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!