2011 in Review

Trying to read over each post from the last year and pick my favorites.....and only pick 1 from each month is so hard.

Some months have a couple of favorites, they were either fun to write, or a piece of me that I shared from the heart.

So Welcome to the very 1st edition of The Best of My Little Miracles, 2011

January
Some Things Never Fade a post written as a tribute to my father on what would have been his 71st birthday. The thing that never fades is a little girl's love for her dad.

And of course, one of those days when you feel beaten by parenthood, we all have them, I stopped to remember how Simply Simple it can really be.

February
In February I was feeling particuarily inspirational I wrote about my ordeal with losing a baby at 16 1/2 weeks in the 3rd person for what was once knows as The Red Dress Club.

I also wrote about how now that I have 2 sons, I want to raise them to be Men to be Proud Of making sure they have the morals and values that will see them through and and I hope I can accomplish that!

March
I wrote a personal piece, about a place that houses 20 years of my life. All my memories of growing up live in the House that Built Me

April
There isn't much I am not willing to share or admit to, and one of the things the people don't know about me is how I suffer from the worst case of "wanderlust" or what some people call the "flight" response, and I wrote about it in Make me a bird so I can fly away

May
May brings a difficult month for me, and as my oldest grows and more questions come, it's hard to know how to explain death and a year that marked the 15th anniversary of my brother's passing. I wrote about our discussion in He took it with him when he left.

June
A powerful memory that reminds me why I will always come back to the Pacific Ocean and to what I call home. Take me back

I also wrote about why I Hate Being a Mom

July
I was reminded that Weight.... It's not just a Girl thing, how boys can be just as affected by body image.

August
My very 1st vlog, it came about because of my experience at BlogHer, how everyone said "I thought you were blond" and I really am a blond, sort of.

I also wrote a touching little tale about what life was like for a little girl who lived in a canyon in Polliwog a Cracker

September
I wrote about who I am, and what it takes to make me who I am in Back Where I Come From.

October
MY SITS DAY!!! Enough Said!

November
A fun post of what it means to Make a Memory

It's not easy to catch me off guard, but my husband sure did with The Blind Side, a potrait of our engagement.

December
Since it's the month of gathering new things, I wrote a fun post about Hoarding and how Disney's Toy Story 3 taught me how to be a Hoarder, but I really think I learned it from my mom. Hoarding TS3 Style

Brought to you By Mama Kat and Natalie over and Mommy of a Monster

Not a single one

Unfortunately I have to say, we did not take a single picture of this Christmas.

I know right??? No pics from our party Christmas Eve, not a single one of Christmas morning, none from Christmas dinner, none of Christmas night....not one. We were so busy watching our children have so much fun, listening to their laughter and seeing them tear open gift after gift.

So instead I will share a pic of me, I was 15 months old, my brother was 3, and was devastated that I was eating Santa's cookies and drinking his milk.

This is just a snapshot in time.....a memory that only exists in this photo. Until I received the best gift ever. Not only does this exist in this photo but also on video.....an old reel to reel of the silent type, my mom had it transferred to DVD.

So for Christmas, I had a special time of my life, when my mom was pregnant with me, until just after the Christmas in this photo put on a DVD, and I was so incredibly happy.

So while I don't have a single pic of my children and their Christmas, at least it is a time in their life they should remember.....and the DVD I have of people who are no longer with us, my dad, my grandparents and my brother, of a time I don't remember, and it is on DVD.

Thanks Mom!

I am a Storm

Often times the teachers and Thomas' school will take what he says word for word and put it on paper when asked a question and then it gets sent home. We just found several of these as well as cards that were made this year that apparently we were missing.....

Need I say More?

Santa Visit will wait next year

This year Christopher decided he would sit with Santa. Why is it that I fixed their hair to perfection and the time we had to wait to see Santa they managed to get it to stick up?


Oh and? Next year, I'll be waiting until December 24th to take them to see Santa, because I swear the minute we left Santa and they knew Santa had their little heart felt wishes....it was ON!
The rest of the weekend was a battle....parents vs. children. And that Elf thing? Yeah worked for the first 2 days! Now all they do is say "Hey Dude, don't bring brother any presents" but it doesn't help them behave!

These are a few of my most hated things....

Ewww THAT is what we are eating for dinner?

UCK, AGAIN? Moooommmm we just had that. It's gross. I'm not eating it.

I am sure my mom heard that more often than she cared. I was/am THE Pickiest eater ever, and I wonder why my kids don't eat certain things.

My mom would make these awesome meals (well not to me) but my dad sure did love them, and most of the time my brother would choke them down without complaint, all but the veggies that is. He'd do anything to get out of eating his veggies. If our dog wasn't so loud at getting scraps under the table we would have been set, but mom had like bionic ears when it came to that!

I think my least favorite meal was anything with Tuna. OMG *belch* that makes me want to barf just thinking about it. She made some kind of tuna souffle with like egg in it or something that made it stink and it was fluffy. I think my mom called it Tuna Surprise.

Another one of my not so favorite....meat loaf. EEEW! Seriously, something is wrong when you combine eggs and crackers and meat! HORRID! And don't even get me started on the "chicken fish"

Let's see, beef stew, beef stroganoff, chicken noodle casserole, hamburgers, steak, liver and onions....I know it's amazing I even survived. I ate a lot of lunch apparently! PB&J?? GOOOOOD!

But get this....I loved Spam....go figure! My mom would make these rockin' spam sandwiches, why she had to go and ruin it by putting green peppers in it is beyond my knowledge.

But shredded spam, mix with cheese, put on halved french bread, bake for 15 min or so at 350...BOMB! I have no had one of those in ages!

I know, I know I won't eat a good home made pot pie but I'll eat spam? well not anymore, but when I was a kid I did. If it weren't for cereal, and PB&J sandwiches, I think my mom would have thought I was going to starve!

Christmas Spirit

I love this time of year, the cooler weather, snuggle up in sweaters.

And the big jolly fat man is on his way.

The decorating has begun, there is no doubt that Christmas is upon us.

Another reason I know it's upon us? Because I can't get through a showing on the Polar Express without crying.

My children are still young enough to believe in the "magic" of Christmas. They are still in awe of the fact that a strange jolly fat man in red suit is going to fly down our chimney and leave them all the gifts they want. Like a leaf blower. And that "Dude" our elf on the shelf is reporting all the goings on.

When we forget to move him, and they ask why he's in the same spot, I told them that apparently he didn't have much to report in the way of good behavior or bad behavior if that's the case. And today Christopher says "How come Dude never comes in my room? I've been good, better than Brother, he should come in my room" So I told him to ask Dude if he would like to sit in his room tomorrow, and he did.

So tomorrow Dude will sit in Christopher's room, and it will be the last place they look for him I'm sure!

I still believe, in the magic of Christmas, in the spirt of Christmas, it's the light in the eyes of my boys that keeps that flame lit for me.

How about you? What's holiday magic for you?

Hoarding TS3 style

I was watching Toy Story 3 the other day, and with the time of year it is, I have been going through all the boys toys and making piles to donate and pass on and such.

They walk through the piles and say "Why are you throwing out our toys mommy?"

"Well I'm not throwing them out but this is a baby toy and since you are not a baby anymore we want to pass it on to another baby that doesn't have any toys, that sounds good right?"

Never once do they worry about their toys not ever being played with again.

They shrug and run off to whatever else they are destroying the house with and off goes the toys to their new owners.

There are a few things they are reluctant to give up.....Christopher has one of those rain forest/nature sounds/music/hang on the side of the crib thing that is still on the edge of the bed and he won't give it up even when the battery is dying.

Thomas has....well he doesn't really have anything he won't pass on or give up, unless you try to take what he is currently playing with.

But I thought it was funny that Woody and Buzz and the gang were trying to teach my kids to hoard....yes let's put all the toys in the attic, because someday they will be brought down and played with by their kids.

Who does that? And then I remembered the Battleship game that my mom just brought out of hiding for a friend in the hospital to play. And then there was the old popcorn tin of Lego's that she brought out for the boys. Oh yes and let's not forget the little playskool like town that I played with when I was little, that both my boys have enjoyed.

*sigh*

Yes my mom is a Toy Story 3 type hoarder, she let all those toys convince her to put them in the attic so that when I have kids, they will have something to play with.

And don't get me wrong, I love it, the boys love it....but let's face it, I have enough junk already and the toys my kids play with? So not worth saving....in 2 weeks they will be so 27 seconds ago.

Just wait, my mom has yet to bring out the big guns......our old Star Wars Toys!!!!

What toys have you held on to or will you hold onto for your own children's children?

A New Law

I learned a lot about child safety restraints living in Michigan, being closely involved with child safety seat monitoring and technicians and not having any children of my own, I joked a lot.

I joked that one of my besties children would be dragging their booster seats to their 1st school dance as their mother wouldn't allow them to be out of their restraints. And she always said the same thing "You just wait, your mind will change, and then I can say I told you so".

Well Kim, you can now tell me "I told you so"!

When I was a kid I remember being in this large blue contraption where this enormous padded bar came down over me and snapped into place. It was like being on a carnival ride. And I had to ride in it until I got to Kindergarten. *GASP* I was so happy to get rid of that thing.

Now? A New Law has been signed in California by Governor Brown, a new booster seat law, effective Jan 1, 2012. It requires children up until the age of 8 to be safely restrained in the back seat in a booster seat. Previously it was 6 year or 60 lbs. So while I was a tiny little tot of a child and couldn't wait to dispose of my carnival seat, the law now requires that you be 4 ft. 9 in or 8 years of age. My boys will be 8 years before they can dispose of their booster seats.

Let's hope that strict fines and penalties along with enforcement of this new law will help decrease the leading cause of death of children 4 - 12 years of age from auto accidents.

What do you think about the new law? How old should kids be before they ditch their boosters?