happy rubber ducky day!

January 13 is National Rubber Ducky Day!

The rubber ducky bath toy was first manufactured during the late 1800's as a way to make bath time more enjoyable for toddlers and babies. It has since turned into a popular bath time icon known worldwide.

During a Pacific storm on January 10, 1992, over 29,000 rubber ducky bath toys from a Chinese company were washed off of a cargo ship. Months after the storm, about two thirds of the rubber duckies had made there way to the shores of Indonesia, Australia, and South America. Some of the ducks also entered into the Bering Straight between Alaska and Russia where they became trapped in the Arctic ice. The ducks slowly made their way through the ice at one mile per day and in 2000, they were spotted in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. Talk about some world traveled ducks!

Happy Rubber Ducky Day!
(info found here via google)

also, check out this link to see one of our favorite books, which was featured on january 10th. remember when i posted about it here?!

i'll end with this video, you know, because we love it! :)

i totally just did this...

old...

...new!!

i LOVE it! finally, i'm starting to improve my appearance (which makes me feel better)
hallelujah for new hair :)

malcolm & aunt catherine

a few weeks ago malcolm and his aunt catherine went exploring in the grandparents backyard. alanna was inside with vicky, busily working on sewing the cushion for malcolm's room (the one they gave me for christmas!). i was at work, and had no idea what was going on. i love all of these photos.

looking for snakes...

...no snakes?

apparently he was saying "i'm the king of poop!", because he was sitting on top of this old outhouse. haha!

a few leftovers

photos from december, that were on danny's phone or that i just missed posting:

danny propping up our snowman

it took days for him to melt. each morning when we would look outside and see him still hanging on, we would laugh :)

watching phineas and ferb while waiting for our pizza

our friend compton comes over for dinner often, and malcolm loves running around and playing with him. they usually play superheros, and tie blankets around their necks as capes...

for christmas compton ordered malcolm a custom cape with a letter "M" on the back. what a thoughtful gift. malcolm loves it! it was hard to get a photo of the back, but the cape itself is very nice quality.

here are two photos that i stole from lynn's blog post, of malcolm at dexter's birthday party. oh how i would love to own a camera like this. these photos are so crisp and clear compared to mine.

justin asked malcolm to show him his "mean face", haha

and malcolm loved watching (and playing with) these older boys. i think he thinks he is much older than he really is. alanna was the very same way.

reflecting & looking forward

it's crazy to think about all the things that have happened in my life over the past ten years. i know that wasn't all that long ago, but it sure feels like it has been a lifetime. i went from being a single mother of a preschooler, to being married with a teenager and a toddler. before i met my husband, i had an awesome well paying job that i loved. i traveled as much as i could: to new york city, san francisco, atlanta, etc. i recovered from a broken heart (twice), and just when i had given up on relationships altogether, i stumbled upon danny. i drove to las vegas a handful of times, two amazing trips in particular: the first time i ever laid eyes on danny (it was love at first sight), and then when we were married there six months later (best thing ever!)

i left my job of seven years, packed up and moved away from the only home i had ever know (twenty five years in the same house), and left my entire life behind to be with the man i love. not only that, but i uprooted my almost nine year old daughter, and basically flipped her life upside down. that was, without question, the single hardest decision i have ever made. ever. waaay harder than choosing to become a mother at age sixteen. i have no regrets, i am glad about the choices i have made in my life, and i love where i am at right now. i only wish i had considered how it would affect my family, especially my parents, and i wish that we had not ended up living so far away. despite all the difficult and sad things, i think we have created a pretty great life/family out here on the east coast.

i missed doing an end of year/new year post last january, so i'm kind of a year behind, haha. 2010 wasn't our best year, we struggled a bit (kids fighting, exhausted/ornery/stressed out parents, air headed teenager, and lots of financial worry) we didn't do as much as we had in past years, or that we would have liked to do (travel etc.), but we made it through the year as a family. and that is what is important. we have made ourselves at home in this new little house, we are grateful for our good health, and we are looking forward to the future. here is to a new year, a new decade (even if it's a year late!), and new adventures.

i don't really do resolutions, but i do like to make personal goals, so here is my list (in no particular order) that i will be able to look back on, and update when things have been accomplished:

• get all of our photos edited, printed, organized, and into albums. i am super behind on this, and i'm a bit overwhelmed with it all, but it needs to be done, pronto.


• read my magazines as soon as they come in the mail. this is a simple goal. i have been pretty good about it since the move, but i still have a stack of old ones that need to be read.


• finally get our house organized and officially put away. i am almost done, and the kids exchange this month will help me clear out a lot of our clutter. oh, and i have tons of items to list on ebay, so i need to get on that too.


• spend more time outside with malcolm/as a family. we are really good about this in the spring and the fall, but it's more of a challenge when it's really hot or cold out. i need to learn to accept all of the seasons, and get out in the fresh air no matter what the weather is like.


• add more children's books to my little library. this one will be easy for me, and thanks to borders coupons, it won't break the bank.


• get malcolm totally potty trained (hopefully by his third birthday). he has been going #2 in the potty for a few months now, and he is really great about telling us when he needs to go, but we need to start working on going #1 in the potty all the time too. no more diapers. (any advice you might have is welcome!)
  


• get a tattoo for malcolm.


• find and try some new easy, healthy vegan meals. we rarely eat out, and we tend to make the same meals at home a lot, so we are getting bored with our options. (please leave suggestions, if you have some!)


• visit more parts of our state. we are still tourists when it comes to north carolina, and there is so much of it that we haven't seen yet. hopefully we can squeeze in some weekend day trips here and there.


• blog more. last year i had so many posts that i meant to do, but never got around to. i know danny and alanna think it is annoying when i am taking too many photos, or when i'm on here working on a post, but it is important to me. this is my online scrapbook of our family memories, and i want to keep a record of everything. plus this keeps my mother up to date on our lives, and i know she loves it as much as i do. it is therapeutic in a way, and i always feel like i've accomplished something when i'm done. so i'm gonna do better at keep it up to date :)


• start sewing. my sweet mother gave me a small sewing machine a few years ago for christmas, and i have never used it yet. shame on me. i never had much time or extra money to start this hobby, until now. malcolm is getting older and can entertain himself better, and my mom gave me a generous gift card for joann so i can stock up on supplies. now to decide on what to make first!

and most importantly:

• show my family (including my husband) and friends just how much i love and appreciate them. send more letters, make more phone calls, and be more vocal about how important they are to me (love you guys!)

help myself look better, so that i feel better. this past year i have really let myself go, and it is starting to drag me down. i feel like i look a mess, and i'm ready for some change. i'd like a new beauty regimen that will make me look and feel better; new skincare products (i want healthy, beautiful skin, is that too much to ask for?!) new haircare products (i can't seem to find just the right ones), maybe start wearing a little makeup (eeek, i have no idea where to begin?!), and some new clothing staples to replace the old tired items i've been wearing forever. i just wish these things weren't so expensive.

so there you have it, i'm sure that i missed a few things, and wow this is a much longer list than i had thought. i'd better get busy, haha. i did start the year off right, and on monday i had my bad molar pulled. it had caused me a lot of annoying pain this past year, and i'm glad that it is gone. it is nice to know that i won't have to worry about it ever causing me any more discomfort. having it removed was emotional. it hurt a little, and the pressure that i felt while the dentist pried it out of my gums was crazy. when he was done and he sat me up in the chair, i teared up a little. i was thinking "what have i done?! i will never have that tooth back!", but on the way out of the room, i snuck a peek at the broken pieces of tooth on his tray, and i was glad it was out. good riddance to that nasty little tooth. out with the old, right!? :)

white day-after-christmas

we were hoping for a white christmas this year, it would have been our first since we've lived in nc. we didn't get a white christmas, but we got tons of snow on the 26th! better a day late than never, right!? malcolm was sooo excited, he's been asking to make a snowman for weeks (ever since we bought a copy of the old "frosty the snowman" and "frosty returns" cartoons on dvd, haha!)

when we got home on christmas night, there were tiny flurries in the air...

and this is what we woke up to on sunday morning!
(our view from inside the house)

this may not look like much, but this is a lot of snow for us! it was pretty great!

the boys braved the cold temperature, and ventured out to make a snowman! good thing we had just found malcolm a nice warm coat (thanks vicky!) too bad i still haven't found him any good boots yet.

malcolm loved being out there in it :)

our poor frozen pumpkins, leftover from halloween :(

their masterpiece! they did a wonderful job, biggest snowman on our block.

the boys making snow angels. they had been out there for quite a while, and by this point malcolm was cold, tired, and generally over it. he wanted to come inside.

i got him out of his cold wet clothes, wrapped him up in a soft, cozy woobie, and laid him in his new recliner. alanna heated her "snuggle bag" (rice filled sack) in the microwave to help warm him up. he loved it.

danny's mom and dad also got a lot of snow where they live, and they emailed us these photos of their snowman!

dan and vicky, he turned out so cute, and this photo is fantastic :)

our christmas

we had a very nice christmas this year. i meant to get this post up right after the weekend, but monday morning i woke up with a severe toothache (the same bad tooth that gave me trouble months ago) which pretty much consumed my whole day. thank goodness danny works for himself, and was able to stay home and help me out around the house. i felt absolutely awful. it still aches, but we were able to make an appointment with the dentist for next monday. i guess ibuprofen will be my best friend until then.

here are a lot of photos that i took on christmas eve/day.
all the gifts under the tree after santa dropped by :)

the kids had so much fun opening their presents



probably his favorite gift



sleepy eyes...


...and crazy bed head hair. perfect christmas morning photos :)



malcolm and his bounty!


alanna and (most) of hers!


my parents sent us some really great gifts. my mother gave me this cute cupcake stand and tea towel, along with a generous gift card, new pj's, and a pretty scarf. thanks again mom!


alanna and malcolm made these cards for danny and i. love them.


this was my gift from danny and alanna. they made this seat cushion for the toy bench in malcolm's bedroom. that old bench was made by one of my uncles when i was a little (maybe even before i was born?) and alanna had used it in her bedroom in utah. when we moved to nc, it came with us, and then when we moved into this new house in june, it made its way into malcolm's room. i had planned on painting it, and also making a pad for it, but had never gotten around to it. so danny and alanna helped me along by making the seat cushion. (good thing i never ordered the fabric online that i had planned on using.)

alanna sewed the cover all by herself, she even did the measurements and figured out how to make the corners and everything! i guess she really did learn something in her sewing class last year (she used the design from a purse that they had made, as a guide for the cover.) then danny screen printed the caterpillar and strawberries on it at his shop. they even used snaps to close the back side, so that it is easily removable in case it needs to be washed. they did a great job, and it looks really nice in his room. thanks guys!



while we were putting it in malcolm's room, lucky dog was naughty and helped himself to one of alanna's gifts. he loooves opening presents, haha!




in the afternoon we headed out to danny's parents house for dinner, and more gifts for the kids. we all love spending christmas evening at their house.


alanna and her favorite present... a kindle!



my handsome boys


malcolm relaxin' in his new recliner :)


vicky's wonderful meal!

we really appreciate all of the terrific gifts that were given to the kids. they love all of them, and will (hopefully) keep them busy for a while, haha. thank you all so much for everything. we really are so lucky to have such great families. i just wish that my side wasn't so far away. love you guys.