The Last Picture of 2010 and Assorted NYE Goodness!

First of all and most importantly...THE LAST PICTURE OF 2010! The quality is horrible, the cord for the wreath coming through the door is very classy and we all look insane, but last official picture it is! :-) I love this little family tradition and wonder how many years Colin will humor me with it. I can picture the one when he is 17 and trying to leave for a party...that one might be interesting!

Here are a couple of outtakes...Colin said this one could not be "official" because it is missing Enzo, but I actually like it better. Colin looks so cute, despite the microphone stand that I forgot to move. Jer is cracking me up in that hat. ;-)

Colin actually took this one and I love it! Not bad for a 3 year old! We had a wonderful party night together!

SO...Here we are again and I am in utter disbelief, as usual. New Years Eve. 2010 is officially over in a couple of hours and I am sitting in bed with Jer, watching Dick Clark Ryan Seacrest and the ball dropping in NYC. We celebrated as we have for the last few years with a big surf and turf meal. It was wonderful! We started the day with breakfast at I-Hop, which was probably the worst food that we have had in a long time. There is clearly a reason that we don't go there anymore! YIKES! We ran errands afterward and then I left Colin home with Jer so that I could make my annual Central Market run for the ingredients for the big meal. It was CRAZY crowded and I was forced to park several stores over and walk, which made me very glad that I went by myself! I picked up some stunning filet mignon and shrimp and a big bottle of some delicious champagne that I am currently drinking with a splash of Chambord. :-) The big dinner ended up being filet with goat cheese and a shallot red wine reduction, garlic roasted broccoli, mashed potatoes and a loaf of crusty ciabatta bread. We also had shrimp cocktail and some different cheeses and crackers for an appetizer. Colin was treated to his favorite meal of 2010...spaghetti! I find myself looking forward to our tradition happily, although it is much different than parties of years past. We spent the evening playing with Colin in his new playhouse until it was time for bed. Colin has a little stuffed animal named "Peanut" that he got when he was born. It is one of his special "lovies". He decided this evening that we had to refer to him as "Peanut's Dad" instead of Colin and he picked Peanut up from school, cooked for him, fed him, played with him, put him to bed and the whole nine yards. His playhouse was turned into his home with Peanut and I made a makeshift baby bed out of a box for Colin to use. He tucked Peanut in carefully and then took the bed with us to watch our show before bed. He then carried the bed quietly into his room and tucked it into his own bed while we read stories. It was the sweetest thing ever and the most wonderful and precious way to end 2010. I told Jer afterwards that I am so certain that Colin will do something with his life that involves taking care of others. I don't know if that is simply being a wonderful father or a career path, but I know in my heart that he will be one amazing caregiver for the rest of his life. And those are my final thoughts for 2010. Well, that and one other thing...a girl named "Ke$ha", whose song "Tik Toc" combines not only her inability to spell but her complete lack of talent and the use of beautiful poetry like "I brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack", had the top selling song of 2010. Thank the lord it is time for a new year!

The Last Picture of 2009

Here it is, folks! Hot off the presses!! The last official picture of 2009. We set the camera up with the timer and managed to get this one on the first try. We are celebrating at home exactly as we did last year...we decided to have our second annual seafood party with our little family of three. It was wonderful!! We had shrimp cocktail, filet and scallops and some wonderful brie. Tonight has been the perfect ending to an amazing and eventful year. I spent the morning in heaven; Jer gave me a day of pampering for my Christmas present and today I cashed it in. I had a pedicure, hair cut and color. The pedicure was sinful and I don't remember the last time that I have relaxed like that. Our night has been peaceful, fun and full of good food. Colin is now sound asleep and Jer and I have popped the cork on the champagne. We are sitting here in bed, watching "Steven Segal; Lawman" on the DVR and waiting for Dick Clark to start at 10:30. Yep, just another wild New Year's Eve. ;-)

2009 has been a year of blessings; new friends, new niece, and good health. I lost my uncle, but I am happy to know that he is watching over us from heaven now. My little baby has become a funny and wonderful little boy. Overall, the joys and gifts have outweighed the challenges. I am excited beyond words for 2010...the start of a new decade. When this decade started, I was a girl of 22 going to college. I had yet to leave my hometown in East Texas. I has just gotten my first job in aviation...a very low level position greeting private jets. I had yet to meet Jeremy. The 2000's ushered in the career that would be my life and livelihood. It took me to live in Pennsylvania, California, and New York...and finally back home to Texas. It brought me some of the greatest friends of my lifetime. I met my husband, married him, and had our first child. We bought a house in the suburbs and finally settled down. I gained a nephew and niece and brother-in-law that I adore. It is hard to sum up 10 years in a blog post, but suffice it to say that I was blessed beyond measure during the last ten years of my life and I cannot wait to see what the next have in store for me. Happy New Year!!!

One year ago: The Last Picture of 2008

2009 Is Here...Anyone Have Cough Syrup?

Well, this update is coming in at well after midnight because I am still coughing myself into fits, and therefore cannot sleep. I have now taken NyQuil and my prescription cough syrup with Codeine and nothing is helping. I don't want to keep Jer up (we have all been SO SICK for the past few days!!) and I don't want to wake Colin, so I am huddling quietly on the couch trying not to cough. It does help to sit up, so sleep may never happen, but maybe I will write a novel tonight instead. Right!

Anyway, Colin and I were not feeling good on New Years Eve and sure enough, I could not even get out of bed the next day. I tried to shake it off, but the day was a total wreck. We had a dinner party on Friday night that we really wanted to attend and we kept telling ourselves that it would be okay to go. Colin has not gotten worse, thank heavens! He is a little snotty and has a bit of a cough, but he is still happy and seemingly feeling okay. His parents on the other hand...ugh! I was really feeling like a mess and Jer, sadly enough, started getting sick at the party. We seriously must have been the worst house guests ever. None of us would admit to coming down with a cold, so we were just slightly clammy looking people who didn't give out many hugs and tried to talk as little as possible to avoid hacking up a lung. LOVELY. We did have a great time despite taking turns for the worst....they are such sweet people and they adore Colin. I feel very secure to have Colin around them and I would not worry to turn my head...that kind of thing. I hope we all get to hang out a lot more in the coming year!

In other pressing 2009 news....Colin said, "Night Night!" this very evening!! We always go around in our "ritual" and say night night to Ferris Mewler and Enzo, and then Mama and Daddy and his stuffed animals. Well, tonight I walked him up to Jer and said, "Night Night Daddy!" like I always do and Colin piped in with "Night Night!". It was SO GREAT! We made him say it like eight more times, which probably confused the heck out of him, but oh well. It was SO SWEET!!! Ever single day makes me fall in love with this little boy more...I am overwhelmed with it all sometimes. Colin watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the morning and they have a character that they call "Toodles". Colin got a Clubhouse for Christmas that has a little Mickey Mouse and a tiny Toodles replica. That little boy picks up the toy and says, "OH TOODLES!" just like they do on the show. Jer and I are still recovering from that one! This is such a fun stage....when I wake up, I feel like some new wonderful thing might pop out to surprise me. His newest thing is to ask for a kiss by coming up very close to you and leaning his forehead down, almost in a bow. This means for you to kiss his face. We finally figured out what he was doing and just melted straight away. My resolution for this year is going to be to try to slow down and take all this in as best as I can....these are the days I know I don't want to ever forget!!

Now....if only I could not cough, ;-}

The Last Picture of 2008

Jer and I took this picture with the timer feature on the camera...this is the last official shot of the Shaffer family in 2008. The bad news is that Colin and I have a horrible cold and are pretty miserable (which is why I look so hot in that picture. HA!) The good news is that we made a trip to Central Market for a special New Years Eve feast just for the three of us and it was FANTASTIC! We had the best shrimp cocktail that I think I have ever had and huge crab cakes that Jer cooked here at home. It was so yummy and I am pretty sure that Colin ate more of the shrimp than we did. That kid knows his seafood. :-)

After Colin went to bed, Jer and I tucked into our room to watch TV and toasted on a bottle of champagne. It was super quiet and very low key, but it was the perfect way to end 2008. This has been an amazing year!

Just Rambles - 2008

I can't believe that tomorrow is New Years Eve. I can't believe that I blinked and a whole year of Colin's life has gone by. I always get very melancholy when Christmas is over. There is no rival to the holiday season for me and I start getting ramped up immediately after Halloween. In fact, I love Halloween because I know that the ball is rolling toward Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love the entire time between mid October to the end of December. Everything about Fall makes me happy. As with just about everything in my life...once I am really passionate about something, it consumes me. Therefore, these days leading up to New Years always make me a little sad and sappy. I also get excited, though, because I know that I have a fresh new year to explore with Colin. There are 365 days looming ahead of me that will be filled with funny moments and major changes for my precious 17 month old baby. When I look back at this time last year, I had an infant who was not able to sit up unassisted. I remember that I was laying on the floor for his Christmas card pose, holding him upright out of the camera shot so that we could get the picture. He was just a little tiny baby, who I thought was so big at the time...strapping 5 month old that he was! I could never have pictured him as he is now...running all over the house and climbing on anything he can get his hands on. It's late and I won't turn this into my big New Years sign out post...I will save that for later. I was just sitting here tonight contemplating the end of one year and the beginning of the next. :-)