Goodbye 2009

I've been ready to say tootle-oo to 2009 since, well, the second week in January. It's been a roller-coaster year for us, but as I was looking back over our 2009 photos, I realized that we had some good times. Here's what we did in 2009:

JANUARY

I spent a lot of time with this guy...

...even though we had broken up.

Mid-January saw us get back together.

I also spent lots of time with friends.

FEBRUARY

I gave up my sweet DC-ghetto bachelorette pad.

Because things were going so well with Troubletron

That he asked me to marry him

Much of February was also spent driving to Stafford to watch Troubletron play basketball.

MARCH

We started March off with a bang by eloping.

Nobody saw it coming (not even us).

We took our first family vacation to Colonial Williamsburg.

And enjoyed some DC United soccer.

April

Must not have been too great since I have zero pictures from April. I was spending most of my time finishing up my classes.

May

Troubletron turned 31.

We visited some of my favorite little people.

And supported my brother's dental practice more than we would have liked.

Lots of family came to DC to visit.

To celebrate my graduation from law school!

JUNE

I began to study for the Bar exam.

Troubletron's sister Toribot graduated from high school!

JULY

I spent all month studying.

It might have frazzled me, just a little.

I can't emphasize enough how much studying took place.

After multiple break-downs, I

finally drove to Roanoke, put on my suit, and put myself out of my misery.

I took the Bar Exam.

Troubletron missed me.

AUGUST

I started my full time unemployment (even though I wasn't getting paid in June and July, I was working nonstop).

Littletron turned 9.

Troubletron and I visited Papatron in North Carolina.

We added a new member to our family.

And I, Sparklebot, turned 30.

SEPTEMBER

We geeked out with my uncle's family at the live-music Lord of the Rings showing at Wolftrap.

We posted the most hilarious blog photo ever.

OCTOBER

We took the kids into DC for Crafty Bastards and a downtown picnic.

Teenbot shined as the best player on her school Basketball team.

We re-appropriated the "gingerbread house" for Halloween.

We spent time with friends.

And we partied all day on Halloween.

NOVEMBER

Double honor roll meant double parental pride.

We expressed our thankfulness, as a family.

DECEMBER

The kids showed me what Christmas is really all about.

We enjoyed our first Christmas together, as a family.

And, we look forward to many more.

2009 is at an end, but we are at the beginning.

Ain't nobody gonna break-a our style. Nobody gonna hold us down.

Breakfast

I managed to eat something BESIDES sugar cookies for breakfast today.

. . . which is more of an accomplishment than you might think.

The fact that the sugar cookies are gone played a major role in the decision.

But, I could have had brownies.

Don't Play Games

This is our post-Christmas game shelf:
It warms my competitive, game-obsessed heart.

I should have taken a "before" picture, because you would have been amazed at my game organization skills.

Before I joined this family, they didn't play many games. Oh sure, they'd play an occasional game of Digital "Mopoly" (as Littletron calls Monopoly), or maybe Apples to Apples--occasionally even Spongebob Life. But, the addition of Sparklebot has upped this family's game-playing by about 500%.

And, I'm just getting started.

Post Christmas Oddities

ODDITIES:

1) After dropping off the kids to their mother after Christmas weekend, Troubletron and I went to our local theater to see a movie with some of the movie tickets we got for Christmas.

This man was there:

Saving to bulk up his home straw collection?

2) When we returned home after the movies, I found a special visitor on my bed.

I guess Littletron didn't want Yoda to be lonely until Little returns in two weeks.

Best Christmas Present I Have Ever Given

Thanks for being worthy to receive adult-sized, glow in the dark, footed PJs, Cousintron!

The Official Christmas Post

I'm sure that, after 24 days of counting down, you are wondering how the BotTron Family Christmas turned out. Well, here's a little peak into our holiday.

Troubletron and I decided that, since none of our in-town relatives was having any sort of Christmas Eve activity, we would have some friends over for pre-holiday games and food.

I put on my most sparkly necklace.
And loaded up the house with delicious treats.

There's something I can't resist about a cheeseball.
We tried to make our house as cozy as possible for our guests.
We even turned on the Hello Kitty lights.
You can see we were ready for fun.
So much fun, in fact, that THIS is the only picture I took during the night:
Guess you'll just have to take my word for it that people came and fun was had. After a long night of appetizers, czarina, and games, Troubletron and I basked in the warmth of the TV fire and enjoyed the lighting of Christmas.
We slept soundly. No kids in the house meant no Santa to disturb our slumber. We slept in.

Upon arising, we started what we decided would be a Christmas tradition in our marital home:
Banana Pudding for breakfast.

Then we got down to the business of the day.
Trees look so different in the day than they do in the night.

Marzipan got a new set of Kiwi treats and a hanging toy for Christmas.
Troubletron and I got lots of great stuff.


... lots of great stuff that we wanted to flaunt to the rest of the family. So, Troubletron wore his new shirt and coat (thanks Snowbird!) on our way to pick up the kids and stop in at his parents' house.
I wore my new feathered headband (from SewApropos!) and purple coat.
We picked up the kids, ate Chinese food with Troubletron's family, and opened gifts in Stafford. (Why do I have no pics from that?)

Then, we brought the kids home for THIRD Christmas at our house.

Littletron loved his Burger King and Target gift cards ...
... Star Wars Lego sets ...
... and new Lego Indiana Jones video game.
Teenbot was most excited about her new skinny jeans (Thanks again Snowbird).
But, she also loved her $50 worth of iTunes gift cards (though she started to suspect there might be a conspiracy to give her this gift amongst Sparklebot family members).
(Did you notice the rainbow scarf Teenbot was wearing? Troubletron made her that!)

After the tree was emptied, the kids set to work putting gifts together.
Troubletron and I went to work opening our Christmas gifts.
Troubletron was eager to purchase Harry Potter spell-casting apps with his iTunes gift cards (flexing or punching himself in the chest?).
I was eager to try on the Anthropologie boots I had looked at online 54 times before Christmas . . . wishing and hoping they would be mine.
Perfect fit.

I also tried on some more of the hair candy Troubletron got for me.
I happened upon this tender moment between Troubletron and Yoda.
But, I wasn't jealous. I know they have a history.

After a taco dinner (who needs all that heavy food just a month after Thanksgiving?), we started the games. Twister is a new favorite with the kids.
As is Rock-em Sock-em Robots (Littletron cheats).
Yoda kept showing up. Everywhere.
It was a lot of family togetherness.
We had a wonderful holiday, and we hope you had the same!