Moving again!

Sorry to keep messing people up! But I moved the blog to:

www.MyEbella.blogspot.com

Sorry for the change!

January 11th (11/365)

Headed to Grammy & Papa R's today. Jay and Cara (and the boys) are up! So we had a mini little birthday celebration for Ethan...his big day is tomorrow! We had a late lunch, presents and then dessert! Don't they all look like they are enjoying their homemade ice cream sandwich cake? (Bella 3.5yrs old, Ethan 6 tomorrow, and London 3 in a couple weeks).We just can't forget Dalton (@ 16 months)...Check out those big brown eyes!
and well Miss Bella! On the way to G&P's house I turned around in the car to see if she had fallen asleep yet and this is what I saw!!! Purple Bear, Pink Blankey and safety glasses! LOL I guess she was a little worried about Daddy's driving! =) For the record we made it safe and sound!

January 10th (10/365)

Today was a lazy day, very basic. A little cleaning, a little playing, a nap for Todd. Simple and nice, but as the night got later I was like what "what is our photo of the day going to be"? Todd suggested I take one of him just laying around since he felt so lazy. I was fine with that (it is a family venture and I want everyone to be a part of this....a part of the decision about our photos. It is all about taking the time to reflect a year in "OUR" life.

With that said when I grabbed my camera to start taking a few pictures of Todd laying around Ethan hurried and grabbed his too! These are the photos I captured of Ethan shooting with HIS very own camera (Christmas 2007 present from Granma Peggy &Papa Jeff).

Did you notice our little "trick"? Look at the above photo again! Now did you see it? Okay okay what we did was tape a tiny piece of wax paper over the flash! It still allows the flash to flash, but I guess you could say it dilutes it so it isn't quite as bright! I know Ethan and I looked at before and after pictures and could really tell a difference! P.S.... I even did this to my Canon Rebel XT.

Ahh seeing this picture makes me proud! LOL He is laying on the family room floor, rotated the camera trying to get "the shot" of his lego creations! Okay so I guess you could say that he has watched me take one too many photos. Gotta love it!

January 9th (9/365)

Ahh Friday is here! The weeks go by so fast and can be soo hectic with both of us working and school/daycare for the kids! Nights are stressful and we have actually moved bedtime to 7:30pm or earlier (closer to 7pm) ... I hate doing bedtimes that early! At that point we have barely seen them and 3/4 of our evenings are spent cooking dinner, doing dishes, baths every other night and very little quality time together! If we don't do bed times that early with Ethan going to school all day he is soo tired at the end of the day; it is almost a must!

That brings us to Family Night! We have been trying to do take out and going to rent movies. Doing something together as a family! This Friday night really wasn't an exception, except for the fact that we did kids meals instead of the adult version (less leftovers) and we played Wii all together instead of renting movies and having popcorn).

Quick and yummy dinner from Panda Express. We are going to have to expand our Family Night dinner choices past Panda Express and Garlic Jim's (pizza).

and the game portion.... We are soo going to have to work on Ethan's sportsmanship. If he isn't the first player or the winner we can ever so quickly have melt downs! Part being that he turns 6 in a few days and that it is now "past bedtime"...Ahh a work in progress!

Here is to many many more family nights together!

January 8th

Let me just start off by saying sorry Grammy, it looks like your eyes are closed, but the other one I took was almost all blurry...so I didn't have a choice! =) Daycare had an appt today so Grammy & Papa were nice enough to hang out with Bella today and pick up Ethan from school.

What you don't see here is Ethan throwing a tantrum because Papa wouldn't play him Wii tennis with him... Ahh the week is wearing on him!

January 7th

Yesterday's photo kind of just happened and today I kept thinking to myself "What will today's photo be?" I was worried I would forget at the end of the day, we just wouldn't get a good photo or it would be a forced thing! It turned out that Todd had to work some overtime and I tucked the kids into bed myself! Then it came to me....a Storytime photo! We did have to take a couple to get "the right angle" but it is something I've meant to document for a long time and the kids got a huge kick out of use the self timer! =)

January 6th

If you know us you know we have had sleep issues since the night Bella came home. I mean she took almost two weeks to adjust her body to our timezone. She has always been a co-sleeper and I can probably count on one hand the number of times she has actually slept ALL NIGHT in her OWN room! We decided to cut out naps at daycare so bedtime would go a lot smoother. On days she doesn't have a nap, she is ready for bed, she stays in her bed and two days in a row this past weekend she slept all night in her own room! Whoohooo... Yes that is big news around here!

So tonight Ethan was a little wound up and Todd put in Kung Fu Panda before I got home from work to calm things down a bit....Well this is what happened to Bella! Yup nothing like a power nap before Dinner! Even better when it is a power nap in an Ariel costume!

January 5th

Ahh first day back to school from a three week Christmas break thanks to the week they had off (before the actual Christmas break) due to the snow and ice that we got. I had meant to get this picture taken weeks ago (actually a couple of months ago). You see Mrs. M took over for Mrs. A who "took a leave of abscence". It was a weird situation. I mean it really is unlike me to have issues with new things. I mean I have never really had major mommy issues when the kids started daycare or heck even when Ethan started preschool last year. I didn't really have any problems with leaving him (yes sad and I missed them, but not physically upset). There were no issues with his new school and matter of fact we loved his preschool teacher, she is now one our best freinds (her daughter too).

Then this year started, all day school, new teacher...and she wasn't like Miss K. You got a completely different feeling when you met her (Miss A) and unfortunately Todd never met her to where he could really understand what I meant. It really wasn't like me, but I cried to Miss K, wrote a couple emails to the principal and I hate to even say it, but was slightly happy that Mrs. M was taking over the kindergarten classroom. There is a completely different feeling when you walk in the classroom, there is more control and I think the kids are even happier with the situation and the outcome of it (even if they don't know the scope of it). Thank you Mrs. M for giving Ethan a great Kindergarten year!

January 4th

Our bed, means so many different things. I mean I myself purchased it, the night stand and two dressers before Todd and I even met! It became our bed. Ethan as a toddler decided he liked to sleep with us. Bella slept with us from the first night she came home; aka it has been a family bed. It changes with our work schedules and we are back to having one if not both kids in bed with us (okay Bella has never really left our bed fully, but Ethan feels the need to climb back in with us!)

Happy Sleeping!

January 3rd

Today was the day we put away the Christmas tree and what little Christmas decor that we had actually got out. In 2009 I vow to get my Christmas stuff out right after Thanksgiving so it can actually be out and enjoyed. You know make it worth the time to get it all out. I know probably not the best attitude. But c'mon I'm not the only one that thinks it is soo much work to decorate for the holidays!

On this day I woke around 7:30am and starting photographing the ornaments on the tree (for like the 3rd year in a row) again I vow to finally make our ornament album. I want to document some of our special ornaments and where have come from and why they are so special to us!

The kids have soo many that were given to them. Todd and I both have some from our childhood and our "thing" is to find Christmas ornaments when we go on vacation!

A tradition that started on our Honeymoon!

January 2nd

Okay okay I will try and not bombard my photos a day with Wii photos...but when can you NOT document the fact that your almost 6 year old son beat your 50 something father at Wii tennis!and look at poor Papa Jeff hanging his head down! LOL We love you Papa!

January 1st

So my first photos of my 365 and already I couldn't choose just one photo! So without further adieu here are my 1st photos and the stories behind them!

Ethan has quickly learned the fine art of Wii (if it is on he thinks he needs to be playing) I bought him the cutest brown suit for Thanksgiving (I did ask if he would like me to buy him a suit to wear and he said yes...brown to match Bella's dress) Ever since then he has asked to wear the ties. Don't you love that he LOVES to wear ties. He has made this decision all on his own! A young man even gave him a whole box of ties from when he was little and wore them all the time! Thank you Nicholas! Now for mom to really get the hang of tying ties!

It was a lot easier to get Papa Jim to play the Wii than I expected. Matter of fact all we had to do was ask him and he was very willing to play with Ethan. Love the smile of laughter on Ethan's face and Jim in action!

We put the kids to bed and then spent the next few hours playing the new Wii. How about some Tennis and Golf. Todd wasn't sure he was going to like it, but now already has quickly fallen in love with playing. (I'm very surprised at how sore my arms is.) In the first few days we have had the Wii, I think I have pretty much lost every time to Todd. Someday I will win.

Goal for the Blog

My plan is to pick one maybe two pictures a day (depending on the day) and post them along with the story that goes along with them, aka my reason for picking the pictures.

My goal is to stay on top of each day (or only be a couple days behind in posting). (I plan to use this blog for just the photos a day and nothing else.

My goal is to make a photo book from Blurb. Actually I plan on slowly putting the pages together as I go along. I want to make this as simple as possible and something very attainable!

365 in a Year!

I know I have thought about it before even said I was going to do it before. This year will be different though. I AM going to follow through with my 365 photos. A photo (or two) a day! So many daily thoughts and pictures to make up a year in our life!

I plan on updating the blog with links that I think will be helpful and that have ideas on how to keep up with the photos a day, organizing it all and putting it all together as we go or at the end of the year.

Thanks for reading and check back soon!