Christmas 2009

I think I've recovered enough from our whirlwird weekend to finally blog about Christmas. Once again, I feel so lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. It was so nice being around family, extended family and friends! We don't get to see everyone as much as we would like, so Christmas time makes all of the driving and hectic running around worth it.

We went to Christmas Eve mass after the Pear's nap and then headed straight to my dad's house for dinner. Gotta' give props to Pops - he single-handedly prepared a ham and turkey breast (to accommodate his high-maintenance princess who doesn't eat ham), as well as side dishes. I don't like most meat on the bone (just typing that makes me shudder), but the turkey was delicious! After dinner, exchanging of presents and visiting with my parents, brother and his family, we were off to prepare for Santa.

My nephew, Jacob, and my mom. He's only 12 and taller than G-ma now!

G-ma with the Worm and the Pear.

Four of the cousins. The oldest (Jacob) and youngest (Michael) were off doing other things.

Pops, posing with the crew in his favorite flowered chair.

All looking at the camera and smiling. Whoo-hoo!

My Christmas cuties.

The kids were pretty pooped from Christmas Eve (little did they know how much we were going to drag them around over the next few days) and I actually got a workout in before waking them up Christmas morning. Once they saw the loads of presents, the excitement set in. I think Santa did well this year, without going overboard.

An excited Christmas Pear.

My annual no-makeup, pose with the Worm, Christmas morning self portrait.

Michael digs the Elmo tent!

Yes, even Champy was spoiled.

She was so wound up!

Daddy assisting the Pear.

Like I mentioned above, the Pear was not ready to wake up!

Next, we cleaned up, packed up and were off to Pittsburgh. We headed straight for Aunt Linda's house for the annual Christmas dinner/gathering. Mike's dad's family is huge and I'm serious when I say that I adore every one of them. Such fun, nice people! The house is huge and the countless kids have fun running around and exploring. Michael spent most of his time playing basketball with his awesome cousin Matt (I swear, my kid has a radar that allows him to immediately seek out any teenage/pre-teen male in the room) and Taylor buddied up with her aunts and Benny, Linda's dog.

Aunt Diane and Emily.

Some of the cousins (and Benny, too).

Aunt Diane and Ryan.

Aunt Linda, Aunt Ginny, Frank, Aunt Nancy and Taylor

Rich, Pat, Taylor and G-ma Marilyn

G-Pa, Michael and Suthie

Michael playing "shootball" with Matt (Ray is looking on). They were buddies.

Noreen and Ellie wrapping and rapping.

Uncle Jeff and Brittany

Mike

Stan and Suthie

Aunt Linda and Michael. All of the kids love their Aunt Linny!

Matt and Michael. We needed Matt the next night when the Pear was a little crabby.

Aunt Amy, Mike, Lauren, Cassidy and Steve

Our family hanging out in the house where G-pa N grew up. Pretty cool!

We spent the next at G-ma N's house, which was beautifully decorated for the holidays. My mother-in-law is an artist and always comes up with unique and breathtaking displays. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the Christmas forest she created in her living room. It was enormous and the kids loved it!

Michael checking out his Tickle Me Elmo hands.

Always smiling.

After breakfast Saturday morning, we checked into our hotel for a little rest and relaxation. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and I highly recommend it. We had a separate bedroom area in our room (such a key when you have young kids) and very much enjoyed the heated indoor pool. The kids could have stayed in there for hours! No pictures because I was playing, too. :) We headed back to Marilyn's for a delish roast beef/chicken dinner and to visit with our niece Kayla and Mike's siblings. We were all pretty tired by this point, but still had so much fun.

Pretty Kayla and the Worm.

Taylor has always had a special bond with her Aunt Katy.

Once we got back home, it was like Christmas all over again! The kids didn't have a chance to tear into everything before we left, so we spent all night Sunday and all day Monday playing!

Taylor's marble race track is really cool!

The Pear, modeling new snow boots.

I walked in the living room and had to get a picture of this. Check out what they're playing with!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Christmas Friends & Family

Expect a big Christmas post after this weekend, but I wanted to take a quick moment to wish all of my lovely family and friends a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for making my days brighter and my worries lighter. We're headed to mass and Cincy tomorrow, Christmas morning at home and then Pittsburgh for the weekend. Can't wait!


Remember the Christmas card outtakes? Here's the final picture I used (I cropped it a little and fixed the color some in a different version on Shutterfly, but I'm too lazy to go find it.). I also realized today that I missed some of the usuals on my Christmas card list. Gah!! Sorry! A whole page was missing. I've been such a ditz the last few weeks - running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

I had a really fun weekend. My friends Corey and Rob - my brothers in the Evans Scholars house at Ohio State - came down Saturday and went to Mike's game against Dunbar with the kids and I. The 'Cane lost, but we had fun. Came back to the house after the game and had a few cold ones while talking about the old days. The Scholar house was such a great place - I miss being able to walk 100 feet and see my friends (and without even changing out of my PJs!).

My boy-eezzz.

Sunday, my dear friend Joanna came to visit. We always have such a good time and just talk and talk. Back in our single days, Joanna and I would get so annoyed when gentlemen callers would interrupt our sometimes deep, sometimes silly conversations at any Mount Adams establishment. The kids love her just as much as me.



Jeanne, Popo Mahoney, the Worm and the Pear. Funny stories behind all of those names. :)

Joanna brought presents. The kids were waaaay excited.

This picture makes me laugh. The look on Champy's face is classic.

We also had our first snow of the season. We bundled up (yeah, that is so not fun x3) and headed out. It was perfect snowman snow! The kids had a blast and cried when I made them come in almost two hours later.

Patton the Snowman...

Michael looks like the kid from "A Christmas Story". He refuses to wear a hat, so he has to endure the hood.

I have got to get some sleep! Presents are wrapped and we're ready to go. Hopefully tomorrow will be a fun, stress-free day!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Pear Stats - 2 Years

In about another 90 minutes, my darling little boy turns 2! Hard to believe that the Pear is already/only 2 years old. He's such a blessing in my life. Able to charm an entire room, incite laughter from the grouchiest of souls and send the masses into hiding when things aren't just right in Pear world. Michael is happy, cute, loud, smart, funny, loud, physical, stubborn, loud, sweet and well, loud. No doubt that he's inherited the coach's voice. Sometimes he can really get my blood boiling, but the little stinker already knows that all it takes is one of his little crinkly-eye smiles and I'm mush. We're having a lot of fun these days.

Michael had his 2-year well check today. Here goes:

Height: 36" (90th percentile)
Weight: 29 lbs. 2 oz. (50th percentile)
Teeth: 19 1/2; Can I get an "hallelujah"?
Diaper Size: 5
Clothing Size: 18 month pants still fit his waist (actually a little baggy), but are becoming a little floodish; 2T or 3T in tops - he's long waisted
Shoe Size: 7 1/2, 8 or 8 1/2, depending on the shoe
Recent Milestones: Talks in three-word or more sentences; jumps off both feet (as opposed to skip jumping); sings (soooo cute)
Favorite Toys: Teddy Bear Blanket, blocks, Elmo doll, Fisher Price Garage
Favorite Foods: spaghetti, chicken noodle soup, peanut butter, pears, applesauce, McDonald's fries and chicken nuggets (sparingly), apple slices. Notice the lack o' veggies?
Favorite Drinks: All milk, all of the time.

Click here to compare stats from last December. He's growing up **sniff**!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

My Boy Likes to Party All the Time

The Pear's much anticipated 2nd birthday party has come and gone. Taylor has been planning this thing for weeks. It made this Type A mom just glow watching her walk around making lists and mapping out where decorations should go. She was determined that her little bro have a fun day.



I got up at 6:30 to finish decorating two dozens Elmo cupcakes. I'm not a cupcake master like my friend Lauri, but they did turn out pretty cute. A few Elmos look a little drunk and others may have suffered a stroke, but nothing the Pear noticed. He was thrilled with them!





Blowing out his candles. He's been practicing the "phewing" all week.

Tasty, too!

The Worm agrees!

So cute.

I decorated before Michael woke up, so he'd be surprised when he came downstairs. He loves Elmo, so it was a no-brainer what kind of decorations we'd use. We all also wore red - Michael's favorite color (undoubtedly because of the E-man).

Yes, we all match. Isn't that special?

That was not planned! Mike's players always watch film at our house on Saturday mornings. One player (and one of our favorites), Nyles, was sporting an Elmo shirt, too. Michael didn't want him to leave!

The Pear was spoiled with lots of cool presents - Little People (the Fisher Price toys, not dwarves), Elmo stuff, blocks, big doggies. A nice prelude to Christmas.

Tay-Tay hugging Michael after giving him an Elmo book.

He played with this garage for hours.

Taylor testing out the Pear's new plane.

Some more party pictures. Blogger is driving me insane, so I'm going to group them all down here.

Michael was sitting under our Christmas kissing ball. She couldn't resist.

My handsome little man.

Climbing on G-Pa.

The Pear was very pose-y on Saturday. Where was that when I was trying to take that Christmas card picture???

G-ma T and G-ma N. They look far too fine to be grandmothers. :)




Mike with his Mommy.

Mike giving Michael a "fireball". Michael stands in front of him, and Mike flips him completely over his head and down his back. If he had done this to Taylor at 2, I think she and I would've both had heart attacks! Michael loves it, as you can see.

Alright back to Christmas crafts and baking. Just call me Martha.



Until next time,



Mommy Kel