Cookies Galore!!!

We made just a few cookies this year. Over 500! We gave many away as gifts but still have plenty here to tempt us. The menu this year includes Mike's favorite, congo bars (made famous by his Aunt Mauvy), cranberry orange cookies (those are for Moira and me), chocolate truffles, preztel kiss and rolo bombs (Teresa and Aidan's favorite) and Andes candy peppermint cookies. As Molly Grace says, "those are yum!".

A Nice Reunion

Last weekend we were able to take a little road trip to visit family and some of our favorite friends on this planet! We had such a great time going out to dinner, and as usual, Moira took tons of pictures!!!


Eileen, Sweet Anna Maria and Bridget



Erin's Godparents, Juan and Erin, holding our little Erin

Bridget with Anna Maria, who is now 2 1/2 years old

Erin with Grandma

The little ones...




Uncle Patrick holding Erin

Erin with Mom and Godmother, Erin

Our favorite priest, Father Eric, who we miss so much!



Grandpa taking care of Molly Grace

A familiar scene when we see Father Eric!

Then it was time to head home to Grandma and Grandpa's house. It only took little miss busy-body a few minutes to discover a treasure in the bottom cupboard.

Recycle bags are lots of fun


Grandma and Grandpa's house always has fun toys.

Do you think Aidan and Teresa are just a little excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house?!

A Little Christmas Poem

Christmas
By Teresa, Third Grade

The snow is falling slow and round
There's snow and sparkles on the ground.
The stars are shining big and strong
The Children are safe and waiting long.

Santa is coming on his sleigh,
And tomorrow is Jesus' birthday!
All the children can play and play
Because of the Christ child's birthday.

The sun is rising and the presents are set
But nobody has opened them just yet.
All the cookies and milk are gone,
Even though it's still only dawn.

All the houses turn on their lights
All the children scream with delight!
All the presents we will unwrap
Santa Clause is off with a snap.

Packer Tickets...

...are easy to find, and cheap, for the first time that I can remember! Mike and his brother Kelley went with some friends a couple weeks ago, then Eileen and Moira went with some friends last weekend. Both games were losses, but they had a great time.

Moira, Andi, Jessie and Eileen

Does This Happen at Your House???

I know most families have plenty of single, unmatched socks. Who doesn't when the dryer mysteriously consumes them? But what about shoes? This was Erin's shoe situation this morning. O for 5 in the matching pair of shoes department! It doesn't help that Erin really does not like to wear shoes and takes them off any chance she gets, regardless of where in the house she happens to be. About once every few weeks, I send my other kids on a shoe hunt to gather Erin's lost goods. We find them under tables, sofas or in toys bins. I think today is a great day for this....wish us luck!

Some Thanksgiving Weekend Photos

We had a house full of food and fun!


Here are Eileen, Emmett and Moira goofing off in the kitchen
Conal, just hanging out...
Teresa playing Wii...
The kids attacking Uncle Pat

Six kids with full bellies...
Eileen and Colleen giving Erin a double smootch...
Aidan deep in Lego land...
And Erin helping Mike build a fire

Erin's New Favorite Game

This little burrowing activity has become a favorite pastime for our little Erin. Yes, just like a mole, gopher or a cute little groundhog, she loves to burrow in the sofa cushions. The more cushions the better.

First she climbs up...


Then she burrows...


If she's lucky, somebody will play peak-a-boo with her on the other side...


And when she's done she sports some pretty good bed-head with static electricity for full effect...

Blessed Advent!

Wow, can you believe it's the first Sunday of Advent?! Holy cow! I hope all of you who check in here on occasion had a very nice Thanksgiving. We had both of our parents here, my sister, Mike's two brothers and a bunch of cousins. It was a lot of fun. We missed Tim and Suzy, Aileen and Joe!

It's been musical backgrounds again on our blog. Moira put this new Christmas template on today. Thanks Moira! I hope you like it and hopefully we'll be able to keep up with posting more than we have been. Have a very blessed Advent! Kris

Check out Scythian!

I put some widgets on the bottom of the page. Be sure to click on the images to check out Scythian on ReverbNation. :)

Scythian is a Irish, rock, folk, Ukrainian and more band that we've grown to like. They play a lot of Irish tunes that my sisters and I have have a quick-love for because we do Irish dancing.

Introducing...

...our newest little blessing!!!



It looks like the Party of Nine will become the Party of Ten in early June. As expected, the girls are squealing with excitement and Aidan is praying for a brother :)