Day 365: Goodbye 2010, it's been fun!

Well that's it! 365 photos to document 2010 as I saw it. I had a lot of fun with the project, and I hope you've enjoyed seeing the photos and hearing some of my thoughts about them. I'm taking 2011 off, but I'm sure I'll be back in 365 days!

Peace,
Tracy

Day 364: We love the Wii

I got Dave a Wii for Christmas, but it's been fun for the whole family. Even Edward likes the sword-fighting game and the airplane flyover (which we're playing together here).

Day 363: Friends reunited

Today we had a park play date with Elizabeth's friend from school last year, Lindsay. They go to different schools now, but still love to meet and play together. Unfortunately it was cold and wet, so we didn't stay long!

Day 362: Edward's current favorite bedtime companion

Edward has very definite tastes about what accompanies him to sleep. He has a teddy that he attached to a few months ago. Then he added a model space shuttle and a couple of books. Now he's in love with this giant My Little Pony of Elizabeth's. At least it's softer than the space shuttle!

Day 361: Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Today we went for a walk to the park to try out Edward's new scooter. He loved riding it, and of course they both had fun at the park. Okay, I had some fun too!

Day 360: Walking off all the chocolate!

Tonight we did one of our Christmas traditions: a walk around the neighborhood to look at the lights. We usually go on Christmas Day, but it was raining yesterday. We load the kids into the wagon, snuggle them up in a blanket, then walk around to see all the houses that have been decorated. They always enjoy it, and so do I. It's a good way to work off some of the calories!

Day 359: Merry Christmas!

We've had a great day today. We went to mass, then came home and had some lunch. We hooked up with Mum and Dad on the web camera so they could watch the kids open their presents, then we opened all the rest. The kids loved everything they got. Elizabeth especially was very funny - everything she opened she said "It's just what I always wanted!"

Day 358: Hurry up Santa!

The cookies and milk have been put out for Santa, with an apple for Rudolph. The new Christmas pajamas are on. Santa's progress has been followed on the NORAD site. All that's left to do is go to sleep!

Day 357: That should do it

It took about two hours, but I got all the kids' presents wrapped tonight. The pile is about 50% bigger than last year. I think we overdid it a little. It will be wonderful to see their faces when they open them though.

Day 356: Building work complete

Today Elizabeth and I decorated our gingerbread house. It was a kit, but we still had lots of fun doing it. Her favorite part is licking the icing off her fingers!

Day 355: Working hard on Daddy's Christmas card

The kids made Christmas cards for Daddy today. Elizabeth did a nice drawing on hers, then added stickers and decorated it with glitter glue. Edward only wanted one marker. Note than he managed to mark his face in the process.

Day 354: Kishka's worn out from all the Christmas preparations

Oh to be a cat.

Day 353: My pretty tree

I really like how my Christmas tree looks at night when the room lights are off. I had trouble capturing that in a picture, but this is not bad.

Day 352: Christmas photo. Done.

This is our annual Christmas photo. I do it myself, and we always sit in front of the tree. This is the photo I will put in all our Christmas cards this year. I really like how it turned out. Everyone is looking at the camera and smiling. Technically, Elizabeth took this, as she was holding the remote shutter release!

Side note - I got the dress Elizabeth is wearing from Goodwill for about $7 :)

Day 351: All Edward wants for Christmas is...

The lament of parents everywhere - kids have more fun with empty boxes than with the expensive toys that come in them!

Day 350: MOMS Christmas Cookie Exchange. Yum!

Tonight I went to a cookie exchange with the MOMS group. We got to meet some of the new members of the group who just completed their workshop, and they seem like a really nice group. Oh, and the cookies were delicious!

Day 349: Around Back!

Tonight Elizabeth's school had their nativity show. It's called 'Around Back!' Last year she had one of the staring roles as a camel. This year her class was on at the beginning. They dressed in their 'jammies' and sung a couple of songs. It was very cute!

Day 348: Writing group Christmas party

Tonight we had a little Christmas party at our writing group. We all brought some snacks to share, and just talked about general writing topics instead of critiquing work. It was a lot of fun, it's always nice to just hang out and chat. We decided to have one week each month where we do a writing challenge and have a more relaxed evening.

Day 347: Christmas gift for Elizabeth's teacher

I am the room mom for Elizabeth's class this year, so it was my job to arrange a group Christmas gift for her teacher. We decided to go with gift cards, as most teachers seem to appreciate them. I got a selection from different places, and put them on this cute mini tree. I also had a tree ornament made at zazzle.com with a picture of the class on. Miss Holly seemed very pleased with it all.

Day 346: Christmas party with the RCIA team

This evening the RCIA team leaders had a Christmas party. Dave came too, and we had a really good time. We had snacks and games, and lots of discussions about how to improve the RCIA program. We left the kids with my friend Monica who lives round the corner. It's the first time we've ever left them with a sitter (not counting my parents), but I wasn't really nervous. And they were fine, they had a great time playing with Monica's two boys!

Day 345: Our house, it is decked

Dave put up our Christmas lights this afternoon. We got some new ones this year, but there's no way we could compete with some of the houses in our neighborhood!

Day 344: Christmas gift book exchange at school

I co-oped in Elizabeth's class again today, and we had a really fun day. We had a birthday party for Jesus! I helped the kids make crowns with His name on, then decorate cookies with whipped cream and sprinkles. After we had eaten the cookies the kids exchanged books they had bought each other, and we ended the day with Chapel.

Day 343: Christmas chaos

We have a nice collection of Christmas toys that only come out at this time of year, and they are always a big hit.

Day 342: Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is a Holy Day of Obligation, so we went to Mass this evening. Many people think the Immaculate Conception refers to the virgin Mary becoming pregnant, but it isn't. Mary's miraculous pregnancy is known as The Incarnation. When Mary herself was conceived, God protected her from the stain of Original Sin, in order that she would be the perfect, immaculate vessel for His Son. That is the Immaculate Conception.

This is a statue I was given for my baptism.

Day 341: Decking the halls

No school today, so we decorated the tree. This is the first year I've let the kids do it all by themselves. They had a great time, and actually did a pretty good job!

Day 340: Busted! For loving Oreos way too much.

This is what cameras were invented for.

Day 339: Breakfast with Santa

This morning we had breakfast with Santa. The Knights of Columbus organized it. We popped in before Mass, and had our photo taken with Santa. Elizabeth gave him a great big hug, but Edward didn't want to get too close. Oh, and what does Santa like for breakfast? Pancakes.

Day 338: Pleasanton Holiday Parade

Tonight was the annual Pleasanton Downtown Holiday Parade. We got there in time to get a good vantage point, and we took our deck chairs so we wouldn't have to sit on the sidewalk. We dressed nice and warmly (last year we were freezing!), but this year was much warmer. Both the kids enjoyed the parade, especially Santa on the fire truck! Afterward we watched him throw the switch the light the Christmas tree lights.

Day 337: Sweep, boy, sweep!

Dave started clearing up the backyard today, and of course Edward wanted to help. He actually seemed to be helping rather than making more mess for a change!

Day 336: The Trolls are taking over

Mum got these in Goodwill when she was here last month (she collects them), but didn't have room in her suitcase to take them home, so she gave them to Elizabeth. I remember having some of these when I was little. The seem to be having a resurgence.

Day 335: Dashing thru the snow...

I spotted this on my walk today. There are lots of Christmas decorations going up now, but this is one of the nicest I've seen so far. The kids love it too, and ask to drive past it on the way home from school each day.

Day 334: Let's get the celebrating started!

We went to Wal-Mart today to get a few things, and Elizabeth saw this CD and wanted to get it. She's suddenly developed a love for Phineas and Ferb, and this CD is quite fun. We have it on in the car to help us get into the Christmas spirit.

Day 333: I did it!

I finished my NaNoWriMo novel on Thanksgiving evening. I'm pleased that I finished, but I'm not happy with the way the story turned out. I still like the idea, I still think it has potential, but I don't think I'll be doing any editing on this version of it. Finishing another 50,000 word novel is still a great feeling though!

Day 332: Au revoir Mum and Dad

Today Mum and Dad flew home. We dropped them off at the airport for their eleven hour journey. It was a little sad, as always, but I know they'll be back soon. The kids dealt with it very well, although the goodbye presents Mum and Dad got them probably helped!

Day 331: Train of Lights

Today we took our annual Christmas ride on the Train of Lights. The Niles Canyon Railway decorates a train each year with hundreds of Christmas lights, and you get a visit from Santa while you're riding it. The kids always love it. Well, Edward was a little scared at first, but once we got going he soon calmed down and had a great time. This year we took the earlier train, which leaves in the daylight and returns in the dark, so we got the best of both worlds - we saw the passing scenery while it was still light, then saw the magic of all the lights when it got dark.

Day 330: Children's Discovery Museum

We took a trip to San Jose today to visit the Children's Discovery Museum. When we arrived the place had been evacuated and was surrounded by fire trucks, which was exciting. We didn't have to wait long until it was reopened though, and the kids had lots of fun playing on all the exhibits.

Day 329: Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we celebrated in the usual way. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, then the National Dog Show, then stuffed ourselves with turkey. Dave did all the cooking as usual, and it was delicious as always. He also made the centerpiece, with a little help from Elizabeth and Edward.

Day 328: Watercolor art exhibit

Today we went to see a watercolor art exhibit at the Firehouse Arts Center, the same place we went to see James and the Giant Peach a few weeks ago. My mum is a painter, and I thought she would enjoy it. There were some lovely paintings there, very expensive! I didn't take my camera because I didn't think we would be allowed to take pictures, but they said it was fine as long as we didn't use the flash. So I took a few with my phone camera.

Day 327: Online fun with Grandad

Elizabeth and Grandad are playing kid games online. I'm not sure who is enjoying it more!

Day 326: Safari West

Today we took a trip to Safari West. It's a small safari park about two hours drive from here. We were all really looking forward to it. Unfortunately things didn't quite go as planned. First, it rained. There was only a 30% chance according to the forecast, but we got it. That wasn't terrible though, as we went prepared for rain. The worse thing was, Edward refused to ride on the Jeep. Ever since I took him on a roller coaster in the summer, he has refused to ride on anything that remotely resembles one. He wouldn't even ride the train at the zoo last week, even though he loves trains. I tried to force him to stay on the Jeep until he got going, hoping that he would calm down once he realized it was just a car, but he was having such a fit I was asked to take him off.

So everyone else went off on the tour, and I took Edward back to the car. The tour was supposed to take 2 or 3 hours, so we went for a long drive. Edward took a nap, and I tried to calm down. When we got back we sat in the car and I did some writing for a little bit. Then we went to use the bathroom, and ran into the others who had just got back. They got very wet, and didn't see many exotic animals because of the rain. I was, however, able to get a refund for Edward's and my tickets, so not all was lost.

I took this photo while we were still waiting for the tour to start, before all the drama started. It was the closest I got to the animals. Oh well. Maybe next year.

Day 325: Watching the Steelers

Edward and Dave watched the Steelers trounce the Raiders today, despite an obviously biased ref who had something against the Steelers. Dave gets quite caught up in the excitement, and then the kids start joining in, even though they don't know what's going on. It's cute.

Day 324: Fun with paper!

This is a game I used to play with my brother and sister when I was little, and has now been passed on to the next generation. My dad gets hold of unused till rolls, which you unroll and then roll around in. It's amazing how much fun that can be! The more rolls you have, the better. We only had four, as Edward wanted to keep a couple for his 'treasure truck', but the kids still had lots of fun with it. Even us adults had a go :)

Day 323: School Thankful Feast

Today Elizabeth's class had a Thankful Feast. Everyone brought some food, and all the family was invited. It was fun.

Day 322: It's too nice not to go for a walk!

It was a beautiful day for a walk today. Not too hot or cold, and all the trees look amazing. I took this walking along the creek near Elizabeth's school.

Day 321: Knitting

Mum is inspiring me to get my knitting out again. She's making a blanket out of different colored triangles.

Day 320: Oakland Zoo

Today we took a trip to our local zoo. We go there most years, the kids always have a great time. And the weather was fantastic.

Day 319: TV addicts

Never underestimate the power of the Backyardigans.

Day 318: Grandad's here!

My Dad arrived today for a two week visit. It's been a year since he was last here, so it is really nice to have him here again. Once again I'm happy how quickly the kids took to him. They were fine with him right from the start. Yay for web cameras!

Day 317: Goodwill hunting

Today we made one of our regular trips to the Valley to do some bargain hunting at the Goodwill stores in Cupertino, Moutain View and Sunnyvale. We all came home with armfuls of goodies.

Day 316: Look what I made in school today :)

I co-oped in Elizabeth's class again today, and this is the project I was working on with the kids this time. I got to make one myself to figure out the process. We made them by placing some leaves on some wax paper, sprinkling some crumbled crayon over them, covering them with another piece of wax paper, then ironing the whole thing to melt the crayon. It's a very cool effect!