Ho, Ho, Ho

Santa came to our house!!! We had a great Christmas this year and the kids were so excited about their gifts! They slept in and were extra patient and very grateful for everything they got - it was the first year we didn't see a frenzy of flying paper! Emma loved her American Girl Doll, who she named Emily (the name she picked out for our baby but we quickly vetoed) and Ryan was thrilled with his Nintendo DS. Aside from those big gifts they got, well, pretty much everything! As previously mentioned, my camera was busted so we have more video than pictures from the actual morning, sniff sniff. But my awesome hubby saved the day and I got not one, but TWO cameras for Christmas! A Canon Elph that is awesome to take anywhere and rides compactly in my purse. And the Canon Rebel XSi, an awesome DSLR camera that I am so excited about!!!

Here's a shot of Byron and I taking a picture of each other with my two new cameras, squeal!!!

Later that morning we had our Uncles, Aunts, Cousins and Grandpop, Jane and Derek over to celebrate and exchange gifts. It was a very relaxing morning and I can only imagine it's the calm before next years storm!

Too funny... Ryan and his friend Andrew got the same exact jersey! Dare I even post a picture of my son wearing something other than midnight green???






Then in the afternoon, we packed up and headed out to Mom-Mom & Pop-Pop's house for the annual Christmas Day Feast! As usual, I stuffed myself on all of the yummy apps, including my dad's famous anti-pasta! The kids were spoiled again by their grandparents, Aunts and Uncles - thank you everyone!

Natalie in her Christmas best!


Ryan REALLY loved the rock tumbler!


Baby Caroline's first Christmas!

By the end of the night, everyone was pooped!

We were very lucky to have such a happy and healthy Christmas again this year!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

or, more commonly, Christmas Eve! And this year went MUCH BETTER than last year! We were well prepared (for the most part) and for the first time in, well, ever, we got to Church for the kids Mass early (say 35 min. early) and were lucky to snag 4 seats at the end of a pew in an already crowded church. We saw Mass in it's entirety and had the luxury of sitting. Wonder what time we'll have to be there next year??

After Church it was off to Grandmom and Pop's house for the annual Christmas Eve party with the Family. We had a surprise early visit from Santa and everyone was excited to sit on his lap... well, almost everyone! Emma and Cousin Andrew performed numerous songs that they learned in pre-school, tho my camera was acting up and my coverage was less than viewable, sorry.

Christmas Eve tradition states that all of the kids, as well as those "with child" must sit on Santa's lap for a treat. Baby Newby got a cute little teether!

After everyone left it was time to destroy in minutes what it took Grandmom hours to wrap! The kids were treated extremely well this year, as always, and Mommy and Daddy made out with a GPS and a bunch of other great gifts - thanks everyone!

The first step before Christmas Eve presents - the traditional Christmas PJ's!

Baby Kylie's first Christmas... she got a beautiful doll cradle but wasn't amused at our humor.

We were home by 10pm, with just enough time to sprinkle the reindeer food on the front lawn and leave a plate of cookies, carrots and milk for Santa! According to NORAD, he was in Iowa so we hurried to bed so he wouldn't have to pass us by!

Wake up Santa, you have work to do!

Mission Complete!

Adios, Pyogenic Granuloma!

Sometime in September, I noticed a teeny tiny mark on Em's upper cheek - like a small scab the size of a pin head. A few weeks later it changed to be more like a blood blister, but the same small size. Unconcerned, I figured it would pop at some point. But then it started growing... and growing... and growing. And soon it became a concern and the pediatrician suggested it was a pyogenic granu-what???? We were told to see a dermatologist. Let's just say if you want a pediatric dermatologist, there is a 7 mo. wait at CHOP and a 6week-6month wait at DuPont. Grrrrrr!

So I made a local appointment instead - still 2 months out - and in the meantime, somehow snuck into DuPont in just under 2 weeks! Thank heavens for small miracles! It didn't take the dermatologist long to confer that it was indeed a pyogenic granuloma (think of it like a blood blister) and within minutes, we had an appointment with a surgeon the very next day - now that's what I call service!

The surgeon's appointment once again confirmed what we knew and we were scheduled for surgery (very minor) on January 9th. Fabulous! That is, until it started bleeding the week before Christmas. Three times in 4 days and we were bumped up on a Thursday and scheduled for Friday. Emma handled it like a champ - from the fasting (hard for a 3 yr old when we were on stand-by and all she wants to do is eat) to all the Dr's and nurses to being wheeled away waving "Bye Guys!", she was our brave little girl! She won the hearts of the surgical staff and they wanted to play with her instead. She did well under anaesthesia, tho was slow to wake up, and was only slightly demonic once she was awake. Hey, all she wanted was a donut - why wouldn't we just give her a donut!!! We've had 1 follow-up with one more scheduled but the spot is healing beautifully and I seriously doubt there will even be a hint of a scar.

So Adios, Pyogenic Granuloma... may we never meet again!

Catching Up

It's that time of year again... pretty much from Halloween on, I get lost in a mess of birthday prep (Ryan, then Byron), Thanksgiving, Decorating, Shopping and it all ends with the grand finale, Christmas! During that time I am pretty much running like crazy and some things, like the blog, get put on the back burner. So here's what we have been up to...

* Byron turned the big 3-5 on December 16th! Happy Birthday Babe! We are now the same age... for the next 7 months, at least... and now the kids can call us BOTH old! Since he was a good boy (read: persuasive) he got his Christmas present for his birthday - PS3. I'd say it was a hit... in fact, he's playing it at this very moment. Ryan and he have enjoyed some seriously competitive bonding time the last few weeks. Ask Byron who is better at Tiger Woods golf...

* Ryan has been busy testing Santa's every nerve and just daring her him to add his name to the naughty list... forever! He's an active boy who needs alot of stimulation - more than 2.5 hours of kindergarten and a very busy mommy can provide. He is getting ready to move into his new school - a brand new elementary school that will open when the kids return from winter break - and is very excited about it. I'm pretty excited too - it's not too shabby!

* Emma has been her talkative self with a new twist - waking up nightly between 1 and 3am and having a meltdown because she is just too tired to go to the bathroom or fall back asleep. I look at it as her little way of preparing me for a newborn. Well, I try to look at it that way - during the waking hours at least. When it's happening at 2am it's hard to look at it any other way than I want to make her sleep outside. Not that I'd really do that, of course...

* And finally, me. I'm here - still pregnant. All of the holiday prep and madness turned into 2 weeks of sickness - first the flu (and yes, I got a flu shot in October) and the next week a stomach virus. The good part of that is I lost a few pounds so maybe when I go back to the Dr's for my post-holiday visit, the scale won't be as harsh. We haven't talked baby much (other than heartburn and why she insists on aerobicizing the second I put my head on the pillow) so hopefully in the new year, we can focus more on her in terms of a name, getting ready and the like. Poor baby - not even born yet and already ignored.

So that's life with us - I never said it would be thrilling!

For all the Planco People

It has come to my attention that I may have some new readers in the near future... blush, blush! I'll do my best to keep you all entertained (aka, anything you want to know about my husband, just ask!).

Recently, Byron was asked to speak to a group as part of a discussion on working parents. Well today was the big day and from what I gather, he had the floor all to himself. This afternoon when he called home to say he had to attend a dinner tonight (no, of course I'm not drooling on the keyboard just thinking about how he's eating grown up people food and I'm not), he was telling me some of what he discussed. He talked about my reasons for quitting my job... Did you tell them I had a great job??, I interrupted? He talked about finding a balance and keeping the lines of communication open. He told them how I was the CFO and he's never paid a bill or has any knowledge of what they are each month, including the mortgage. He said that one got a lot of gasps but really people - isn't it more harmonious when the husbands don't see how much you spent on your hair last week or ask if someone stole your credit card and ran it up at Gap Kids?
I like to think it is. He also talked about his special time with the kids - spending QT with Emma in the morning when she's watching cartoons; Saturdays with Ryan going to breakfast, the dry cleaner and The Man Store. Some of you might know it as Home Depot. So in light of today's discussion, I thought I'd post a picture from last night when I bolted out the door after dinner and left him with 2 tired kids, a Gingerbread house and a lot of sugar! From the looks of it they did a great job and had a great time!

Countdown to Christmas!

While we were relaxing in the Mountains, it seems the rest of the world (well, "our" world) was busy preparing for Christmas. We came home to a Winter Wonderland... the neighborhood was aglow with lights and wreaths and decorations, oh my! We had a week filled with Dr. appointments and then I managed to come down with the flu so it set us back a bit, but we've finally started our journey towards Christmas.

The first decoration up was the Advent calendar/house and it was only 3 days late! But the kids sure had fun opening the first 3 doors of December and have looked forward to their little treats each day since. Emma asks "Mom, what day is it?" I reply with the correct day of the week, as in Monday, and she yells back "NO! What number!"

Then this weekend, it was time to get the tree. Typically we are never this early and it's the kids and I running down to the local tree lot in the middle of the day to pick one out. This year we opted for something a little more in the Christmas Spirit. We went locally to cut our own and had a great time! We enjoyed a hayride to get the tree and found ourselves a good one! After the hayride back we stayed warm with hot cider and had fun roasting marshmallows.

BRRRRRR! Getting ready for the hayride

Daddy led us down many a path looking for the perfect tree

Ryan found HIS perfect tree!

We got one!!!

Back at the farm, roasting marshmallows and drinking hot cider, mmmm!

Anyone know when this thing is done??

Yummy!

How Cool is This?

The Bear Climbed Over the Mountain

Well, the bear might not have but we sure did! This year we packed up the car and headed to the Pocono's with Byron's family to celebrate Thanksgiving. Jay and Jen had all of us up at their mountain house and we had a great time! It was fun being away and there was even snow on the ground when we arrived - think the kids were excited? We celebrated Ryan's birthday, had a yummy Thanksgiving meal, tried our hand at Black Friday Outlet shopping (twice), went snow tubing and just relaxed. It was a great get-away - thanks guys for having us!

Ryan and his Snowman

I let them go out and play a bunch of times, just making them promise to stay close to the house. Then Jen came up and told me to watch out for bears... not sure why that thought never occurred to me but they didn't go out much after that!

The 3rd Football cake

Emma sportin' her new do after Aunt Jen braided her hair

And posing with Uncle Jay

The midnight shoppers, minus Eric was was either too cool to get in the picture or didn't want to admit he was going shopping with 6 girls!

Poor Tyler... with 2 sisters, he doesn't stand a chance!

The snow tubers... sadly I wasn't allowed in to get a good shot at the action and my camera is as old as Ryan and doesn't zoom that far.