Something

went wrong. Very wrong. Terribly wrong.

We dont' care. We think it was delicious. And--the melting frosting hides the fact that I could not get the tree to stand straight. Yum. Or, to quote Riley, "this is delicious in my tummy!"

The gingerbread house

All the thought that goes into the perfect decoration for that space on the roof.

One for me, one for the house. Two for me, one for the house. MMMmmmmm.

The finished project. The rice krispy treat is a small roof repair. You know, Dave used to be a roofer. It runs in the Keough blood. I think his brothers might question the use of material - even on a gingerbread house.

Riely's favorite part of the whole thing. I just remembered that I also bought a tree to do as well. Oh--I guess we will do that this evening.

The firestation

Every year, just as darling as the next.

Sure did LOVE the firetruck. Riley made us call him the firechief for the rest of the night.

She LOVED the house. Great way to wear the kids out. Then we headed home for some hot chocoate and warm jammies. Always a good time!

Our actor

Look at that fabulous angel calling all to a stable in Bethlehem! He was so proud!!

And adorable!!

Look at those wings. Honestly, he should wear them every day because he IS an angel. I just don't know how I would get him in his car seat.
I decided not to post the picture of him being on stage picking his nose, but if you want to see the video you can stop by anytime. We also plan to show it at his wedding. You know, just cuz. :)

Random things

You really cant tell how big he is in this picture, but the word 'horse' is used often in this house.

My beautiful little girl in the shirt she helped me make.

Me and my babies. We are going to retake this photo. I'm starting to get concerned about Riley not smiling in photos. I almost prefer the Transformer face. WOW! I KNOW!!

Carriage ride

Their first trip to santa. They were super excited to see Mrs. Claus.

Decorating cookies.

Waiting outside for the carriage ride. He took a super long time to come around the corner. When he walked around the side, we knew something was wrong. The carriage had a wheel fall off. No carriage ride. No petting the horse, just one sad little girl.

Our little actress

Awww!! She was Mary in the play. Shame you can't see her darling little Christmas outfit, but look at those cheeks!!!

Out little star. Personallly, I think she found her calling.

Decorating the tree

Good times. Good times. Definately a highlight now that they are older. I don't know where Riley is, but he is very busy decorating as well.

Bloopers

It is that time of year again, The annual Christmas card bloopers. Christmas would not be complete without them. On to the laughs.... Seriously, I did not see that branch there? Me? I took like 10 pictures of her there. Every single one....that branch is bothering the blank out of her.

Riley could not stop making his sister giggle uncontrolably throughout the entire session. Could not stop. They are so goofy. Do you love Adyson's tattos?? oops. Somehow I missed them too.

Said in a stern voice, "riley, you stop making your sister laugh!!" It did not work.

Oh my gosh!! Are these kids both looking at the camera with somewhat of a smile on their darling faces? Could it be? And look, Shanes eyes are closed. Doesn't it figure? I considered using this as the Christmas card photo and gluing those googly eyes on Shane.

Shane has spent alot of time teaching the kids how to fart with their armpits. Makes me so proud!! This is them telling me that they are officially done. OK--I'll try to find one to work.

The Christmas Parade

Oh--where to begin? Well, I love the parade. We didn't do this kind of thing in Florida. It's so fun and the kids just love it. Well, it was like 30 degrees. It was freezing & windy! BRRRRRR!! Riley wanted to leave right away. My mother and I are actually sharing a pair of gloves. The kids both have gloves on, and I have learned in my 5 years of being here that mittens are the way to go. This is the only picture we took, because basically we all stood huddled together for body warmth.

Anyway.....the kids got more candy than was necessary. My feet are defosted now (10 hours later) and the best thing of all.....they saw SANTA!!!!

This is how cold it was last night. Yes. We call that snowing and we were excited about it!!

Life with Grandma

With all the love in the world I say this...my mother is not a baker. I don't know what made me say to my darling little girl who wanted to make cupcakes....."Grandma will make them with you". Secretly, I think she was mad at me, but how can you say no to her?

Look at her, reading those directions, so focused. Impressive. And they had a blast. Look how happy Adyson is.

Aw......what a great grandma!! They are both so happy she is here!

Start of the season!!!!!

Here is the tree we decorated in the office. For the record, I had a very very small decorating budget. and hey!--If you can believe this...I went over!!

Ah--new Christmas jammies. I am quite a freak over jammies. And look at how thrilled they are? They are hugging each other. For real. A real hug.

They each have these cute little trees in their bedrooms. Riley loves his. I mean LOVES it. Adyson, well, after picking it up twice from the floor, I have a pile of ornaments next to it that have "fallen off" and the top broke. Totally did not think it was going to go like this. Certainly thought it would be opposite. Eh? Who knew? Next year...there's always next year.

My babies. They are so excited. I love this time of year with them.

Thanksgiving, 2009

"Hey! Where's my food? I am HUNGRY!!!!"

Grandpa teaching Shane how to carve a turkey. A skill everyone must know.

The feast. There were many items I had forgotten. I've never had thanksgiving without carrots. This was a first. All kinds of things I forgot. And I kept saying to Dave for the next two days...."You know what else I forgot?" Finally I decided to keep all these things to myself. He's going to start thinking I'm loosing my mind in my old age.

Shane

These are two of my boys after our Thanksgiving dinner. I say that Bruiser thinks he is a chihuahua. He believes very strongly that he is a 3 pound lap dog. We all are very aware that he is a big 30 pound dog.

And here are my two peas in a pod.

The first Thanksgiving feast

In Riley's class, I am the class photographer. I get so excited that I get to go to each of the events, even when parents aren't invited. Here, he was Gray Fox, see the shirt? And the necklace listed things he was thankful for. One was food, one was dinner, and the last one was his brother. He loves Sha-Sha!!

First Christmas Special on TV

At Sam's yesterday I picked them up a new Christmas video. I thought I was going to wait until after Thanksgiving to pull it out. The kids had another idea. Why make them wait anyway?? So, here they were happy and content for all of 30 minutes. It was fabulous!

Happy Birthday Bruiser

Today Bruiser is 3 months old!! He is sucha good little puppy. Aside from chewing everything in sight and our being unable to keep anything on the floor unless we want it chewed up, he is great. Just great. I still wonder if he will ever grow into his ears.

And I love how he will sleep anywhere.

But I especially love the way the corners of his mouth turn up so it looks like he is always smiling. Always happy. I love that.

Happy Birthday Bruiser!!

The actor in the family

Little Riley's school play. He had two lines to memorize and was quite jazzed everytime he said it. Adyson was the understudy. He did fabulous as well. We were quite proud of both our little babies!!!!

The actress in the family

Adyson had her first chorus / festival at her school last week. She had been singing for weeks and weeks in preperation for it. She had a fabulous time and was quite magnificent if I do say so myself. Of course she sings just beautifully as she gets those skills from her mother.

And it is so darling to see how excited they get when their Mommy & Daddy go to their school. Just darling!!