Thanksgiving, 2014

So we made the annual trek to Kansas City to Aunt Erica’s for Thanksgiving and boy was it worth it.

EVERYONE came this year – Ayla, Alyssa, Jered and Aunt Jan from New Mexico; Nonie, Deb and Uncle Jim from New Hampshire; Grandma and Grandpa from Nebraska and all five of us from Chicago.  Tons of fun, lots took place:

I got pampered bigtime and we did the hair train with our cousin Alyssa.

We played with Ayla for an entire day in Kameron’s closet with all her old dolls and toys.

We hung with Mom a lot; it was her birthday after all.

I took up the saxophone… and then later we played dress up rock band.

Mae did her thing in the kitchen (she is TOTALLY the Sous Chef of the family). She made a turkey apple with Aunt Jan...

And here you can see her with Aunt Debbie preparing the fruit turkey.

What’s a fruit turkey?  Well, you start with a piece of fruit…

 And then about 30 minutes later you have a fruit turkey.

And we interrupt this program to give a nod to the trio of head chefs - Nonie (Claus), Grandma and Aunt Debbie!

Pax spent a lot of quality time with Grandma, played peek-a-boo at breakfast...

 And hung out in an empty box a lot (I know, right? Like, what?)...

And owned it at shuffleboard

And our most favoritest thing we did was spend time with Aunt Erica’s dogs. We took them for walks, gave them treats, let them out and back in and did a whole bunch of snuggling with them.

Mae always gets lots of kisses from those doggies.

And then, on the way home, Mae found her shadow, which she lost about 3 months ago. Thank goodness we found it, somewhere near St. Louis.

Bunny Days. Funny Days.

Well, Easter was a hoot. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit and we sure did make the most of it.

A little egg coloring leading into the big bunny day.

He's trying to eat it... shocker.

We rolled right into Easter morning. Got myself a brand new hoola hoop from the Big Bad Bunny.

And a note to the Bun-Bun Man - put that on your list for Pax for next year.

Pax found his first egg.

And then it was photo time, and you know why? Well, because I was looking pretty dapper if I may say so myself.

Headed out to Nana's for more... Family Pics! Family Pics!

And then there were some a few extra shots taken. Might want to call this next one Cousins Cameo... or Eli and the Three Bears... or - just forget it.

And since it was such a beautiful day (which there are so few and far between of in this godforsaken town), we hit the outdoor activities and we hit 'em hard. A little volleyball out front and then Grandpa got in on the Croquette action with us.

Hmmm, I wonder where Grandma is? Oh, there she is - doing sprints with Mae and Sophie down the street in the wagon.

On to the annual Outside Backyard Egg Hunt.

There was lots of Easter love in the air on so many levels (not that level Nonie, get your head out of the gutter).

And then, to cap off the day, there was some horsing around.

Oh, and Pax was drinking out of Buddy's water bowl again, so there's that.

Christmas Eve, 2013

As I mentioned, we did Christmas Eve at Nana's a few days before so this year we were snuggled in our house on Christmas Eve. And with all those presents under the tree from Grandma and Grandpa and from all of us in our family to each other, we decided to open those gifts on Christmas Eve and then Santa's on Christmas morning.

So first on the list - mostly because he was past his bedtime - was Pax. This was his first Christmas gift ever!!! (don't mind the snot and droopy eyes, Pax was still really not feeling well)

And... he got a new dog stuffed animal from Grandma and Grandpa. AND... all he wanted to do was eat the wrapping paper... okay, Pax, time for bed.

Now it was time for Mae and I to open our gifts to each other. First we exchanged these little buggers, which we actually picked out for each other while we were at the toy store with Mom a couple weeks ago.

Here's the thing - Mae wanted a pillow pet so badly so I picked one out for her and it was so awesome and then I realized I really wanted a pillow pet but how was I ever going to get one because...

Yeah, Mae! Great gift - you got me the Panda Pillow Pet that I wanted so badly. So that kind of reminded me of Ernie and Bert on Christmas Eve on Sesame St. when they both traded away their favorite things to get the other one what he wanted... okay, I'll be Ernie (Bert's weird and Mae is really weird a lot of times, too).

Then it was on to Dad's gifts. First up was Pax's gift to dad, drum roll please. Wait, Pax is still up?

Tank Tops/Wife Beaters!! Nice, Pax, solid gift. Next up was Mae...

Underwear!! Okay, my turn, I bet you think it's gonna be socks, right?...

WHITE T-SHIRTS!!! Gosh, Dad basically netted the "Dad Christmas Hat Trick." In all fairness, mom rocked him a new pair of tennies and a sweet backpack so he actually did score better than what you've just seen.

Then it was on to Mom. I wish I could do these next set of photos as an animation, like old school cartoon style. Anyway, here goes. Got mom a...

Dinner bell!!! This way, when we're upstairs or downstairs and it's time for dinner, Mom can ring it up total "on the farm" style and we'll come-a-runnin'.

Mae was up next. Got mom a really great teapot.  Well played, Mae.

Then, before we hit the hay, we put a note on our Christmas morning donuts, which we had picked out from West Town Bakery that morning. Since we left him some orange and apple slices we wanted to make sure he kept his hands off the goods.

Here, take a closer look.