project 365 - day 365

Holy crap, day 365. Never thought this day would come. Of course I've pretty much decided to do the new Becky Higgins, Project Life, for 2010, which is basically the same thing. I am still undecided as to whether I will chronicle it on my blog, though. This photo is of another of Nicole's Christmas presents, and one that she desperately wanted - that kit to make the giant cupcakes. As seen on TV, natch. At least it's not an easy bake oven.

project 365 - day 364

One of the things Nicole got for Christmas was a little easel and some paintings to color in. This is her first masterpiece of the set. Technically not finished, but I'm fairly certain she's decided to be done.

project 365 - day 363

Merry Christmas! Once again, as usual, the kids got way too many presents. It takes forever to open them all, and mom is the one who has to ultimately clean up after all them all year long as they leave these new trinkets all over the house, but it's just so much fun to shop for them that I can't resist.

project 365 - day 362

I love how this picture came out. No, it's not snowing here in Florida, it's actually "reindeer food" that Nicole just threw, and I happened to snap the pic as it was falling down. I think the effect is pretty cool, though. We have been doing reindeer food with them on Christmas eve since they were babies.

project 365 - day 360

I love this bracelet! Of course, Nicole was quick to point out that they're not real diamonds. lol. That's okay, I still like it anyway. Pretty sure this one came from Cookie Lee.

project 365 - day 359

Rico, laying down in what used to be Jasper's bed. Jasper never had a cage, because I didn't cage train him when he was little, so I didn't figure he'd take to it when he got older, but he did have this bed in the kitchen that he liked to lay in. We never got rid of it, and now Rico seems to enjoy it.

project 365 - day 358

Now it is really getting cold here in FL, and the kids are actually having to wear jackets to school. We don't get that a lot here, so it's kind of novel. For about a week, and then we're all tired of it. My kids are fascinated by the fact that where I grew up, we had snow. I don't think they can even imagine what that is really like, since they've never actually even seen snow. The closest they have come is when it gets cold overnight and we get a little frost on the lawn. But those of you that come from the cold states know that is SO not the same thing.

project 365 - day 357

One of the existing decorations we put up again this year was the reindeer in the lawn. I love these guys. I just think they are so cute.

project 365 - day 356

We got another puppy picture from the breeder! This is our new guy, who still needs a name, at three weeks. Only five more weeks till I can meet him and cuddle him!!

pro⋅cras⋅ti⋅na⋅tion

I should be doing something productive. Screwing around online is not productive. I know this. And yet I cannot seem to make myself get up. Specifically, I should be working on a Christmas present that a) is going to be hours of work, b) needs to be mailed out of state, and c) I haven't even started yet. I think there is still a large part of me that is in denial over the fact that Christmas is just a week away. Sadly, my denial isn't really helping matters any. AND, to top it off, I'm completely freakin' exhausted today. As in I'm kind of counting the minutes till I can put the kids to bed and go lay down. Somehow it's not looking real promising for me to have a sudden burst of energy and get working on this particular project.

project 365 - day 355

I got some new Soylicious room sprays from Angie and they smell delish! You can really never have too many things to make your house smell good. There are my words of wisdom for you for the day.

project 365 - day 354

I did a massive overhaul on my master bedroom closet (not Perry's stuff, that's completely his problem). It's good progress, though overall I still have way too many clothes that I just don't use/wear, even though I got rid of at least half a dozen garbage bags full. I am always striving for more organization around here. Such a process, really.

project 365 - day 353

This year we got some new small trees for other rooms of the house, including this little guy in our room. You can't see it well in this pic, but it has really pretty blue and silver ornaments all over it, which go perfectly with our room decor. Our old tree in here last year was colored lights, but I think I like the all white lights better now.

project 365 - day 352

Every year as part of the Christmas decorating, we wrap the staircase with garland and bows and flowers and such. And every year this is one of the most frustrating parts of my decorating, because I can never quite get it how I want it. That, and the cats like to jump up and pull on it, so within a couple days it's all kinda jacked up looking. Oh well.

project 365 - day 351

Jefferson, back in his favorite spot. Unless you see the couch in a certain light, you can't even tell it's got about a million tiny cat claw holes in it. ;)

project 365 - day 361

Every year the kids make Gingerbread houses. Only this year I couldn't find kits for that, but I could find kits for Gingerbread trains, so I got those. As it turns out, they were a hit. So yay for trains!

project 365 - day 350

Flowers, from Publix. Unlike the ones in the red bucket, I am completely content that these ones will last just a week or so and then die. Cycle of life and all.

project 365 - day 349

Again I have bought new flowers and planted them in the red bucket. Again I shall wait for their inevitable demise.

project 365 - day 348

I am quite sure this isn't the first photo this year of one of us in the cage with Rico. In fact, I'm sure it's not. I don't know what it is with us, but me and the kids do tend to climb in there and cuddle him quite often. I imagine we'll do the same with the new guy once we get him. Only his cage will be even bigger, so it'll be an easier fit. Hell, maybe we'll all get in there together. lol

project 365 - day 347

During my Black Friday shopping with Grammy, I picked myself up a Cricut, because they were on a very good sale at Michael's. I couldn't resist. I have been wanting one for awhile, because they are just so much easier to use than my Wishblade. Woohoo. I am very excited with my purchase, and really really hope to catch up on my scrapbooking in 2010.

project 365 - day 346

Because I couldn't possibly feature a picture of Nicole with her trophy and not one of Owen with his...

project 365 - day 345

The kids had their awards banquet for football/cheerleading. I am so very glad we didn't miss it while we were gone on the cruise. It was nice seeing everyone again. Even though it's only been a little over a month since the season ended, it was like a reunion, because these were the people you spend practically every day with for three months.

project 365 - day 344

Home from the cruise and while we were gone, our new puppy was born!! Here is a pic that the breeder sent us, with him at 3 days old. I cannot wait to meet him once he hits 8 weeks! =)

project 365 - day 343

Okay, I'm just a kid at heart, I guess, because I always love the little towel animals that the room stewards make every day and leave on the beds. This one was one of my favorites, so I made the kids pose with it.

project 365 - day 342

The kids favorite part of the cruise, again, was the kid's room. They had different activities to do every day and night, and ours wanted to attend each of them. The kid's room director, Caitlin, was a lot of fun, and in this pic is engaging them all in a pillow fight.

project 365 - day 341

One of the coolest things we did on this cruise was tour an ancient Mayan Ruin in Costa Maya. It's amazing how the archeologists have unearthed these things, and how well preserved they are. We also learned quite a bit about the old Mayan predictions of 2012, end of the world, etc. Apparently the Mayan descendants believe that the world isn't truly going to end (good deal, right?) but that a time of change is coming, at least for their people. They believe that that change is coming in the form of a Mayan descendant coming into power again in their government. So, huh. I will take it, if it means the world isn't going to blow up or something.

project 365 - day 340

This colorful photo is actually of a Guatemalan cemetary. We saw this same place last time we were in Santo Tomas, and I thought it was beautiful. What's interesting is that they don't bury people underground, I guess because of the water levels, so they have all these colorful box crypt type things that they put everyone in. It's quite a sight to see, at least in person.

project 365 - day 339

A shot of the ship itself, from in port. This is while docked in Cozumel, where we did an interactive dolphin encounter. We got to swim with them, ride on them, etc. It was really just too freakin cool. I know you're wondering why I didn't make one of those pics my photo of the day, and I don't know if I have a really good answer for that, but rest assured those pictures will feature prominently in my "real" scrapbook. Whenever I manage to catch up on it. I think I'm something like 2 years behind now. Ugh.