Color Week Begins -- Blue Monday

Big news on the Noble blog front . . . I'm participating in a blog color week. Some of my fellow bloggers, namely Leya at curiousbird.typepad.com are instigating this activity.

The game is to take photos of things in your world which match the assigned color of the day.

The schedule is:

Monday - Blue

Tuesday - Purple

Wednesday - Yellow

Thursday - Pink

Friday - Stripes or plaid (any color combination)

It certainly plays to my creative side and will make a great scrapbook mini album.

It has already made me look more closely at my world and notice how beautiful it is . . .

My favorite seat in the house. Note my new throw (Christmas present from mum and dad)

and the handmade curtains.

Last weeks art project . . . family silhouettes. Blue eyes babes!

Future Careers??

As Ellie's personality starts to shine through it's fun to think of all the things she might grow up to be . . . here are some possibilities . . .

*Refrigerator repairman*

*Model*

*Creative musician*

*Gardener*

***Plumber!***

Check!

I bought these awesome wooden flowers at a garage sale last spring but I just never got around to putting them up. Since Drew had the day off last Friday he was on baby duty while I redecorated and organized Ellie's room. (Just what he wanted to do with his weekday off :)

So my New Years resolution of 'getting creative' with Ellie . . . check!

Happy Oh Nine

We've had quite the lazy day filled with movies, naps and trips to Ma-Pops and Ba-Pops for Menudo and Tamales!

Hope your New Years day was filled with such decadent laziness!

Resolute

With 2009 upon us I have been thinking a lot about New Years resolutions.

I have never been big on resolutions. I have usually forgotten what they were by February and more often than not I even forget to make them in the first place.

But that's one thing that's great about this blog . . . it's a way to take a moment and document our life and my thoughts.

As Anais Nin said

"I write to live life twice, once in the moment and again in retrospection."

So after much thought, here are my 2009 New Years resolutions.

1 - Craft more, specifically make some Christmas stockings!

I love crafting, especially scrapbooking, and yet it seems to be the thing that I do the least. So I'm going to carve out more time in our crazy schedule to craft!

2 - Let the joy in.

So often I feel like I'm waiting for the next best thing. For example, Drew's Christmas present to me was a nights stay at the Edgewater hotel this weekend. I have been SO excited all week I've been thinking "Let's just get through this week so I can enjoy our mini-break."

Our life is so awesome in so many ways that I need to stop and smell the roses more often or . . . let the joy in!

3 - Get more creative.

I've really been looking forward to the stage when I can make up silly games and activities for Ellie and I to do together. I have started collecting little pieces of cardboard for Ellie to draw on because I remember how much fun it was to make art on something other than plain white paper. So if you have any great ideas for activities with toddler leave me a message. This is the year to get creative!

And because I will always post a picture of the little one . . .

This girl is certainly is not thinking about the classic resolution of watching her weight ;)

Her favorite new hang out is the fridge!

And a very merry Christmas it was . . .

We had a wonderful Christmas today filled with family, gifts, games, food, drink, laughter and snow!

To sum up . . .

- In addition to the 12" of snow already on the ground it steadily snowed all morning adding another 2 or 3"! My first white Christmas!

- We ate at least 8 meals, included the Ocampo family tradition of Menudo!

- Shaneen and I won every game we played, to Drew's obvious chagrin

- Carols were sung, followed by John Prine songs

- Laura orchestrated a ridiculously silly and fun game where we played Christmas carols on little whistles. I almost peed my pants!!

-We drank Baileys and coffee, mimosas, more champagne, red wine and white wine . . . sufficed to say a glass was never empty

We started the season saying "Ellie doesn't need any Christmas gifts, she won't know the difference." I guess the grandparents didn't get that memo because she had many many gifts to open. Although she didn't really get the idea of unwrapping she sure enjoyed the end result!

May the merriment begin

Today, it feels as though Christmas has begun!

Shaneen arrived from Atlanta and we cracked open the champagne.

It was no time at all 'till Ellie cuddled up on Auntie Shaneeny's lap for a story!