Good bye 2012, Hello 2013

We're saying good bye to 2012 so I'd like to take a look back on what happened this past year. I typically link back to posts but many of my posts are still missing pictures from when I moved pictures in my web album; I hope to finish fixing it soon.

Our 2012 Christmas card picture

• We started the year in a baby moon with a brand new baby.
• We celebrated Maddy's 3rd birthday with an art party. 
• We had to get rid of our mutt, Keme because she attacked our other dog, Annabelle.
• We adopted a pug pup, Gizmo.
• Maddy tried dance again in the summer. She loved it and wanted to continue in the fall.
• We released over 70 Black Swallowtail butterflies and still have 41 chrysalises in our butterfly cage to release next spring.
• Sean started Kindergarten. 
• Richard and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. 
• We celebrated Sean's 5th birthday with a dinosaur party.
• We adopted a rabbit trio with the plans to breed them for meat come spring time.
• I worked with a group of locals to get the city to reconsider zoning that bans backyard hens. We won!
• We got 3 baby chicks; half of what our flock will be. 
• We celebrated Emily's first birthday!
• We changed a lot of our eating habits and I lost 16 lbs!
• I am ending the year with a booming daycare business. Most of the kids I care for are the same kids I had last year.

Even though I failed at project 52 posts this year, I did take a lot of pictures through out the year. 

Looking forward to 2013, here's what I'd like to accomplish:

• Our healthy changes will continue. I want to lose 10 more pounds.
• Along with taking lots of pictures of the kids, I will start being in pictures more.
• While on the subject of pictures, I will do a better job at quickly backing up all pictures instead of them sitting on the computer for months first.
• We will be trying our hand at gardening again and this will be a better year.
• We need to do some major decluttering around here.

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Family Update: Dec 2012

I've been a bit MIA lately and haven't posted a lot. A lot has happened over here and I think an update post is needed. Go grab a cup of coffee because this is going to be long. Things are going very well here. The kids are doing great! Maddy still absolutely loves dance and Sean has been talking about maybe trying soccer next year. They both have started going with me to the church I run nursery at. Maddy loves children's sermon and Sunday school. Sean is still hesitant about Sunday school but he enjoyed children's sermon last Sunday. Sean is doing great with homeschooling. We've made some changes though (and still working on some changes). --surprise, surprise, right? School is always a work in progress. We are using Starfall's free printable curriculum for reading. It's working great! I finally bit the bullet and bought a curriculum, Miquon Math. It came in the mail yesterday. I've heard great reviews from friends so I think it'll work great too. Our around the world unit study was a fail. Sean just was not as interested as I had imagined. I'll just file the idea away for when he's older. Sean has given up naps so nap time is now when he does some of his school work. It works better because the littles aren't in the way. He does the rest of his work and Maddy does her pre-k work after nap time when my school aged daycare kid does her homework. Em, well, here's her latest update.

On the daycare front, things are going great. A family that lives just a block away and has 2 girls, toddler and school age started this month. I'm once again at my max on Tues. and Thurs. Even though I'm exhausted at the end of the day, it feels great to have a full house again. The added income right before Christmas is a bonus too.

There's also some furry/feathery changes too. Last month we added 3 rabbits (Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter) to our backyard. The girls are sisters and are younger than Peter. They thrive on attention from us. Every time I open the cage door they run to stick their heads out to be petted. Peter loves attention too but he has a love/hate relationship with being petted. He runs to the door when he sees me but runs away when I put my hand in. But then he leans into my hand when I pet him. Silly rabbit! I bought them from a friend of mine that breeds meat rabbits. Our rabbits will have the same job. By spring they will be old enough for breeding. The kits will then be raised until they are big enough to be processed. I recently had rabbit meat for the first time. It's quite yummy! The difficult part will be staying disconnected from the ones that will be butchered..

Mopsy and Cottontail

Peter

As you may remember, I've been working hard with a group of people here trying to get the zoning regulations changed to allow backyard hens. Last month city counsel voted, 6-3, to allow up to 6 hens in all single family residential lots!! The lady that founded the group started last December. Less than a year is record time for this to pass. I'm thrilled! So, I ordered half our flock. And this week 3 baby chicks arrived at our door. I got an Easter Egger, a Buff Orphington and a Black Australorp. The are a hoot to watch! I love watching them chase after each other. The Buff Orphington is the tamest so far. She was the first to climb into my hand when I hand feed them. The Black Australorp is the adventurist one. Within the first few hours she figured out how to get out of the brooder. I fixed that though. The cutest thing is how they already seem to crave human contact. They chirp quite loudly when the house calms down; at nap time and bed time. We'll probably wait till spring to get the rest of our flock. We might even try hatching eggs.

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Best Shots: Oct. 15

Emily has a new fascination with mirrors so her newest toy is a mirror on the wall.

"Who's that!?"

"I think I know her!"

Kisses!

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Best Shots: Oct. 8th

One day this week Em decided that she didn't want to nap when the big kids did. So while she sat in my lap talking to me, I pulled the camera out. The little stinker thought the lens cover made a great toy and just had to hold it if I had the camera near her.

My favorite picture of the week is not a great picture if you go by photography rules. To be able to get decent lighting, I had to really up the ISO which made the picture quite grainy. The story behind the picture is why I love it. Here's it's story, Wednesday morning I had gotten up after nursing Em back to sleep and was in and out of the room as I got ready for the day. Sometime during this Sean had gotten up and quietly gone into the room. I walked in to find him kissing his baby sister. I of course quickly went and got the camera. He was still kissing her when I got back so I snapped the picture below. He then just sat there watching her so I told him to just be quiet so not to wake her and I stepped out of the room again. As I walked out, he started kissing her again. Shortly later I hear her wake up. As I walked in, Sean told me, "I guess I kissed her too much". 

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Best Shots: Oct 1

I did not take out the camera nearly as much as I wish I had. So, I didn't have much to choose from for this week's Best Shots post.

Our crazy pug puppy, Gizmo

Sean reading all by himself!

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Emily: 9 Months

"Oh mama, not the camera again!

Here we go again: where is the time going!? My little baby is 9 months old today. She's not very little anymore but she's still such a joy! I don't have stats for her because some how her 9 month appointment was scheduled for mid October. Our home scale says she hasn't gained anything but I know that can't be right. She has really taken off on eating solids. Still no teeth but that's not stopping her! She's had some foods that I hadn't planned on giving her yet thanks to her big siblings. She really likes those cheesy scrambled eggs! She crawls a very unique crawl. She crawls with one leg in front and one behind her. She's also working really hard to pull up. She can get onto one foot and one knee and then doesn't know what to do next. I don't think it'll be long!

Daddy has become her favorite person, unless she wants to nurse and well, only one person will do then. When hubby gets home he has to pick her up and hold and talk to her for a little while or she will throw a fit. That's another new thing this month. She's learned to throw fits. Oh what fun are they! Her favorite time to do it, other than when she wants daddy, is when she doesn't want her diaper changed. She arches her back, screams swats her arms and legs. Being carried still calms her down very nicely. I've finally master the back carry with my Mai Tei and Em loves it!

This week's Project 52 theme is collections. Well, I couldn't think of what to photograph so I've included a collection of outtakes from today's photo shoot.
It isn't easy photograph a squirmy baby in a rocky chair:

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