2008 In Pictures

I stole this idea from Goddess and I encourage everyone to steal it. We've got a lot of amazing things planned for 2009 and after seeing what we did in 2008, I couldn't be excited.

January

Right after we gave up the insanity of the chair pictures, the boys decided to be cooperative. The kitty cats shown still sleep with them every night. The ottoman came from Ikea, where I met my first blogging friend in real life.


February

Nate and Alex met their cousin Audrey for the first time. We were blessed with a mild winter hence the lack of jackets.



This is my personal highlight of the year: getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight.

March

We took our first family vacation to the beach where the boys "enjoyed" the aquarium.

The boys met their cousins Yasmine, Jace, and Addison for the first time at Easter.

After transitioning to beds, they slept on the floor together.

Our first trip to the ER when we thought Nate swallowed a tack.

April

The boys finally started truly playing together.

And looking back, I'm pretty impressed with myself for doing a 5K pushing 80 lbs of stroller and kids.

May

May was one of the busiest months. The pool opened, where we spent the majority of our summer.

I spent a lovely Mother's Day with my amazing family.

The boys turned two with a party at Planet Child.

And the boys became very interested in television as well as removing their outerwear.

June

Jon and I went on a weeklong vacation to San Francisco by ourselves!

July

The boys finally began hugging each other on demand. I went a little crazy taking pictures of this the rest of the year.

I went to a college friend's wedding in California by myself.

August

We literally spent every minute we could at the pool with our two little fish.

September

Jon and I went to another college friend's wedding and met two more blogging friends.

We enjoyed a beautiful fall with outdoor picnics and time at parks around our neighborhood.

October

We took a family trip to Chicago.

We again went to a pumpkin farm to celebrate fall.

And Halloween was the best ever!

November

We went on nature hikes to see the fall colors.

We spent Thanksgiving in Florida with family and the weather was outstanding.

December

We celebrated GiGi's 80th birthday with FOUR generations.

And enjoyed the best Christmas of my entire adult life.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Proving yet again I am behind on my to-do list

Question: how many times do you think Alex would sing Jingle Bells if I had continued recording?

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I've got a post today on HDYDI about how Nate said the word "twin" for the first time.

Back in the saddle

Today Jon and I are back at work. The kids are back at school. I'm feeling that post-vacation depression when you realize how much fun it is spending time with your family rather than working.

October through December were very busy months. My job was extremely busy; Jon was gone so much for work; the boys were/are back in a curious stage of wanting to touch, taste, feel, and test everything; and I was barely keeping my head above water. Everything got done but nothing got 100% of my attention.

I had a mini-meltdown to Jon the week Nate was sick. Everything came crashing down at once. How hard it is to be a single working mom when Jon travels. How I feel pulled in a million directions. How tough winter is with two kids in group care during cold and flu season. How I always seem to come last because there are so many pressing things that need to get done.

I feel like the end of 2008 knocked me down and then sat on me and tried to spit in my mouth.

After nine much-needed days off to rest and reflect, I have clarity on some things that need to change. I'm slowly learning this mothering journey is a constant balance between giving enough of yourself and not giving too much. I'm even more slowly learning that I need more help. I need the help to regain some balance so that I always appreciate the sweetness of these faces:

I have great hopes for 2009, as 2008 has been incredible. And after this time to think about our life, I feel even more encouraged that I can do what I need to make 2009 the best year yet.

Another Christmas present!!!

I am about to pee my pants!

Time Warner cable is finally adding BRAVO!!!!!!!!!

Since I moved to North Carolina, the following things have followed me here:

* Trader Joe's

* Chipotle

* Ikea

* and now Bravo on January 1!

To celebrate, I'm going to watch a Top Chef marathon while gorging myself on a vegetarian burrito bol and TJ's peanut butter cups while sitting in a Poang chair.

This really is the best Christmas ever.

This was Nate's reaction when he found out I wanted to name him Kyan after my favorite guy on Queer Eye. Too bad Jon vetoed it.)

Christmas picture overload

Warning: This may be the most amount of pictures I've ever put into one post but I can't seem to leave a single one out!

On Christmas Eve, we made cookies for Santa. I am always amazed at how Nate naturally appears stylish in whatever he wears.



Alex continued his fear of anything new by refusing to wear his apron. He also demonstrated how quick he is by scarfing down most of his sprinkles before we noticed they were gone.




Just like last week, Nate was not interested in cooperating with any photos. Alex continued his streak of uber-cooperation.




Let me tell you when Nate did cooperate with photos: when he realized they had presents on Christmas morning. That's when he decided to ham it up. The odd thing is that he was not interested in opening any presents. He just wanted to talk about Christmas.



Not Alex. Alex wanted to open all the presents. My calculations showed he opened 95% of the presents. I hope he had fun because this is probably the last year he will get to open them all.




I attempted to duplicate the chair and stocking photos from Year One With Twins. All I got was one Special Smile and lack of cooperation. (Really, if you need a smile, I recommend checking out that link. Newborn twin photos! Plus it is a really fun comparison.)



We spent some outdoor time trying out two big presents - bikes and scooters. Something tells me Alex will be hot-dogging it before too long.




Even though Alex is generally better at physical things than Nate, Nate really seemed to rock the bike riding. Until he got bored and cold.




Nate didn't do that well with the scooter but he was happy to ride down our very small driveway hill.



Alex was a natural with the scooter. He was scooting everywhere. He would scoot to the top of the hill, then ride backwards down the hill. We laughed when he fell off, so he started falling off on purpose.



Fortunately we have it all on video that I will post later.




We have such a boy house, huh?






As always, the best part of the holiday was having family in town. Here's the happy grandma (who really needs to move closer) with her twin grandsons.

And my favorite picture of all is this one. I love the boy being naughty and the boy being nice. Could Nate look LESS interested in having his photo taken? Could Alex's entire body put more enthusiasm into MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm not quite sure how this was possible but it was the best Christmas ever. It was the best holiday season ever. It all seems so new, seeing everything through Nate and Alex's eyes. And I can only hope I will be lucky enough to one day see it all again through my great-grandchildren's eyes.

Jon and I often play this game Top Three. We name our top three moments that day, that week, that year. My Top Three 2008 Christmas Moments:

3. Enjoying a prolonged Christmas morning where we slowly opened presents and stayed in pajamas.

2. My two little boys running through Pullen Park when they thought the Christmas train was leaving them and they yelled, "Wait for us! Wait Alex! Wait for Nate!"

1. Seeing the boys in their argyle sweaters in front of the Christmas tree with their arms around each other.

It was indeed a very merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

We celebrated our Christmas yesterday and today I'm feeling the post-family-leaving blues. We had a great holiday, and I'll be back with lots and lots of photos of our celebration. Today I'll leave you with just one photo, the third Case family Christmas.




Since Christmas is all about giving, I'll also share the highlights of our Christmas menu. I made Pioneer Woman's turkey. This was my first time brining a turkey and WOW we all agreed it was one of the best turkeys we've all EVER had. The turkey brine mix referenced on her site is on sale for $4. Buy it!!!


Roxane made gravy from the drippings and again, WOW it was the best gravy we've all ever had. I also made PW mashed potatoes and PW whiskey-glazed carrots. We stuffed ourselves silly... twice. And the day before, I made PW Sleepin' in Omelette. Another WOW. So easy to make, so tasty, and it re-heats well.

Family... great food... great wine... and my amazing little boys. Santa was very very good to me this year.

To add even more craziness to December, GiGi's birthday!

Jon's grandma Marguerite (known as GG or great-grandma or GiGi) turned 80 on Friday. To celebrate this momentous occasion, all three of her grandkids are hosting birthday celebrations so GiGi can see all of her grandkids and great-grandkids. We're the second stop on the train - the warmest stop and the only stop with twins.

Nate and Alex were very excited to eat GiGi's birthday cake.

Three generations! (Thank you Jon for bending down for this picture!)

How do you like my new haircut???

Grandma and GiGi hanging out with Nate and Alex.

We asked Santa for a very special present this year. We asked if he could come to our house early so GiGi and Grandma Roxane could enjoy Christmas with us and he said yes! Santa is coming to our house tonight! Here is a sneak preview of how cute my boys will be on Christmas:

(LOVE my flash. Love it love it love it.)

More pictures with flash

We bought a Canon Speedlite 430EX flash. For those interested in purchasing flashes, I highly recommend reading reviews of flashes designed for your camera. We have an older Canon Rebel, and the 430EX came out around the same time. And let me state that I am a complete amateur, so if you really want to learn something go to websites of people who really know what they're doing. Like Lesley of Barr Babies. This is a new hobby for me so I'm slowly learning to improve by making tons of mistakes and taking tons of crappy pictures.

So far, I'm kicking myself for not investing in a flash earlier the same way I kicked myself for not investing in better lenses sooner. But hey, at least my pictures this year are better than the year before and the year before that.

Here are a couple more pictures that capture a little of the essence of Nate and Alex. Nate eats really quickly then gets bored and defiant at meals.

And while I did some minor photo editing to clean these photos up, I did not edit out the scratches on his Alex's face.

Don't feel too bad for him. Apparently he laid down on top of someone at day care and they reacted by scratching his face. And he was shouting to make Nate giggle while I was trying to get a "nice" picture.