2010 - It's A Wrap

And I'd better get onto 2011 soon or I'll never catch up! The time between Christmas and New Years didn't slow down much for us this year so we just kept on having fun and enjoying life to the fullest.

We couldn't squeeze in Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa C before Christmas this year so we opted to have it on the 26th. By this point in the season the kids weren't even getting out of their pajamas until after nap time but we just let it go and enjoyed the moment. Here's Ben catching a ride from Grandma C.


Christmas Dinner of sorts complete with our Christmas crackers. This year's variety was quite interesting. You never know what will come out of those things! I still love that Matt and I had crackers at our wedding, it was one of the highlights.


On the 27th we did a girls only Nutcracker evening. We took this picture when Kacey and Kayla came to pick up McKenzie and me. I do wish we had waited on the photo and got one with Aunt Renee onsite. Next year I'll have to plan better.

McKenzie and Kayla loved the Nutcracker since they have both been taking ballet lessons. Kayla, being 5, sat and watched the show quietly. Not McKenzie, she whispered loudly through the first half, 'What's going to happen?', 'Where's that big rat?' and on and on. At the intermission I talked with her about being quiet, she really took this to heart because when we got back to our seats and the show started the man behind us said something to his wife and she turned around and 'shushed' him with her little finger up to her lips. Horror... oh well at least it was excitement and not whining and crying. She also did not like that there were men there. She had been told it was 'girls only' - guess she didn't understand we meant only girls coming with us. We might take a year or two off from the Nutcracker and find something meant to be a little louder to do next year.


While we were out Ben got to finish setting up some of his Christmas gifts with Daddy.  Ben is loving the basketball hoop Auntie Anne got for him.


He also tried to get Daddy to let him Skype someone... anyone! Ben loves our weekend Skype sessions with Grandma and Grandpa C. I suspect he thinks they actually live in there just waiting to talk with him. He will actually hug the computer sometimes - it's too cute.


So on to 2011.  I'm looking forward to more adventures in parenting as we head into the new year.

He Knows If You've Been Bad or Good...

You just have to love technology.  Even while out and about on Christmas Eve, we were able to track Santa on his journey towards our house using the iPhone. We watched him all day as he went from place to place spreading Christmas cheer. At McKenzie's request we also kept quite a tab on the naughty and nice lists all day. I'm happy to report that both kids remained on the 'Nice List' and Santa paid a visit to our house. You can see McKenzie's name on Santa's Nice List below and she can even pick her name out on the list.


Ben on the other hand was hedging his bets, so he was multi tasking while working on his letter to Santa and was also Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa C. Why not butter up two potential sources of presents at the same time?


On Christmas Eve we went to Matt's Uncle Dick's house to enjoy the annual family party. The kids behaved themselves and had a great time with all the fun presents from the family. Here's McKenzie hugging all her loot with Grandma Z.


The funniest moment of the night I didn't get on camera. I guess our families love of bubble wrap has gotten a little out of hand. Someone opened a present with some bubble wrap in it and Ben went over and retrieved it from the wrapping paper piles. He was walking across the room back to his seat when Aunt Gail made a sudden move and he just clutched his bubble wrap tight and screamed 'Mine. Mine. Mine' at her. Poor Aunt Gail got quite a shock from this little guy who hadn't said much all night.

As the night started to wind down the three little ones climbed into Matt's lap to watch a movie on the iPad, reminding us all of those classic Christmas images of Dad's reading 'Twas The Night Before Christmas' to the kiddies.


After the kids were tucked safely in their beds Santa and his elves got busy getting ready for the big day. The stocking were hung by the chimney with care, at least until they became too full to safely hang.


When McKenzie woke up she was so excited to see if Santa had been there but she continued to be a very good girl and watched some Christmas cartoons upstairs while we waited for Ben to wake up. After half an hour we finally woke him up and headed downstairs.



McKenzie was very excited to receive a doll house, just what she had asked Santa for. Her biggest excitement on Christmas was finding three new colors of nail polish in her stocking.  That old Santa almost made her cry with happiness. She could not believe it - three colors!


Ben got a race car track and was very happy to have cars to drive up and down the ramps. So many things to move and play with.


After we opened our gifts at home we headed out to Grandma and Grandpa Z's house to meet up with the rest of the family. We opened gifts for a bit then when the kids needed a break we went to the basement to see the gift that Santa had delivered there for McKenzie and Ben. Their very own bounce house! It was great that the kids had a safe way to burn off their extra energy and it's super portable and sets up in no time flat.


Here are Ben and Grandma Z having some laughs in the kitchen. Ben is still big into sharing a good laugh over nothing.  I love those true baby years when the smallest thing is so much fun.



Ben was done with opening presents before we even got to Grandma and Grandpa Z's house. When we would tell him it was his turn to open a present he would just say 'Mo', which is NO in Ben speak, and then he'd make a run for it. For him the highlight of the day was Grandma letting him have the real phone so he could say 'Hel-row' over and over.


I think the best gift I received for Christmas this year was the 2 1/2 hour nap the kids took in the afternoon. It was a much needed break from the frenzy of fun. McKenzie is already counting down until next Christmas.

Good Old Fashioned Fun

When I was a kid we didn't have a lot of fancy toys that made noise, cartoons weren't on the television 24 x 7 and so we had to find our own fun with what we had. Sometimes I think that kids today don't have the chance to use their imagination enough since they always have things around to keep them occupied.

The week before Christmas the kids showed me that even though they do have lots of fun toys and movies around they still can use their imaginations and create fun for themselves out of the simpler things in life.

Bubble wrap that arrived almost daily with our online shopping deliveries was a huge hit at our house over the holidays. The kids loved to jump on it no matter if it was huge bags of air or the tiny bubbles.


I must put in a little side note here to tell my faithful readers that my online holiday shopping was a huge success. I received all my packages that I ordered before Christmas this year.  Even the last minute one I ordered on December 22nd. I guess if you spend enough money online you can earn some good shipping karma after all!

Ben also enjoyed playing in the various boxes we accumulated over the holidays. There really should be extra recycle pickups or something after Christmas so you can get rid of all the extras. We have a crazy pile of boxes that might be here all year at this rate. I guess Ben can enjoy them while they last.


McKenzie is also getting into pretending to be different people or things but this time she wasn't pretending to be anything.  She was just dressing up beautiful - or 'beau-ti-all' as she would say!


I hope they keep using their imaginations and finding the wonder in the simple things in life.  It will take them much further than any fancy toys or cartoons ever can.

Be Merry and Bright

Before having kids I would write an annual Christmas letter summing up our year and then I would somehow run out of time and never send it out. How I had no time is beyond me but once I had kids I knew that behavior had to change. I don't put together a letter anymore since I feel that my blog more than covers the year.  I do like to send out a great picture card of the kids.

The year McKenzie was born I created the perfect Christmas card showing her under the tree on a present, then showing her backside with pj's that said 'McKenzie's First Christmas' on the drop seat section. Loved that card. Then for year two with her I managed to get a decent shot of her holding some big Christmas lights looking so sweet. Then last year, with a 2 1/2 year old and an 11 month old who just learned to walk, I did not succeed in capturing the shot I was after.  But still a card was sent out. This year I knew I had to get some help if I was going to get my card back on track.

I turned to Caskey Design, owned by Jess Caskey a family friend, for help. She had several concept cards on her Etsy site and then I sent her a bunch of unedited pictures we had taken of the kids around the Christmas tree and fireplace. She was able to make our ordinary pictures extraordinary and exactly what I was looking for. Plus, it was so easy once we took the pictures all I had to do was login and pay for the cards, so much easier than figuring all the logistics out myself.

I love the uniqueness of the cards and how it captures the kids personalities but isn't a mug shot of them by the tree. The front image above of them at the fireplace reminded me so much of a picture that was taken of Grandpa C and his brothers and sister when they were kids. So sweet and innocent looking for Santa in the fireplace. Plus, a great shot to get for fidgety little ones who won't both smile a the same time. I had always loved that picture that my Grandma C had it framed above her fireplace with stockings at Christmas time. This year Aunt Renee loaned me the original kids looking in the fireplace picture and I love having it hanging in my house for Christmas.


Once I showed Grandma C my Christmas cards she wanted one with all the grandkids for her Christmas card so we did another quick photo shoot and then some editing and got her a great image for her Christmas letter.

Party People

This time of year we turn into whirling versions of ourselves rushing haphazardly from one event to the next hoping we remember to bring what we told the host we would bring. Last weekend was a blur of parties for us but as I look back on the weekend I do recall the smiling faces of my kiddos and it's all worth it.

Friday night was spent with McKenzie in a cooking frenzy that was beyond her wildest imagination and nearly tested the limits of how many dirty dishes our sink could hold. We made homemade pizza for dinner, followed by making and decorating sugar cookies.   In between baking the cookies we made two pans of Jello jigglers. McKenzie just kept say 'we made three things!'


Notice the Elf looking on as she decorates the cookies. We must make sure she does a good job for Santa. The elf moves around everyday to a new spot to watch from and happened to be right there for cookie making.


On Saturday we headed down south to Gig Harbor for our annual holiday party with my Mom's side of the family. We had a lot of fun, great food and a good gift exchange. Uncle Charlie added a new element this year and took people for a ride on his boat around the harbor. The kids loved the boat ride, a quick spin was just enough of an experience for them.

Cousin Nathan, Ben and cousin Kayla on the boat. Everything in the boat was 'Not for Ben', poor guy couldn't play with anything at all.


Despite the fact that his life jacket was clearly trying to end his life by popping his head off, Ben insisted on wearing the life jacket for an additional 20 minutes when we got back to the party. Gotta love letting little people have their way.


Ben, a perfect Christmas present for anyone who likes jog throughout the day. He was a man on the move at the parties this weekend, taking it up to a whole new energy level we haven't seen before.


Sunday before our Santa visit we went to Aunt Renee and Uncle Nick's house for another Christmas party complete with our traditional Christmas Crackers with prizes, jokes, and hats. Christmas crackers are one of my favorite childhood memories that resulted in one of my favorite things from our wedding. We had a great time and McKenzie woke up the next morning asking if we could please have another party at Aunt Renee and Uncle Nick's soon. Our kids are so lucky to have such a large group of loving family to grow up with.


Some of my favorite ladies all looking so beautiful in a picture together, Grandma C, Aunt Kacey and McKenzie.

Ben getting a snuggle from his Daddy, or maybe Daddy was just trying to keep him still for a moment. Either way pretty cute.


Almost all wrapped up for our set of whirlwind events for this weekend. Looking forward to more good old fashioned family Christmas fun!

I Wanna Meet Santa Claus, The Real Real Santa

This year's Santa visit was accompanied by a slew of questions from our sweet girl McKenzie. 'How come Santa was going to be here and not in the North Pole?', 'Was he bringing her present right now?', 'What was he doing here?!?'....   I love when little minds get going.

We headed out to our usual Santa picture location and were able to walk right up to visit Santa without any wait. That was a lot for McKenzie to take in all at once, so next year a strategic waiting period when we observe Santa and prepare ourselves for the visit is on the to do list. She did pretty good once she was able to sit on a box near Santa but she didn't want to sit on his lap at all. Ben took his cues from his sister and decided if she wasn't sitting on this guys lap then neither was he. The good picture people knew all the tricks and they had me sit on a seat next to Santa and have Ben up on my lap next to Santa. It did the trick but it also caused Ben to look quite like a tiny elf compared to Kenzie who is normal sized in the front of the picture. Still it's a keeper. I love looking back at the pictures and seeing them grow and change from year to year.

Here's our 2010 Santa picture - McKenzie 3 1/2, Ben 22 months

Pictures from Christmas past.

2009 - McKenzie 2 1/2, Ben's First Christmas 10 months old.


2008 - McKenzie, 1 1/2 years old, not talking to this guy.


2007 - McKenzie's First Christmas, six months old. Santa and Kenzie both have rosy cheeks!



We also paid a visit to the giant holiday bear located near Santa. Ben's face when he first saw the bear was priceless. Absolutely no fear just a need to get closer and check this guy out.

Ben wanting to jump off of the three foot box the bear was sitting up on.


Sweet Kenzie smiling with the bear. I'm surprise she wasn't giving him a big hug.


Cousin Claire Bear, 2 1/2, looking so cute with the bear.

It's A Fine Line

There has been a big buzz this holiday season about The Elf On The Shelf which is a kids Christmas book that comes with a cute little elf. The story explains how the elf watches you all day and then returns to the North Pole at night to report back to Santa if you've been naughty or nice. He moves around each morning so you really know he's watching.

The kids are just opening up our book and elf here, not having read the book we didn't know we weren't support to touch the elf or else his magic would wear off. We apologized and told him to tell Santa we were sorry.  You're suppose to name your elf and McKenzie decided we would call him Mr. Owl.



I love the idea of adding this little guy to our families holiday traditions but I do have to admit it's a fine line between cute and creepy with this kind of thing. Ben doesn't really get this type of thing yet and he's a fairly good boy so no need for him to be deeply involved in this for now. McKenzie on the other hand has really gotten into this and I actually feel that she could use a little more fear that our dear sweet elf will be reporting her actions back to Santa.

Imaging being three and popping out of your room when you're suppose to be in bed sleeping only to find that this little guy is perched on the stair rail right outside your door ready to report back to the big guy. This would have scared me but McKenzie's got more of a wild side and is willing to risk it some nights. I will miss the little guy once Christmas comes and he has to go back to the North Pole. Wonder if there is anything like this for Easter?

It's The Reason For The Season

This time of year brings rushed days and late nights preparing for Christmas and all the fun events leading up to it. Each year that passes I find that we seem to be creating new traditions with the kids to make their holidays even more special. I wonder how we will fit it all in as the years go by.

We are only partway into the season and have already shared many great memories with our friends and family. Last weekend we hosted our annual Christmas party and it was great to see everyone and catch up. As usual the white elephant gift exchange was a high light of the evening and we had some interesting gifts again this year.

I need to get better about pulling the camera out more often when we have the group together. Here's two lovely ladies who will be adding two more little ones to our circle of friends next year.
McKenzie can't wait to meet her new friends and thinks Rachel should name her baby Bob.



The boys opening a video game filled package from Kristy.  I know all the guys will be watching which gift Kristy brings in next year.


Kate and Will celebrating their victory in getting the bottle of wine I labeled just for Kate.


This past weekend we headed down to meet Gina and Atticus at Carrie's house to let the kids have their own friends Christmas party. With six kids on the loose it was a wild affair but a good time was had by all and the moms actually got a few minutes of visiting in. It was a tiny vision of times to come when we can get together and just let the kids run off and play. Ben is our littlest guy and he did a great job keeping up with the big kids and not getting into too much trouble.

Here's what six kids look like at the end of a very fun evening. Next time we will take the picture right when we walk in the door before everyone gets wild.


Atti and Ben playing a little song for the ladies. It's so funny when we get Atti and Ben together, half the time Gina and I can't figure out who's kid is who and so we both just watch out for the little blond boys.


Lovely ladies having some dinner together. McKenzie, Halle and Mikelle all had a great time playing together.


After dinner we made Gingerbread houses and my serious girl Kenzie put the decorations on so carefully.


Here's her finished product.  I love the lady floating over the door.


A huge thank you to Carrie for opening up her house to all of us and letting the kids burn off some of their extra energy.  Love getting these kiddos together!

Nuttier Than A Fruitcake...

That's our Ben. He's such a funny guy and loves to make us laugh. Since Ben is also our child who only eats five things, I assumed he would not be eager to gobble down fruitcake. I was wrong, he ate a whole muffin sized cake yesterday. Here's the very short list of things Ben will eat on a regular basis: cheese, crackers, pancakes, peanut butter, sometimes hot dogs and any fruit. Thus, the love of the fruitcake I'm assuming.

Here's Ben after a nice big bite of fruitcake.  You can just hear him saying 'Oh boy, that's good!'


I couldn't believe it when he got into the fruitcakes in the dining room and then proceeded to eat the whole cake up. He's not one for trying new things but he sure does love to get into things!




McKenzie and I had our annual fruitcake making festivities with Aunt Renee back in November and this year we were able to make the fruitcake in Aunt Renee's beautiful new kitchen. Last year at this time she was in the midst of a remodel so we made the fruitcake at our house. The new kitchen worked perfectly and our little helper McKenzie really got into the action this year.  Kenzie's one request was for a new picture of her making fruit cake when she wasn't a baby since she had recently seen a picture from two years ago when we made fruitcake.

Not like that you silly!

When you only do something once a year you tend to forget things, like how many fruitcakes a single recipe makes and how long to bake each size of cake. That adds to the excitement of seeing how the cakes will turn out and what changed in the recipe along the way. The cakes have passed inspection by our strictest customer already.  Grandpa C has checked it off as another good year for fruitcake. And I guess if Benny will eat it, it must be good.