I know a lot of you will be thumbing through magazines or looking on-line for "The Year in Review." Well, I have the ultimate retrospective of 2011 right here for you.
Enjoy.
The year actually started out at a party. No, my New Year's Eve party didn't carry over to the next day. It was my buddy Jack's first birthday party! His birthday is really close to Christmas, so his party was on January 1 so that all his family could attend.
Wow!
Look how young we were back then.
The next day I dressed-up as Batman.
Holy Foreshadowing!
(I was Batman for Halloween.)
At one point I was so overwhelmed with toys during bath time that I actually took to chewing my own wash cloth.
In my defense, I was teething.
Car ride interlude.
Yes, I actually had that many pacifiers at one point.
I wore one on each finger and traded them out.
"Hi kitty!"
At one point I had a little table in my room (I still have the table, it's no longer in my room).
Please excuse the scattered Hanukkah and Christmas gifts.
Hey, look at me.
There I am playing with my menorah.
I was probably expecting more gifts.
Reading rules!
What's on my butt?
Can you believe I actually had to learn to brush my teeth independently?
Emma...
When I said, "Do you want to come back to my room and play blocks,"
I meant play blocks.
Stupid snow.
It's everywhere.
Interrupting my playtime outside.
Toilet training.
Um... this pacifier isn't working.
No.
These are my toys!
Get out here kitty!
Gotcha!
Mommy went back to work and I stayed home with Daddy.
He took me to get a haircut.
He took this photo of me and sent it to Mom at work.
She cried.
Hide-and-Seek couldn't keep mom from my haircut.
I was Hide-and-Seek runner-up in my family for the year 2011.
This is how you clean-out and organize your drawers.
"What'cha doin'?"
How you doin'?
I can sometimes get carried away while cleaning.
I look forward to the weekends when I can eat Dad's scrumptious breakfasts.
Building with Mommy.
Moving Sam to continue building.
Earning my keep.
Cleaning is hard work.
There was a time I took Elmo everywhere with me.
A bunch of snow and ice days
(trust me, it got worse than what's photographed)
meant my favorite indoor activity:
Jumping on the bed!
While very similar to a photo above, I went through a phase where I had to pose for each photo.
Mom had gone back to work and I was home sick with Dad.
I wouldn't eat and was fussy.
So Dad put out a buffet of food, snacks, and drinks for me to choose from to make me happy.
We were snowed-in for so long that Dad dusted off some dominoes and we stacked them up just to knock them down.
Valentine's Day 2011
I know it's Valentine's Day, but c'mon! This red icing is ridiculous!
At least I got a nice puzzle for Valentine's Day.
Orange Leaf
Strolling through campus.
If you look closely, you can still see piles of snow and ice.
Always fun to eat breakfast with Daddy.
More fun to eat Daddy's leftover steak dinners.
Special Delivery
I had twice before attempted to have photos taken professionally.
This was the first time it was a success.
Like I said, for a short period of time, Elmo went everywhere with me.
Look!
Over there!
What's That?
Me playing in the backyard,
playing at the park,
and dancing with Barney.
I also found time to clean-up...
with my opponents' tears on the tennis courts!
Move it Dad or I'll hit you with my racket!
I like it when Jack comes over.
A lot of times we just share snacks.
That's why I'm glad I've got the gym.
Stre-e-etch
We all have our hobbies. Here I am trying to get into "scrap booking" with Mom.
There was a long drought in Oklahoma this spring and summer.
No joke, some of my chalk-art stayed on the driveway for many, many weeks.
Inside the awesome shark tank.
And inside some shark jaws and a shark tank.
Back at home to doodle.
And trying to avoid stepping in "doodle" at the petting zoo inside the Oklahoma City Zoo.
The highlight of my day at the zoo:
Swinging in the kids' playground area.
Testing gravity.
Yep.
Newton was right.
Looking for some dirt with my truck.
Hanging out at the gym once again.
On nice weekends, there's nothing better than feeding ducks at Theta Pond on OSU's campus.
Helping Mom garden when apparently I should have been helping Dad pull weeds.
Beep-beep-beep?
I don't get it.
I learned to smile and say, "Cheese."
I also learn how to be sarcastic (a trait I inherited from Dad - according to Mom).
Soccer and four-wheelin' in Okeene...
because that's all there is to do.
Seriously.
Yes, those are cows in the background at the fence.
Mom told Dad they never "go out anymore."
Dad said, "It's not like we used to go clubbing."
So, I took Mom clubbing.
Will you excuse me?
I need to take this.
Back to School.
Enjoying some local Braum's ice cream.
I know I'm cute, but this picture proves I'm just like you.
I put my pants on one leg at a time.
Jack and I have a ball in the backyard.
Cheese. Is. Awesome.
Shredded cheese is awesome-er.
Go fly a kite?
Ok.
We will.
We did and we got it super-duper high.
The Air Force stopped by and asked us to stop.
Waiting to go outside and play.
Learning how to use the remote control.
This is Cam.
Shh! Don't tell Emma.
I love Barney.
Barney loves me.
Easter!
There's nothing in here.
Forget the "egg-stravagant" egg hunt at the park.
Let's slide!
That's much more fun than being attacked by giant bunnies.
Aah...
Bubbles.
And Thomas.
I don't know why Dad kept it.
I don't know why Dad set it up.
But I did enjoy the Lego Monorail (which still worked despite being nearly 20 years old).
Monkeys use their toes for all sorts of stuff.
I learned that humans cannot use their toes as a means to store peas.
Hold on Dad, let me show you on the map.
Right here. See?
That's why you're not allowed to go to Lowe's unsupervised.
Mom organized some family photos.
That old looking guy is Dad.
No club this time, just armed with snacks.
Caught green-handed.
Before summer started, I wanted to replicate a water park.
That tarp would eventually be destroyed in a freak wind storm.
And now, we come to the point in the year where we take off for the Czech Republic.
Can you believe you've already seen me progress five months?
On the blog archive on the top right you'll find our summer is actually very well documented.
It starts with us leaving and continues all the way through our return home in August. All the pictures you want to see are included in those fantastic time capsules.
And, while there were definitely more entries during the summer months, the Fall months have their share of great pictures too. From my birthday to Halloween through Christmas and Hanukkah, it's all there.
So, here's where I'll leave you.
Sure, it wasn't a full retrospective of my year, but it's better because it's preserved in full technicolor detail just a click away.
I hope you enjoyed seeing some photos that never received their own blog, and take the opportunity to reread some of your more favorite entries.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The above photo is courtesy of the local newspaper, The Stillwater Newspress. It features yours truly and his best bud Jack, along with our moms at the WONDERtorium, a local children's museum.
