Christmas Day

All of the toys scattered around after opening up Santa's gifts.

Our gift to Vincent--Kung Fu Panda was huge with him this year, so we got him the ornament. Santa brought the cool gift of a Power Ranger Spirit of the Tiger Mission Helmet.
Soooo much fun!

Getting into character before he goes over to Grandma Gloria's House.

Elena and Grandma Gloria on Christmas Morning. Fun Times!

The Holiday Season 2008

Vincent looking bright eyed at the trains as they go round and round a huge train track. He wanted to touch the figurines a could not get close enough!

Here are some pics of Devan, Will, Vincent and Elena at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I am going to try and make this a tradition to take my kids because it truly is an amazing site. I love how Vincent just got so excited looking at the trains. The music was beautiful and their displays are just gorgeous.

Elena and Her Cast

On December 14th, Elena was following Daddy and Vincent up the stairs and broke her arm. She was busy holding her bottle and lost her balance and fell on her arm trying to protect herself. I have never been so scared....I immediately knew something was wrong by the way she was crying. She never screams that way. She has broken it in two places--minor fractures, but still feel just awful about it. Well, she only has to wear it for a total of 3 weeks, so I pray that everything heals just right. All in all, she has been such a good sport about it. She just gets frustrated about not being able to do the things she would like to do--so there is a lot of shrieking going on. She gets mad about it.

Merry Christmas Pics--With Love, Vincent and Elena

Vincent and Elena had their Christmas Pics taken on December 4th at around 7. Now keep in mind, they had been in daycare all day. We had to rush home around 5:30, eat in the tub and get all washed up. Getting dressed was interesting...Elena didn't want to wear her beautiful dress, and Vincent felt the same way about his gentleman's outfit. I envisioned a smooth night with this, but it just got even crazier. Got to JC Penny around 6:45--15 minutes late, but they said they didn't even have me down. I need to remind you that I did call and let them know that I would be late--they could have told me then that they didn't have me down. I proved that I had phoned by showing them my calling both that night and 2 nights. They thought I was a little crazy, but I was getting worried they wouldn't be able to fit me in. Well, they did get us in--actually pretty early. By this time though, both Vincent and Elena were just "off the chain." Vincent was warned ahead of time to pay attention to the lady photographer. He was just really silly insisting that he hold his powerrangers in the pics. Elena was just being a 15 month old--busy, busy, busy....didn't want to sit still--was preoccupied with the tree and its lights and ornaments. So when you see the pics where one is looking one way and the other the other way, well, one was looking at me and the other was looking at the photographer. I had to act silly just so they would pay attention. All in all, the pics turned out pretty good--I thought they looked pretty cute. Next time, I will take pics when they are more rested. Elena crashed in the car and was down for the night shortly after we left and Vincent was pretty much the same way. Both had a hard time getting up for daycare at 6am....Happy Holidays to everyone. Christmas cards with pics are soon to be coming--going to pick them up tomorrow eve. We still have to get pics with their cousins too--hope we are still on for this!

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Yes, I Haven't Been Posting Like I Should

Elena, as a Bumble Bee....she was eating chocolate and loved trick or treating!

Our next door neighbor, Gabriel as a Storm Trooper and Vincent as a DinoThunder PowerRanger-Vincent was a little scared of some of the scary costumes like witches and monsters, but had a good time getting lots of candy. Later, we went up to Mike's Convenience Store where they had a town party with hot dogs, cakes, and chili--they had a costume contest as well--it was fun seeing all of the town get together like that on a Friday night--years past it had been rainy and Halloween Eve was awesome outside.

Election Day--got out and voted real early in the morning--not too bad of a line--the benefits of living in such a small town.

Bath time fun....Elena loves playing in the tub for close to an hour....

Elena and cousing Karson pretending to trim the tree...Thanksgiving at Grandma Gloria and Papa Joe's....their tree is gorgeous--wish I would have taken more pics--I am going to try and carry my camera around everywhere and take pics....I just get distracted easily.

Elena at Doctor Irvine's office...she needed antibiotics for her cold--hope she outgrows her RAD or whatever she has soon. Breathing treatments all the time!

Just some fun pics of Elena--she really is such a good and pretty baby. She has such a fun personality. Mornings are hard--so early in the morning having to wake up and go to daycare...I wish I had more time with both, but Christmas Break is coming soon--yay! She does well at daycare though--it took Vincent a while to adjust--I guess because I stayed home longer with him. She adjusts well wherever she goes, and Vincent has started to as well. I will be sad when we have to switch to a daycare in town for Vincent to get better adjusted before he goes off to Kindergarten. We will be sending them to Valmeyer's Daycare/Preschool instead of Caywood's. Just more convenient. Until then, we really do enjoy Caywoods with Ms. Crystal, Ms. Thelma and Ms. Jess, and let's not forget Ms. Donna too! They have helped me care for both Vincent and Elena for so long!

Elena's 15 month sitting at JC Penny

We really had a hard time getting her to sit still. She was so fascinated by the next room where they had a Christmas backdrop for pictures--we're not quite ready to get those taken yet. Anyway, she loved the Christmas lights and the shiny (easy to reach) ornaments--she kept saying, "bbbba bbba"--meaning "ball". Christmas will be soooo much fun with her this year. Again, she was very active, so her hair was kind of messy in some of the poses, but they do capture how busy she is...she's a wild one! Well, these are just a few--Vincent needs me to read a story right now, so I will post more poses later....

Real classy....gum in the mouth...

I normally don't like pics of myself for this reason--I am always doing something crazy or have some sort of funny thing on my clothes, face, hair, teeth....nice blue gum......

Me and Andrew Goodare at his wedding. This would have been a decent picture. Anyway, cograts to Michelle and Andrew!

Some Random Pics from the Last Few Weeks

Grandma Gloria with Baby Elena at Vincent's last soccer game of the season.

"Our" pond--not ours, but it sits right at the edge of our property--we like to call it ours though--it is a pretty sight in the mornings and sundown.

Elena right before I had to go back to work--we had gone to the zoo and shopping that day--we had a good time together that day...

Michelle, our next door neighbor looking beautiful-the reception was exquisite, and I felt very honored to share in their special day. My kids were sick that day, I wish Chris could have shared this day with me...but it was kind of nice being solo that day...just me to worry about. I had a good time--Michelle's family are very gracious people and made me feel at ease with great conversation. Family is great...where would we be without our families?! Congrats, again to Michelle, Andrew and Gabriel!