a look at 2009

I filled out this survey in 2007 and this one in 2008, so I figured I'd take it on again.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

got a tattoo. Just kidding. I guess I can't think of anything I have NEVER done before. Oh wait, I ate a notorious Voodoo Donut! Yeah, that's it.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Its a process. And, yes, this year both John and I have a plan for some resolutions that we are excited about. We even used the kids new markers they got for Christmas to write out our plan. It looks cool.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

YES! I did, to our beautiful baby girl, Luciana June (what a blessing). There were a gaggle of babies being born around us (literally right on our block there were 5 babies born within weeks of each other)......Luci, Isla, Emiko, Liam and Ethan. In my MOPS group there were 3 other new baby girls born right around Luci's b-day including Kendall, Mary, and Naomi. My friend Jenny had her 2nd baby girl, Gwendolyn. My friend Sheryl had her twin boys.....Nathan and Dane. Three of my cousins had babies, little Logan, Tatum and Sawyer. I could go on and on with the new babies.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No

5. What countries did you visit?

NO other countries, just traveled to California, Oregon, and Illinois

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

even more confidence in my identity in Christ.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 23rd- Flew to Oakland, CA with my dad and the kids to see my Nonno and Nanna and other relatives. It was a fun weekend away with my Dad.
February 16th- A wonderful gift from John's parents of helping us by a mini van to transport our family of 5!!!
March 22nd - The day I delivered my 3rd child. And, for those of you that are told delivering your third baby should be a cake walk, it isn't true! Lil' Luci was hard to get out, but so worth the 13 hours of grueling work.
May 8th- Gabi's Pink Piggy B-day Party....we made pig cupcakes, painted piggy banks and read "If you Give a Pig a Party." It was a lovely little b-day party for my 3 year old pig, I mean, girl.
May 22nd- Flew to Chicago, IL for a week of visiting John's family and seeing lots of old friends and neighbors.
June 22nd- Our 7th anniversary!
June 28th- the night that John's mom (in from Chicago) and I sat and worried much of the evening because John was expected home from his first backpacking trip, it was getting later and later, and we hadn't heard from him. We finally got a call at 10:45 that Sunday night that he was safe, that the trails had been washed out and the hike around the basin of Mt. St. Helens had taken them much longer to hike than anticipated. Anxiety inducing for sure.
July 10th- The rehearsal dinner for my bro and soon to be sis in law. It rained for some of the time, we heard thunder, AND, the barn across the street caught on fire unbeknownst to the homeowners. We still hear about that fire almost everyday from our kids (it is definitely etched in their brains).
July 11th- My bro, Andrew and Karen Rose's Wedding! It was one of the best, sweetest, most heartwarming and fun weddings ever! AND, I gained a great sis in law.
August ???- Johnny got a new job for the U of WA, and our lives changed drastically!!! From having my husband gone and busy all the time, to having him home much more and much less stressed out. We are still thanking God for this HUGE blessing!
September 14th- Emilio's 5th birthday and he learned how to do the monkey bars at school!
Fall 09- Watching Emilio play on his first soccer team and score lots of goals. He did great!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
getting through it. It was a tough year, but we have seen God work tremendously through it all.

9. What was your biggest failure?
assuming what others are thinking.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No, thank goodness. Still counting our blessings when it comes to good health, especially my own with the asthma issues I've had in the past.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Our Kia Sedona mini van by far. I don't care if I look like a soccer mom, it is awesome with young children.

12. Who's behavior merited celebration?
Luci's! She is the most content little baby. She's a winner for sure.

13. Who's behavior made you appalled or depressed?
ahh, sharing that on here would just not go over well.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, health insurance, our family trip, same ol' same ol'. Basically, I just cut and paste from years past on this question.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
having another baby, house guests, visits to Portland, parades, new Starbucks flavors, my bro's wedding, new babies, food, new games, girls nights, b-day parties, watching my kids at Christmas time, date nights with John, seeing Emilio and Gabi interact with their new baby sister.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
I'm Letting Go by Francesca Battistelli

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? much thinner, I was preggers last year.
c) richer or poorer? maybe a little poorer, but it is so worth the change in our quality of life.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
more crafts and more reading.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
less cleaning, it always takes my time up, and often, it can wait. I always have this desire for my house to be spotless, but it is impossible with 3 kids under 5. Less time on the computer, its fun, but can be a time waster too.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
with John's parents the weekend before doing lots of fun festivities. Then in Portland with my family and friends. It was nice.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Yes; with my new baby girl. I'm crazy about her.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
So you think you can Dance (although it is getting a little old after they did a Fall season), Survivor Samoa, and Glee.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No, I don't hate.

24. What was the best book you read?
I haven't read a ton of novels this year with a new baby. BUT, I have enjoyed the bible studies I've done including Esther, Fruits of the Spirit, and Women of God by Beth Moore, and Me, Myself and Lies by Jennifer Rothschild.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Worship Jamz cds from the library. They are great for kids and adults alike. Emilio and Luci got two of the albums for Christmas.

26. What did you want and get?
a healthy baby. I'm so blessed. Having my husband around more. Words can't express my gratitude to God for all of this.

27. What did you want and not get?
I'd really like some Uggs, but they are just too expensive for me to justify the purchase.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Toss up between Slumdog Millionaire and The Blind Side.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Party at my bro's house....they made delicious food for me. I turned 32!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? not having any hard stuff, but heck, when does that happen in life? It is mostly about getting through hard stuff with a little bit of fun stuffed in. AND, it is really through the challenges in life that we grow and mature anyway.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
I'm SO boring, Adidas sweats and shirts, or jeans and t-shirts. I'm all about comfort. I need a fashion consultant pronto!

32. What kept you sane?
Jesus, John, Mom & Dad, Emily, my Grammy.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I don't really put anyone on a pedestal. I met Shane Sparks and took a dance class from him. Too bad he's been in the public eye for negative reasons lately though. His class was fun anyway.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Probably the vote whether to make our unincorporated area its own city or not. It failed.

35. Who did you miss?
All my peeps in OR, CA, NM, IL, IN, and SC! I think I'm covering where all my family and friends are spread out.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm enjoying getting to know a few new gals in our small group.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.
That God still performs miracles.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
From Nicole Nordeman's This Mystery Album, and the song Home
And The Mystery of your love for me
Is not as hidden as it seemed to be
Should have known then when you said to me
"seek and you will find"
It was right there all the time

Portland Christmas

Here is our Christmas in pictures:
We arrived on Wednesday night and enjoyed the annual neighborhood progressive dinner with my folks.
The next morning, I joined Sabrina, Jenny and Molly (friends I grew up with) at Bumblekiss for breakfast. We are thinking this needs to be an annual tradition for those of us in Portland on Christmas Eve. We had so much fun eating delicious breakfast foods and catching up on life together.

My mom ended up only having two kids show up to care for on Christmas Eve, which turned out to be a blessing since they were awesome playmates for Emilio and Gabi. We bundled up and took a walk to the park together.



Luci liked the swings!
One of our family friends brought their granddaughter over who has been Emilio's buddy for a few years now. Emilio and Esabella had fun playing together.

We baked a cake for Jesus and let the kids decorate it.


We went to Christmas Eve service at Mom and Dad's church.


We then headed over to our good friend Laurie's home for a Christmas Eve party. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for all of your readers, I didn't get any pictures from our evening there. We had a nice time though.
The kids got into their Christmas jammies at home and put out cookies and milk for Santa. They also got to open one gift.



The kids slept in until about 7:15 on Friday morning, which is late for Emilio especially. They came upstairs to find my parent's living room looking like this:


They checked to make sure the cookie had been eaten by Santa, and then opened their stockings.



They proceeded to open several more fun items including a talking microscope, Littlest Pet Shops, and a bopper penguin, and more. What fortunate children they are.









We put together toys, played games, and cleaned up the big mess we made that morning. My mom's family came over in the late afternoon for Christmas dinner. We were packed into my folks house, but it was fun. We had a very nice Christmas, and a funny one too. One of my uncles was pretending to be a pig to Gabi, and he asked her if he had a curly tail. She replied, "Nope, but you do have a penis though." Those of us that heard her matter of fact statement keeled over laughing. She's blunt!

The next morning, John and I were able to get away with out kids and meet some friends visiting from Chicago up at Jim and Patty's coffee shop. We visited for a few hours and it was a great treat. John went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie later in the afternoon, and my Grandma came to visit and we played Phase Ten Twist with her. Fun game by the way. That night, Andrew and Karen Rose came back over and we all went out to Romo's Latin Quarter for dinner (an old friend of the family's that has a yummy Mexican restaurant). We returned back home on Sunday.

Oh what fun

This is what we did today!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

a little early

This past weekend we enjoyed spending time with Grandpa and Grandma. They flew in on Thursday evening. We did lots of fun things together.

1. Made a gingerbread house (see previous post)
2. Attended E's preschool performance together
   
3. Went to see Santa Claus
4. Watched the new movie Princess and the Frog
5. Had a family get together on Sat. night with lots of great appetizers and treats
6. Went to church together
7. Opened presents and played a lot!!!
8. Went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

A few fun pictures from the last few weeks of Christmas festivities
Frosting sugar cookies
Can't wait to eat one!
all dressed up for church
hello!
inch wormed my way through my sis and bro's play box.
peek a boo
making a gingerbread house with Grandpa
this is serious business
concentration
our finished product
a present from my teachers at preschool
Emilio played the donkey in the school play. He and another girl had the main speaking parts. Emilio did a great job!!!

Sugar Plum Fairy

Last Thursday Gabi had her last ballet class for the season. The parents got to come in for the last 20 minutes to see a demonstration of what the kids had learned over the past weeks. Gabi looked pretty darn cute in the big fufu pink tutu she had picked out to wear to class. Until that is, she decided to cha-se across the floor with a finger in each nostril in FRONT OF ALL THE SPECTATORS! It was just lovely. I will not be sharing the video I captured of Miss Nosepicker here on the blog. It is for our family memoirs alone. :)

Santa Baby

This morning we went to see Santa Claus. Emilio and Gabi kept waving to him to try and get his attention while they were in line. He waved back. Once they got up to Santa, Luci just kept looking at him, tugged on his beard and tried to grab his glasses. Gabi wanted to talk right away to Santa about her Christmas list, but was a good girl and smiled for the camera first. Afterwards she went on and on about princesses, and littlest pet shops, etc. Emilio told him he'd like night vision goggles. The kids took a pretty decent picture this year with Santa. It was a quick, easy and fun experience.


A few days ago the kids each received their own video email from Santa himself. Emilio was pretty nervous when Santa went to open his naughty/nice book about whether he'd made the nice list or not. Thankfully he had. Make sure your kids have recieved their own email too here.