2011 Celebration

Tonight we celebrated the new year of 2011 with Mom and Dad at John and Mary's house. We started off the evening with appetizers then had grilled oysters and steak for dinner.  It was wonderful!  Afterward we went up to the entertainment room and played ping pong and pool until midnight.   Peyton loved the fireworks leading up to midnight!!  He was so into it.  He even stayed up to midnight with us.  Of course by midnight he was getting grumpy and the fireworks were starting to losing his interest, but we got to celebrate the new year together and take pictures.  I even got a kiss from my little man.   Right after the fireworks Peyton passed out on the sofa.  This has been a really busy holiday from Thanksgiving to New Years, but I enjoyed every minute of it. 

Dearest Peyton,

Another year has gone by and I can not believe how much you have grown.  You are about to make three years old.  THREE!!  So hard for me to believe since to me it feels like I saw you for the first time yesterday.  But atlas, here we are about to celebrate another birthday with you.  I hope this year is a great one for you.  I want you to always be happy and be the best you can be.  I want you to make lots of wonderful memories for me to record so that one day we can look back on this upcoming year and talk about all the good times we had.  I love you my little man!!

Mommy

Here's to a happy new year!    

The Last Holiday Dinner

We were suppose to go back to Mom and Dad's on Monday night for left over turkey dinner and to watch the Saint's game but Peyton woke up not feeling well and had a fever around 3:00 p.m.  When we called to cancel, Mom told Kevin that Maddy has as cold and Dad was sick too with the same thing  If I remember correctly, this gift was not on any one's Christmas list!  HA!  Peyton has been sick with fever for the last couple of days but today he started acting normal again and had no fever, even though he is still very congested and looks tired all the time.   When we got to Mom and Dad's house, Dad was still feeling bad.  I have been fighting this bad cold as well, so I guess this gift we handed around to each other keeps on giving!  :)  Despite of some not feeling well, we managed to get together for Dad's BBQ Shrimp and to spend time with Dawn, Brian and Maddie before their trip home tomorrow.  And Dad was such a champ for cooking a delicious dinner even though he was feeling bad!! 

Mom had for the kids some Mickey ears that she got in Florida on a business trip and wanted some pictures.  They looked so cute together even though they both had snotty noses! 

Loves Baby Maddy and Auntie Dawn

Tonight we went back to Mom and Dad's house for a light dinner.   Of course Peyton runs looking for Maddie and loves hanging out with her.  He is so gentle with her and loves to show her how the toys work!   Such a good cousin.  And when Maddie is down for the night his attention turns to his Auntie Dawn.  He has such an attachment to her this visit.  It kind of made Grammy a little jealous being put on the backburner!!  But don't worry Grammy, you will be Number 1 again really, really soon!   :)

Christmas Evening

After Angie and Mike left, we headed over to Mom and Dad's house for a delicious turkey dinner with sides such as oyster dressing, mash potatoes and green beans.   Yummy!!  Not too long after dinner we gathered to opened presents with Maddie before it got to close to her bed time.  Then everyone sat around in a food coma from the last two days!  :)  We had a very enjoyable, beautiful Christmas! 

Christmas Morning

We had a wonderful Christmas morning.  It's nothing like watching your child's face light up when he sees all the presents for him under the tree.  Santa was good to Peyton this year.  He especially loved his  new basketball goal, track & cars, and remote control police car! 

Angela and her boyfriend Mike came over to give Peyton MORE presents and to have some brunch and cocktails.  After we ate, Nanny handed her present over to Peyton and it was all prettied up with a cute little stuffed Christmas bear on top. Peyton pulled out the bear,  looked at it then threw it hard on to the floor behind him and reached into the bag for his toy.  I tried not to laugh....I really, really did but it got the best of me.  It reminded me of the scene in my favorite Christmas movie A Christmas Story where the two brothers look at each other when they pulled out socks then slung it over their shoulders.  Kevin then had to add to it by telling Peyton to dunk the bear in his new basketball goal!  :)  Nanny laughed and said she wasn't surprised with a little boy who only like  things with wheels on it!   We had a wonderful morning and it made it even better to watch Peyton spend the morning with his Nanny!

From Grammy and Grand Dad

Christmas Eve

Traditionally we do our present opening on Christmas Eve.  This is a German tradition that Kevin's family has been doing forever.  I personally like this tradition!  Especially since we get to open our presents mostly before anyone else!  :)  And it allows us to have our own special Christmas morning tradition with Peyton at home.  

Dawn, Brian and Maddie flew down from New Jersey and arrived around lunchtime on Christmas Eve.  We shucked oyster and had Mom's delicious Oyster Dorette for dinner.  Then after dinner we took some pictures of the kids and then had the kids exchange their gifts to each other since Maddie had an early bedtime.  She was a little exhausted (as well as Dawn and Brian) from the travel so she was truly ready for her sleep by the time the first present exchange was done.  So Dawn and Brian decided that she can open the rest of her Christmas presents on Christmas day. After she was settled in, it was time for Peyton to open his gifts.  Peyton once again racked up on presents.  He got a Little Tykes police push car, a truck book, a truck with a trailer and boat, Thomas Matching Set, and a new Tonka dump truck.   After Peyton finished opening his presents and was busy playing,  it was the adults turn.  I had a great Christmas....I got my new Nikon S6000 point and shoot camera, a Amazon Kindle, an IPod Nano and a new cell phone.  I was so excited and  like Peyton I didn't know which to play with first!  :)  Kevin racked up too with Playstation 3 including all the accessories (plus other stuff).  I say we had a wonderful Christmas!!  :)  

While we were opening the last of our presents Dad fixed us some spiked eggnog.  Mom and Dad put their drinks on the floor next to their chair since all the tables were packed with gifts.  A couple of minutes later we hear Mom scream Zack's name.  Zack snuck under their chairs and lapped up all of Dad's eggnog and half of Mom's.  We all thought this was hilarious because about five minutes later Zack jumped on the couch and passed out for about an hour.  We knew he was feeling the drinks because Zack is always in the middle of everything and the fact that he was passed out on the coach told us what was going on!  We had a drunk puppy on our hands....but I watched him carefully to make sure he didn't get sick.  Fortunately for us Zack didn't get sick.  We were all surprised since he did not just inhale eggnog but spiked eggnog.  So funny!