Awww nuts...

So, today absolutely qualifies as a combination of the most terrifying, yet undeniably hilarious event thus far in the saga of parenthood for Cary and me. As well as the longest and most word-worthy post I've written as a blogger. I feel it is very important that I accurately portray the events of this day so that I may use it for future reference, I mean, you never know! Read on and you shall see just what I mean...

The day started out like any normal day...except that my Mom was leaving for Costa Rica, would be on a plane all day and unlikely to be able to talk again for quite some time. I was worried about her traveling, as I usually am, but my worry was suddenly overridden by a major calamity of...well...nutty proportions.
It's like this: lunch rolled around so I made us a lovely pita with hummus and feta and some yogurt...but I was lacking something 'crunchy' for McKinley. Oooh! Great idea! I had some pecans that needed to be used, why not? I put a few on his plate and voila! LUNCH! When I was finished I simply walked into the kitchen to put my plate in the dishwasher, I may have stopped briefly at the kitchen counter, but returned quickly to find McKinley sneezing...like crazy.
As my eyes quickly scanned what could be causing this abrupt sneeze-fit, I noticed a tiny, wet bit of pecan leave McKinley's fingers. For a brief moment I thought...hmmm, could be a pecan up his nose...nah! Then the tears came. McKinley was quickly overcome with fear and was screaming and crying and obviously scared. I asked several times, what was wrong, but he was too upset to answer. I asked McKinley if he was choking, he was not. I grabbed his face and looked back in his throat, but something else caught my eyes.
It was something up his nose.
OH.MY.GOD.
There is a PECAN up his NOSE.
A PECAN.
I swear, for an instant I truly wondered how the crap it got up there. Then, in the blink of an eye I remembered seeing that little tiny piece of pecan as it flew across the room.
Me, calmly: "McKinley, Honey, is there a nut up your nose?"
McKinley, in a peal of desperation: "YES!!!!!!!"

OHMYGODTHEREISAPECANUPHISNOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This phrase repeated over and over in my head for the next 6 hours.
Thinking back to the 'Vick's Incident' - aka, Greased Lightnin', I remember being strangely calm. Me. Yes. Calm in Crisis. If only it wasn't just me and McKinley in these situations, maybe my family and friends would BELIEVE me. Alas, I'm left with a toddler to vouch for my calm sanity. Instead, it was my poor hubby who was suddenly crowned Drama King.
Back to the moment of realization...I quickly ran for some tweezers, calmly explained to McKinley that I would try to get the pecan out myself. Well, suffice it to say that McKinley was NOT as calm as his mama and was not in the frame of mind to let me give it a whack.
Determined to try again, I reached for the phone, first dialing Cary's cell, knowing he would not have it with him and would have to call back. I called several times, thus giving him a clue that something was, perhaps, a little off. Second, I called our pediatrician's office. God love them, every employee I spoke with tried so hard not to laugh. I told them it was okay...just so long as they did not do so when we got there. The nurse gave me two choices: head to the E.R. or come to the office. Obviously, the answer was NOT to go where McKinley knew no one, with odd noises, smells and strangers...be in the office in a few minutes...literally.
I calmly told McKinley we were going to go visit Dr. Lily to let her take the pecan out of his nose. "Okay", he said in that same desperate voice that makes me sad.
I carried him to his room where I grabbed the bulb syringe (still not sure why...maybe I thought I could suck it out?), a burp cloth - for the constant nose wiping I would be doing over the next few hours, McKinley's coat, hat and gloves...and then I thought this was something Monkey and Elephant really needed to be in on. I offered up his two buddies, exclusively reserved for naps and bedtime, he gladly accepted them and didn't let go for a long time.
As I put McKinley's coat on, he looked at me with those gorgeous chocolate eyes and between tears said, 'Mommy, I have a NUT up my NOSE!'
I nearly peed my pants fighting so hard NOT to laugh. This was SO not the time to laugh...he needed me for comfort. However, I swear that this was the funniest statement McKinley has ever said. I pulled it together and just hugged my son for a long while.
By this time, Cary was calling back. I simply said, "This is one of those days I need you to keep your cell phone on you while on your route."
Cary: "Okay, why?"
Me: "Uhhh, because McKinley just stuck a pecan up his nose."
Cary, really, really, REALLY loud: "WHAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT?"
Me: attempt to repeat sentence above, interrupted by
Cary, even louder: "WHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT? There's a WHAT? A WHAT? A WHAAAAT? UP his NOSE? A PECAN? WHERE THE HELL DID HE GET A PECAN?"
Me: "Cary, I cannot talk loud. I have to be calm, so stop talking so loud and be calm so I can explain."
Cary: "WHAT IS UP HIS NOSE???"
I quickly explained the situation and told Cary we had to go to Dr. Lily's office and I needed him to get out of work as quickly as possible. I knew from experiences of friends in similar situations that there would a possibility for physical restraints, if not general anesthesia. And I knew I couldn't handle THAT on my own. Cary began busting ass...I could HEAR it. He wanted to be there asap.
Quickly, we exit the house. I have McKinley, Monkey, Elephant, handbag, diaper bag and agenda in hand. Agenda in hand, because I did manage to remember that I had a conference call later in the afternoon (which I also managed to pull it together enough to call my boss to let him know I would not be in said conference call - I can promise he had never received a call like that).
I pulled out of the driveway and turned a normal 15 to 20 minute drive into a 3 to 5 minute drive. No joke. Hazard lights on, I blazed - SAFELY - in and out of traffic, all the while talking to my crying son in the calmest voice I have ever uttered. I actually ran a red light...after a very long pause to make sure there was no oncoming traffic...then I was gone! I already had my mind made up that if I were pulled over by police that I wouldn't do any pulling over. Let there be a chase! Thankfully, all was well.
Once inside Dr. Lily tried to 'fish' out the nut, but could not get a good 'grip' on it. It had become too snotty from the runny nose due to crying and the body's natural attempt to get.it.out.
She began calling an E.N.T. and family friend. Unfortunately, he was in surgery.
Hours go by. A total of 2 and a half in Dr. Lily's office.
Finally, we reach an E.N.T. and are sent on our way, thankfully avoiding the E.R.
Cary met us at the door, visibly startled. McKinley, feeling much more calm, walked up to his father and said, 'Daddy! I have a NUT up my NOSE!'
There we go again...almost peed my pants trying not to laugh.
That child has an uncanny ability that I envy - comedic timing! He's a natural, like his Daddy!

So, we quickly head off to the E.N.T.'s office where more chaos ensues. We arrive, having confirmed that Dr. Lily's office already gave the E.N.T.'s office ALL the info they needed. We only needed to pay our copay and give them a copy of our insurance card.
Wrong. No one at the E.N.T.'s office could locate our information, despite the fact that I personally overheard the transfer of said info. Whatever.
THIRTY minutes later, we finally sat down in the waiting room to do just that...WAIT.
TWO HOURS LATER, Cary and I blew a gasket. The receptionist took a look around the now empty room and asked who we were and why were we here. Oh, so not the thing to ask us. We exploded, she didn't say a word, but instead went home for the day. Nice. About 15 minutes later a nurse came in and said it would be a few minutes. Really? The woman got an earful, but we were finally taken back to see the doctor who would evidently be worth waiting over 2 hours with a child who had a hazardous pecan up his nose.
In literally 5 minutes the nut was removed and all was well. It was not without many tears (mine and McKinley's), a papoose, a LOOOONG set of tweezers and an apparatus that 'separates' things, but at least it was brief. When the pecan made its first appearance in hours, there was a ripple of "oohs, owws, and wow's" through the room. Said pecan was HUGE! HUGE!
We were offered the rights to our precious pecan, but we denied it. In hind sight, we should have at the very least photographed the snotty little pecan for posterity and historical purposes, but we were entirely too busy trying to comfort our boy.
I'm pleased to report that the rest of the day went off without a hitch.
Having had no nap, and very little lunch, McKinley was exhausted. Once in bed, Cary and I rehashed the day...where Cary, revealing that comedic timing he shares with our son, suddenly had a hilarious epiphany! We would award McKinley with a GIANT bag of pecans and serve pecan pie at his wedding!
Cary, I'm holding you to it. Love experiencing parenthood with you!
McKinley, may your future family thoroughly enjoy this story. I am so thankful that you are in my life to school me on all things boy.
God, thank you for being with us today, keeping Mommy calm, and most of all...for a safe, pain free pecan removal.
Whew!

Lynn

The Funny Thing About Wee Read...

...is that through it, I have quite suddenly (and happily) become a kid-magnet. I would have never seen it coming!

Two of our couple-friends are expecting Baby #2, and both mommies are on bedrest. Cary and I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to help out when we can. Today at Wee Read I took Savannah along with McKinley and me, where we met up with Kylie and Lincoln. Kylie needed a rest and is too far along in her pregnancy to get down on the floor with Linc (a total pre-requisite in Wee Read), so I happily took on all three of the kiddos. Before long, our 3 (McKinley, Savannah and Lincoln) had completely lost interest in the actual reading and activities and were instead inthralled with simulataneously attacking yours truly. They began making enough of a scene that ALL of the children (and there were GOBS of them today) got into the game and started attacking their own caregivers. I am pretty sure our librarian was pretty displeased, but she quickly got over it because there was no denying how adorably cute it was to see these kids run to the front of the room, turn around and squeal with delight as they ran AT ME.

I love little things like this that come up and smack you in the face and make you realize that a little bitty person (or persons, in this case) can do something as simple as be a CHILD and spread a smile across your face for an entire day. How very lucky I am to have the opportunity to have this moment to spend with some fun little kiddos.

Lynn

Savannah & McKinley's Day Out

Yay for another Build & Grow Clinic! Today McKinley and I brought along Nonna and Savannah, and did we have fun!!!!!!!!!!! This was Savannah's very first Clinic, she was so excited to be there with McKinley, and likewise for McKinley. That was obvious as the kids ran through Lowe's, stopped abruptly and ran toward eachother while shouting, "Hug!!!!" They would then grasp eachother really, really tight and say, "awwww!" in unision with all the Lowe's customers and employees. It was hilarious, I couldn't quit laughing!

Once inside the little project room, McKinley showed Savannah the ropes - helping her choose a hammer and a carpet square while my Mom and I gathered the projects, Savannah's apron and goggles. It worked out perfectly (except that I got so wound up in trying to keep the kids occupied and equally getting some 'hammer time' that I forgot to put the base of the box in place...oops), Savannah would take a turn with the hammer, then McKinley, and so on. While I worked on that, Mom graciously tried to fix my big oops with the second project. We quickly finished the projects and the kids were thrilled to have a little tic-tac-toe box! It's so cute!

The nice Lowe's employee who was supervising today's clinic brought over McKinley and Savannah's completion certificates and patches for their aprons. The kids happily obliged having their pictures taken together with their projects and certificates. Seriously, that's just too much cuteness for my camera lens...I'm surprised it didn't melt! hahahahaha

Once we finished our projects we were all famished, so we hit Steak N Shake for some yummy burgers, a la car...and then a very special treat: CUPCAKES! We headed to the new cupcake shop in town, and the kids picked out their favorite cupcake for the day. Savannah saw the pretty blue colored cupcakes and immediately asked for that...it was "Blue Suede w/Blue Buttercream icing. McKinley said, " I want Chocolate!" and chose the Chocolate, Chocolate. I picked Chocolate Mint and my Mom had Cream filled Chocolate. Oh my gosh, so yummy!!!!!!! Can't do it every day, but we will definitely be back for a fun little treat!

After our big day of fun the kids (and Mom and Nonna) were all pretty tired, so we returned Savannah to her home. By this time, Savannah was calling my Mom, Nonna and requested to dole out some hugs for everyone, with a very special smooch for my boy. It's pretty obvious that we all had a blast. Now was the time to tuck everyone in for a nice nap. What a great day! Can't wait to do it again!

Lynn

P.S. Notice how much McKinley looks JUST.LIKE.CARY in the first pic? Scary...call me the incubator...

Feeling Restored

Whew, it has been a long and challenging 6 weeks. Technically, 8 weeks. I have been sick since the weekend after Thanksgiving - and credit my lack of sleep during our Black Friday Jaunt for that. Since then, our lives have been a whirlwind and have ceased to, well, cease. Enough already!

I finally have a clear diagnosis as to what has been going on with me...a bad case of bronchitis, and a few other things we found along the way. I'm sure this time I am on the mend and will be back up to par soon, for now feeling okay is just good enough for me!

Not only am I feeling restored, it's nice to have Cary and McKinley on their feet as well. They have both caught a small part of what I had twice and I am thrilled that neither of them became as ill as I have and that they are each feeling good again! I have aired out the house (old wives tale, I still believe!), lysol'ed the beegeezus out of everything, washed all of our pillows and aired out every linen I could drag outside. Bronchitis be gone! I want to enjoy the rest of the winter!

Also restored, along with some of my sanity, is our home computer. The poor thing crashed on December 7th - in the middle of my 2nd go around with the bronchitis bug and at the exact same time Cary & McKinley took it as well. Obviously, with a house full of sickies the PC took a back burner. When I finally got it to our computer guy, he called me with sad news...he'd worked for 2 hours to restore our computer and all its contents...to no avail. He asked for my permission to wipe it clean, resulting in my loss of every one of the 4 G of pictures I have ever taken, digitally (with the exception of those I have managed to back up), old files, even my resume. I told him I needed time to think about it...two hours later I called and told him that Cary and I had decided we had no choice. Just do it. In my mind forgotten photos flashed; baking a cake with my hubby, that funny pregnancy snapshot where I SWORE my belly was growing, the precious picture of McKinley sucking on his paci after he fell asleep in the car, photos of my parents. I was sick to my stomach.

Then Mike made my MONTH. While he waited on our call he created something he thought might do the trick --- AND IT DID! He was able to completely restore every single file on our computer. I could have cried. Oh computer gods, I have learned my lesson...off to complete backing up everything on that pc. Then onto the laptop.

So happy to feel restored!

Lynn

Lots of Snow...and being sick

On Wednesday night we were officially 'hit' with our first snow storm of '10. It's GORGEOUS!!!!! However, it's slick, there's a LOT of it and we are all sick. Again.

It seems despite our constant, usually effective efforts to ward off germs we have again lost the battle. We lysol the house, clean with vinegar and water, use anywhere spray on handles, phones, etc, handwash like crazies, and back it up with occasional anti-bac lotion. Yet still, I personally have been sick - NONSTOP - since the end of November and McKinley & Cary have already been sick TWICE in less than a month. WHAT IS UP? Grrrrrr.

Trying hard to not focus on that and just enjoy being home with my two favorite men, but I'm so tired of doing it with a nasty cough, shortness of breath and a clogged up nose! ENOUGH ALREADY!

In the meantime, I have managed to take some super cute pics lately...it's hard to believe in a few short days McKinley will officially be 2 and a HALF!

Here's hoping this junk we all have melts with the snow...

Lynn

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010!!!! We spent NYE with our friends, The Semmler's and we had a BLAST!

Robin's sister, her husband and their three children came over as well, together we all played Wii games, ate pizza and snacks and watched the ball drop. It was a great night!

I had some NYE hats, horns and noise makers, so I brought those for the kids as well as some really yummy sparkling apple juice. Robin provided the cutest champagne flutes for the kiddos, and as you can tell from the pictures - the night was a hit!

I'm happy to report I scored my midnight kisses - one from Cary and one from McKinley, respectively. McKinley's favorite part of the night was that sparkling apple juice...he continued to toast himself (lol) until we had to drag him to the car! ***Note: it really was sparkling apple juice...nothing more!

What a wonderful way to usher in a new decade!

Happy New Year!

Lynn

Below, Rick shows McKinley how to 'sit n spin', McKinley toasts the new year, McKinley toasts the New Year as his friends look on, McKinley toasts the new year, and...McKinley toasts the new year. You get the idea...

Christmas Recap, Year-end Review

Well, this is it! Tonight we bid farewell to 2009 and ring in a whole new decade!

I have spent the week of Christmas (and, frankly, every other week in December) sick as a dog...so this is a late post-Christmas recap.

This year, Christmas was a little more low key than usual - because of this crazy sickness, whatever it is. Christmas Eve was beautiful, we had Chinese for dinner (an annual thing...) and went to the beautiful mass. McKinley was so good sitting through the hour long service, and as usual, he loved going up to receive communion with Cary and I. This time, he even REALLY got into kneeling! It was so cute.

After Church we came back home for some egg nog (for McKinley) and coffee (for me and Cary) and drove through Deming Park's annual Christmas in the Park display (along with everyone else in Terre Haute). The LONG wait in bumper-to-bumper-at-a-crawl traffic was made magical by McKinley's audio book of 'The Polar Express'. It was wonderful.

We made it home just in time to finish decorating Santa's cookies. So we set out Santa's plate and cup (complete with those yummy cookies and milk) and threw in some PREMIUM M&M's for the reindeer. Do you know that the reindeer ate ALL of those M&M's? Santa ate everything too...clearly they were all hungry! Santa only left a few crumbs! We read "The Night Before Christmas" as we do every year then sent McKinley off to bed so Santa would come to our house! The bearded-one really came through. McKinley scored!

Plasma Car, Power Wheels Jeep, puzzles, DVD's, games for his clickstart computer, Shake n Go Race Cars, a guitar and microphone, an RC car...there was so much I can't even name everything! Soon, Nonna came over to visit and we were all playing the Wii. We spent the day being low key, which was so nice, and ended the day with the most precious Christmas Concert performed by McKinley. He played his new guitar and sang into the microphone a myriad of Christmas and Children's Classics: Jingle Bells (with a very rock and roll twist), ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider to name a few.

I'm sure McKinley had wonderful dreams of Santa and his reindeer delivering all those wonderful presents. What a lucky boy. What a beautiful day to spend with my family.

Merry Christmas!

This time, my year end review is pretty simple. I'm still not feeling well and I've got much to do to get ready to send off '09 in Vernon Style. So, this year I just want to say how amazing it has been to be a wife, a mother, a daughter and a friend. I am thankful, so very very thankful, for everything and everyone who touches my life. This year our family has grown and changed in wonderful ways, met obstacles head on, and grown to love one another even more - if that's humanly possible.

I look forward to what a new decade brings our way.

Farewell 2009!

Lynn

Merry Christmas!

Celebrations & Santa

Tonight we had an impromptu Christmas GTG (get together) with our good friends, The Semmler Family. We always have so much fun with them and when Savannah and McKinley are involved no one can have a bad time!

The kids were on their game tonight! We learned that neither Cary and I nor Robin and Rick can share with our children any future plans to get together. If we do, total chaos ensues. I love that Savannah and McKinley enjoy being together so much and look forward to nuturing their friendship as the years go by.

This evening we started out at the mall with a BANG! The kids went to see SANTA! Both McKinley and Savannah had already spent some time with the jolly old elf (we've even got TWO pictures already!), but this time was even more fun because these two characters were together. As we stood in line, McKinley & Savannah leaning on the 'fence' to get a better view of Santa, McKinley stepped down, walked closer to Savannah and put his arm around her waist! This may have caused some heart palpitations for Rick, but it was a good laugh for everyone. It was just McKinley's sweet little way of being affectionate - something Cary and I are thankfully on the receiving end everyday.

After Santa we hit the famous mall money-suck...THE RIDES. I think the kids rode that merry-go-round 4 times total. Each time they switched their method of transportation between the boat, the train and the DOG-cycle (???). Each time they would make a pass around the parents they would giggle, smile and push their horn button things a zillion times. It was hilarious!

Later we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse...a nice LOUD establishment. PERFECT! I particularly enjoyed watching McKinley share his stickers with Savannah, then Savannah sharing her with McKinley, who immediately (and strategically) placed them on my sweater. They were perfectly matched to my sweater and looked like a little corsage! These two sure do play well together.

After dinner we exchanged gifts and took some pictures. I meant to take one of all six...er 7 including Baby S...but got so caught up in the utter cuteness of the kids that I forgot. Regardless, we had a great time with The Semmler Fam!

Lynn

Time to bake the cookies!

As a little girl I looked forward every year to baking and decorating cookies with the women in my family. I can remember those cookie cutters, the dragees we used (which are like trying to find a needle in a haystack these days...because they're METAL! lol), I remember how my Grandma's kitchen smelled and how much I truly enjoyed everything about that tradition. I've missed that so much over the years.

So, this year McKinley is SO ready! Today we donned our aprons (my super cute Christmas 'Kiss the Cook!' apron, courtesy of Jodi, and McKinley's funny little 'Baker in Training' apron) and we set out to make us some yummy good sugar cookie dough. I stepped out of the box a little and opted for Martha's famous sugar cookies instead of my Grandma's. Maybe next year, I wanted to see how good this would be! I'm proud to report that as the time went on, we made two batches of dough and McKinley was a pro at adding the ingredients right along with me! His favorite part was my own pride and joy --- my coveted KitchenAid stand mixer. I remember the day we registered for that thing on our wedding registry...oh, I digress, but I so love that thing! It made me feel all grown up!

Anyway, clearly it does the same thing for my son as he ADORED all of its functions. Hilarious! We mixed and measured and sifted and sugared and soon we had four discs of dough resting and cooling in the fridge.

Later, I rolled and cut them (by this time, McKinley was napping) and we will decorate them very soon! Unfortunately, I am quickly becoming very sick...for the 2nd time this month, so I'm not sure if we will be able to finish the cookies. Instead, we may make a fresh batch. For now, I have some pretty cute pics, two flour-covered aprons and some fun memories with my boy.

Here's to our own traditions!

Lynn

Christmas at the Zoo!!!

We've just gotten back from an awesome night at the zoo. Man, I love that place! We all do! And much like Zoo Boo, our beloved zoo again did not disappoint!

Cary was privledged to have the entire weekend off (a nice rarity) and we had been itching to find time in our little packed schedules to make a wintry trip to the zoo. So today, on a whim, I boldly suggested we head that way --- and so, we did. Much to my surprise, as we were finalizing plans, Cary discovered that actors from my favorite little guilty pleasure, Days of our Lives were going to be there hosting some special events. Even better!

Soon we were on our way, with a car load of extra items to bundle us up for our cold venture. Even in the daylight the zoo was seriously something to see, you could just feel the warmth of Christmas in the air. But when the sun set...WOW. Magic. Obviously, McKinley's favorite thing was riding the train, and again the zoo had it goin' on with the attractions. There were gorgeous light displays through the entire ride - elephants, little houses, giant snowflakes, even the tunnel was dressed as the most gorgeous castle. It was stunning. I held McKinley close to me as we wrapped up in our blanket (the same picnic blanket used for our fall picnics, and the same one we all huddled under to keep warm at the midnight Toys R Us Black Friday sale! That thing seriously comes in HANDY!), our ride was nothing short of magic. And McKinley grinned from ear to ear the whole time!

Though most of the animals are vacationing for the winter, we still got to see the seals, sea lions and polar bear, who obviously thrive in this weather. The indoor animals were fun, and a really great way to warm up too! And bless those male seahorses...they were still there, giving birth!

Aside from the small number of animals we could visit, the zoo again provided some cool things to do, as always so age appropriate! In Santa's village we wrote a 'wish' on a red ribbon and a 'blessing' on white and tied them to one of the beautiful live Christmas trees. We purchased a sugar cookie just waiting to be decorated - which I must say that Cary and McKinley did a bang up job on the decorating. Heck, Santa was even there to visit and take pictures with all the children!

Santa's Village also played home to the two actors from Days of our Lives, who were so happy to sign autographs and chit chat with fans. I had fun standing in line with some great people and enjoyed meeting the two actors who play Chad & Melanie on Days. They were very kind and even offered to take a picture with me. Rock on! McKinley and Cary sat this one out, though I still say McKinley would have stolen their hearts. I'm not sure who has the Days of our Lives connection in Indianapolis, but someone does because a Days actor is almost ALWAYS at the Indy 500 and making other appearances. I always admire a celebrity who takes the time to be with the 'little people' and is still gracious and kind. That speaks volumes.

We wrapped up the trip in the warm refuge of the White River Gardens, which were breathtakingly beautiful decked in the flowers of the season. There were so many varities of poinsettia and narcissus, and others I wasn't familiar with but were SO gorgeous. We played a little scavenger hunt (provided by zoo and gardens staff - for which we got a cool color changing pencil for finishing) and we even visited a real reindeer!

I cannot say enough about the zoo, it's such a gem! We had a wonderful time, but we were seriously famished so we headed out to Buca Di Beppo...yum! The wait was forever, the crowd was insane and we were all so tired but it was well worth it when that bruschetta shimmied up to our table. OH YEAH! I think McKinley's favorite thing there was no doubt the adorable little gelato cone - in chocolate, of course! It was by far the yummiest way to end this awesome day.

I love days like these, beautiful sights, my favorite company and a happy ending!

Merry Christmas, Zoo!!! Oh my, how we love you!

Lynn

Those 'Little' Moments...

Gosh, those little tiny moments get me every time. We've had a lot of those lately. Not sure if it's the time of year, the fact that I'm headed back to work, or the fact that our son is just so stinkin' sweet. Maybe a combination of all of the above! Lately these moments have rendered me pretty speechless as McKinley's speech expands further into full, recognizable conversations and thus making for some cute sayings and sweet little things he does that just make us smile.

On that Black Friday jaunt (see Thanksgiving post), Cary and I purchased a beautiful Christmas Train with TWENTY feet of track. This thing truly is huge, but it's intended purpose was to adorn the bottom of our Christmas tree for years and years to come. We knew when we opened it that McKinley would be beside himself, and he did not disappoint! McKinley ran around the house saying, "There's the TRAIN!!! There's the CHRISTMAS TRAIN!!!!!!". Once it was set up beneath the tree, I walked into the living room to find McKinley sprawled on his belly watching the train go round and round, Christmas Carols and Train noises to boot. He was in complete awe. Cary had the lights turned down so only the tree lights and the big train headlight were seen. I love this picture.

Below are a few more that 'get me'...baking cookies together, our holiday tradition of 'The Ugly Ornament Throw', and our boy sporting Mommy's boots and looking like a pirate! Special times!

Lynn