CHRISTMAS CATCH-UP!

Well, I have been trying to BLOG for 10 days or so with no luck. Some days I couldn't even logon but mostly I just haven't been able to upload pictures and videos. I still can't get any videos to upload, even short ones but I was able to upload Christmas pictures, finally. We had a great time with my mom and Champe (Grammy and Papa) and Matt and Morgan visiting. Alex had a great time with everyone and was especially fond of his Uncle Matt. Alex always wanted to hug, high-five, and sit with Matt and he wouldn't give the rest of us the time of day. Ha ha! We had a low-key New Years...we went to another couple's house for a few hours but were home by 10pm. Marc had to wake me up when the countdown was at 10 minutes! We are very excited about our move to California, just four short months from now!!! Enjoy these pictures and have a happy 2010!

Christmas Eve, after church...the number of presents was ridiculous (Alex's).

Santa came after we were all asleep and dropped off some presents for Alex!

Getting ready for Church on Christmas Eve...Alex had an adorable navy blazer to wear over his sweater vest. Grammy and I could have just eaten him up.

Wow, boots and a scooter from Santa!

Buzz Lightyear...To Infinity...and Beyond!

Trampoline from Santa...with the boots on of course (they never come off, even now) and his new hat from Grammy!

This is Alex's ridiculous pile of presents but he was our elf, handing out presents to everyone. That one was going to Papa.

Magna Doodle from Tom, Darla, Mallory and Tyler! He loves this thing...

Mini-farm w/ a tractor and trailer. Another favorite.

Christmas morning breakfast. After the peanut butter cookies wore off he finally ate a healthy breakfast of eggs and sausage. He still had the boots on, of course, and insisted on wearing another hat to eat.

I like this picture b/c he was holding his little dog like a baby over his shoulder while he was eating. He kept talking to him and snuggling with him...it was so cute.

Grammy and Alex built lots of lego towers during the visit. Alex celebrates after it gets so high that it tilts and fall over!

Bundling up to go the playground. It was really cold but we needed some fresh air and outdoor time!

Big pushes from Grammy on the swing!

More pushes from Aunt Morgan!

Alex and Marc like racing Mario Kart on the Wii together. (note the boots!)

here is Alex in his blazer and all, ready for Christmas Eve services...he was ready way before any of us! He asks to go to church about 3 times a week these days.

Grammy and Rummy on Christmas eve...Rummy LOVED having everyone at the house and certainly got her share of belly rubs.

Grammy and Papa after church

This is a funny face Alex makes at us (usually it's during pout/tantrum prep). My favorite variant of it is when he puts his chin down and looks upward at us...trying really hard not to laugh.

bouncy bouncy bouncy

cool name puzzle from Grammy

family shot right before we ate dinner Christmas night

just hanging out

Here is Morgan dancing with Alex, to the trampoline music.

Christmas playdoh from Santa!

Just checking out FaceBook with Uncle Matt.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!! Here are some videos of Alex this morning...completely overwhelmed. He ate a huge lunch and crashed for a nap just before 1pm!! I'm sure round 2 will commence after nap time. Love to everyone!

AFTERMATH

Well, we survived hours of shoveling snow (although our backs are killing us now. Here are some "after" picstures of the house and our shoveling. We're very excited to Grammy, Papa, Morgan & Matt to arrive tomorrow so the Christmas fun can really begin!

mittens are on (Aunt Megan would be proud)

Here I am shoveling a path for Rummy off the deck at about 5pm on Saturday' it had about 2-3 more inches in it by the time the snow finally stopped at 8pm.

left side (as you look at it) off the back of our deck...

right side (looking off the deck) of our back yard

Christmas crafts to cure the cabin fever...

when can we go back outside?

home sweet home

shoveling the front porch and sidewalk

Alex was my big helper with his shovel

Marc starts the driveway...Rummy loved the paths we were making...

the snow was over Marc's knee between our house and Rick/Randy's...he was on his way to shovel snow away from the cable/AC/power boxes...

Alex and JohnMichael...shoveling away

back view off the deck Sunday morning

a couple of neighborhood shots

whew, the driveway is done...the piles of snow will take forever to melt

waaaaa. marc and i thought this picture was so funny. he's crying b/c he wants to look at himself on the back of the camera after I take the picture. I was trying to explain that he has to say "cheese" first so there is a picture to look at....sigh.


Alex was quite the shoveler..I have some other good videos but they're right at 2min long and I'm having a hard time uploading them to the BLOG. I'll try again later.

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW

Well, here are some (mostly) chronological pictures and videos of our blizzard. It started snowing last night around 7pm and hasn't stopped yet. So far, we have at least 24 inches. We are under a blizzard warning until 6pm (another hour from now) and we're under a winter storm warning until 2am tomorrow. It is predicted that we'll get 4 more inches tonight and that the snow plows won't get to the residential areas until Monday!! We're having a cozy weekend at home, that's for sure! Enjoy the pics and videos and be sure to scroll down to see the pictures I posted yesterday too!!

Here's our first 1-2 inches from last night...

Alex had to try on his snow boots before breakfast...and wanted to wear his hat to eat!


The layers begin, to go outside...


Layers complete.

Phase II of the back deck...

Daddy and Alex out front...this was 9:30am today...

All snowy, watching daddy clown around in the snow...

Mommy's little snow angel...

Mommy and her little man...Alex was loving using his rake in the snow.

Funny man...

Phase III on the back deck...the snow was piling up quickly.

More Phase III, I guess.

Marc went out to scrape off the tables real quick so there wasn't too much weight on the glass. This was probably between 10am-11am today...there is already 7-8 inches back on top of them now.

Rummy's path was filled back up pretty quickly. I did it again 1 hour ago (at 4pm) and I'll post those pictures later. Notice how high it's getting on the fence here...

Icicles on our front porch lights...

One tiny twig still showing on the azaleas (left sife of house)...it's even less now and the right side of the house has no azalea left showing at all.

street/driveway view from the front porch

cable box...almost to the top of it now

when I opened the front door to take pictures...

Phase IV in the back yard...RIDICULOUS.

Failed Snow Ride but lots of fun! We'll try sledding tomorrow after it finally stops snowing and the powder gets packed down in the street some. This was at 9:30am today!!

Here is Rummy frolicking around and Alex laughing at Marc...I love this video!! Also at 9:30am today!!