Our year in photos. 2009.

The curse of being the third child.

These are almost a month old. Bad Momma! She took a few toddling steps and then I thought it would be awhile for full walking. She would fall, get right back up, fall, get right back up. Over and over. Persistance is good... I think she's gonna do alright in the world.

Since these were taken, she has taken off. Literally. When you turn around for a second, she is on the other end of the house. She doesn't even like to ride in the stroller anymore. She wants to walk. Period.

365- The first two weeks

4/365. Bath time is crazy time at our house. 3 wound up kids to get clean, 2 tired parents to maintain calm... you can guess who wins sometimes.

5/365. Fresh flowers always make me happy. Love them in the kitchen where we spend the largest amount of time. Ava and Olivia picked these out. "Mom, these are the MOST BEAUTIFUL..."

6/365. OK, I cheated. This is technically the same day as 5. But, I don't care. I'm gonna miss some, and the point is really to try and capture as much of our lives over the year as possible. And to that end, don't expect greatness in these photos either. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the cool photoshops edits that people do with their photos and there is some really amazing stuff out there (I can lose entire hours looking at other people's amazing photos). But, you won't find that on here. My whole goal is just to capture the little moments that make up our year as time goes zooming by. And, to keep up with it and get them posted somewhere, I just won't do much editing. So, if I miss a day or two or end up with a crappy shot with bad exposure, I'm not going to beat myself up. And you could try, but I don't think that you could either (beat me up). Unless you are my Dad... he can still kick my butt (we'll let him think that since he is OLD, anything else would be mean).

7/365. Choo-choo train in the kitchen. The engines are in the back of this train... bet you can't spot them.

8/365. Outside in a brief respite from the cold snap that attacked Texas.

9/365. Ava diligently "trimming" all the dead plants away. The cold snap that settled in for a few days killed a lot of our tropical plants (like this ginger). We'll hope that it comes back in the spring.

10/365. Homemade soup AND bread... comfort food on a COLD, COLD day (30s are incapacitating in the south, ya'll)...

11/365. The only time you will see this baby girl quiet is at night when she's asleep, or when she is up to mischief like yesterday when she poured a giant sized (from Costco) Softsoap bottle all over the carpet. Yeah, any tips for getting liquid handsoap out of carpet? She has only two speeds... full throttle or park. This is park. Love it...

12/365. What's your name?... "Oh-wi-bee-uh"...

13/365. M is walking AND talking these days. Attitude is not far behind, I see it brewing. She does NOT like to be dressed, or changed, or carried when she could cruise on her own. The climbing has already started....Geez, I'm glad that girls are sooooo much easier than boys. I'm pretty sure if we had any boys they would be in jail at the age of 4.

14/365. I almost forgot to take a photo yesterday. But, then I got Dave. You can tell he was in a great mood. He was angry at Oliver because all the little kitty wants is some loving at night. He purrrrrs and rubs on Dave constantly. And Dave refuses to pet him. He think cats should be tough and lion like. He doesn't like pussy cats. Seriously. This is a rare cuddle that Oliver got on the way out the door.

15/365. I know where she gets its from. I love my food too. If I could get away with it, I'd probably smear it all over me too.

So there you have it. Caught up! I bought an awesome album to record the year and capture all the photos. So far, I am caught up. (that little knock-knock is me knocking on wood). I'm going to stick to it and I'll do better about posting here. I thought I could get them all into some sort of collage, but after a couple hours I gave up. Single file is better than nothing.

Happy New Year- Project 365...

OK, first and foremost... Happy New Year! If you know me, and you probably do if you are reading this, you know that I love the new year!!! I won't even bother to go through all the reasons that I do. You can read my post on it from last year, or the year before since they all say the same thing. I will be choosing another word this year, like the last three years. But, I'm going to save that for another post.

This year, I've decided to take on a new project that I have followed other people doing for several years. I have been wanting to do a Project 365 of my own for a few years, but just couldn't commit since I have been either pregnant, nursing, or getting ready to give birth to children for pretty much the last three years (seriously, as I am typing that I had to double-check... but that is the truth folks). So, I just watched from the side-lines as people talked about their cool little Project 365s. But this year I am jumping in the ring. I'm ready. I'm committed.

So, what's a Project 365? Well, it could be a lot of things. In this case, I'm going to take one photo every single day of the year. Yep, 365 photos that will document the year 2010 for our family. I'm sure my cute little sprouts will dominate the photos, but I'm going to try and include some fun ones of our everyday lives along the way. The goal is to look at my everyday life in a new way and document the year as it unfolds. I've decided to use this album since it looks pretty easy and streamlined and has taken any guess work out of it for me. Let's face it, anything that will simplify this process will increase my chances of success. I've also started a group at Flickr where we will be posting our pictures and also doing some challenges each month to keep things moving along as the year continue. So, if you think this sounds fun and you want to join our little group, drop me a line or leave a comment and I will add you to our group. If not, just check back here weekly for the roundup that week. I'm still figuring out how to pull all the photos together in a collage type post, but I'll get Dave's help to pull it together by next week.

And, to start things off... Here is my first two 365 photos. Partying at the farm. Mud baths and boat rides included.

No white Christmas here, but still merry!

It was predicted that we might get snow on Christmas Day. As the day got closer, the prediction turned to rain. We didn't care, it was a wonderful holiday anyways. We had a great time, just enjoying the family and hanging out in our PJs. We ate WAY too much yummy food, slept in, watched too many movies, and just enjoyed life... hope you did the same.

From our house to yours...Merry Christmas.

Yes, this means that we did not get Christmas cards out this year. I love receiving them from so many of you. They are plastered on our refrigerator and the kids love to point out all the people they know and we share stories of our friends and loved ones. And, I wish that our lovely card was decorating YOUR refrigerator this year. But, I just couldn't get it done. So, this will have to do. Print it out and stick it up. And know that we love you!!! We wish you many happy, joyous memories this holiday season! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Decorating the tree.

We got a fresh tree this year. We bought it during Thanksgiving weekend so Grandma and Grandpa Sasser could help us decorate. It smelled so delicious and fresh! Of course, a month later it is in need of a Christmas miracle. We got the tree place to add a water pan to the bottom, but they nailed in down so tightly that the tree can barely soak up any water. Poor thing... Come on tree, just one more night. You can do it. Hang in there.

Getting ready..

Santa needs some cookies, right?

Grandma and Grandpa Sasser visit Texas!

We had a great Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Sasser. The kids had a blast playing and soaking up some time with them. They even babysat while I ventured to Belgium for a couple days (work, all work people)... :-)

Fall days.

The end of the year is creeping up on us. Well, really it's more like a cheetah chasing us down on the hunt, with us being the innocent gazelles totally unprepared while chewing our savannah grass. But, I digress. Christmas Eve is here and that means time to catch our breath and savor the last few days of 2009. I won't launch into all the wonderful things that 2009 has brought us (a new baby and a new job), rather I'll just post a few pictures of a recent fall day where we went on one of our regular walks to feed the ducks and played at the park. Luckily, I happened to have my camera (that doesn't always happen these days with three little ones running around).

Happy Halloween (hey, at least I'm getting this post up before the next holiday)

At this rate, it's a good thing I am posting these before Christmas. Good Lord, where has the time gone. The days fly by so fast I just can't keep up. I actually asked Dave last night, "Is there a software program that can coordinate all your calendars? You know, like your Outlook calendar and your other work calendar and then your personal iphone/gmail calendar?" He just looked at me like I had live snakes for hair... but seriously folks, anyone know of such a thing... because at this point, I'll take any advantage I can get on this time thing.

Halloween was a blast. We went to the Zoo Boo very early and then had a little shindig with our friends, who also have all girls. Girls, girls, girls... we were a fleet of estrogen parading through the neighborhood demanding chocolate and candy! The Dads tagged along taking pictures and everyone was happy. It doesn't get much better than that.

Oh so thankful, and oh so sad.

I was in the airport when someone said "That's just crazy about those mass shootings at Fort Hood..." And like any news story of the troops, particularly ones where I know my sister or brother-in-law could be involved, my skin got goosebumps. I found the first TV I could in the airport and caught the blaring headlines. Sara and Jeff have been at Fort Hood for awhile and I knew they were both busy working that day. I immediately called my sister's cell phone... she has one of those crazy numbers that plays music while the phone magically "finds my party..." and in those moments I was just sort of holding my breath and floating. When the phone clicked, the first thing she said was, "I'm OK. Jeff's OK." And then, I was OK too.

I have no words really. Only sadness for the many, many people who have been touched by this horrible senseless act. And such utter gratitude that Sara picked up the phone when I dialed. It breaks my heart to think of the 13 families who didn't get an answer when they dialed...

Feeeeeeeeeeed me.

Beautiful day and beautiful weather.

Finally, the weather has cooled off a little... we were so excited to have weather that wasn't in the 90s!

School pumpkin patch trip.