December Recap

It's been a crazy and hectic month, as I'm sure most of you will agree with. We had lots going on and places to go, people to see. On the 15th we got together at Aunt Janet's mom's house (Hi Mrs. Callan!) to bake Christmas Cookies and had lots of fun - thank you! Emma was a good cookie baker but Ryan was home playing (shhh, he thought we were doing 'errands'). Then the next day we celebrated Daddy's birthday. If you ask Emma, she says he is 24. In Daddy's Dreams! We also saw Santa ride through the neighborhood on a Fire Truck... lot's of excitement and thankfully all before the tow truck showed up to haul my Explorer away. Whose transmission dies 2 weeks before Christmas? Yours Truly. 'Merry Christmas Kids... Santa brought you a new tranny!' Just enough stress to put me teetering on the brink, but not enough to push me all the way over. Good times.

The Christmas Show

Last weekend, Ryan had his school Christmas Show. The entire school opened the show with God Bless America - so cute! Then each classroom sang their individual songs. Ry's class, the oldest, was last and they did a great job. Ryan was a camel and from the looks of things, we kept him up a bit too late the night before because he yawned more than he sang. But he did a great job and tried his best. For the conclusion, the whole school got back on the altar and sang as a group to end the show. This is the part I somehow missed (filming from the middle of the Church)... Emma hands Byron her sippy cup and candy and says "Hold this Daddy, I'll be right back." Then she marches up onto the alter, places herself in line and starts singing and copying what the other kids are doing. Clearly it did not matter if she was part of the show or not - she wanted to be and that's all there was to it! There are many ways of describing Emma... shy is not one of them.

In case you're wondering, we like our tree's leaning to the ground!! Check out the handsome kid in front!

Emma tried her best to be inconspicuous... she didn't want to draw attention to herself.

Ryan is the 'Camel'... kid in yellow on the end!

Emma looks like she knows she shouldn't be there but just doesn't care. You can almost hear the 'Ha, Ha!'

And here she is following right along... Ryan the Camel in the background. Poor kid.

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Later that day Pam, Jeff and Natalie came down and we celebrated Ryan's birthday (AGAIN). Byron cooked a yummy dinner and we all hung out and relaxed a bit. Mom-Mom & Pop-Pop brought the kids special bears that read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' and Emma really loves it!

This boy is serious about his cake!

Even Baby Natalie is fascinated by the story-telling bear.

Ryan's cool Pirate Sweater. He got so many great gifts - thank you everyone!

Say Cheese!!!

Or say peanut butter or sassafras or stinkbug. Say jeepers or creepers or Poop Deck Pappy! Say anything just SMILE while you are doing it please!!! Why, oh why is it nearly impossible to get a good picture of 2 children at the same time? Why do they squint their eyes and look up at the ceiling - the camera is not up there!!! Here's a few samples of our Christmas Card photo sessions 1 & 2. Not all are bad - some are cute but not what I was hoping for. Cards are going out this weekend and this year there are 2 versions... have you been naughty or nice???

Not bad, but hard to tell Ryan has eyes in this one! But it is one of his best smiles.
Cute but not the look I was going for.

Note to self... invest in Photoshop before next Christmas rolls around.

Sometimes ya gotta just give in and accept defeat!

MIC...KEY...

...M.O.U.S.E. And this ain't Disney, folks!

Seems the little fella got into the trash can (where I forgot to replace the bag) and can't get out. Good thing there's plenty of goldfish down there to keep him fat and happy until 2008. Must remember to thank child/ren for trapping rodent in a humane way... I usually prefer to snap their little necks in a trap. Guess Mickey will be joining us on the ride to get Ryan from school... I know a little field where I can drop him off. I'm putting a cat on my Christmas list this year.

The Fortune Teller

We visited with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop this weekend and had yummy Chinese takeout for dinner, mmmmm! I've previously mentioned what my two carnivores can do to a Chinese spare rib - Emma even tries to eat the ends and the gristle, ugh! So Emma opens her fortune cookie and Pop-Pop starts laughing. For those of you who know our sweet Chatty Cathy, you will find this amusing... 'Today, your mouth might be moving but no one is listening.'

It's as if the man stuffing fortunes had her picture next to him and was smiling lovingly saying, 'Emma, this one's for YOU!'

A First

Tonight is Ryan's first sleepover. It is the first time he is staying away from home with someone other than immediate family. He is staying at his friend Nick's house, where he has been playing pretty much all day. Nick's mom even took them to an indoor sports place to burn off some energy (sure was cold out today) - she is a Saint! They talked about a sleepover and were going to do a 'mock' sleepover, where Ryan would come home after movies and popcorn. But turns out he wanted to stay. Thankfully Nick lives just across the street and in the event that he gets a little homesick at 3AM, I'll only have to run about 50 feet to get him. I'm hoping he'll sleep great - he's been playing hard all day and I gave him benadryl tonight in case he has an allergic reaction to the cat. I was able to decorate inside and get ready for the tree sometime this week. But it's 12:32 AM and I'm still awake. This sleepover stuff sure is hard.

Happy Birthday Ryan Michael!

Today my baby boy turns 5!!!! It's hard to imagine him as that teeny, colicky peanut who came into the world just 5 years ago. He's still pretty small and he's still very loud so I guess not much changes! We got donuts for breakfast and he picked Chick-fil-A for lunch and then we will have dinner and open presents when daddy gets home. Here's a picture of him today and the pirate scene he made in his new sandbox (thanks Andrew & Brendan)!

** Update... Ry changed his mind and we ate lunch at Nifty Fifty's instead. After yummy hot dogs, fries and a milkshake, our waitress surprised us all by bringing Ryan a special sundae and announcing his birthday to the entire place and having them all sing to him! I wish I had a camera because he was so proud at that moment! Then after dinner tonight he opened his presents... a big Power Ranger from Emma and the Home Alone DVD, a huge dump truck and the Black and Decker work bench from Mommy and Daddy. He even made a sign for it that says 'We're Closed', with Daddy's help, for when he isn't working. And he answers the play phone with 'Hello, this is Ryan's Workshop dot com!' I think maybe we are on the computer a bit too much....

5th Birthday Party

Ryan had his friends party yesterday at a local Moon Bounce place, Jumpers. I think everyone had a great time and because it was the end of the holiday weekend, we were practically the only people there. The kids had the run of the place and were exhausted from jumping! Even the littlest jumpers had a great time. When we were leaving we heard him say 'this was the best day of my whole life!' so I would call the party a success!

Her face looks like she's terrified, but Emma had a great time and really kept up with the older boys!

Jack needed a little extra encouragement to go down the slide...

His red eyes are glowing but the reduction made him look like a zombie so I kept him looking like the little Devil we know and love!

Ally did a great job being the only girl, aside from Emmy, and hung tough with the boys!

Just before blowing out the candles... it's hard to see but his cake is actually made out of 24 cupcakes!

Welcome Baby Roman

This weekend we went to visit the D'Eletto's and meet the newest member of their family, Roman Anthony. The kids had a lot of fun playing with Big Sister Kayla and we had a good time hanging out and catching up. They even had their tree up and decorated... impressive for having a week old baby!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday and long weekend! We had a great time at Michael and Loretta's house. They hosted 42 people and it was fabulous! Lots of fun with family and so many kids running around this year, plus lots of yummy food, mmmm! It was Natalie's first Thanksgiving as well as Mattie's, who came all the way from Maine to party with us. It was great seeing everyone and I think the Gillespie family wins the prize for longest travel - all the way from CA! Special shout out to Craig for an awesome job Directing a fabulous movie, Lars and the Real Girl.

My offspring are not very good at taking pictures... should make for an interesting holiday card this year.

Jeff and Natalie and Cris and Mattie

Michael carving 1 of the 3 turkeys we had, mmmmm!

Natalie loved going after Ozzy, the newest kitty cat

Girls Day Out

Last Sunday Emma, Mom and I had a Girls Day at Byers Choice. For those of you who do not recognize them, they make beautiful Carolers, most famous around the Holidays. We were supposed to have 'Tea with the Sugar Plum Fairy', but that was cancelled due to lack of interest - we may have been the only ones coming to tea, lol! We had a great time walking around and seeing the history and all of the many Carolers they have set up around the place. And of course, shopping in the gift shop afterwards!!

Emma posing in front of a display window. What a great setting for Holiday pictures... tried that once and almost came home with 2 less children. But that's another story...

They had a room filled with old fashioned dress-up clothes. Emma tried on almost every hat and then decided to play photographer.

She was delighted to see Santa. I think this year will be really fun with her because she 'gets it' way more than last year.

Emma declared that she wanted to get this bike for Ryan's Birthday. Always thinking of her big brother...

Some of the scenes with the Carolers - they were set up everywhere!

Skip to the loo...

... or if you are Emma, run! Look out people, EMMA IS POTTY TRAINED!!! Now for those of you following along, it's been a long journey but she is a girl and she is strong willed and she wanted to wait for November when I have to pull down a gazillion layers amongst cries of 'I have to go REALLY bad!' Why make things easy and use the potty in the summer when, say, we are wearing a light sundress? A long sweater, skirt and tights are much more interesting. But regardless, I am very happy that we seem to be at the end of the road. We are still wearing pull-ups for long excursions and certain occasions. Tomorrow she has dance class followed by her first trip to the dentist (stay tuned for what looks to be excellent blog material) and I just can't take that chance. I am not that brave. But next week, we plan to go panties all the way!

And since I now have a child whose entire body, it seems, must touch the toilet at some point, I am utterly disgusted at most public restrooms. And since she is following in the footsteps of Mr. I Need to Visit Every Potty on the Planet, we have 'been there, done that.' For whatever reason, Kohl's seems to have some crazy potty lure... 3 times in one (brief) trip. Yesterdays outing found us hanging out in the loo at locations such as Toys R Us, the Mall (twice) and Nordstrom (nice potty, btw). If you are out with us and suddenly we are missing, do not panic or call 911. Just find the closest bathroom and listen for the girl... you can't miss us!

PS... I can't wait for the first time she is out with Byron and needs to go and he has to take her into the mens room. He will never be the same again and Emma will use the word 'urinal' every chance she gets!

Glamour Girl

Yup, she's 2. And she dresses better than I do.

Trick or Treat

So I'm a bit late with the Halloween postings... forgive me, I have turned full swing into birthday and Christmas mode. I can't believe Thanksgiving and Ryan's birthday are only 2.5 weeks away!!! But back to Halloween... the kids had a great time and the weather once again, was pretty darn good. Byron took the kids the first shift while I stayed home and waited for 3 small groups to happen by. What a bummer - should have just put the bowl out so we could have gone together. Then we switched and I took the kids. We went around with our friends & neighbors, the Daly's, so that made it more fun! We had to drop Emma back off since I was carrying her by this point, and we set out on our 3rd trip. Needless to say we have quite the candy store in our house right now! And our treadmill is in need of service and inoperable... perfect timing! Doesn't stop me from grabbing that Twix bar before I head to bed tho....

Halloween Revisited

Ry had a great time at his school Halloween party last week, and as always, they were kind enough to treat Emma as 'one of the kids' and she participated in everything from parade to classroom party. Both kids had alot of fun and played cool games, including bobbing for apples for the first time ever! Too bad they don't have a form of hand sanitizer for the water....

Ryan with his classmates and teacher, Miss Terri. He is the Darth Vader with the mask on. Can anyone find Emma?

Ry with his 2 buds, Jack and Christopher.

Emma pinning the nose on the pumpkin... perfectly! Too bad she changed her mind and gave him a 3rd eye instead.

Ryan Bobbing for Apples... he was very determined!