This, That and Everything In Between

DECEMBER

Christmas 2007

The kids still liked Santa this year. I had no idea how they might act, but he was just a man in a bright red suit to them. It probably helped that their parents were acting all goofy trying to get them to smile and look at the camera.

We went home to SC for almost 2 weeks for Christmas. The kids do really well being away, but are always excited when we get back home to all their stuff.

Thank goodness this is not my mantle. There are 22 stockings on this mantle! That's what happens with 2 parents, 5 kids, 5 in-laws, 8 grandkids (+ 1 in the oven) and one grandmother. My Mom has quite the chore every year just to do stockings. Lucky for her, all the girls help her fill them.

We always go to Pop's house on Christmas Eve. Uncle Mark was the lucky recipient of giving baths. They got a cool tub bubble blower from Nana that they love!

Zack after Daddy yelled at him for picking at the sore on his head. What started off as a little scratch, Zack has managed to keep around for MONTHS and turn into a major booboo. He won't leave it alone and normally decides to pick at it in the car or while he is in his crib unmonitored. It has finally almost healed after a lot of band-aid wearing and scolding....which result in faces like this.....poor Z!

Hair-do by Aunt Meg. Notice the boo boo....it's about 1 1/2 months old here.

Jill likes to wear hats!

Drew showing off his ability to play the piano with his foot. He is actually pretty good and does not bang on the piano much.

We (meaning Rick and I) made our first gingerbread house. The kids watched from their seats and ate sugar cookies.

We celebrated Christmas in TN before we left for SC. This is what Santa left for DJZ. We already had the table and chairs, but Santa brought them all the play kitchen items.

DJZ coming down the stairs Christmas morning.

So excited about what Santa brought!

Mom serving up some breakfast. Notice the band-aid on Z's head!

Jill having an ice cream cone.

Z serving up some purple ball soup.

Drew loving his toy that lights up and spins. This kind of thing is right up his alley.

Drew also got a bug catcher from Santa. He could care less about catching bugs, he just loves the fact that when he pulls the trigger it makes noise. He got all sorts of tools that make noise for Christmas. He is such a little engineer!

Having their usual breakfast with Daddy. Eggs and pancakes. You can't show them the pancake till after the egg is all gone or you can forget about them finishing the eggs.

Jill

Drew

Zack

My Mom's side of the family gathers every year before Christmas. There are a set of triplets, a set of twins AND still cooking there are a set of twins and 2 singleton's in this picture. Technically, there are 3 sets of twins in this picture. My sisters, Meg and Amy, are fraternal twins. Not to mention the 5 other little kids!

Mama with all of her Great Grands.

Gran Marf with all her grandkids.

Great Aunt Clarcie with all her Nieces and Nephews.

And to make sure no grandkids were left out, Sue Boo had to get in with her belly and the famous "Peanut".

The kids doing their "crazy pose". That's Jill's head at the bottom of the picture....too much crazy for her! Can you find the white fluffy dog? That would be Libby, the grand dog.

NOVEMBER

Nana has an after Thanksgiving family dinner every year. This year the food theme was Asian. I'm not big on Thanksgiving day food so, for me, it's a welcome break from that type of food.

Nana has two horses. Ginger and Pepper. Nana calls them the Spice Girls. The kids enjoyed getting so close to a real horse. Jill has given up calling a horse a ha-rah. They are now a "horse" or "horsey".

Another Zack face. I'm not sure what brought this one on. See that little scratch? This is right after it happened....around Thanksgiving. It's the middle of January and it is STILL there! Zack's famous phrases are:

"Dhere you are!" Says this whenever, but mostly after he has covered and uncovered his own head.

"You OK?" Asks me this every time I cough.

"It's a ball" he has a rubber ball in his hand 75% of the time.
And there is one more that Rick and I can't think of.......

Zack is really the most ever tempered, but at the same time is causing trouble all day long by stealing toys and laying himself on top of his brother and sister.

Drew showing Aunt Meg where his cheek is.

Drew's phrases:

"Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow" he says this all the time for everything in his most whiny voice. Usually completely unrelated to anything hurting.

"No no no no no no no" said in the same whiny voice unrelated to anything that would require a "no" answer!

This boy is soooo funny and strange. He is so sweet and goofy. He walks with the weirdest stagger and has these strange animated conversations with himself.

His obsession with the vacuum cleaner is only getting worse. He may need therapy soon. He now wants it out of the closet during his waking hours and has figured out how to plug it in and turn it on. Annoying!!!! I need to get on video the FIT he throws when you put it back in the closet. Not to worry, he can open the closet door even though it has a knob cover on it. The vacuum is currently living in the garage.

Jill and her Daddy

Jill's phrases are:

"Moooooooomeeeeeee" she just likes to say my name.

"Hey Mama"

"Wiggles", "Einstein"

"All Done" she loves to announce that she is done with her milk cup and will repeat this phrase till you take it from her.

Jill is very vocal and ALL GIRL. She can and will scream at the drop of a hat. She is so sweet, but will turn on you the minute you say no. She will start flailing her arms and do a fake cry. She likes to pretend Zack is chasing her and run screaming. He is actually not chasing her, but once he realizes the game is on again, he is more than willing to play along. He teases her...that is for sure!

Jill playing the piano...with her hands of all things!

One of the pictures we took at Thanksgiving. We used one of them as our Christmas card.

Before Thanksgiving my Mom came up and stayed with us a couple of days. She then took DJZ HOME WITH HER and left me in Tennessee.

ALONE..... In my house........ With no kids! I got so much done.....painting, cleaning, organizing. It was bliss! It made me so happy to get some things done uninterrupted. I decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving even arrived..... uninterrupted! Rick and I drove to SC the day before Thanksgiving and were reunited with our wonderful offspring. Ahh, that was a nice break! THANK YOU Mom, Meg and Amy for giving us that break. I think I needed it much more than Rick, but he enjoyed it too!

My friend Amanda came up in November with her son Jack. We all went to The Zoo and were quads for the day. Amanda and I were sooooo happy Rick came along because that train was HEAVY!

The posse in the car on the way to the zoo. Thank God for minivans.

Rub a dub dub- Now we're in the tub!

I dared to go upstairs and leave my three unattended and look what happened? Play-doh and M&M's. They were so happy!

If you look closely, you can see the chocolate all over Zack's mouth....and M&M's scattered about.

OK, technically these next pictures are from October, but it is the 31st! There were two skunks and a ladybug roaming our neighborhood for Halloween.

Drew

Jill

Zack

I better post this quick! It's almost February and then I'll be behind in my blogging again!