The Worm and The Pear: December 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Best Friends and Basketball

My dear friend Lauri and I haven't lived in the same city since we were new college graduates living the young and single life in C-bus about 15 years ago (yikes!). Since then, there have been two marriages, four births, about 10 moves, career changes, etc., etc. We still talk/text/message several times a week, communication I absolutely NEED to survive, haha. She is awesome and I was so happy to see her and her adorable family when they were in town earlier this week.

I also got to meet this guy. Nick, you are a heart stealer, that's for sure!

Taylor and her godmother, Lauri. Oh Taylor is just in love with Lauri. She has good taste. :)

Taylor, Tony and Tony's ridiculously gorgeous eyelashes. These two hit it off years ago and just picked up right away. Taylor has a way with the younger men. :)

Michael with his new Chipmunks sticker book from Scott and Lauri.

Nick had fun attacking various Christmas toys. It was hilarious!!

Oh my gosh, I've missed her so much! Love you, Lauri!

Looking at all of these updates (which don't even include a play date for Taylor, trying out Monster Trucks and other new outdoor toys in this awesome, mild weather, etc.) makes me realize that we've had a really busy break! The Hurricane have also been at it, winning the Clinton County Tournament for the seventh year in a row. Such a great group of young men. I'm proud of them, my hubby and all of the teams in past years who set the bar high. They get a few days off and will be back at it on Tuesday.

Seven-peat!

Have a Happy New Year!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Christmas in the 'Burg

Let me start off by saying that I was horrible about taking pictures in Pittsburgh this year! I was so busy visiting with the relatives I only see about twice a year, that I didn't even think to get my camera out much. As always, we had a great time. I come from a small family and Mike's is the opposite. Lots of wonderful aunts, uncles and cousins! It was also great seeing my mother-in-law, father-in-law and their spouses.

Michael playing with Zeyde Rich.

More presents!

The kids with Gpa N.

Benny.

Taylor and Michael with their great-aunt Linda. What a wonderful and loving woman!

And, more presents!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Christmas Morning

As I mentioned in my previous post, the kids are at a wonderful age for enjoying Christmas. They are old enough to understand the true meaning, can handle a little lack of sleep that comes with the holidays and are still young enough to embrace the "magic." We always spend Christmas morning at home, just the four of us (sorry Champy, five).

All ready to be ripped into!

Santa tries not to go crazy with gifts. A few games to share, and a few other presents each.

Taylor's favorite gift - bunk beds for her American Girl doll. (And note to parents: the Target AG knockoff line of doll furniture and clothes is adorable and costs about 1/3 of AG stuff.)

Michael's favorite gift - Football Guys. The set comes with 11 players for each team (and one team just happened to be black and gold), a referee, field and goal posts. The guys are kind of like army men. There are no batteries, lights, sounds or the like. It's all about imagination! It's the perfect gift for Michael because he stages imaginary football games all day long, every day. He uses crayons, stuffed animals, magnets, game pieces, anything.

Yep, he likes them!

Taylor with her new Monopoly DS game.

Annual Taylor/Mommy Christmas morning picture.

The boys.

Awwwwww

After cinnamon rolls, about an hour to play and a change of clothes, it was off to Pittsburgh!

Annual road trip car pictures:

Not amused, haha.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Pre-Christmas Fun!

Getting ready for Christmas this year was a lot of fun because the kids are at perfect ages to really soak it all in. We watched all of the Christmas shows, decorated together, drove around looking at Christmas lights, visited the nearby manger scene, etc., etc. Taylor didn't get out of school until December 22, but I still felt like we had time for lots of the fun stuff this year.

Michael and I visited Taylor's school on the last day for her "Writer's Celebration." Taylor loves to write and comes up with a new story, journal entry, play or something every day. It warms this writer's heart to see my little girl have the same love for writing.

One of Taylor's buddies.

That's Noah, one of Taylor's besties. They've gone to the same babysitter since they were babies and are now in the same class! Michael thinks Noah is pretty cool, too. :) The woman on the far left is Taylor's teacher, Mrs. Walker. She is wonderful!

Funny self portrait of the Pear and I. I'm wearing my cheesy snowflake sweater. I've had it for eight years and wear it at least once every Christmas season (usually to Taylor's school but kids seem to like it).

Taylor is a big fan of the show Cake Boss, so I thought it would be fun to decorate a gingerbread house this year instead of making cookies. Taylor told me it was "one of the funnest things she's every done." Michael showed zero interest (other than eating the candy). He is like his dad and not at all into crafty stuff. He'll sometimes paint or color, but always ends up turning the crayons into football players and staging a game.

I put on most of the icing, but Taylor did the decorating. Impressive!

Our plan on Christmas Eve was to go to mass then have my mom over for dinner and gifts. As we all know, things don't always go as planned. My mom ended up in the hospital with pneumonia! She is home and doing great now, but the poor thing had to be there over Christmas. I loaded up a few gifts, some semi-warm lasagna, salad and a pretty Christmas plate and glass and we celebrated Christmas Eve with her in the hospital. My brother and his four kids were there too. It was pretty insane, but I think everyone had a great time.

Cuties before mass.

Merry Christmas, Grandma! We love you!

Random picture of our tree that I just realized was at the end of my post. I'm too lazy to put it somewhere that actually makes sense.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Card Photo Out-takes

Last year, I pulled one of the smartest moves in my 30+ years and used a previously taken professional photo of the kids on our Christmas cards. I guess a year off from trying to stage a good shot allowed me to forget the pain and suffering involved when trying to get two young children to cooperate for a picture. They were two years older now, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

Wrong!

I love the picture we ended up with, but it wasn't easy getting there. Michael, ohhhhh Michael. Fidgeting, funny faces Michael. Taylor had her whiny moments, too, but usually turned on the smile, albeit fake in many pictures, at crunch time. I gave up after about 30 shots (as in pictures, not alcohol, which could have made it all a little less painful). The winning picture came many hours later after the kids took mercy on me.

I now present you with a small fraction of the out-takes:

My personal favorite.

Self-timer snafu. The attempt at a family shot lasted three frames before Mike - who has less patience than either of the kids - said bag this.

And the winner is:

Merry Christmas!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

The Pear is 4!

Whoa - my little boy is 4! I've got to tell you, this kid is hilarious. His facial expressions and matter-of-fact statements keep me quite entertained these days. I love our mommy/Michael time together during the week. He's really growing up on me!

I haven't done Pear stats in a long time, but I think I will this year. Here goes:

Height: He hasn't been to the doctor yet, but I think he's around 42"
Weight: Total guess here, too. 36 pounds?
Clothing Size: 5T or 4/5 big boy
Favorite Food: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches - just like his mommy when she was growing up! As a matter of fact, we still both eat them every day for lunch. :)
Favorite Drink: Milk
Favorite Toy: He loves to play pretend football with anything and everything - his animals, magnets from the refrigerator, crayons, etc. He also loves to play with the marble set, Legos, trains and basketball
Favorite Movie: Chipmunks "Chipwrecked"

Michael had quite a birthday weekend. On Friday, we skipped Daddy's game (a thrilling win at the buzzer at Kings!) to see the new Chipwrecked movie on opening night. Both kids loved it!

Michael, of course, loves Alvin.

Michael and Taylor before he opened presents from us.

Michael saw this penguin toy on TV and kept telling me he wanted the "Penguin Hooof Thing". I had no idea what he was talking about. From his gestures, I could tell it was something that spit out balls, so I Googled "Penguin Ball Mouth Shooter" and found it! He was thrilled!

He'd shoot them and Taylor would try and catch them.

You can imagine how this turned out. He shot himself in the noggin several times, but the balls are just Nerf and don't hurt.

My BIG boy and I! (And Champ, of course, who never leaves my side.)

Saturday was the big party. He was on cloud nine seeing so many family and friends. We love getting together with the people we love to show this sweet guy how much he means to us!