happy faux valentine's day!

years ago, before we were married, aa and i decided we would not give into the commercialism of valentines day, so we created our own "faux" valentines day that we celebrate every year. it happens to be today and is always the saturday before super bowl. it beats fighting the crowds on the real v-day and ensures that we always celebrate our love on a saturday! instead of flowers, cards and chocolates...we treat ourselves to a delicious dinner and of course something really sweet for dessert! tonight we enjoyed a great meal out at serrato and then dessert at papa hayden. yum...my belly is full of food and my heart is full of love! happy faux, my sweet husband!

oh and i got a haircut today...what do you think?!

can't stop...

...reading this blog: http://www.mattlogelin.com/

it's very sad, but also somehow uplifting. not sure how i came across it now, but i've been wanting to go back and read all the archives. it looks like this story was just featured in people magazine as well. makes me so thankful for what i have!

my 2009 list

i'm not really a big resolution person, but i do like to take the beginning of the year to reflect on the past year - what were the highlights, lowlights, etc and look forward to the next year - what do i want/need to do in this new year! i've been thinking about that list and will document it here...one, just as a reminder to keep me on track and so next year i can see what i accomplished and two, to share with you and maybe inspire you to join me on some of them...because trust me, i'm not going to get through many of these without help!



here we go...in NO particular order:

1. take a photography class


2. get an external hard drive for our computer and back up all our photos and videos...ahh...this one has been hanging over my head for awhile now!


3. be better at meal planning


4. try at least one new recipe each month


5. waste less food


6. compost


7. get more pedicures this year...i think last year i got a whopping 2! need to improve upon that this year. who wants to help me with that one??


8. consume less/simplify


9. eat as a family more


10. figure out our family holiday traditions


11. reduce my hours at work


12. wean the boy


13. travel


14. have an internet free weekend each month...or at least a day/month! this one will be hard!!! :)


15. go to the beach more often this year


16. take a trip for our 5th anniversary...possibly without the boy


17. more date nights with aa


18. move more - already working on this one - i'm getting certified to take the pilates reformer classes at the gym - it's so great! any nike peeps want to join me for the tue/thurs 4:30 class?
19. 1 month in 2009 = no consumption
20. use zero disposable plastic water bottles

hmmmm....that's what i have right now. i may add to this, but i'll feel really good about 2009 if i can accomplish some of the things on this list! and now for a pic of my cute boy, who is still not walking, but has mastered a really funny side knee shuffle. i need to capture it on video!

My boy and history!

happy birthday...

...to my blog that is! i've really sucked at keeping this thing up to date, but i'm doing my best! work, sickness, laundry, my boy, dishes, and exhaustion have been getting in the way lately! oh how i miss those days of maternity leave with my tiny boy. it's funny because as i was going through those early days, i thought it was SO hard...but what i wouldn't give to go back! looking back, i wonder what i thought was so hard...a baby who would sleep most of the time, be easily satisfied with a little nursing, didn't move, rarely cried, definitely didn't demand things or throw fits and while he didn't sleep through the night, at least he'd go right back to sleep within 5-10 minutes and have no problem with me putting him back into his crib...hmmm! but i'm off topic now. it's my 1 year blog birthday...now go eat some cake or some other yummy treat!

Sorry for our absence...

We've been lounging on the couch with a sick baby for the last few days! Fun times.

post-holiday post (warning: another long one!)

let's see if i can recap our holidays...it already seems so long ago! hanukkah was fairly uneventful this year, although we did make it out of the snow and over to adam and sarah's for a latke feast one evening. we didn't bring our camera, though...so no photos. sadly, i'm not even sure that we managed to light the candles every night! we did light them with my family on christmas eve, though and b had the honors!

the snow caused my family christmas eve celebration to be postponed until this saturday, so instead my sisters and their families came over to our house and we celebrated with a big lasagna meal and present opening for the kidlets. it actually turned out quite nice, but did make me a little sad that we had decided not to decorate for the holidays...so it wasn't very festive!

family pic:
group shot:
checking out his gifts:


christmas day, aaron's parents came over and watched kellen while we went to check out a movie. we had planned to go with adam and sarah to the curious case of benjamin button, but we had no idea that the theatre would be so crowded! we got to see benjamin button and adam and sarah had to go see another movie. after the movie, we had dinner with aaron's family and it was a bit of an adventure to get there and back...with several cars having to be pushed out of the snow, but we all made it there and back and it was nice to be with family, enjoying a good meal.

cuddling w/ grandpa (and teddy, of course!):
with muzz and chief:

k, checking out the tree and wanting to grab every ornament...maybe it was a good thing we didn't have a tree!
the boys pushing the first car out of the ditch:
k, watching the boys push the car out of the ditch:


we enjoyed a great duck football win in the holiday bowl (42-31 over Oklahoma State)...so nice to end the season on a winning note and so happy to see college football coming to an end here VERY soon! k and aa did some major celebrating with each duck touchdown which was even more entertaining for me than the actual game!

new years was quite mellow...just our little family home for the night. we put kellen down a little early and enjoyed a nice meal and for me a couple of glasses of champagne! coconut shrimp to start, mango and hearts of palm salad and seared scallops, roasted brussel sprouts and garlic bread for our meal. we ended with a little peanut butter pie and barely managed to stay up until the clock struck 12...but we did and we were tucked into our bed by 12:08! 2008 was quite a year and i'm definitely looking forward to 2009 and all it brings! i have a few ideas of things i'd like to accomplish in the new year and one of them includes figuring out our family holiday traditions for this new year...i'll share more of what i want to do in the next post.