And if you thought 1 sob fest on Christmas was enough....

....you've never met my husband. A man of very few words and who is incredible at keeping a surprise from a very gift sneaky person. Remember the King size bed that appeared in my house 6 months into my sleepless pregnancy? Wrapping diamond earings in a giant box with heavy items to through me off? Ignoring me when I begged to get away for our anniversary and when I was about to stop speaking to him he tells me to pack? He done it again. Acting as if he was afraid he hadn't gotten me enough to open Christmas morning "I don't want you to get your hopes up for some spectacular" he say's. When he put the giant rectangular gift in front of me and turned on the video camera for my reaction; I knew he was up to something. This was the thoughtful present I opened and was once again, launched into a fit of emotions. Taking in each photo he selected filled me with love. And he chose some of my favorite shots from a photography standpoint. He's a very thoughtful loving man and I am thankful :) Oh and Kyle picked out some beautiful items for me personally as well. A pink feather boa, scissors and a comb.....he's just like his Daddy!!!

Not the greatest photo, but you get the picture (ha ha no pun intended) or was it?

899 Bedford Street

My favorite place in the world, a house I miss so much it hurts to drive by it. A house that my parents literally had to push me out the door after eating pizza for the last time in our living room. A house that looks like crap every time I see it with junk on the porch and the lawn 2 feet high from the new owners neglect......Dad brought it back to me! A Christmas gift that I literally burst into tears over. One of those moments that your emotions just explode out of you and there is no time to sensor your feelings. This picture did it. I wanted to open the front door and walk into my home.......I love it, I love it, I love it! Did I mention I love it? All of you who read my blog and have had many a good time there might get that little twinge and bitter sweet feeling when you look closely at how beautiful this original piece of artwork is. Much more than a piece of art. Thank you!!!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

It was almost a white Christmas. The storm that blew in a few days earlier was lots of fun and we'd hoped for snow Christmas Eve as well, but it ended up being rain and washing away our A Christmas Story morning type dreams. No worries though, we had 24 hours to watch A Christmas Story on TBS and got the feel anyway. We certainly enjoyed the snow while it was here though! No Ky, we don't want to climb on top while Daddy's inside!

No fear...either of them!

Loco either....

We also had a wonderful Christmas. I have tons of video from our new video camera that I haven't figured out how to condense and download properly, someday maybe you'll get to see Kyle dancing to his little piano and drums Christmas morning with some real rhythm or that he insisted on calling Santa to thank him for his gifts! Santa did make a visit to Mammy and Papa's for Christmas Eve though, and the kids we very excited about that! Christmas day was nice and relaxed. I opted out of a full course meal, and grabbed Erin's recipe for homemade Chicken Pot Pie....twas delicious! Other bonus, not much clean-up and lots of leftovers:) Nana Cill came to visit Christmas Day and we had a great time. Kyle has been a cookie monster lately (although we don't usually have cookies in the house, there have been candy canes coming out my you know what and Kyle wants them morning, noon and night. So, Nana was on her toes when she got Kyle a Moooooooing cookie jar to catch sticky little fingers :) Christmas night was relaxed in our jammy's at Papa & Deeda's house. More wonderful gifts and more food!!! I took a stand and tossed all the leftover junk in the trash yesterday. My excuse for purging the kitchen.....A REMODEL!!! It's starts Jan. 3rd.....more to come on that project...stay tuned :)

Santa!

Kara & Nick

Kyle and Auntie

Aunt Annie Alligator A A A

Sledding in a Winter Wonderland

The snow started around 2pm and by 7 we were sledding across the street at Martin School. Who doesn't love a great snow storm! People freak out as if we are going to be stranded in our houses like the blizzard of '78 (even though I didn't witness it, I was in utero). My mother walked 7 months preggers downtown Whitman to shovel my dad out of the snow, tell me that's not determination! I do love the snow and so does our little spawn. Auntie Erin, Kyle and I were out at 4pm shoveling and playing in the snow and he had a blast. Then after dinner, Kyle, Matt, Me, Autie Erin, Uncle Eddy, Mike and Roger all hit the Martin School for some snowstorm fun. It's so fun having auntie next door. Ed hooked up the snowtube to the 4 wheel drive and took us for some fun rides and Kyle kept up like a trooper. The wind and snow was blowing in our faces and not 1 compaint out of Ky. We sledded down the back hill, Matt and I had a snowball fight and wrestled each other into the snow and Erin caught it all on film! After Ky fell asleep, we ended the night with some rocking tunes to Rockband!

Shout out to Morton Hospital!

I will spare some of the details, but basically I spent 9 hrs in the ER 2 weeks ago with a pain that I told them felt like kidney stone.....after many tests and 9 HRS....they sent me home saying I had a pulled muscle. So, after 2 weeks of more pain, the same pain that still felt like kidney stone, I was lucky enough to pass a stone yesterday! Interesting? Pretty sure I was told it was a PULLED MUSCLE and suffered for 2 extra weeks because of them....It's all good now....but Jeeeeeez!

First Snow 2008

Waking up Sunday morning to a snowstorm is soooo cool! Daddy was home to play with us and we got to see snow on the new TeePee he made for Ky. We also got to try out the new snowsuit we were given which works awesome! Kyle got the hang of eating snow and tossing snowballs pretty quickly this year. Last year it was a bit more about trying to walk through the snow without passing out. Loco always enjoys a good snow too.

The Girls Swap

For years we've been getting together for "the swap". Basically a reason to see each other, exchange gifts and have dinner. We've got some traditions that creep in and stick around; like best/worst wrap job; hostess gift offering. I think we should turn it into a jammy jam too :)It's funny how over the years its gone from a day where a bunch of girls who see eachother every day get together for Christmas, drink and talk about boys to a bunch of ADULTS (dare I say it) who hardly see eachother at all and look forward to a night to catch up on our busy lives. This year Chris May (I know you are married, but I don't usually like to give out full names here so we'll keep you incognito) was the gracious host at her beautiful home with yummy dinner, some wine and laughter. I will say that there was a missing link this year that was felt for sure, you know who you are and you were missed! I feel very blessed to have an amazing group of friends. And even though we don't see eachother or talk all that often, I think of you all and your lives and your families and cherish our times together. All my love!

Baby Bump!

Stories!

Kyle "the model"

This is Kyle's version of posing for pics......(take note of his jammy's zipped down, he thinks it's cool and I haven't told him otherwise yet)

WHHS Thanksgiving Day game...

It was tradition that my Dad and I would go to the game the morning of Thanksgiving and my Mom and Sis would hang at home preparing dinner and watching the Macy's parade. It's been many years since my Dad and I have gone so you can imagine my excitement when he suggested we take Kyle to his 1st game. Funny that this tradition pegged me as the "football daughter" when really all I cared about was finding friends, dressing cool and watching the cheerleading stunts. I had moments when I pretended like the game was really important, but I was usually looking across the field to see if I could find any of my friends or watch the Green Wave cheerleaders fall on their faces. (or what I was hoping them to do) As the years went by I bumped into less and less people and started dressing warm rather than cool. This year was a beautiful day and what a difference going back to the field. 1st of all, you aren't allowed to walk the track anymore so everyone is jammed behind a fence crawling over eachother, my whole school is gone which is just weird, I hardly saw anyone and those who I did see I literally could barly recognize so I wasn't quite sure if I should approach and to my Dad's dismay the team sucks! Sorry, but we used to be known for tooling on the Green Wave and they won by a landslide. But, it was great to spend the day with my Dad and bring Kyle to his 1st game. I'm pretty sure I'll get used to the changes and keep the tradition alive. Here are some shots of what Kyle preferred to do; climb the "spider web". I'm pretty sure he didn't even know we were at a football game. We sat for a little while next to the band and he was clapping and cheering them on. Then he insisted on getting a hot chocolate and begged to drink it steaming hot, by the time it cooled down he didn't believe me and wouldn't drink it! Good time.

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving! I shall eat and be merry and eat and be merry and nap and eat again....that sounds about right. Hope you all have a wonderful day with your family.

I'll Play; These are a few of my favorite things...

...when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad....I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feeeeel sooooo baaaad.. Like I would pass up a chance to sing a show tune, right? But seriously...

• girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes (sorry, couldn't help it)
• when Ky wakes in a great mood and kisses up and down my arms with his eyes still closed saying "love you, mamma"
• my auto car starter
• a good hug
• a good book late at night while my house is asleep and I get lost in it
• the sun (whether its summer or winter)
• a good cup of coffee, not that shit I make in the morning that Matt drinks. I can't believe he drinks it, blahhh.
• warm blueberry bread
• a drive in the car, sunroof open, Dixie's bumping and Kyle laughing in the back saying "Mamma, you singin'?"
• when Matt wakes me to kiss me goodbye in the AM
• when all the dishes, laundry, cleaning, errands are done (HA HA HA HA Like that ever happens)
• a movie night with my hubby, cozy clothes, tub of popcorn and cherry coke

That was fun!

Like Father, Like Son

Matt is introducing Kyle into the world of wildlife little by little. He's done it perfectly because Kyle is careful not afraid. He's been scouting this season with Matt and can identify and deer scrape and poop in the woods. These pics and video say it all.

Movies

Matt and I tried our luck and took Kyle to the movies last night for the 1st time. We were betting on maybe 15 minutes of pure fun. Kyle lasted a full hour! Madagascar 2 (which is VERY funny and I'm bummed I didn't get to see the end) was the "move it, move it" movie that Ky's been wanting to see. His eyes were like saucers when we 1st sat down and he was laughing out loud and then the lions got loud and he got scared for a moment....he started getting out of his seat about 50 minutes in and by 1 hour he was done. Good 1st trip nonetheless. Can't wait till it comes out on DVD.

Halloween 2008

For someone who takes a million pictures, it seems Halloween gets the shaft each year? I don't have any decent Halloween pics from any of the years and why should this year be any different.

"Matt and his little bat!"

"why pull the wagon when we have a perfectly good family dog who loves to run!" "Ok, maybe that's a bit fast!"

Kyle and Trinity, his guide for the night!