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Who’s picking the kids up? When’s that dinner party? When were you planning to tell me that you’re going on a month-long business trip to Asia?

Two handy and much-anticipated new Microsoft apps for Windows Phone were headed to Marketplace this week. Here’s a peek:

SkyDrive

When you think of taking and creating great family photos, you might not immediately think of your Windows 7 PC as the central destination point. But with your Windows 7 PC combined with Windows Live Photo Gallery, you can manage, edit and share all those great holiday portraits. That is one of the reasons why Windows partnered with Southwest airlines to bring you the opportunity to take holiday photos while in malls and airports across America.

Last week I told you how to conjure up a bunch of cool emoticons in Windows Phone 7.5. Here’s a bunch more to start playing with when you’re texting friends. (Miss last week's list?)

If you woke up this morning, checked your phone’s Office Hub, and didn’t see some of your OneNote notebooks or Office docs—don’t panic. As the Windows Live team explained on its blog yesterday, a recent SkyDrive upgrade is causing some Windows Phone owners to see a message saying their Office documents were deleted from the SkyDrive servers or can’t be downloaded.

With my busy job at Microsoft, it’s hard for me to stay in touch with friends and family year round. I lived in Maine ten years ago, then Canada, then Colorado, DC and finally NYC before moving to Seattle. That means a lot of friends in a lot of different places. So, when I do connect I want it to mean a lot and I want it to be in person. That’s why I love Windows Live Messenger’s video chat, Facebook chat sync and photo-sharing services. In fact, I love it so much I’m devoting this week’s chat to the topic.

Today might be Halloween but the holidays are practically tomorrow. You might think this is an unsavory warning but it’s really said with all the enthusiasm my 5’8”s can muster. I love the holidays. In fact, I’m the person who started singing Christmas carols in July. It might be a problem but I can’t help it. In fact, what I love best about the holidays are the handmade crafts and projects people give each other. I used to exclusively make pillows and baby blankets for people. Now, I’ve upgraded to movies, recipe books and cool digital albums.

If you read the blog often, you’ve likely noticed that I’ve got a lot of family and they are a long ways away and you’d think I might feel disconnected. As the second youngest of six siblings, I’ve been able to experience “family” to the fullest with brothers, sisters, cousins, enough to fill a house, a yard and then some. So, is it a great time to connect with family? And how can we help? You might have noticed the new commercials launched by Microsoft recently. They feature families from around the globe using technology to interact, play, watch and connect with each other.

Your Windows PC is great. Your Windows Phone is great. Windows Live is great. But did you know that if you put all of them together you’ve got a pretty incredible way of creating and sharing amazing photos anywhere and anytime?

It’s true. And it’s super easy.

I haven’t blogged here in a while, but that’s because I’ve started posting over on Inside Windows Live instead.