My last post of 2009 and the last of the first decade of the 21st century.  And how did I spend my day?

With ALL my children and all the loves of their lives, including my two babyGrands.  Table for NINE, please ~ with two high chairs!! I’m waiting for pictures of Nate who just arrived with his mom and dad yesterday from frolicking in the snow in Reno.  He told me he was “freesing”!  So many precious stories and my daughter took some gorgeous snow pictures.

My dear only son has custody of my camera for a while (I got the hand-me-down Canon xTi)..so I’m stealing some of his pictures from his SmugMug account.

Alyssa at 4 months

We all met up for  a very leisurely lunch in Milpitas today then enjoyed a mango frosty in the uber cold weather.  I don’t think anyone wanted to split up yet and go our merry ways so we hung out for a bit.  I can’t get enough of the babies who are both growing so fast.  Tonite, I’m chillaxing with my husband who has brought out and set up his brand new desktop easel.  My puppy is happy to see me, although he’s sniffing me and can smell his cousin doggies from the other house.  I’m going to get into my cozies soon and greet family and friends on Facebook ~ then I’m going to watch the ball drop in Times Square at 9PM (my time, Pacific).

But first, I wanted to greet you all.

To all who stop by my blog ~ thank you for your readership and the sweet comments that you leave behind.  May you and your families  be blessed with a healthy and prosperous New Year.

Much love,

GM, GDaddy and Newman

PS:  Dear New Year 2K10,  I wouldn’t mind another one of these cute little babies this year!

Have you looked up in the sky?  It’s a full moon (tomorrow) tonite.  And it’s the second one this month.  That makes Friday’s full moon a BLUE MOON!

This is my favorite full moon capture taken by yours truly.  It’s wasn’t really ‘blue’.  But with LightRoom2  ~ well, y’know…magic!

My husband and I were looking over this coffee table book on National Parks in America that he got from Santa this Christmas.  Inspiration for his painting and tips for my photography.  We were drooling at the moon photographs and he reminded me about the double full moon.  How lucky am I to have someone who still appreciates two moon months and double rainbows.  Someone who will take me to the mountains to watch a meteor shower.

Someone who just promised to take me to the river in Arnold (soon) so I can take my camera and tripod and shoot the rocks and the water~  and the barren trees dusted with snow.  A girl can dream.

He said “I’ll take you there next year” and I replied “I’ll come with you”.

Next year is only 25 hours away.  I can wait.

BLOG UPDATE:  Be sure to check out the different TABS up there as I will be posting on each of them regularly.  Today’s product review is a HOT product making waves all over Hollywood and my babyGrands diaper bags. Check it out here under my I WANT THAT tab.

This is my inaugural submission to Wordless Wednesday hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.  There are some amazing photos submitted by others, so go visit and link up and share a photograph that speaks for itself.

I’m sharing this one photo that tells you what the greatest present was we received in all of 2009.

Can you find it?

No, I haven’t watched THAT movie ~ I’m talking about the little square box with a picture that is used by people participating in forums.  Most of the time, I use my ‘peace’ picture as seen here.

as seen in forums such as my Blog Frog community like this:

Some people have their pictures as I used to do on Twitter a few times but now changed to show what my business is all about.

Just for kicks, I checked out what  Wiki had to say about it:

An avatar is a computer user’s representation of himself/herself or alter ego, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games, a two-dimensional icon (picture) or a one-dimentional username used on Internet forums and other communities^, or a text construct found on early systems such as MUDs. It is an object representing the user. The term “avatar” can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user^. This sense of the word was coined by Neal Stephenson in 1992′s Snow Crash who co-opted it from from the Sanskrit word avatāra which is a concept similar to that of incarnation.

Darn long description for a tiny box, don’t you think?

Today I was working on my blog header on  this WordPress  site since my blog developer is on vacation (word to the meek of heart…it’s not as easy as Blogger but I’m up for the challenge).  I almost toasted my whole site in the process since ya know…I’m the ‘wannabe’ HTML know-it-all (not!).  Okay (confession time) uhhhm..I have a hard time saying “I don’t know”.  With perseverance though, I managed to update Alyssa’s picture on the header.  I’ll stop while I’m ahead.

Next, I was looking at my photos for a new image for an avatar.  That simple process got me thinking ~ it’s the end of the year and nobody is working so I had time to play.  I was dwelling on the word you may have missed in the description above ~ “incarnation“.  Interesting.    I decided to keep my same pretty peace symbol.  I love  it and I’ve identified with it (yup!  me the Peace lover!!)   *My dear unFriendeds will love that*   It feels like me now – on forums at least.

So, I guess that’s what will be representing me going forward.    I’ll do my best to stay true to form in 2010!!  Unless I find a compelling tie dyed photo, of course, in which case, all bets are off ☺

Who’s in your avatar?  How’d you settle on the picture and did you have a hard time choosing?

Bev wrote her own memorial service. Scripture to be read and songs to be sung. It was a happy celebration of her life and many people came to tell us how much she had meant to them. One person in particular said it for all
“that family won the mom lottery“.

After processing grief {if that is at all possible}, I turned to hope and anticipation for Alyssa’s birth. As soon as school let out, my kids and I met up for lunch every Wednesday ~ our “walk and waddle” as we had come to call it.
It was also my excuse to see Nate as often as I possibly could.

In June, I picked up my Canon xTi and decided to be a student of photography. I’m still learning. And having a ball. I upgraded to a 50D a couple months later and invested in two new lenses.

In July, we spend two glorious weeks in Oahu. I want to go back. NOW.

Alyssa’s birth in August was attended by my oldest daughter, my sister (video) and me (camera and Facebook updates). Outside in the waiting room were 30 other family and friends. It was wild how social media played a big role in this baby’s delivery.

Nate loved it and continues to adore his little cousin. He turned two a few weeks before and had his birthday party at The Little Gym with his best buddies. We celebrate Alyssa’s monthsaversaries each month. She is officially 4 months old today ~ we celebrated on Christmas.

I am constantly counting my blessings. I don’t know how life does it ~ but somehow when I question why things happen, it doesn’t take too long a time for the answer to be revealed to me. As such, I put my faith and trust in an all merciful and giving God. I don’t ask for anything except for the health of my family and safety for my children and babyGrands.

This year, 2009 ~ more than ever, affirms that a life fully and simply lived is not sad, even when it ends. Rather, it is a reason to celebrate ~ as is the birth of a child.

I’ll appreciate mine and look forward to what the coming year has for us ~ with hope, again.

Always, hope.

Here are some of the photographs I took from our family Christmas celebration. I think by now you can tell that I *LOVE* Smilebox!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Time. These all took time and happy thoughts. They were lovingly put together.

I will spend this chillaxing day after Christmas playing with the 200+ photos I took last night and then I’ll find the perfect Smilebox format to post it in later on today.

In the meantime, my Newman is happy in his new Snuggie.

And my husband and I … well, we’re just two happy people who are putting our hands together,

and counting our blessings.

Oh..and yeah ~ we’re hooking up the Blu Ray today.

Dear Oma,

We were missing you last night but we somehow  managed.  Didn’t sing very well, we knew you’d   have us do it over again.

I found the ornaments you bought for us, hoping to give it to us this year.  Thank you.

Merry Christmas to you and Earl up in heaven.  Hope you’ve found my dad and sister and a smiling down on us today.

Turns over to his sister and says “We gotta go”.

Sister says “But why?  We’re going to the reception”

Turns his back to his sister and bends over and turns back and says “We gotta go”.

Sister says “We gotta go”.  Dying of hysterical laughter at this point.

Of course his wife buys dark plaid boxers!!  Funeral dark plaid is how he described it.

Way too cool!! Sharing!!

Owner:  You drive a hard deal.  I will get it there by 10:00AM and will give you a 20% discount if you promise to use us again in the future and not ding us for this hiccup.

Make a Smilebox collage

This cool card was done by Smilebox. You can check the widget on my blog’s right sidebar. This was FREE to do.

Disclosure: Smilebox is an affiliate of The Grammie Diaries. A small commission is paid IF you sign up for membership, but they have free templates you can try. You can make interactive scrapbooks, add as many pictures as you want, add music of your own and share it on your blogs and Facebook. It’s fun! Enjoy!

UPDATED:  2:50PM

Apparently, we must always be prepared for the inevitable in life. Especially when you ignore the service indicator lights in your car (like the oil light)

I’ve been ignoring it for a while since it goes on and off. But today I spoke to my mom today and she asked…then gave the phone to my step-dad.  After asking what, when and how…he said “honey, you better go check the oil.  Just get a paper towel and pull out the dip stick and see what it says.  If you run your car without oil, you’ll ruin the engine and that could cost a couple thousand dollars”.  Uh huh.  Right.  Where in the heck will I find the dip stick?  I only heard ‘a couple thousand dollars‘.

I opened the hood of my car and stared at the engine for five minutes looking for something that would indicate an oil thingy and a pull outy stick.  Me <~ so NOT car engine savvy.  But wait!  I did find it!!  I pulled it out and looked.  Uhhhm. Wiped it like I’ve seen ‘em guys do somewhere in my past life.  Dip the stick and pull out again.

Ittttty bitttty oil. Like a drop. Urgently low, dying it’s last oily breathe.

Unexpected and immediate visit to the dealer.  “Hi…can you put oil in my car and can it not cost a bazillion dollars before Christmas?”  At this point the kindly Service Manager man looked at my maintenance record and reminded me that the last service was done two years ago.

“Sorry, been very busy…can you give it some oil?”

He said he would check the oil and do a mini service check (fluids, brakes, etc.). “Come back in about an hour and a half?”
“Cool“, I said.  “I’ll cross the street and shop at Marshalls.  Just call me when it’s done!”
Thank goodness there was somewhere else I could go besides the waiting room.

I called my dad  while I was at the stoplight waiting to cross the street.  I waited for 3 minutes  for the light to give me the okay to cross, counting down from 24 to 1 three times without giving me the OK to cross.  I was so busy chatting that I forgot the press the button to let the light know I was there.
“When was the last time you crossed the street?”  my dad asked laughing with me. “I don’t know!! I don’t think I do streets!!“

I finally got to my destination and got the call back within an hour. Car done. Maybe need new brake pads but not urgent. New oil and whatever else was changed.

Scored this at the store. Jingle Bell Rock!

The only damage.   Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.  From Marshalls.
☺
 ORIGINAL POST

My day started early and late.  How can that happen?  Well apparently it can and it did.

We have tons of leaves everywhere except in our yard (cuz the gardener already took care of that!).  My neighbor in front has this to contend with!  Beautiful yellow/gold leaves.  There are just a few left on the tree and I think I may venture over and just shake ‘em off  and he’ll be done waiting.  The raking won’t be fun.

Author:   Mom D (Alyssa’s Mommy)

I had big plans today.  To get out and seriously make a dent in my holiday shopping.  Big plans, huh!  I finished my work early and by 11:30AM I got the all clear, got dressed and left.

The goal was to make it to Target ~ not that I was going to shop there for presents (cuz God knows there’s nothing there I can buy anymore) ~ but I liked some of the ornaments I had seen on a recent visit. I knew I’d be gone for a while so I brought a snack with me ☺

My car, on the other hand, had a mind of it’s own ~ and went to Nordstrom!  Why?  Because it knows that Wednesday is when they have truckloads of new stuff from the big store and that by noon, the carts would be rolling in.  And sure enough, it was! 

Santa Baby had a blast and a ball ~ and an invitation to a private sale  before the store opens to the general public and with first dibs on MORE good stuff!     Eat that OMG!!

Can you say ‘save a lot of money’???