dinosaur Train and Sesame Street+ate some pretzel sticks. Kieran thought it was lots of fun walking around the outside of the tent and poking it, causing Aislynn to laugh, thus causing him to laugh:)

 This picture below just cracks me up:)

 And this one just makes me happy:)

So...I know I am being totally flaky here, but I am foregoing the one frame a day project. I am thinking that at the end of the year I will turn the blog into book form. That will capture more anyways AND be one less thing to be updating...okay I am lazy. But my goal is to pick up the camera more and to bring it out more. AND to post on my blog more. I have averaged about 105 posts per year the past 3 years, so this year I would like to get the number above 200 posts. Keep your fingers crossed...I get waaaay too ambitious in the beginning of the year:)

1.1.11

 Happy 2011! I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. We got a bottle of champagne just hung out and talked. The kids went to bed around 7-7:30ish. Aislynn and I made these crowns out of pipe cleaners and she wore hers for most of the day but Kieran wouldn't leave his on even for just one picture! So Shaun had to wear it, hee hee:

 I took this picture today of the kiddos playing in Kieran's room. For the story click on the one frame a day tab above. I am going to do this twist on Project 365. I am going to keep up with it as best as I can but I WILL NOT stress if I miss a day...or week...

 For dinner tonight...burgers, homemade french fries...and for dessert-brownies. Aislynn was supposed to go to a last minute birthday party this afternoon but it was storming so bad plus there was a tornado watch, and I really didn't want to lug both kids into town during the horrendous weather. She was kinda bummed, but she was totally okay with it when we said we would make cheeseburgers and homemade french fries...with brownie sundaes for dessert. Yep...I guess we are postponing the usual it's-the-new-year-lets-eat-healthy-now resolution. At least for a couple days...I like to start things on a Monday, ha ha:)

 

This was earlier in the week, Mimi and Papa came over to exchange gifts with us. They gave Aislynn a unicorn pillow pet, which she loves:) K got the pictured "Ta," which he loves...  

The next day I took Christmas down with the exception of the lights outside. Before our tree we had Aislynn's art stuff and her little table in the space, but she wanted to keep it in her room, so I pulled out some shelves and the kids books and made a book nook. I love it:)

 

Aislynn got this storefront from Grandma and James. While Kieran napped the other day, we played store and she wanted her store to be called Aislynn's Publix, lol. Oh, and see the unicorn? According to the cashier, she rides it to work everyday. And don't by the corn...it's poison. Apparently a wicked queen put it there. The muffin of the day was an interesting flavor of French Vanilla Coffee Cilantro...it's delicious, I'm told.

 

And here is a page I can finally share. It was in the December ScrapStreet issue.

  

So obviously I have been playing with my blog:) And I know I am wishy-washy, but I decided to go back to just one. I think I will blog more and I will mentally feel like I have less to keep up with:) I took this class to help me with some stuff, and I recommend it. The first part of the class I didn't really go through because I am pretty familiar with the workings of blogger, but as far as the design stuff goes...that was super helpful.

a look back on 2010

It was hard picking just 3 pictures from each month to recap our year. Each year I take more and more pictures and I think my photography skills improve just a little more too. But, I picked and there they are. If you click on the collage, it should become bigger. *** So to recap 2010: Aislynn started off the year with her broken arm in a sling. She got her cast on and taken off in January. Kieran started crawling, I turned 28, Aislynn went to the dentist for the first time, and we said good bye to our sweet friends, the Boultons when they moved back to Utah. In February, we watched all of the ice skating winter Olympic events, K started pulling to a stand in his crib, A spent half the month sleeping in her tent instead of her bed at night, and we helped Grandma celebrate her birthday. March brought us beautiful spring weather. Aislynn really started reading good and she tried soccer, but decided she didn't like it. K started calling A "na na." I had my first layouts published in the March issue of Scrapbook Trends and we spent St. Patrick's Day in Seaside. We also took a weekend trip up to Guntersville to spend sometime helping Grandpa after his surgery. In April we enjoyed more warm weather and played in the fountains and backyard inflatable pool a lot. I did Ali Edwards' Week in the Life project for the first time. Shaun turned 32 and we celebrated Easter in the beginning of the month. We started going to the Farmer's Market in Seaside this month as well. Kieran turned 1 in May and we had a family celebration. Aislynn also danced in her first recital and did SO well! Our friends Becky and Riley came over and we spent some time at the beach. We actually started going to the beach a lot in May and Kieran loved it! We moved to our new house in June and spent a lot of time walking to the beach, Eastern Lake, and eating at the yummy restaurants in within walking distance to the new house. A took swimming classes and was pretty much swimming on her own shortly after. Shaun also kept up with the World Cup. Aislynn started tumbling classes. July 4th was spent with Grandma, James, and Aunt Brynne. Aislynn took a Broadway Babies camp at her dance studio. We finished reading Charlotte's Web, and then saw the play performed in Seaside. Kieran started walking this month and Shaun and I took a grown-ups only trip to New Orleans. Aislynn started school in August and was the super student of the week the 2nd week. I started a sewing class and we spent more time down at the beach. Shaun and I also did some acrylic paintings. In September, everyone of us got sick. First Aislynn, then me, then Shaun, then Kieran. Aislynn turned 5 and Kieran got his first haircut. Grandma came and brought Aislynn her birthday present, a new bike! In October, Grandpa brought his camper down and Aunt Brynne, Uncle Andrew, and Jessica came down and we spent sometime with them. I started baking my own bread and experimented baking a few other things as well. For Halloween, Kieran was Yoda and Aislynn was Princess Leia. In the beginning of November, we went to Tallahassee and met Becky and Riley at the fair. We went to Bainbridge to spend Thanksgiving with Mimi and Papa and went straight to Disney World from their house. December was spent filled with holiday crafts, foods, and activities. Aislynn got out of school in the middle of the month and we had lots of family over for Christmas. This month flew by and here we are about to greet another year. Seriously can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for us... Happy New Year!!!!

christmas 2010

It's pretty safe to say that December was crazy. With sickies going around and 2 crazy kids and making gifts, etc...it flew to Christmas day with me wondering where it all went. So here are LOTS of snapshots to share with you:

A and K right before we were leaving to go see Santa.K wasn't too sure of Santa, but after about 30 seconds, he calmed down and listened to A tell Santa the deal.

A few pictures from A's school holiday party. K sat right at the table with the big kids and they loved on him so much!

We made this totally cute gumdrop wreath. We of course ate lots of gumdrops while making it and even K got some. After it was hanging on Aislynn's door to her room...he would go and point to it and say "mmm mmm."

A pretending to be the Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker.

I got this foam gingerbread kit for us to make. The real gingerbread house was SOOOOO much easier to put together, lol!

"Helping" me bake some goodies:)

I tried lots of new recipes this year and there were some real winners. The best ones were the molasses spice cookies and the peppermint brownies.

*Trying* to get a picture of the kids in their jammies, but K would only stay on the sofa with Daddy on it.

Taking a ride to look at Christmas lights after baths one night.

K was flipping through this book and when he saw Santa he said "po po po." Eventually he got it right a few days later and said "ho ho ho" anytime he saw a Santa or a Santa hat.

Just a cute picture of "Farmer Kieran." He gets called that anytime he is wearing his overalls.

Baking Santa his cookies. We used this sugar cookie recipe. The third year of trying a new one and I am still on the hunt for my favorite one. This was by far the best one though.

You can see the remnants of one of Santa's cookies here. Oh and hello cuteness....gosh he is so stinkin' cute:)

Just a shot of our house with the lights...love that you can see our tree through the window:)

Christmas Eve...Grandma and Aislynn.

Brynne and me.

Add in a little boy who WILL NOT give up his empty wrapping paper roll.

This picture totally cracks me up:)

The girls.

Our little family:)

We had an insane amount of treats to eat after dinner.

A putting out the goods. We had to put out 9 carrots for the reindeer and they had to be big carrots because, you know...the reindeer don't eat baby ones;)

Looks like the big man came and dropped off the mother load.

I thought A would wake up so early because she was soooooo excited, but she ended getting up around 7:15. She was so happy to see that Santa had come and she had to go get "Mama Pony" (what Santa brought her last year) and show her that Santa brought her 2 kids, lol.

Kieran isn't quite at the run and see what Santa brought me stage yet. He is however at the stage where he hovers around the empty cookie plate and eats the crumbs:) Then he does what he always does lately and takes off just one sock?

Then begins to play with the trains Santa brought him. It was cute...Aislynn opened up his presents for him because while everyone opened gifts, he just sat and pushed his trains around.

A was helpful in passing gifts around.

As soon as we were done opening gifts, Grandma and James had to leave and everyone sort of trickled out after that to head to see their significant other's family or drive back to their homes for work.

We got Aislynn an Minnie doll and Kieran a "mick-me" doll and Minnie is A's favorite present. She has been sleeping with it and cuddling it on the couch. So cute. This is also the blanket I made her for Christmas which she loves. The back side is light purple and I made Kieran a light blue and light green one.

K playing with his favorite toys...his trains and train table. James made him a train table and it is awesome. It is pretty big, so we put his trains (we will have to get some of the expansion packs) on one side, and his cars/planes on the other. It has gotten a lot of use so far:)

Phillip, Josh, and their newest addition, Dexter. He is soooo cute and little:)

Brynne and me before she headed back to Birmingham (where it was snowing-so jealous!). *** We had such a great Christmas. I was so glad everyone could make it and it was tons of fun and no stress-perfect! I hope everyone else had a Merry Merry Christmas as well:)