The Last Post of the Year!!!

(Photo by Russell A. Daniels)
I saw this amazing photograph over at Toxel.com. It is called Desaturated Santa by Brody S. for San Francisco SantaCon 2009. Grey wig, fabric, contacts, and Kryolan body paint were used to create the illusion. Head over to Toxel.com to see more amazing photos and other design stuff!

I saw this at Rebekah's Bits & Pieces blog and I decided it would be the late post of the year.

The rules are simple: Hit shuffle on your iPod (or whatever mp3 player or your music library on your computer) then answer each question by hitting next.

Q: What does next year have in store for you?

A: I Try by Macy Grey

Q: What does your love life look like next year?

A: Escapade by Janet Jackson

Q: What do you say when life gets hard?

A: Come Back to Me by David Cook
Q: Song that reminds you of good times?

A: You Can't Always Get What You Want by Bette Midler

Q: What do you think when you get up in the morning?

A: Let It Rock by Kevin Rudolf

Q: What song will you dance to at your wedding?

A: Boom Boom Pow by the Black Eyed Peas

Q: Song that reminds you of your first kiss?

A: I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry (Really ipod gods?)

Q: Your favorite saying?

A: Ain't No Mountain High Enough by The Supremes (ok I think that makes up for the last haha)
Q: Favorite place?

A: Thriller by MJ

Q: Most Missed Memory?

A: Copacabana by Barry Manilow (Ummm, doesn't everyone have Barry on the ipod?)

Q: What song describes your best friend?

A: Lady Marmalade Moulin Rouge soundtrack

Q: What song describes your ex?

A: Time by Hootie and the blowfish (ok blowfish describes most of 'em!)

Q: Where would you go on a first date?

A: Second Home by The Sea by Genesis

Q: Drug of choice?

A: Bellini: I Puritan - A Te, O Cara by Andrea Bocelli (yeah, Genesis and opera on the same playlist)

Q: What song describes you?

A: Will You Marry Me by Paula Abdul (WHAT? How did that get on there?)

Q: What is the thing you like doing most?

A: It's Not Over by Daughtry

Q: The song that best describes the president?

A: Be Our Guest Beauty and the Beast soundtrack (I swear I just hit next!)

Q: Where will you be in 10 years?

A: Celebrity by Brad Paisley

Q: Your love life right now?

A: Keith B-Real II by Will Smith

Q: What is your state of mind like at the moment?

A: Ponchielli La Gioconda by Andrea Bocelli

Q: How will you die?

A: Awful Beautiful Life by Darryl Worley

I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year!!

God Bless you all!!

Wordless Wednesday

You are under my spell
Originally uploaded by frogdiva12

Christmas pictures

I was so excited to find out that Mater was going to be spending Christmas day with us! We picked him and oldest daughter up late Christmas Eve.

Apparently, the only pictures I took all day were of Mater. Hmmmmm.

Cookies! Cookies! Cookies!

It has become a tradition to bake and decorate cookies with Papa and Celia (Honeys Dad and Stepmom).

Yup we are Dodger fans!!

The baker and decorators!

No egos here!! Hahaha!!

We had a great Christmas! I hope you did too! Pictures of Tommy's first Christmas tomorrow!

Gibbs went for a hike with us yesterday!!

Honey and I are in training for a 5K in Feburary and we've decided the ogs are going to train with us. Yesterday we brought the kids with us and Gibbs and walked 3.6 miles! Little Gibbs walked the entire way!

Baby, Peanut, Buddy, Max, and Gibbs.

The Boys. Gibbs, Buddy, and Max.

Afterwards, everyone was pooped! We went to Honey's dads house to bake and decorate cookies! Pictures are coming!!!

Merry Christmas! And may God Bless you all in 2010!!

A 3mile Hike!! And a birthday!

As an homage to The Thundering Herd (http://www.thethunderingherd.com/news/) Sorry the linking wasn't working! I am posting pictures of the walk we at Casa de Max took yesterday! The Boys are on the left and the girls are on the right! Except for the top picture, which is the puppies are on the left and the 'rents are on the right. We had to switch because the girls are pullers, and they were killing my wrist! It is easier to harness them to a bike and let them run!

A picture of OUR snow! (I know you are all so jealous! Hahaha!)

Youngest son turned 15 (!!) over the weekend.

Yup he is obsessed with Tim Burton. It makes ift buying easy!

Guess the theme for this birthday!!!


The kidlets! The one in blue is Honey's brother!

Looking for a miracle?

Well, here are six. Of course this was taken several years ago. Because now getting all six together at once is almost impossible. The girl in red was in Texas for two years; the boy on the right is moving to Florida next month. Two down, four to go!!

Here is my Christmas miracle. (Sorry about the really awful pictures!)

That is all that remains of my little red rodeo. It gave its life in order to save those of my children and myself. On December 26, 2003, at 5:30am, the rodeo was loaded with gifts and bags and children on its way to Las Vegas to see grandma and grandpa. I hit a piece of black ice and rolled my truck - three times! - and ended up on the opposite side of the road facing traffic. In the middle of nowhere, in the dark. As the truck began its roll (which seemed to happen in slow motion) we all heard someone say, quite clearly, "You'll be alright." When the truck came to a stop, the lights were still on inside and we could all see each other, see that we were all ok and no one was hurt. One of my daughters was very upset, so I got out of the truck and went to calm her down, as soon as I could hug her and speak with all of them (and find my phone) the lights went out. Not one cut, not a bruise, nothing! We were shaken but unhurt. It took a few months before I could drive in the dark and a few more months before I would drive in the dark with the kids. Then last Christmas we drove to Seattle for a family Christmas. Drove right up into a blizzard! But I did it! My kids got through it (they were in the back seat "helping" by reminding me of the rollover! Lovely!) Miracles happen every day, I'm living proof!

Winter Dance

This is my second daughter on her way to her 8th grade winter dance. Her school is k - 8, so this dance was just open to 7th and 8th graders.
The girls all dressed up! Everyone looked so nice all dressed up in nice dresses and the boys in shirts and ties!
These kids have been together since kindergarten. The school is a bilingual immersion school and the immersion begins day one of kindergarten. They spend half the time in Spanish and half the time in English. There are both English as a first language speakers and Spanish as a first language speakers. They discovered that language learning comes from playground talking. Actually using the language. At graduation, the kids can speak, read, and write fluently in two languages. There are only two classrooms for each grade, and after first grade students must test into the school. After third grade, out of luck.

Aren't her shoes the cutest?

The dance was only from 5 - 8pm. (They served a sit down dinner) But it was nerve wrecking waiting on a daughter!! One must find comfort where one can!!!

Wordless Wednesday

A photo challenge!!

This is my favorite shot of Max. I use part of it for my header!

It is so easy to get great pictures of Max. Biased I know. But look at him!!

I also took the needle part of my header! :)

The Christmas parade that wasn't on TV

Hollywood decides what to put on TV and what not to. We were the lead off band, not that one could tell that by the way the parade was edited!!! So I thought I would show you how we looked and sounded that night. Enjoy!

Sorry, but basketball is NOT my favorite sport.

Here is the band in the band before the game (Knight vs Ventura). We were playing for some elementary school kids who want to be in their high school bands in the next few years. Yup, pretty much showing off!

The school is only a few years old. But we have some championships!!!
Song Girls in the stands.

And performing.

These lovely ladies are part of our Drill Team!!

And on the floor.

Playing tribute for the victors!!!!! Its a tradition now!

The rest of the weekend was rainy and cold. And no more basketball until January!!
I uploaded (which took an hour! Holy Cow!! who knew it took so long for ONE video!!??) a video of the band and song girls (please ignore the guy that walked in front of me!!), I hope you enjoy. It's a little bit of how our band rolls!