Ashley and Katie ... Jan 26, 2010

They seem so comfortable in our bed.

Sledding again ... Jan 9, 2010

We went out sledding again, this time it was Ryan's first time out sledding. And he loved it...mostly.

Sledding (The First Snowfall) ... Jan 8, 2010

We have a pretty good sledding hill in our backyard that we took advantage of for the first time. Our neighbors joined in the fun.

New Year's Eve ... Dec. 31, 2009

We celebrated the New Year around 8:00, as usual (except for Ryan, who was already asleep). We did the countdown and utilized the noise-makers. And it was fair, considering SOMEWHERE in the world it was midnight. The one difference this year is that WE actually stayed up (maybe we dozed off a bit) and watched the ball fall and we even woke up Katie just before midnight so that she could celebrate with us for real this year. We are not sure if she remembers it or not!

Newport Aquarium ... Dec 26, 2009

My cousin Adam and his wife Marnie invited us up to Cincinnati to visit the Newport Aquarium with them and their kids. Our kids had a great time with their "cousins" and even got to see Santa Claus in his dive suit. It is really great to have the Nickel's so close to us. And for the record, I totally beat Adam at Frogger.

Christmas Day ... Dec 25, 2009

The kids woke up relatively early, but since Ryan was not yet awake, we made them sit up in our room for a little while. I think around 7:00 we went in and woke up Ryan (who was not too happy!) and got ready to come down to see what Santa Claus had brought the kids.
As is usual, the kids got too many presents (we seem to mis-calculate this every year), but it was a fun morning.
After opening presents we had our traditional Christmas breakfast of Eggs Benedict and Caramel Pecan Rolls. All very good. We just hung out and played games for the rest of the day.

Christmas Eve ... Dec. 24, 2009

Christmas Eve was very traditional. First I picked up Heather's dad from the airport at 3AM (yes, I am a good son-in-law) since his flight was delayed because of weather. We slept in for as long as the kids would let us before going to see Santa Claus and doing some last minute shopping (both presents and groceries).
Heather made the traditional Beef Wellington for Christmas Eve dinner, which was fantastic. We then let the kids open one present, their pajamas. Katie has finally caught on that their one gift they get to open on Christmas Eve are pajamas, but she was OK about it.
We then read Luke 2 and read about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and again utilized the Fisher Price nativity set to act it out.
Ryan subsequently pooped out of his pajamas before we put him to bed, so that messed up our plan for everyone to wake up in their new pajamas. Oh well.

Santa Claus ... Dec 24, 2009

It took us a while, but we finally took the kids to see Santa Claus at Oxmoor Mall on Christmas Eve. We got there early enough that we did not have to wait too long. We realized the downside of going this late in the game when we heard Ashley ask Santa for another American Girl doll. She had not requested this previously, so obviously it was too late for Santa to comply with that request.

We had thought Ryan would have an issue sitting on Santa's lap. But actually it was quite the opposite...he didn't want to leave. He even tried running back after we started walking away.

Random Ashley Picture

If you know Ashley, this is basically her personality. We found this picture from a year ago and just laughed. For those from Budapest, you might notice the chair in the background and the pasta sauce all over her face.