This year I joined Facebook and, like millions of other members, I've shared my daily activities using short one-line statuses. It is sort of interesting to read back through them as this year comes to a close. It made me happy to see all the good times that I've had during the year and I laughed over a few of the boys' antics that I had already forgotten!
So, here's to a year of statuses!
The Smith Family
A Year in Review
Facebook 2009
Denise...
February · is reminiscing.... · is procrastinating going back to work. · just left work early to go to the mall, but then decided that she wasn't in the mood to shop. · has the words to "Green Eggs and Ham" stuck in her head. · just enjoyed eating steak and lobster while listening to Latin music on the patio. · is getting ready to go outside to look at the stars with Shane. · just spent the evening outside with Shane, Drew, and Tyler! · is making fruit salad and cornbread while listening to R.E.M
March · is spring cleaning while the boys are planting this year's herb garden. · went out for a run! · is picking out paint colors for the boys' new treehouse bed. · is searching for Spyware removal software on the web. · is drinking coffee and hoping Shane can restore her computer after its sad Adware death last night · just tried on the most fabulous black evening gown she's ever seen. (Gotta love eBay!) Is it time for our cruise vacation yet?!? · is about to help Shane make tapas for dinner. · says: "Bear Down!"
April · got home from Boston at 2:00 this morning! · just enjoyed having coffee with Shane outside while watching the boys play Star Wars with Tinker Toys. · ate waaaaay too much chocolate today. · is on VACATION!!! Yay!!! · is home from a week long cruise....but she's still on vacation.
May · is looking forward to spending the day with her sister-in-law, Tiffany! Woo hoo! · just thoroghly enjoyed the french toast Shane made for dinner! Sometimes "kids' choice" for dinner works out well! · just enjoyed a swim with Drew and Tyler and their Grandma and cousin Quin! Then, an awesome dinner of chicken parmesan followed by our own version of "Rub a Dub Dub, Three Little Boys in a Tub". What a great evening. I'm still smiling! · has a horrible, horrible headache after trying to speed read through a really good book so that she can find out how it all ends. Maybe Tylenol will allow me to get to the end?! · spent the afternoon in the pool with Shane, Tyler, Drew, and Drew's friend, Aidan. It was lovely! The older boys spent the whole time throwing and swimming for dive rings and Tyler remembers how to swim on his own! · is pondering life in Arizona. Here is a conversation with Tyler: Tyler: "Mommy? What are those white things?" Denise: "What white things?" Tyler: "Those white things over the mountains?" Denise: "Those? Sweetie, those are clouds." · is so excited because we just decided (spur of the moment!) to go on a Caribbean vacation NEXT MONTH!!! Woo hoo! · just spent the morning at the water park with the boys! · is enjoying watching the boys' excitement after I told them that we're going to Sesame Street Live this morning! · just went swimming with Shane, Drew, Tyler, nephew Quin, and mother-in-law Carol. It was a great afternoon!
June · just enjoyed a beautiful after dinner visit with Shane on the back patio while the boys rode around the yard like wild ones on their plasma cars. · likes what Drew said this morning: (In an awed voice), "It's not just an Earth---it's a MOTHER Earth!!!". I wonder what he was thinking about? · just painted over the boys' nursery walls. Goodbye baby room, hello treehouse room! · and Shane, Drew, and Tyler just enjoyed cooking s'mores outside in our firepit. And, we've planned a camp-out under the stars in our backyard. I wonder why I never thought of that before?
July · is in the midst of making Grandma Todd's famous homemade spaghetti sauce. The house smells awesomely garlicy and oniony. · I like being reminded of a three-year-old's perspective. Here's what Tyler said yesterday: "Mommy? 'Just a minute' is a very long time." · can't remember her house being this messy since we moved in!!! We just had all the carpets re-stretched and cleaned. So, the contents of all the closets are in the family room and dining room and hardly any furniture is where is actually goes. Yikes! · loves being home for the weekend! It was so much fun swimming this morning!!! · just loves Sunday afternoons.... Swimming with the boys and Shane, shrimp and steak for dinner, Drew and Tyler on their best behavior, bubble-bath smelling boys, lots of sweet hugs and kisses,.... · asked Tyler (age 3) what he wants to be when he grows up. He said, "The same big as you!" Of course! · left work early to go shopping with some friends and just got home! Thanks ladies for a fun-filled afternoon and evening!
August · spent last night working on a project with her friends. Do you know what knitting, gin, and tonic have in common? We do! · Mmmmmm. St. Mary's Mexican food!!! · fixed an early homemade spaghetti dinner (and shared a little bit with her MIL and nephew!) and then went swimming with Shane and the boys to work it off! · Yay! Wonderful, wet, pouring rain!!!! Woo hoo! · (From 5 minutes ago) "SHANE! THERE'S A SNAKE IN THE HOUSE!!!" · had a wonderful afternoon swimming with Shane, Drew, Tyler, nephew Quin, and MIL Carol. Then we shared a summer dinner of Bruschetta, grapes, wine, and cheese, then plunked the cousins in a bubble bath followed by watching Jungle Book. Loved it all!!! · just had a very long day at a conference ending with a great Open House evening at Drew's elementary school. His teacher is AWESOME! I now need to do final preparation for presentation of my paper at the conference tomorrow. Oh yeah--and log on to work for the first time today. (Wow! This was super long! I must be tired.) · is having Starbucks with Drew and Tyler! · is playing Uno! · and Shane made pizza and pizookies tonight for Drew, Tyler, Quin, and Carol! Followed again by 3 cousins in the tub and then watching the US Gymnastics Nationals with Drew. Now--some time for me.... · , Shane, Drew, Tyler, Quin, and Carol spent the afternoon and evening together! Swimming, chef salad, pasta, leftover pizookie, 3 boys in a bubble bath, then bedtime! Quin was all ready to sleep in the treehouse bed, but we said our goodbyes. See you next time! · is procratinating. · is counting down! 58 minutes until Mom's night out. Thanks Shane!!! I can't wait to visit with everyone! I'll bring wire, my soldering iron, yarn, and wine! Oooo--that doesn't sound like a good combination... · loves the beautiful, cool, damp morning! I'm going for a jog! · came home, had a great dinner with Shane and the boys, helped Drew build a musical instrument for his homework, snuggled with Tyler, and is now back to work. · is about to help out with reading and centers in Drew's classroom! I'm excited to work with kids this morning! · is preparing to make jewelry! · is loving having a 6-year-old. His answers to his Student of the Week questions are awesome! Here goes.... I live in: "the wild" and One cool fact about me: "I speak bird."
September · is getting ready to take a ballet class! · just spent the entire morning cleaning up the front courtyard and the backyard with Shane. It's trying to be fall out there.... But, I have to admit going in the pool with my clothes on to cool off! · just had a lovely barbeque in our backyard with Shane, Drew, Tyler, Mom, Dad, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, nephew, sister-in-law's mom, and sister-in-law's aunt. Now, I don't want the weekend to end. · volunteered at Drew's school this morning, went to a very interesting meeting at work this afternoon, had dinner with Shane and the boys, and just finished doing the dishes while Shane gives the boys a bath! TGIF!!! Happy weekend everyone! · thinks that Drew and Tyler will be busy for most of the day playing with the enormous bin of my brother's Legos that we borrowed from my Mom! · just looked at the whole week's worth of clean laundry all folded on our bed and suddenly realized that I didn't wash any of Shane's clothes!!! Eeek! · thinks that it's awesome that her sister-in-law is home after spending the last 4 years serving her country in the Navy!!! I love you Tiffany! · is working again on her day off and is not happy about it. · is so happy that it's cool enough to eat dinner outside again! We had cilantro-lime steak and tortillas and enjoyed the yard all aglow by the light of the wok pots! Hooray for September! · is thinking that we should have started Drew's homework earlier. He has to count all my shoes... · is going to spend her day off tomorrow with Tyler and having lunch with friends! Yay weekend!!! · just let Tyler finish his nap in my arms. Soooo sweet! · is reading about lighting and photography techniques. · has spent the day celebrating Tyler's 4th birthday!
October · just went on a walk with Shane and the boys and enjoyed visiting with our new neighbors in their front yard. · wishes it were still Sunday. · wants to thank everyone for the birthday wishes! You made my day extra special! · spent the morning volunteering at Drew's school, then I made dinners at Dream Dinners for a friend whose 3rd baby could arrive any day! What a great way to spend today! · went for a lovely morning walk by myself, then spent way longer than necessary washing my car with the help of two very energetic helpers! We had fun! · is making a German Apple Pancake for breakfast. The recipe says "people will be impressed". I'll ask the boys later! · and Tyler are on their way to see the butterflies at the Tucson Botanical Gardens! · and Shane just got home from taking the boys to the park! Now, we're ready to do some paper airplane engineering! · went for a lovely walk this morning and is getting ready to (hopefully!) visit one of her best friends and her new baby daughter at the hospital. Then, a family outing to see the Wildcat game tonight. Bear Down! Gooooo Cats! · visited her friend and her brand new baby girl at the hospital today!! Family, life, love, togetherness, friends...life is precious. · wonders how to answer Drew's question: "Mom, when can we get a chipmunk?" · and Shane just had friends over for lovely visit with breakfast outside and they split a season of U of A basketball season tickets with us! Woo hoo! · postponed all the laundry and chores until tomorrow and, instead, read a book outside on the patio while watching the boys play in the backyard all afternoon. · is busy tailoring an outfit for a little martian and drafting a design for a wearable UFO that will be in final assembly tomorrow. · and Shane are on their way to take the boys to the Preschool Harvest Festival. Then, it's pumpkin carving time!
November · and Tyler made pumpkin bread and did laundry together while Shane and Drew watched, then played football with a little chess mixed in. It's a good family Sunday! · and Shane just finished the evening routine--family dinner, clean kids, books read, socks retrieved from under the couch, tomorrow's clothes and lunches prepared. Ready to repeat! Life is good. · is about to have a girls' night in with friends while Shane has a boys' night out with Drew and Tyler at the U of A pep rally and annual bonfire! · is having a cappuccino. · and Shane are making BBQ chicken and cornbread! Yum! · This week has been so crazy, today actually felt surreal. Still more to go. Friends and family--thanks for being there when I surface! · Work this morning for 45 minutes. Check. Hiring event at hotel on the East side of town before lunch. Check. Lunch and afternoon meeting in Oro Valley. Check. Print out paper to get ready to present at a conference in Phoenix tomorrow. Not yet.... · walked to the shopping center to do her shopping this morning because there's no reason not to. It's gorgeous outside! · and Tyler built a a huge train and car town while Shane and Drew were out at the U of A basketball game! · waited until the kids fell asleep, then went in the hot tub. Goodbye Monday stress! · went to a wonderful work party at Arizona Inn. Love that place! · We just got back from watching many of the El Tour cyclists race past our neighborhood. So exciting and FAST!! Drivers--be careful out there! · is getting ready to drive in to work on, this, the first official day of her vacation. (sigh) · just finished her last bit of work for this week and is now officially on Thanksgiving vacation!!!! Woo hoo!!! · Happy Thanksgiving!!! I am truly thankful for all of my friends and family! By the way, Drew is thankful for: Thanksgiving, God, and gravity. Me too. · I'm loving having a vacation!!! Drew had his best friend over to spend the night, Tyler and I decorated the house and baked a pie, Shane and I did some internet shopping, I went out to do a photo shoot for my close friend, Shane made "Shark Bite" cocktails with dinner, and now I think I'll join Shane for a little TV. Yay! · and Shane are in the kitchen making homemade Italian soup and bread. Very cozy!
December · and Drew and Tyler enjoyed reading The Polar Express for the first time this year and re-visiting our photos from our trip to the North Pole on the Grand Canyon Railway. We tested our sleighbells. Yep! We can all still hear them. · is having a cappuccino in preparation for boy haircuts, family Christmas shopping, a playdate with Grandma and Grandpa (to help with secret shopping), and decorating the tree together! · The tree's up, the house is decorated, special presents have been bought and hidden. What a great weekend! Only one more week until vacation!!! · is snuggled up next to the fireplace listening to the wind howling outside. · and Drew went to visit Santa. Just me and him. No photos, no agenda. Just to say hi to the jolly fellow. The magic is renewed and Drew wants a "surprise" for Christmas. I bet Santa can deliver! · just had an awesome date night with her hubby. Dinner out, private table by the fireplace, way too much yummy food, coffee cocktail, chocolate,.... Now it's time to work on Christmas cards for a little while!! · and Drew hung the Christmas lights! The good news is that we got the lights hung. The bad news is that we discovered a water leak in the courtyard; I guess that's also good news. · and Tyler went to see Santa this evening!!! He was soooo cute! And--it was AMAZING! Santa guessed that Tyler wanted Hot Wheels for Christmas. Who knew? Back to addressing Christmas cards.... · Just enjoyed a morning with dear friends for an ornament exchange and had such a nice time visiting with everyone. Merry Christmas All! · woo hoo! We're on our way to the Sonoran Desert Museum! I can't wait to see and photograph the raptor fight today! · must remember not to use waterproof mascara ever again to paint her 4-year-old's face even if he begs her to do it. (He looked really cute, though.) · and Drew and Tyler spent the morning cleaning out, sorting, and organizing the playroom. · is ready to go the the Wildcat Basketball game with her Dad! Go Cats!!! · It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more? ~Dr. Seuss
