Goodbye 2008

After a long drive home from New Orleans today, I'm a bit too tired to wax philosophical about 2008, so I'll save the emotional aspects of celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of another for a future post. But I thought I'd just make a quick list of how our lives have changed this year:

* Evan was born in May.
* We moved from the city to the suburbs in June.
* Sydney started kindergarten in August.
* Liam started Mother's Day Out in September.
* We survived Hurricane Ike in September.

And those are just the big things!

We had a really busy year and we're looking forward to a calmer 2009.

Happy New Year, everyone!!

Christmas - The Sydney Edition

Of the three kids, only Sydney really gets what Christmas is all about. She's excited about Santa and for the first time, really understands the Nativity Story and the true meaning of Christmas. The details are still a bit muddled, however, as evidenced by her proclamation that Jesus was laid in a crib in a stapler since there was no room at the inn.

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We went for a walk to look at the Christmas lights in our neighborhood and she declared that everything was "decoratiful." I rather like that word.

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And for the first time, we decorated a gingerbread house together:













And since this will be my last post before Christmas, from our family to yours:

We'll Leave it to the Professionals

This is why we turned to the professionals for our Christmas pictures this year:



Here's our annual picture with Santa. Both Sydney and Liam recognized their Paw Paw under the red suit and we never did get them to look straight at us.




In front of our Christmas tree - Liam's most recent black eye included.




Evan did a nose dive while Liam clutched Sydney's doll. Not good.



One happy looking kid out of three. Hmmm.....not quite Christmas card material.

Ryan and I have many talents. Photography is most definitely not one of them.

Christmas Carol Answer

According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, there were 17 Christmas carols used in Wednesday's post. Here it is again with the carol titles in boldface (slashes are between consecutive titles) :

Do you hear what I hear?

It’s a Silent Night / In the Bleak Midwinter. It is 9 pm and no one is crying or screaming. No one is arguing or fighting. Everything is Still, Still, Still. Every child in my house is asleep.

And the best part is every child in my house will stay asleep until 5 am or so. That’s right, all three of my children now sleep through the night.

I repeat, all three children now sleep through the night.

The first evening when It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and Evan hadn’t fussed one bit, I thought, “What Child is This?”

The next night when I didn’t even have to Sing (a) Lullaby, I thought, “Hallelujah! / Tomorrow Shall be my Dancing Day!”

By the third morning of a good night’s sleep, I was so excited that I wanted to proclaim my Joy to the World, but I thought that I might jinx myself. Instead, I figured out a way to hang up our Christmas cards just to Deck the Halls a bit.

On the fourth morning when it was well Past Three a Clock in the morning and the sun began to rise Out of the East, I actually had to Wake, O Wake my sleeping baby boy.

We are now on day five of sleeping entirely through the night and I feel confident enough about the situation that I could not only Go Tell it on the Mountain, but shout it from the mountain top. It’s as if all the Angels From the Realms of Glory are calling down to us, “God Rest ye Merry Gentlepeople.”

Ah, rest. I can finally get some real rest.


Thanks for playing along!!

A Silent Night

Do you hear what I hear?

It’s a silent night in the bleak midwinter. It is 9 pm and no one is crying or screaming. No one is arguing or fighting. Everything is still, still, still. Every child in my house is asleep.

And the best part is every child in my house will stay asleep until 5 am or so. That’s right, all three of my children now sleep through the night.

I repeat, all three children now sleep through the night.

The first evening when it came upon a midnight clear and Evan hadn’t fussed one bit, I thought, “What child is this?”

The next night when I didn’t even have to sing (a) lullaby, I thought, “Hallelujah! Tomorrow shall be my dancing day!”

By the third morning of a good night’s sleep, I was so excited that I wanted to proclaim my joy to the world, but I thought that I might jinx myself. Instead, I figured out a way to hang up our Christmas cards just to deck the halls a bit.

On the fourth morning when it was well past three a clock in the morning and the sun began to rise out of the east, I actually had to wake, o wake my sleeping baby boy.

We are now on day five of sleeping entirely through the night and I feel confident enough about the situation that I could not only go tell it on the mountain, but shout it from the mountain top. It’s as if all the angels from the realms of glory are calling down to us, “God rest ye merry gentlepeople.”

Ah, rest. I can finally get some real rest.


*Any guesses as to how many Christmas carols are included in this post?

Eight Years

Eight years ago today, we looked like this:



(You get to see my parents, too, since we don't have a scanner and this is the only picture I have on the computer.)

Isn't my wedding dress pretty? My mom made it. She also made my sister's and nieces' dresses (matron of honor and flower girls).

Right before Liam was born (so forgive my fat face), we looked like this:




And right after we found out we were expecting Evan, we looked like this:




We may have gained some weight or lost some hair (through haircuts or natural causes), but I think we still look pretty good together.

I wonder what we'll look like eight years from now.

Happy anniversary, Ryan - love you!

Wanna Be My Friend?

I officially caved to the pressure: I now have a Facebook profile. And if I've ever e-mailed you, you probably got an invitation to be my friend.

Pretty please? Wanna be my friend?