Merry Christmas!!

What a great Christmas! Reagan was so excited she didn't know what to do half the time! Charlie was a bit confused with the whole thing but enjoyed the company - especially the kids!

In the middle of all the presents! We hosted Christmas at our house again this year. There were so many presents it took up almost the entire living room.

Posing in the presents - too eager to open them up!

Alright Mom! No More Pictures!


My parent's bought her a Barbie Jeep! It was a hit! The kids had a blast driving it back and forth - INSIDE the house.

This girl I tell you! She keeps us rolling! She was given some dress up clothes complete with a microphone, pink hair, skirt, etc. - just like her favorite character - Dee Dee Doodle! Obviously, she enjoyed the gift and spent night after night singing AT THE TOP of her lungs and dancing around the house. She kept saying, "Come on - sing!" She's hilarious!


Posing - this is all on her own - we have our hands full! ;-)



Dressed alike - Madison and Reagan were ADORABLE!!

Charlie Monkey - so happy to be a part of the discussion!

Aunt KJ was able to make it home - after some delays at the airport! The kids were so happy to see her!

Using her Motherly Instincts - or lack thereof! ;-) Aunt KJ trying to feed Charlie. HILARIOUS!

My goof of a cousin, Paul, following Grandma's Christmas fashion sense. The turtleneck was a little small but the whole outfit was..... special.


Playing Guitar Hero. It was the hit of Christmas Eve at the Hall's!

Tearing up the house with the double stroller from American Doll! I've never been so happy to have the basement finished!
We hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! Much love and many blessings for the New Year!

Dr. Papa Graduates!!

My Dad (aka Dr. Dad now) graduated with his Ed.D. on December 16th from Eastern Michigan University! He is officially a Doctor! Who would have thought way back when he had a beer can wall that he would ever become the genius that he is!



Marianne and I made these sweatshirts for his graduation - of course we thought it was the FUNNIEST thing ever. Although the ceremony was cancelled due to the weather, we still had a great time in Ypsilanti we the family! The kids had a great time with their sweatshirts and calling Papa "Doctor". We are so proud of him!!!!

CHI-town's got it goin' on!

Meghan, Sarah and I made the trip down to Chicago this past weekend to shop..... and sleep..... eat and SHOP! We had such a great time! We arrived on Friday night (with minimal directional problems), went to eat the BEST dinner ever at the Cheesecake Factory and went to bed - until 10:30 AM (Michigan time)! That's right - no interruptions - just peaceful sleep. After an EXPENSIVE room-service breakfast we hit the stores! They were packed but full of great deals! We came back home on Sunday afternoon. It was a vacation to remember forever!

At Cheesecake Factory..... for the second time. This time just for dessert!

Picture from the cab window as the cabbie was yelling at me to hurry up and saying, "You're so slow!"

Giving our feet a break and cabbing it back to the hotel.

The bellmen at the hotel said, "I've been working here all season and have seen a lot of cart fulls of presents but you girls definitely take the prize!" We're proud of our accomplishment!

The car was PACKED full on our ride home!
Thanks again Meghan and Sarah for a great trip! And - I swear Sarah, there was only black hats left at Aldo! ;-)

Ruby's THREE!!

Ruby celebrated her THIRD birthday on Sunday! She, of course, was the perfect birthday princess! Happy Birthday Rubes!

The kids watching Power Rangers! So entranced!

Chubby Boys - so cute!! They're going to be linebacker buddies! (Jayce Cooper and Charlie)

Mmmmm... The ice cream and cake look so good, don't they Mac? His face is hilarious!

Happy (?) Halloween!?

So the weather - and my kids - did not cooperate on Halloween night. Reagan went nap-less so, needless to say, she wasn't a whole lot of fun. She does NOT like rain so that was not helping.

Anyway, here are some pictures of Reagan (Dee Dee Doodle from the Doodlebops) and my Charlie Monkey. ;-)

This is why we moved back home....

We love the fall and it's one of the big reasons we moved back to Michigan! It was so beautiful out on Sunday so we took the kids to Townsend Park. We're not photographers but we had fun and Reagan loves posing for the camera. What a ham!

Yummmm Green Beans!

Charlie loves food - he eats an entire jar of Stage TWO vegetable. Here is his first encounter with Green Beans - his favorite so far!

Carving the Pumpkins

Reagan had a great time carving her "pukin" as she calls it. Shane is no artist but they had fun!

This is Reagan's "scary" face!? I don't know how but we told her to be scary and this is it! ;-)

Hilarious Big Sister

Charlie loves his big sister. It was getting late in the evening the night we got home from Phoenix and Charlie was getting a little cranky. We told Reagan to make Charlie laugh and he began cracking up at her at everything she did. Maybe he was a little slap happy.

Trip to the Desert

We just got home from a six day trip to Phoenix - our old stomping ground. The kids did amazingly on the plane rides both there and back. The three hour time difference affected Shane and I more than the kids! We had a great time visiting old friends and Gamma, Papa and Aunt KJ. We went to the Phoenix Zoo - it was sunny and 85! Beautiful! Reagan LOVED the monkeys and the elephants! Charlie was not too fond of his new Monkey hat! ;-)

We are happy to be home and SO happy with the decision we made to move back to Michigan. Although Phoenix is beautiful and the weather is great - we are definitely at home here in Michigan.

My old boss, Mark, from the Marriott came to have dinner with us the last night we were there. Reagan had a great time with him!