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!