Dona Nobis Pacem

As I sit here I look at the clock and it is 10:30 p.m.  I look back and see that the last time I made it to Midnight on a New Years Eve was when I was pregnant with my daughter on December 31, 2003.  Is this a blessing???  Yes.  I have learned over the last 6 years that giving up New Years Eve is worth it for the smiles I receive each from from these 2 children I love so much. 

But this post is not about what I have given up, or even how much I love my children for that matter….This is about looking ahead.  What will 2010 bring?  I hope for me it brings much of the same joys I received in 2009.  As of January 1, 2010 I have been an active blogger for 1 year!  Yes dear readers that means that I hit my 1 year blogaversary!  What has this last year blogging done for me?   It gave me one thing I never thought I would have gotten when I started blogging.  This wonderful year gave me connections to women I now consider friends.  Women, and Men for that matter, that go through the same things I go through every day!  What a true blessing I have received this last year to have found these people to share my life with. 

So this post is for you, my friends I never even looked for, but found anyway.   Thank you for sharing your lives with me, and may we have the opportunity  in the coming year to build on these friendships we started in 2009. 

Happy New Year to all of you, and may this year bring you Peace. 

 

 

 

Take Me Back Tuesday ~1994

Take me back to Christmas of 1994! Man, when I dig out these old photos I keep thinking “We looked so young”!

This first picture is my brother on the left, and Hubby (then fiancé) on the right!

This one is the family dinner table! Here we have on the left Hubby Fiancé, Brother, Aunt Reta (gone for many years now, miss you!!), Mom, Uncle Phil, Brother’s girlfriend, and Dad (Also gone for almost 2 years, Hi Dad! Miss you too!)

Love this one, guess giving the engaged couple a Vacuum cleaner for Christmas was a good idea, BTW this vacuum just died last week, yes folks that is 15 years! Go Hoover!

Always my favorite present, A picture of Mom and Dad, I still have this somewhere!

Need to take a walk down memory lane? Well get your photo’s scanned and head on over to Kari’s!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

Quotable Sunday ~Beginnings

Good morning everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday! With the New Year looming very close I always think of beginnings, so here is a collection of quotes to begin your New Year with!

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning. ~ Louis L'Amour

Beginning is not only a kind of action. It is also a frame of mind, a kind of work, an attitude, a consciousness. ~ Edward Said

~Seneca

"Every day is a new beginning. Treat it that way. Stay away from what might have been, and look at what can be."
Marsha Petrie Sue

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."
Carl Bard

"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Lao-Tsu

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
T.S. Eliot

Want to post a few quotes of your own, or read some other great ones? Just visit A Daily Dose of Toni for more Quotable Sunday!

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas to all the wonderful friends I have had the privilege to meet this year! 

May your holiday be filled with Love, Laughter and Joy!

 

Take Me Back Tuesday ~Christmas 1971

 

Take me back to my third Christmas!  I was 1 month shy of being 3 years old.  My brother would have been almost 6.  Hanging the stockings up on the fireplace was a Christmas Eve tradition in our house.  I bet my Mom still has those stockings somewhere!  

Look!  Santa brought me a Winnie the Pooh See and Say, you know when you pull the string and the character talks to you!  I still remember that Eeyore said “It aint much of a tail, but I am sort of attached to it”!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Tuesday friends!

 

Got some Christmas photos of your own that need to be scanned?  Well get them scanned and head on over to Kari’s!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

 

Quotable Sunday ~Christmas

Christmas happens everywhere every time someone reaches out to touch another life with love. ~ Carol Duerksen

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. ~ Calvin Coolidge

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope; The spirit of Christmas which is peace; The heart of Christmas which is love. ~ Ada V. Hendricks

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all thirty feel tall. ~ Larry Wilde

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist. ~ Francis P. Church

Glory In The Highest ~Luke 2:8-14

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “ Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

May all of you have a wonderful Christmas!!

Want to post a few quotes of your own, or read some other great ones? Just visit A Daily Dose of Toni for more Quotable Sunday!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Where did these 2 round faced babies go?!?   Christmas 2006. 

P.S.  Someone remind me to take a ton of pictures this week, I got nothing new!!

 

For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: Mrs. Cox’s Slice o’ Heaven, Go Graham Go, or Jolly Mom.

Take Me Back Tuesday ~Poppa’s

So originally I was going to dig out some more great photos from my childhood past, and then I ran across Grandpas. Better know as “Poppa” in our house.

This first picture is Hubby’s dad when my Angel was 18 months old. So take me back to Christmas of 2005.

This picture is my Angel with my Dad when she was 8 months old. So take me back to Christmas of 2004.

We miss you “Poppa’s”! You didn’t get to spend much time with your grand babies, but we tell them about you all the time! Hubby and I miss you both, more than you could ever know, but then again I guess you probably do know…..

We would love to have a few more Take Me Back Tuesday folks! So dig out your old photos, scan them and pop on over to Kari’s!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

Quotable Sunday ~Wonder

 

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. ~Albert Einstein

 

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. ~ Robert Fulghum

 

 

He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder. ~ M.C. Escher

 

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. The longer I live, the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world. ~ John Burroughs

 

Wonder is the feeling of the philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder. ~Plato

 

Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. ~e. e. cummings

 

 

Want to post a few quotes of your own, or read some other great ones? Just visit A Daily Dose of Toni for more Quotable Sunday!

Wordless Wednesday –18 Degrees!

 

As I sit here typing, the temperature reads –18 degrees, with a wind chill factor of –31!  It reminded me of the same scenario 5 years ago when my daughter was just 8 months old.  This picture always makes me think of the movie A Christmas Story when the kids are so bundled up in their winter gear they can hardly move!  That is how my kids will be bundled up again today!

 

For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: Mrs. Cox’s Slice o’ Heaven, Go Graham Go, or Jolly Mom.

Take Me Back Tuesday ~Christmas 1969

Welcome to My First Christmas 1969! I would have been 11 months old!

Christmas was much simpler then. It looks like my big gift of the year was a little toy piano, of course you had to make the music yourself. And see the little garbage truck? That was for my brother! In other pictures there was also the classic Fisher Price Farm, and a little plastic train set for my brother (who would have been just over 3 1/2).

The lovely lady in the picture was my Grandma (Dad’s mom). It sure was nice to see you again today Grandma, I miss you!

I love that it looks like my favorite gift was that big box one of the presents came in!

We would love to have a few more Take Me Back Tuesday folks! So dig out your old photos, scan them and pop on over to Kari’s!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

A Day With Two #1

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We actually put up the Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving. The kids of course had a great time looking at all of their favorite ornaments, here is a sample for you to enjoy:

God bless the neighbor! His house looks like this: The kids love it and secretly so do I!

Got any Christmas shopping done yet? Me, I got a few things, no Zhu Zhu pets included. This time of year I am a self proclaimed Amazon freak, watch all the stuff in my cart all the time for price drops!

Yesterday I got the Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo Doll for $17.49! I mean who doesn’t need a doll that pees and poops, boy can I hardly wait to see this one in action!

Snagged The Grinch - Sing Your Heart Out! game for a whopping $5.00 (it is still that price now BTW). And of course for the boy a Deka Bakugan and a Bakugan Amazon.com Exclusive Ultimate Brawler Collector's Gift Pack. The Gift Pack was on one of their Top Holiday Deals (which I also have been watching like a hawk) and was only $4.99! Funny, 2 months ago I didn’t even know what a Bakugan was!

All free shipping because I signed up for their Amazon Prime 30 day trial, so everything (almost) ships in 2 days and free!

Anyone else snag any great deals over the weekend?

Sorry I missed Quotable Sunday, shopping and all today!

Found Here

That’s all on the home front of A Day With Two!

Do You Seriously Still Need A Zhu Zhu Pet??

The must have Christmas item of the year!! Zhu Zhu Pets!

So I totally know where you can win one! As in free of charge!

You must visit The Not-So-Blog’s Experimental Mommy for your chance to win one!!

Not only did they write an awesome article called How to score a Zhu Zhu Pet, they scored two Zhu Zhu Pets that are NOT YET AVAILABLE IN STORES!!

Move over Pipsqueak, because the Not So Blog is the ONLY place you can get the brand new additions to the Zhu Zhu Pet family, Jilly (the pink one) or Winkie (the black and white one) BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS!

So if you still need a Zhu Zhu pet for the holidays go visit The Not-So-Blog’s Experimental Mommy to win your very own!

P.S. This is not a review, so I don’t even need that lovely disclaimer that everyone has to put at the end of their blog. We don’t even own a Zhu Zhu pet yet, but we sure would love to!

Wordless Wednesday

The best thing about Thanksgiving: Grammy!

For more Wordless Wednesday please visit: Mrs. Cox’s Slice o’ Heaven, Go Graham Go, or Jolly Mom.

Take Me Back Tuesday ~Santa Baby

 

Only when your kids are this little can you dress them up this silly! 

This was Cutie Bug’s first Christmas in 2006.  A friend of ours brought the Santa outfit over and well…we just had to put him in it!!

Next week I promise I will go back to scanning some of my really old pictures, I mean I am sure you all are just dying to see all of my great Christmases past right!  Just to tired lazy to dig through the photo album tonight!

We would love to have a few more Take Me Back Tuesday folks!  So dig out your old photos, scan them and pop on over to Kari’s!

A Giveaway Addicted Mommy for Take Me Back Tuesday!

 

Quotable Sunday ~Gratitude

After a wonderful week of Thanksgiving, I decided to do quotes about Gratitude today!

 

 

I challenge anybody in their darkest moment to write what they're grateful for, even stupid little things like green grass or a friendly conversation with somebody on the elevator. You start to realize how rich you are. ~ Jim Carrey

 

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melody Beattie

 

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind. ~ Lionel Hampton

 

Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all ~ William Faulkner

 

Gratitude is looking on the brighter side of the life, even if it means hurting your eyes. ~ Ellen DeGeneres

 

One can never pay in gratitude; one can only pay in kind somewhere else in life. ~ Ann Morrow Lindbergh

 

Want to post a few quotes of your own, or read some other great ones? Just visit A Daily Dose of Toni for more Quotable Sunday!