Christmas 2007

Ah, another Christmas has come and gone and we couldn't have asked for a better one (except to have Josh off the whole time). Lots of celebrating was enjoyed and with that LOTS of food eaten...hopefully I'll have money left over to buy that treadmill I have been wanting. We started the celebrating on Sunday, the 23rd with visiting with Josh's Grandmother, Aunt & Uncle and cousins. It was nice for everyone to sit have time to catch up and exchange gifts with the kids. Emaline had quite the time running around after all the her bigger cousins. All the kids got a long great and it was a fun evening for us. (Still waiting for the pictures of that night--hint, hint Angie).

Then the following night on Christmas Eve we went back over to Josh's parents house to do our family gift exchange. Emaline can't get enough of her cousin Madisyn and loves play with her, especially when Maddie likes to "play school" and teach Emaline stuff. It was classic. Everyone ate and drank merrily and we all got way too much stuff than we needed. I also had to open most of Emaline's presents since she really wasn't too interested in anything unless she was holding it.

As for our Christmas morning, you ask? Well Daddy came home from a long night of fighting crime to find Emaline in the living room eyeing her new goodies. Yes, Santa had indeed come to the house and dropped off a couple things he thought she would like. This included a new "big girl" chair, a new blankie, and some Little People. She loves them Little People! We then threw on our shoes and ventured over to Nana and Pepere's house while Josh slept. Of course it was the usual (and mighty tasty) cinnamon rolls for breakfast with an added sausage casserole for us meat eaters and on to the task for the day: destroying the living room with paper, plastic and boxes. Although we didn't break our record, we did end up opening gifts for roughly 3.5 hours. I love it and so did Miss Em--although, she didn't really respond to the opening of gifts, she did like what came from it. Then she had a nap, Josh came over and opened his gifts, then we went back home to get cleaned up and finally Emaline and I went back to have dinner. Christmas was definitely busy this year! Here are a few more shots of Christmas Day.

Rob Your Neighbor, Dec 22nd, 2007

Our annual "Rob Your Neighbor" shindig was this past weekend, held at Jack Patrick's downtown and yet again we have another year where we drink a little too much, eat a little too much and give crappy meaningless gifts to one another. It really is one of my favorite events of the year. Although, we did miss one of our girls this year, Liz, my heartfelt apologies go out to you since you missed getting a random empty bottle of booze and/or a Rubik's cube. Obviously this is a "gag gift" party and I'm sure all of you that have these types of parties (i.e., "White Elephant" or "Pass the Trash") know that much debauchery ensues. I must say, Josh and I had a great time (thanks for being sober driver, honey!) with friends that we haven't seen in far too long and getting to have some "adult fun". No bad party stories to tell, just good clean (somewhat) fun. I loved catching up with everyone and seeing all the great gifts brought to the table. What did we receive you ask? Well, I'll show you:

A lovely Cardinal home plate to hang on our wall and various old records, yeah for RYN!! We gave a completely 80s skort suit that my mother wore almost 20 yrs ago and various knick-knacks from the parent's basement. Here is the picture of Cara, who was fortunate enough to pick up that box with the suit in it:

It was a really fun night and I'm glad that we got to see our good friends. Merry Christmas everyone! Here are various pictures from the rest of the evening.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

Tonight Emaline and I decorated our Christmas tree. It was definitely the highlight of my day! Since this is her first Christmas where she really is trying to understand what is going on, it just keeps getting better and better. We unwrapped and unboxed all our ornaments and she watched as I strung the lights around it. This took way too long since I was constantly sweeping up the needles that continued to fall off the tree...wonder if the tree lot was the way to go this year. Usually my whole family goes to a tree farm out in Wright City, MO to cut down our tree. Its a great tradition we try to repeat every year, but since this past weekend was overtaken by the ice and rain, it just wasn't going to happen.

So, here we are 2 weeks from Christmas decorating a tree, I guess we should have jumped on that nicer weather! As I said before, I love Christmas time, but unfortunately with Josh's schedule we don't get to do much of this stuff together. He did get to sit with Emaline while she drank her milk and watched me light up the tree, but I didn't think about taking pictures until he left for work! Anyhow...my list is almost complete: Tree up? check. Lights up? check. Packages mailed to CA & MT? check. Christmas cards made? uh, skip to the next one. Gifts purchased?? half a check. Cookies & goodies baked? gettin' right on that. I'm almost there!!

The Ahmad Family Christmas

This past Sunday, my sister invited us to her in-laws Christmas. Unfortunately, Adham's mom has to have surgery next week and won't be available the week of Christmas, so his brother's wife and boys came into town to celebrate. It was really laid back and great to see Emaline interact with the boys. Tariq is 7 and Yousef is 4 and I think they didn't know what to do with Emaline! Although, they were very helpful when it came to decorating Stephani's tree. We had some great finger foods and desserts, yum.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but it is the holidays and we are super busy! Emaline is constantly shopping and spending all our money...

Here are some more pictures of our fun night at the Ahmad's home:

Ding Dong, the Rickety Wood Door is Dead!

I know I should have posted this weeks ago, but we finally got a new garage door and opener. No more guessing whether or not the door was going to open or not and/or hearing the "clankety clank" of the opener. Since Emaline's room is directly over the garage we opted for a quieter (if only a little) screw opener and since Josh has his work station up and running, we got an insulated door. It is so much easier AND we don't have to paint it! Woo hoo! Less work for us, that's aces in my book.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Stephani and Ahdam getting ready to enjoy our feast.

Please forgive me, since these are the only pictures I have from my family's Thanksgiving. Apparently, we were all too busy eating to remember to take pictures! What can I say, we've got a pregnant girl, a itty bitty garbage disposal (Emaline) and Josh...we had to get to the food.
We started the day off at my parents' house and enjoyed lots of time of lounging, eating, reading the newspaper ads and sleeping. It was a normal Thomas Thanksgiving, although this year we told some of our other usual guests to stay home since Emaline and myself got everyone sick this year. So needless to say, Pepere and Nana weren't their normal 110 percent for the day. Thankfully, we did get food and get to spend some quiet quality time with one another. I think the dogs were especially thankful for Emaline's droppings from her tray...

After that, Josh, Emaline and I went to Grandma and Grandpa Little's (Don't have the pictures yet!) for a little more turkey with all the trimmings. It was wonderful because all the Littles were all together, most importantly Grandpa! I'd venture to say that my favorite times with Josh's family is when the whole family gets together, even DJ Monkeyface! Emaline also had sweet potatoes (real, not baby food) for the 2nd time ever and still liked them. Although, mostly she just wanted bread...hey she definitely belongs in this family!

I hope that you all enjoyed a safe and happy holiday with your family and friends. We sure did! Now let's get this Christmas stuff started...

John and Cheryl's Wedding

On November 17th, two of our good friends, John and Cheryl tied the knot in Columbia, IL. It was a beautiful wedding and Cheryl of course looked beautiful and John was, well...John. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see some faces we hadn't seen in a long time. Josh was in the wedding, so yet again I was flying solo until the reception...so thanks to Martin and Braun for buying the stag broad some beverages!

The reception was at The Christy in South City and it was very well done. The photographers were Sara and John, so it was also great to hang with them for a few minutes while they were working. Of course they did the Thriller dance during the reception and after all their practicing and hard work, I missed it. I was outside with Josh and John F...oh well, I'm sure the video will be posted on the internet at some point. We ate, drank and were very merry until roughly 3am and then had breakfast with our dearly missed friends Braun and Jared (you guys are awesome!) and can't wait to see them again soon. Emaline had a fun sleepover with Nana and Pepere and proceeded to get everyone severely ill in the process, sorry folks!! Although, now you are immune for the rest of winter! Can't wait to see everyone again soon!

Somehow, I Have Been Tagged...

I have been "tagged" by my friend Dani. This is very new to me, so we'll see what happens.
Here are the rules followed by my info:

#1. Rules of the game must be posted at the beginning.
#2. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
#3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I am a definite procrastinator. Somehow waiting until the very last minute to do anything makes me feel like it gets done better. Don't ask me how I came up with this theory, but having all my other options behind me lets me know that I've made a good choice. My brain is somewhat scrambled, what can I say?

2. I LIKE to do a lot of the traditionally "manly" roles in my marriage. For example, I like to work on the house, mow the lawn, grill out, paint, etc. Please, don't tell my husband this cause then he'll never help out. I think I'm just mechanical and hands on...but then again, I always wait until the last minute to do them (see above post). If Josh would do the laundry, ironing and cleaning bathrooms I would be set for life...

3. One of my most favorite things to do this time of year is wrap gifts. I know it sounds funny, but I like to wrap things. It soothes my somehow and I sit on the floor in a pile of paper and ribbons and tape and I'm in heaven. Cut, fold, tape, ahhhhhh.....

4. I LOVE to shop for just about anything. I could be at the mall, grocery store, or discount home improvement store and I would have a good time. I think its cause I like to spend money, but funny how I do it so frugally. Good buys are definitely a score and give me a sense of, "wow, Dad did teach me to handle my money well, he would be so proud". That and I like new things.

5. On vacation with my family when I was 9 years old, I won a pool (billiards) tournament at the campground we used to frequent. I got a certificate and everything. I'd never won anything before then. My Pepere taught me everything I know...

6. Sometimes when I'm by myself, I like to read books out loud. I don't know if it makes me comprehend them any better but I do it. Maybe I just like to hear myself talk? Hmmmm...maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that.

So there you have it, a couple things you probably already know and a couple things you don't. I hope you enjoyed it and got to know me a little better, but hey there are just too many good things to say about myself only 6 isn't gonna cut it ;-). Here are the few people that I know have blogs that I have tagged, so we'll see what happens:

Becca Mathiesen
Becky Quinn
Joe Wittwer
Geoff Dobran

Have fun!

Josie's 1st Birthday!

My good friend Sara's little girl, Josie, had her first birthday party last Sunday and Emaline and I were very excited to celebrate with her. I love my friends the Fedeles, I feel for some reason that when I'm around them we all tend to have the same experiences. Crazy schedules, crazy dogs, and up to our elbows in baby stuffs. I love it. Honestly, I was super excited when she told me after 2 bottles of wine on Valentine's day, that they too were going to be parents last fall and we could share being fat and hormonal together. Now fast forward and the girls are a year old! I can't believe it.

Sara ended up setting up a bouncy house that she borrowed from a co-worker for all the kids and the babies ended up loving it! Of course her older nieces and nephews had to take over, but there was a short moment when they were ALL in there jumping around. Emaline, Josie and Austin (one of the other young ones) mainly just bounced around as a result of those bigger kiddos getting crazy, but I think they were having a ball. They all walked or crawled back for more, especially to go down the slide. It was great to see the kids out on such a beautiful day and enjoy themselves. We had good food, good friends and happy babies...what else can you ask for? Josie did a great job on her cupcake and had no issues digging right in. Just like her mommy (and her friend Ryane!), awwwwwww. Here are more pictures of the kids in the bouncer:

Ryane's Big 30th Bash

Well, the day has come to where I guess I should be considered a "real adult". Although, I still don't act like it. Yes, I celebrated my 30th birthday on Nov. 9th (my actual birthday is the 13th, in case you'd like to know) with my friends and family at Llywelyn's Pub in the Central West End. Stephani, my sister, did all of the planning while Josh did all the purchasing...She reserved the upstairs loft and it couldn't have been more perfect. We noshed on appetizers and fried chips and drank many o' beverages. Mainly of the adult variety. We had a lot of fun and was so glad and thankful to see all of my family and many of my friends. Emaline ran around the bar like a mad woman and danced for all who would watch her. She was a hit! Oh and don't think the fun stopped there...I proceeded to have Josh drive me to Carson's in Soulard for a little karaoke, where I sang a little Fiona Apple and Prince. A very interesting combination...thankfully we don't have pictures and/or video of those performances. From there I made a risky trip across the river into Illinois to take my first and last steps into POPS Nightclub. Really not a place for those of a weak constitution. Home at 3:30am...wow that will probably never happen again! (well....maybe one of these days) It was a great birthday and I thank everyone who shared it with me!!

A Couple More Halloween Pics and Kayleigh's Birthday

Here are just a couple cute pictures of Emaline from Halloween that I forgot to add before hand. This was when we went to Josh's Uncle Bob's Halloween Party and it was a great time. Lots of kiddos for Emaline to run around with!

Kayleigh's birthday was Nov. 2nd (I know, I'm just getting around to this...sorry Kayleigh!) and she came home for the weekend and we were all excited to celebrate with her. We went to dinner at McGurk's Irish Pub in Soulard and had a good time eating good food while rockin' out on the patio (thankfully it was heated!). We then came home and had cake and opened presents. Pretty low key, but none-the-less awesome. Its always good to visit with Kayleigh since we don't get to see her too often, but that is definitely going to change with the upcoming holidays! Woo hoo!!

Halloween 2007

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

We finally made it to Halloween! It was a wonderful night with lots of kids running amok around the neighborhood. My parents and my good friend Mike came over to celebrate this sweets focused holiday with meatball sandwiches and a few brewskies. At least that was what we tried to eat in between the doorbell ringing every five seconds. Another year of great costumes, good kids and interesting jokes...the whole street was buzzing due to our fun neighbors (good friends of Josh's cousin) putting up their haunted house in their backyard again. These people mean business! Last night was the first year I've actually gone through and from what I saw they are good at what they do. Very impressive for building it in the backyard. I hear its just gonna get better and better every year! Josh's mom, sister and cousins also stopped by the house to see Miss Em before heading to the haunted house. Emaline wanted to constantly run out the door to follow all the kiddos, so I know this will surely become one of her favorite holidays. I had a great time and hope it will be just fun next year (hopefully with the same mild weather....).

Even Pepere got into the spirit!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday we introduced Emaline to the "Pumpkin Patch". It was a whole family outing (including Kayleigh, Yeah!) for fall as well as Stephani's Birthday (Happy Birthday Steph!). We waited for a nice fall day, one that wasn't 90 degrees and this is what we got: windy. It was so windy on our video all you can hear is, "shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". Thankfully though it as sunny and fairly dry. Emaline had a lot of fun riding around in the pumpkin cart and even got to pick her own little fall souvenir. We got a couple big pumpkins to carve and Stephani bought a giant gourd for her front porch. Also Miss Em got to see some farm animals up close and personal and really enjoyed the chickens and the calf. I only wish everyone was there to see her roam freely in the fields, she loved every minute of it. Lots of sleep for everyone afterwards...