Happy New Year!

Those bloggers who have been faithful to give a regular account of the holiday season might be using today as an opportunity to recount the blessings and triumphs of the year past alongside of the hopes and expectations of the year to come.

I, however, do not fall into that category. And so, having been through the throes of sickness and chaos in our house I will attempt to continue "catching up" on my blogging!


Here is Addy in her tent enjoying the Sunday comics.




and out of her tent:



Josh came over as Santa Claus a couple of weeks ago. Addy was scared until she figured out who it was.



Busted.



We took the kids to go see Santa at Woodfield Mall because there is a Happy Feet display there. It was a long line but we were in good company!

Tia Tara & John Michael



John Michael is such a good baby. He hardly made a peep the whole trip.



GG & the Adster



and Addy & Nana.



Here are the kiddies waiting "patiently"




I love this picture of Addy. She is running to show me something. I think she is trying to snap with her fingers. We snap a lot when we dance together.




She loved the Happy Feet display






but didn't share the same affection for Santa. Santa wasn't so cheerful himself.



And so... the Santa visit wasn't exactly a "hit." Maybe next year!

I'm dreaming of a Sick Christmas?

Sadly, Johny got the flu the night of the 23rd and was feeling pretty puny up until today! Then, I got a bad cold and thought I could shake it but it finally beat me. I'm voice-less and swallowing has become my worst nightmare! So, Christmas posting will have to wait. My house is a wreck and my poor family's health is quickly following suit!

Hope everyone's Christmas was wonderful. Looking forward to reading all of your blogs soon!

Catch-up

Well, I have been delinquent in posting pictures so we're going to catch up really quickly!

We had a WONDERFUL time at my aunt's house for Christmas Eve... except that Johnny has the FLU! He feels terrible and stayed home in bed all day. :( What an inopportune time to get sick.

Well, here goes catching up. I'll be posting Christmas Eve and Christmas pictures soon.

Addy never really fell asleep in our arms because we were strict "baby wise-rs". We still like Baby Wise but have been more flexible with John Michael.... and its so sweet when he sleeps in our arms!






Here's Addy on Thanksgiving Day (told you I was behind) playing with Kitty at the Kotynskis house. She loves Kitty and wants to follow her around all the time. Kitty is very patient and tolerable with the Adster but she has a history of not always beeing friendly with kids so we have to monitor their time together... but as far as I can tell Kittty is very gracious with Addy.





John Michael with Grandma (check out his kicks)






And our bruised beauty. She got the knot from falling out of her booster seat.... it wasn't strapped to the chair. It is now. ;)



FINGER PAINTING! (and the attempt at crafts continues....)


Um, Mom, I'm not sure I like the finger part of finger painting. (I made the circle.)




Hey, look! I'm getting the hang of this!




I wonder if it tastes better than Play-doh...?

Um, no. It doesn't.




Meanwhile... John Michael just LOVES his exersaucer. He can't jump hard enough to satisfy him! And when I thought he was sucking on the fabric it turns out he has been staring into the mirror! (Thanks TuTu for pointing that out). He has definitely begun to recognize himself in the mirror and laughs and grins anytime he gets a chance to look at one!





Here's what Addyt looks like when she does that adorable "I don't know."



Daddy & Long John



And finally, my grandparents got us another lobstergram! We loved it again. Thanks Grandfather & TuTu! Addy partook of the fun this time.

Hi Lobster! (she kept saying, "Hi! Hi!" and getting right in the lobster's face)





I think that pretty much catches me up! Christmas Eve & Christmas pictures soon. :)

For now, Merry Christmas Eve from John Michael!

Axis christmas party

Here are some pictures from the Axis Christmas party. For those of you who don't know... Axis is our church's high school youth group.

First we took a trip to the bean.



Sam and me





The crew!




And then we went ice skating!




My friend Kylee... isn't she beautiful?





Then we all went to Giordanos for some Chicago style "za".




Afterwards we all walked around for a while until we caught the train home.

Check out our downtown man! Addy stayed home but John Michael trekked out with us!




Here he is with Brittany. He loves her - but especially when she's wearing her northface fleece. He'll cuddle right up to her and go straight to sleep.



Apparently this is the cool high school pose to do. I'm new at it so I expect I'll only get better and better... haha

Candi & I "in high school"




Julie & I "in high school"



Brittany, who really is in high school, and I "in high school". :)



Sam and John Michael on the train:




Here is John Michael disobeying mommy and daddy by sucking his fingers... haha we may not be able to stop him! (you can see his chunky face here too!)




Isn't he a cutie??




And here's Addy when we went to pick her up from her best friend's house... she LOVES popcorn!



Tonight we went to my cousin's house and the Wildman's for Christmas Eve Eve. It was fun seeing Logan and how much he's grown - pictures soon! Hope everyone's doing well - more soon!

Christmas is almost here!

Well, its officially the weekend of Christmas and I didn't get my shopping done until just yesterday!! As a matter of fact I think I got about 1/2 of it done yesterday.

Johnny & I contemplated not buying the kiddos anything this year since we know they will be so generously lavished upon by our families... but in the end we are giving them each a small gift to open for posterity's sake. We don't want to be noted as the parents who didn't give their children Christmas gifts!

I didn't post these pictures earlier because I was using some of them for my Christmas card but most of you have probably gotten your Christmas card - at least I hope so since Christmas is Monday!

I love this picture because you see how blue John Michael's eyes are. Sometimes I think they look bluer in pictures than they do in real life!

John Michael is such a happy baby. He's very good. He doesn't sleep as well as his sister did and he spits up a lot (gag) but we have no complaints!! I'm so grateful for him!!




In this picture you can see that he is starting to get a little chunky. He's so long its hard to fill him out but he's definitely getting some cheeks in this photo!





And this conehead picture hides his flat head!




Here are some pictures of Addy helping us decorate the Christmas tree this year.


Picking just the right place. (actually she wasn't really into decorating at all. This was one of two ornaments she put on the tree and even that took some coercing from Mommy!)




What in the world is this crazy thing!?




Why can't we just decorate with cookies? Than it would be treat time ALL the time. Now that's the kind of Christmas I'm talking about!




What DID you put on my head Mom?






I love my Daddy!




he makes me laugh.



ta da!




all done




and snow the next day to top it off!



I love that picture because it really captures Adeline observing snow for the first time. When I went to get her out of bed I told her that God had left us a beautiful surprise outside! And then I went on to ask her witth growing excitement, "Do you want to go SEE the beautiful surprise God left for us outside??" To which she emphatically responded with a fearful and hearty "NO!". Cutie.

BTW, we got a new video camera! We chose the Canon Elura 100 which we got for $300 but is now selling for $399! Odd... but hooray for us. Addy loves watching herself on tape.. unlike the majority of the adult world which seems to be mildly horrified by seeing themselves filmed. Here she is with Grandpa enjoying a clip of herself.



That's all for now - keep an eye out for more frequent posting if you're online over the holidays. I have many pictures to post and a lot of catching up to do!

Merry Christmas!