New Year's 2009-2010

We had another simple New Year's Eve again this year.  Sarah, Tim, Adam and Katie came over to our house for a pajama party.  We tend to like these little pajama parties since it takes very little prep and we are all very comfortable.  Adam and Katie brought over some Little Caesar's Pizza and we had a few appetizers as well.  We pretty much started and ended the night the same way, playing Wii.  Adam and Tim brought over some new games and we all took turns playing them:



Then the boys decided to keep up the annual tradition of burning the Christmas Tree.



Those are 3D Glasses Adam has on - because that's really good protection when using a chainsaw!




And even better, Matt is wearing cardboard "2010" glasses - smart guys we have!


The girls smartly stayed inside until the fire was burning bright.  Even then, we didn't stay out there for very long though!


The boys came in to see us doing our Carmen Electra workout video.  They took a bit of video of that, but it's too long to put on here just yet.  If I can cut it down, I'll be sure to add it. 

Before we knew it, midnight came along and we broke out the champagne.  Matt insisted on drinking out of the bottle:


Which is probably how this happened once Wii got back in session:


Bruce also came along for the celebrations.  Matt insisted he drink some champagne and wear some glasses:


We had a great time playing Wii, Squabble and Catch Phrase until everyone decided to go home and we all went to bed.

Today's Wonderfuls:

• Celebrating New Years with close friends
• Champagne
• Easy disposal of the Christmas Tree
• Playing fun games

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a lot of fun this year.  As usual we went over to James and Ann's house on Christmas Eve.  We had simple but delicicious dinner and some drinks.  It was very good, as usual,  to see the family together.  It was Will's first Christmas, so of course he is in the bulk of the pictures.

Will with his Grandma Colleen:


Will with his Great Aunt Tammy:


Will and Aunt Caitlin (aka ME!):


Will with Grandpa Ray:


Will with Uncle Matt:


At one point in the night, James gave his godchildren their Christmas Gifts.  Grace (Heather and Mandy's daughter) got a princess skirt and wand.  Grace sported the skirt, while Brooke (her sister) took over the wand duties.  Brooke proceeded to turn everyone into different animals.  The funniest one was Matt who she turned into a horse.  We made him play along and actually had Brooke ride him:

Grace looking beautiful in her princess skirt:


Brooke with Grace's Wand:


Brooke riding Matt "the horse" (Matt looks so thrilled!):


Nathaniel is also James's Godchild and he received a really cool Cardinals sweatshirt and jeans.  Of course he couldn't wait to put it on and show it off.  I tried to get a picture of him with Conor, but Conor was playing "doctor" with him at the time and trying to give him a "shot."  Needless to say, Nathaniel wouldn't go near Conor:


After a few hours as James and Ann's house, we headed to St. Simon for mass at 7:00 and from there headed over to my Mom and Dad's house to exchange gifts.  Nathaniel asked Ann if he could sit with her.  Apparently the last time he saw her was when she was in the hospital with Will and he was very worried about her.  He was glad to see that she was doing ok:


Cute picture of Mom and James:


And of course one of MY baby, Sunny (Matt put the bow on him):


On Christmas Day, we spent most of the day with Matt's family at his mom and dad's house.  Much as Will was the focal point of the Christmas with my side of the family, Alyssa was the main focus of Matt's side of the family.  Here is one picture of her with her mom, Debbie.  She got a PONY!



One of me with Alyssa:


Alyssa with her Grandpa Rick:


Gerry and Me with Grandpa Herm (Grandpa turned 90 this year!):


And of course the oldest and youngest, Alyssa and Grandpa Herm:


After Rick and Gerry's house, we headed over to Aunt Pat's house.  Back in the day, this side of the family used to stay out really late on holidays.  Well, not anymore.  There were only a few people left when we got there.  We stayed for a little bit anyway with the people (and birds) that were left:

Me with "Blue Boy":


My Godfather, Uncle Johnny:


Aunt Pat:


Cousin Charlie:


Cousin Jimmy:


Aunt Patty's Dog, Hailey:


It was a really nice Christmas!  Oh, and as promised, here's one of our Christmas Tree with the star actually standing up:


Today's Wonderfuls:

• Great family on both sides!
• Delicious food
• Celebrating the birth of Jesus with so many that are close to us

Hermann 2009

Every year we get a group together to go out to Hermann, MO to winery hop and just spend some quality time with one another.  This year did not disappoint!  We went a week after my second surgery.  We started at Bommarito Winery and of coursse the first thing I did was find a cat:



Our annual picture of the girls in front of the fireplace:



At Bommarito, we enjoyed a feast of cheese, crackers, fruit, sandwiches, chips, cookies, etc.  And of course we drank some yummy Bommarito wines along with all that.  After all the food and a few rounds of Scattergories, we moved on to Hermanhoff Winery.

Here are a couple pictures there:

Matt looks dashing in my scarf:


Adam decided to play with "fire":


After the tasting at Hermannhoff, we were all getting pretty hungry again.  We were staying in a beautiful mansion called Birk's Gasthaus.   Luckily we were the only ones who rented out rooms for that night so we had the whole place to ourselves!  We decided to just order in pizzas and take advantage of the mansion.  However, we were told by the B&B owner that there is no pizza delivery in Hermann.  So we went out.  Tim had the awesome idea of having us all wear "funny" shirts.  Here are the boys in their funny shirts:



After dinner, we went back to Birk's and hit up the game room.  The boys played pool for a while:



And then we started a game of Circle of Death.  The following are my favorite pictures of each of us playing the game:

Adam:


Katie:


Tim (Thumb Master):


Sarah:


Matt:


Me:


During the game of Circle of Death, we had a couple of interesting rules.  If you had to drink, you must pay  someone a compliment AND you had to say your biggest fantasy.  Katie kept drawing low cards which means she had to keep giving herself drinks.  Here's what happened on one of her turns:



Then our husbands decided to show us some love:

Tim and Sarah - So Sweet!:


Katie and Adam - Again Sweet!:


And, here is Matt and me . . . not quite so sweet . . . where did I find him - oh yea, karaoke bar . . .


But I'm glad he grabbed the left one and not the right one because I ended up with an ice pack on the right one since my incision began to throb a bit (yes, there is a bag of ice under my shirt):


I went to bed early while everyone else stayed up and played Texas Hold em.  When we woke up the next morning we ate a wonderful breakfast prepared by Rich at Birk's Gasthaus.

Today's Wonderfuls:

• Keeping up with an annual tradition (this was the 6th year in a row!)
• Winery hopping
• Having the B&B all to ourselves
• Great friends who make trips like this so much more fun!

Memphis Marathon

Per usual, I am backtracking.  In early December we took a road trip down to Memphis to watch James, Erin and Nick run the Marathon.  They all did incredibly awesome!  I wasn't the best at taking action photos, but here is what I did get:

Here are the Front Runners running down Beale:

As I mentioned, I wasn't good at the action shots . . . I was too busy cheering them on!  Here's a very bright picture of Erin tossing her shirt to Matt:



Yes, Nick is in there somewhere:





Erin looking amazing at the half marathon point:





The "slackers" (I'm included in the slacker category) cheering on the marathoners with beer in hand:





Nick going strong at the half marathon point:





The Finish Line:





Here comes James finishing strong:





Erin crossing the finish line:





Nick heading to the finish . . . he yelled up to us, "I can't feel my legs!"  Of course with a huge smile on his face!





Erin and James with their medals:





Nick with his medal:





Jamaal, Matt and me with Nick after the Marathon:





And now it's time to party on Beale!

















We had a lot of fun in Memphis.  Oh and you may want to know how they all did in the Marathon huh?  Well, they all set PRs.  James ran it in: 3:06; Erin ran it in: 3:25; and Nick, for his very FIRST marathon ran it in: 5:00.  I'm so proud of you all!

Today's Wonderfuls:

• A fun road trip down to Memphis
• Fun on Beale Street
• An awesome friend in Nick - Congrats on your first Marathon!
• Rock Star Brother and Sister.  Congrats on your PRs!  I'm so proud of you!