New Year's Eve

We had a great time New Year's Eve. We went to our good friend/neighbor' house (our backyards back up to each other) so it was so nice to not have to worry about driving or who is out on the roads who shouldn't be driving. Ryan went to bed as soon as we got there so he slept through the New Year but all of the kids stayed up and played and had a great time while the adults hung out and had a great time too! Simple but fun, just like we like it!

The main characters!

Holiday Fest - The Beach Waterpark

We decided to meet Kirk's step-sister, husband, and her step-sister down at The Beach Waterpark in Cincinnati. We also took my mom, and our good friends(neighbors), The Humphreys went with us. We had enough people to get $5 tickets so it was well worth it, I would say. We got to paddleboat in the lazy river, ride sleds down a few of the steep water slides, feed a calf a bottle, see a great train display, ride ponies and carousels - what more could we ask for? And I got a hot cocoa with kahlua-3 more would have been nice! We had a great time!

Uncle Josh, Bradley, and Maddie
Amy, myself, Chloe and Morgan

Bradley mesmerized by the train display - he had a HARD time leaving!
Morgan feeding the calf
Ryan - snug and toasty
Mommy and Morgan sledding down the waterslide
daddy and Bradley on the paddleboats -no fair! They are not paddling!

Christmas Day

Finally here! Christmas day! Did Santa come?! Of course he does, even though they are warned continuously through December that he may not b/c of their arguing, not helping me out, etc, etc! So here are a few of our memories!

Grandpa Frank came over in the afternoon and was playing with Bradley

Nanny Cherry(still looks a little sleepy-eyed)-that applies to both of them! Morgan running around the corner to see what Santa brought- hence, the blurriness
Christmas morning loot, still undisturbed
Nanny having a break with her grandbabies!
too cute to not post!
also, too cute, Uncle Kevin being silly

Christmas Eve

For the past 5 years or so, we have been hosting my mom's family to Christmas Eve. I love having it at our house b/c the kids can go right to bed when everyone leaves. Morgan is always nervous that she won't get to bed in time and Santa won't stop but I always assure her he will wait until she's fast asleep. It's a nice tradition that I hope to keep for a long time!

Uncle Kevin and Morgan playing with Bradley's gift
Ryan in his cute little Christmas jammies
Ryan and his GREAT-grandma(my grandma!)

Zanesville Christmas

We went to Zanesville for Kirk's family Christmas gathering at his dad's house. We were joined by his step-brother and wife who just had twins about 7 weeks ago and they are adorable! They were preemies, Reese weighing in just under 3lbs at birth and Avery was around 5lbs. They are precious and still tiny and I loved holding them! Reese is still only around 5lbs being much smaller than any of mine were, even at birth. We are expecting another cousin in March because his step-sister and husband are having one so our kids will finally not be the ONLY children at our gatherings - yeah!

Ryan and Kirk
Reese(on left) and Avery(rt) -Reese looks bigger just because Avery is all balled up!
Me and a few of my "babies"
Reese
Avery

Ryan is mastering the bottle

Along with his other accomplishments, Ryan is starting to master the bottle which makes life a lot easier - he just doesn't understand that when he is more upright, he needs to tilt it so he is only good at it when he lays flat on the floor - little more practice and he can be feeding himself while we run errands!

Bradley's School Pageant

Well, we weren't sure Bradley would even go up on the stage if he saw us but he did. Can't say he was too focused as you will see by the pictures by good friend took of him. What more can you ask of a bored 3-yr old? Not much!

Ryan is moving!

Well, we know he's not crawling yet but he sure manages to move himself around when he's on the floor (he rolls, then scooches(I know, not a real word) and before you know it he's covered some distance. In the picture, we actually started him on the center of the blanket and then look how proud he is of himself for being mobile!

Visiting Santa

We went to a local mall, Towne and Country, very small and off the beaten path but it's always the Santa we see each year and he is as real as it gets! Bradley stayed behind Kirk's leg peeking and telling Santa he just wants a new train, and Morgan went right up to his lap and started running through her list - no shyness with her! Ryan just stared and stared but didn't get upset to sit on his lap. We talked Bradley into standing next to them or he wouldn't get a prize from Santa - love bribery!

Annual Christmas Pictures

Well, here we are trying for the "money shots" - you know, those fun times, trying to get 3-5 subjects to cooperate and look the same way. My goal was for my own scrapbooking at home, already had the family Christmas card made with some fall pictures so less pressure! It went much better than I thought and the kids even had fun doing it. So.....one year checked off with many more to come!

Favorite Daytona Beach Pictures

Well, we made it to Daytona with our sanity in place. The kids couldn't have done much better on the ride down except for Bradley and his "puking" for lack of better words about 2 hours into trip. Did that twice, fell asleep and was fine so we contributed it to car sickness. My mom and Kirk's mom both joined us which was wonderful! Weather was beautiful, no rain, lots of sunshine and pooltime - Morgan and Kirk were even in the ocean but too cold for my tootsies! I felt like I was developing allergies as we drove into Daytona and by that eve, couldn't even breathe thru my nose, my head was so full of pressure, I thought I would go crazy and my ears wouldn't unpop! By Tuesday night, gave up and went to Urgent Care so I wouldn't have to drive home in this condition so I was feeling better and had a good Thanksgiving day by the pool and putt-putt golf with the kids. Return trip was sooooo long with so much traffic and Ryan developed a fever Friday eve before leaving and had it on and off for the weekend so we stayed overnight in Knoxville- we were hoping to make it all the way home but was too much to ask of the kids. Took Ryan to doctor today and he has a double ear infection so basically we have had a sick household for quite awhile, considering Bradley was being treated for croup when we headed south! All in all, it was great, I pushed through for the most part and we love our nannies!!! It couldn't have been so enjoyable without them and their help!

Reading Buddies

I was sorting laundry in my room and went to put some stuff in Morgan's closet and by the time I came back, she had set up a little reading area for her doll and her baby brother - it cracked me up so I snuck down and got my camera before she realized I had seen her set-up! Too cute and sorry Ryan!

Oct. 31, 2008

Today was officially halloween, however trick or treat was last night. Tonight, we went to our neighbor's house for a fun party. There was even a donut eating contest! (and a big projector showing a movie outside on a screen) We all had lots of fun! Kids were included too!

Jim & Amy
Kirk & I
me & Ryan

Hip Hop star - Morgan!

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Oct.30, 2008

Tonight was trick-or-treat in our area. The kids were very excited. Bradley was a dragon, Morgan had a case of chicken pox and Ryan was a skunk. They all looked so cute! Morgan went out with the "big" girls, including herself, Ruthie and Chloe(all the same age), along with Chloe's big sister and her friends and the dads got that group - they cover a LOT of area! Uncle Josh and Aunt Jenny came up from Covington KY to hang out and see the kids- we are so lucky to have them close enough to share things with us. Aunt Jenny, myself, and Nanny Cherry had the boys on a short route and Papaw and his wife, Barbara passed out candy while we were away. We had so many trick-or-treaters - a great neighborhood to be in! So much so that cars were driving in and parking alongside the streets and getting kids out to trick-or-treat - kinda odd but out of our control!

Uncle Josh with Ryan Aunt Jenny and Bradley
Bradley trick-or-treating
Ruthie & Morgan
The dragon, the skunk and chicken pox girl oh no! didn't they get vaccinated?!(and lovely bedhead!)