Christmas Day

I am in love with the picture above.

It fits us all perfectly!

Matty in his cool Raybans, Me in my new Christmas dress from Ruche,

Max as handsome as ever, and Jacky- my bad ass Batman

Lookeeee at these boys!

WOW, I am lucky!

Jacky had been sick since the day before and I gave in to the Batman costume

(thanks Linds and Chase!)

Even though I had the CUTEST Christmas outfit ready for him,

I think the Batman was even cuter

I slept like 2 hours tops the on Christmas Eve!

Partly was Matty's LOUD snoring, but mostly I couldn't stand to wait for my favorite morning of the year!

Max woke up at 6:50am, and I said- Santa came! Should we open the presents?

He said- Well, I think I need to go back to sleep for a little bit.

WHAT?!?!

But, I did fall back asleep and we woke back up around 8:30am.

Jacky was still not feeling great, but they were so excited!

So sorry this video is so dark. I am so bummed!

But it is so sweet!

I love hearing their excited voices, and towards the end Max FREAKS out a little bit over the new Xbox 360! hee hee

Above and below: New bikes!!

Bruno and Sesi got BIG delicious bones that were gone almost instantly

We went to Patti's in the morning to say hi and goodbye to Lukey who had to go to his dad's.

(BOO)

But, Patti bought all of us "Traynor" shirts! So dorky and cute!

We went back there for dinner and had so much fun drinking cider and rum, eating ham and YUMMY potatoes, and playing games with my second family.

Patti KILLED it with toys this year. She got the boys the ENTIRE set of DC toys.

Damn she is good!

We went to lunch at Grama Pat's

OH MY GOSH, there were so many people there! It was crazy!

Am I seriously related to that many people?

I was a little overwhelmed, haha

The kids are my favorite, I love to watch them all play together!

We ate tons of delicious food (who made all those relish trays? MMM!)

And, the White Elephant was fun,

I am so glad that everyone brings such awesome presents- it makes it so fun!

We brought this and this, haha!

That night, we were SO GLAD to be home.

Maxxy dressed up in his new skeleton hoodie from Grama Patti

(I told you she killed it!)

And we played Xbox all night long.

Oh, I almost forgot!

Santa brought Frankie a new hat, hee hee

Happy Christmas to all!

Another amazing year has come and gone.

I can't WAIT for New Year's Eve

PS: YES, I believe in Santa.

Christmas Eve at Pop's

I wait all year long for my Dad's famous Christmas Eve dinner.

This year MIGHT have been the best,

OH. MY. GOSH.

Menu:

Lobster stuffed with lobster and shrimp

Steak branded with "DAC" (Daniel Auer Craner)

Seasoned Red Potatoes

Spinach salad with bacon, walnuts, and cranberries

Baguettes with butter

A array of stinky cheese and salty, aged sausages

Winter beer and/or wine

GULP......DROOOOOOOOL.......GULP

I know, right?

My Dad and Beth got Whit a new gun, and she was so excited about it!

Max got a rock tumbler, which got Matty and my Dad feeling all nostalgic.

And, they also bought a beautiful shuffle board for the basement!

It was an awesome night with our sweet family.

I am so lucky!!

We went home, set cookies and beer out for Santa, and went to bed!

I could BARELY sleep.

I was soooooo excited for morning!

Cookies for Santa

We decorated cookies for Santa twice this year!

Once, with all the cousins at Aunt Debbi's house.

We had neon frosting and sour cream cookies,

MMM!

And the frosting was so pretty, the kids decided to decorate their faces too!

Then, I made a brave and bold decision...

I decided to watch all 6 kids (by myself) on Wednesday!

They ARE my favoritest kids in the world,

so I knew it would be fun!

(PS Nell is naked because she pooed all over herself, actually all 4 kids in diapers decided to poo at the same time for me! Nice kids right?)

We had so much fun making Santa cookies (thanks Grama Roni!)

Peanut butter balls, toffee, caramel, and rice crispy treats!

Then, we spent the rest of the day playing!

I love these kids so much!! SO MUCH

This is one of my all time favorite pictures-

I can't wait till they are all teenagers and I can show them this!

hee hee hee

They are such characters!

(End note: Santa MUST have thought the cookies were yummy, because he ate them all! AND he drank his beer- almost down to the last drop!)

Momma's Christmas

You know, I seriously love this time of year.

It makes me realize what an awesome family I have!

My Mom and Tony have their annual Christmas sleepover a week before Christmas every year. It is so awesome, because we don't have to cram everything into Christmas day.

Tony makes an AMAZING prime rib, and my momma makes everything else perfect.

It is so cozy, and we love it every year!!

Yet another reason why I love Christmas!

My little Yeti with his favorite toys, and a HUGE smile on his face!

For Christmas this year my Mom and Tony are paying for us to go on a cruise!

My Momma is turning 50.....(ahem, I mean 29 !)

And, so we are going to Caymen Islands and Ocho Rios, Jamaica

I am MOST excited for Sting Ray City!

We can't WAIT!

Thanks Momma and Tony for an amazing night and

an awesome adventure to look forward to in May 2011!

Nellie belly is 1

Can you believe our sweet girl is already 1?

I love her so much.

We had tons of fun at her farm birthday party

(Whoa Nellie!! Get it? haha)

There were some pretty creepy animals in Farm Country.....

The kids LOVED the pony ride

Nellie got messy while she ate her cake!

(she is goooood at eating)

Oh, and who got her a sparkly pink Batman shirt?

OH! Her favorite auntie of course!

Happy Birthday my Sweetie!

Whit is 21 and Lou is Old

Happy Birthday to 2 of my favorite girls!!

I love them!

And, yeah yeah Lou isn't old (yet)

We had 2 awesome weekends celebrating.

Man, I am lucky to be related to such awesome people!

AND, I wore HEELS!

Heels, people! Heels!

Are you impressed?

Confused?

Frightened?

So, what if I looked like a trotting horse while trying to walk in them.

They were sex-ay!

hee hee hee

You know what else is sex-ay?

Al making a twinkie and turkey bacon sandwich....

Mmmm, Mmmm

Christmas Parties

Wow, all 4 of our Christmas parties have come and gone.

This season always goes by in a blink of an eye!

Our first party was with our pals:

Melly&Scott, Jen&Jimmy, Lou&Chase

We had an awesome white elephant filled with Jen's moose toilet paper holder and twinkies

Our kiddos,

(that love each other and will one day marry)

Got to play! They are so funny.

I can't wait till Melly's little girl is born in a few weeks!
Our 2nd party was Grama Mary's Annual Xmas Party.

The food was awesome (TAMALES!!!)

And, it was so good to see family.

We battled for a liquor filled white elephant- it was so fun!

(except for JB, he got a sock monkey, HA!)
My favorite scoundrels (and BFF's) Mars and Jacky

Aren't the kids so cute? I LOVE the Santa pics.

Park and Lish seem to be doing good lately, and that makes me happy!
Especially cause I want this girl to be happy!
My sweet Momma
Our 3rd party was the Annual Family Party at the Church.

I LOVE this party.

I get to see family that I never get to see,

the food is always yummy,

AND we have the BEST Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Nellie was SOOOOO cute this year.

Man, I am lucky to be her aunt!

She was putting on a show for us, cocky little thing,

She wanted to show us what a big girl she is!

ROAR!

(she likes to ROAR!)

Again, I love these Santa pics.

The kids are so sweet.

I especially love Coley's twins pics! CLASSIC!!!

And, Jacky is so not amused....

These boys melt my heart!

This boy.....

Oh, this boy.

Our new "thing"

Mom: Best friends?

Jack: Forever?? (in the world's cutest voice, ever. I mean it.)

Mom: Forever!

Jack: Pinky promise!

(and then we twist our pinkies together and kiss our hands)

Can he stay 2 1/2 forever? PUHLEASE?

This picture is so crappy,

but party #4 was with my work.

I swear, we are like an episode of The Office.

Except my manager is less funny, and more..... not funny

We had crazy hat day, crossword puzzles, non-alcoholic margaritas (gag!), and SICK mexican food. Remind me to drink in the parking lot before the next party....

Happy, Happy Christmas!!