SO Much Christmas Fun!

We had a week and a half of fun Christmas celebrations, a couple birthdays, and more. I'll start with the Christmas fun and just talk through my pictures - and this is just a sampling! Sooo many pictures...

Jacques Family Christmas

The Sunday before Christmas we took a day trip up to Colin's Aunt Jeanine and Uncle Terry's for the annual Jacques family Christmas party. Minus the occasional wedding or baby shower, this is about the only time each year we see many of Colin's Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and 2nd cousins on his Mom's side of the family. In total we spent about 5 hours in the car to make the party, but it's always nice to see everyone when we can. I wasn't too picture crazy, but did get some cute ones of the kids. Ellie and Max were best buds getting into all kinds of mischief!

Emmit hung out with whoever would hold him



Max - 19 months



Double trouble



Ellie enjoying her cookie



Who needs toys when you have a water fountain?



Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent's. Ellie had LOTS of gifts so we spread them out over the course of the day and into Christmas day too. Emmit let Mama open his gifts =)

Emmit hanging out with Auntie Shannon



'Cheese' with Auntie Sara



Opening her gift



A little downer in the Christmas festivities...on Christmas Eve morning we could tell Ellie wasn't feeling quite her best. By the afternoon she had a fever so off we went to the Urgent Care walk-in clinic. Turns out Miss Ellie had a double ear infection =P So, home we came with antibiotics and Tylenol. She was feeling better after just a few doses of her medicine (which she hated and fought with all her might!), but still a bit of a bummer for her this Christmas.

It's tradition for the extended Boyer family to get together on Christmas Eve night. This was our first Christmas without Grandpa, so after a tearful little toast by my Aunt Cherie, we went on to have a fun time like we know we would have wanted us to have - complete with fudge (made by Sara) and grasshoppers.

Ellie opened a few more gifts at the party. It was a Yo Gabba Gabba Christmas for Ellie...she got a percussion set (which sounds way worse than it really is), a DJ Lance wig and glasses (or Daddy did I should say) and also a fun keyboard.









And having fun dancing with Auntie Steph



Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning the kids had a few more gifts to open from my family. Ellie wasn't feeling the greatest, but she still had fun tearing into her gifts.

Emmit was looking cute in his Christmas pjs






Pomeroy Family Christmas

On Christmas morning we headed to Colin's parents for more Christmas fun. The Pomeroy family Christmas was WILD this year. So many gifts and all of us packed into the house. We all got a wonderful surprise upon arriving - Uncle Ashley had taken leave and come home from Pakistan for the holidays. The kids just LOVE Uncle Ashley. I have a ton of pictures so will just tell from those...

Like I said, the gift opening was sheer chaos...so many gifts and PAPER! Brendan and Aiden were good little elves with Uncle Colin - giving everyone their gifts. Ellie wasn't in much of an opening mood, so I got to open hers, Emmit's, and mine...I had so many gifts to open I didn't even see what everyone else got!

Getting into their stockings



Max with his new bike



Gift opening madness



Ellie with her new computer



After gift opening, we had a great meal, and then it was time to play, play, play...

Ellie and Aiden



Grandpa Herb made Brendan and Aiden a puppet theater, so we got to watch some fun puppet shows!



Aiden sang us all the songs from his Christmas concert



Brendan and Aiden on the bunk beds



The boys had to take their shirts off from playing so hard, so of course Ellie did then too. It was so funny - she was running around in tights like one of the boys.



I think this picture of Ellie is so funny...they are playing tackle Uncle Ashley here.



And Emmit just hanging out again =)



Uncle Ashley with Emmit

Merry Christmas!

Best Wishes for VERY Merry Christmas Weekend!

Love, The Pomeroy Family
Colin, Stacey, Ellie, & Emmit

Meet the Book Club Babies

For the last (almost 3, I think) years I've been a book club with a fun group of girls. We're a mixture of college friends and work friends...we always have great discussions - even if there are at least 1 or 2 of us who haven't even read the book. This past year, our reading has tapered off a bit as 6 of the 9 of us welcomed new little ones in our families. Parenting is the new topic of discussion. Today, we had a gathering of all the babies at our house - it was quite the entertainment! 7 babies under the age of 1 and my lone almost 2 year old, Ellie.

In order of age...

William, 5 weeks old...



With Mama, Erin



Evan, 3 months old, with Mama, Renee



Emmit, almost 4 months old, snoozing in the swing



Max & Maya, 7 months old



Tyler, 7 1/2 months old, with Mama, Kara



Julianna, 8 1/2 months old



With Mama, Suzy



And Miss Ellie, almost 23 months...Ellie did such a good job sharing her toys with ALL these babies, but she was very much in a "no cheese" mood...would not give up nookie. We got the Exersaucer out for Emmit yesterday too. Today a few other friends got to try it out, but who was in it most, Ellie of course!



A few 'action' shots! Max and Maya liked the play mat, Tyler and Julianna were having their 'lovers quarrel', Emmit swang, William slept, Evan cuddled with Mama, Ellie hung out in the saucer...everyone was entertained and there was very little crying amazingly.





And the WHOLE group! We had multiple cameras going. I was standing on the couch to get everyone in. The odds of getting them all looking at one camera, not so good, but if anyone has one - send it my way =)

Thanksgiving and a Week Without Kids

Well, I'm about 2 weeks late on this post, but better late than never. We had a great Thanksgiving weekend this year. As usual, we bounced between both of our parent's houses and spent a lot of time with family. Ellie had a lot of fun playing with her cousins, Emmit got lots of lovin', Mama did some shopping, and Daddy watched football. It was another great weekend at home.

I didn't take a lot of pictures at home. I've really been slacking on pictures this last month...will do better at Christmas =) Thankfully, Sara had a few I could swipe...



Sara and Shannon had a little photo shoot with the kids =)









Ellie had fun playing with her cousins Hailey and Anna



And Max too!



When Sunday came around, Colin and I headed back to Wisconsin, but the kids stayed for an extra week with Grandma and Grandpa. We'd had this planned for quite a while, but when the time came to leave of course I cried. I knew they were in good hands though, and were going to be VERY (VERY, VERY, VERY) spoiled and loved while we were gone. Emmit spent the week with Grandma & Grandpa Pomeroy - getting lots of cuddle time and one on one attention. Ellie spent the week with Grandma & Grandpa Boyer - shopping, going to basketball games, and playing, playing, playing. When we picked them up the following Saturday and headed back home, they BOTH slept almost the entire 3 hour trip - so much fun had in their week away from home.

So, what did we do in our week without kids. Well, work for one - we didn't take the week off or anything. But, our evenings were spent doing a variety of household projects, enjoying quiet meals at home, Christmas shopping, a night out with girlfriends, and a happy hour with coworkers. The project list included a little redesign of our bedroom - painting, hanging curtains, a new shelf, and pictures. During my pregnancy with Emmit and through my maternity leave I became addicted to HGTV so of course what I envisioned us doing with our room and what we actually did were a bit off, but there may be more projects in the future. It definitely feels much more finished now though. We also painted and hung pictures in our office - another room that has been untouched since we moved in. I put up Christmas decorations as well, and when we all got home on Sunday we put up the tree and outside lights. And, of course we slept - all night, no interruptions! I had planned on getting up to work out every morning...yeah, that didn't happen...instead we slept in until the latest possible moment - Colin about 20 min. before he had to leave. I enjoyed getting ready at the leisurely pace I used to move at before we had kids. It was definitely a nice break from the chaos. By the end of the week though, we really missed the kids, so it was so nice to go get them. We got to my parents late on Friday night and I wanted so badly to wake Ellie up and hug her, but of course I didn't. She was sure happy to see us in the morning though, and us to see her too! =) I'm sure Emmit was happy to see us too...his emotion just isn't as obvious yet =)

My Aunt Debbie made the kids these stockings...they're so cute!



Our tree...fake, but festive =) Ellie REALLY like the ornaments, hence nothing breakable...she's constantly taking them off.



Ellie helped Daddy put lights up outside. Her favorite words these days are "Christmas lights!" This was before we had any snow, but it was FREEZING. She got to break in her new snowsuit from Grandma =)





And, one of our projects...the pictures in the office.