Christmas Eve Mass

At Christmas Eve Mass, the priest asked the children to come sit on the altar for the gospel & homily. I asked Hannah if she'd like to go up to the altar and she said "Sure, Momma!". Hannah was by far the smallest child up there and had gotten shuffled to the back of the altar by where the priest & deacon sit. I watched as she saddled up next to the priest. [She was dressed in her beautiful white french handsewn dress (Thanks, G!). She really stood out in the sea of black & red that the rest of the children were wearing.] I could see that the priest was talking to her during the gospel (the deacon was reading the gospel). I have no idea what they were saying, but the priest was chuckling a little. So the deacon finishes reading the gospel and the priest picks Hannah up and puts her in his seat so he could go give the homily. She had instantly become "queen of the altar". He says, "I don't know if you all can see, but there is the most beautiful child up in my chair. I don't know her name, but she is just beautiful." I won't do it justice, but he tied Hannah into his homily by talking about how Christmas is for children and how innocent children are, and how we celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas. He concluded the homily by having the children sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. So special!

Christmas

Whew! What a whirlwind! We had a wonderful (first) Christmas at home! Santa left a load of presents at our house. Hannah got a scooter, games, books, clothes, a doctor kit, leggos, little people, puzzles, and lots-o-candy. Reilly got a basketball/football/baseball toy, books, busy ball popper, and some teething toys. The family got a Wii which provided more entertainment than we ever imagined. Thanks Santa!!

BB, Papa, Jill, Charles, & Cecilia made the trip to our house for Christmas. The next day, we saw G & Pop as they drove through to go to Pennsylvania. Although we missed seeing our extended family, it was nice to spend Christmas at home!

Our apologies for it being so long since our last post. It seems like we run a marathon everyday to get everything done! We've been up to all kinds of Christmas activities. Hannah is SO VERY excited about Santa coming to visit. When you ask her why we celebrate Christmas, she says "Because it's Baby Jesus' birthday". So cute.

We went to a local "drive thru Christmas light show" the other night. In the middle of the ride, you got out to look at a live nativity scene. Hannah got out and ran up and said as loud as she could, "Look Momma, It's Baby Jesus!!!!". She had more fun at the nativity scene than looking at the lights. That's how it should be!

We'll post more soon, but for now, here's some "out-takes" from our Christmas card shoot!

Hannah and Reilly had a great time at Gram's house on Thanksgiving. This is a rare photo of Gram smiling... It is not that Gram does not smile, but she does not smile in pictures.

It had to come to an end...

And that was it for the day at the zoo. Hannah had a great time with her cousins, and is still struggling to catch up on her rest, she was wiped out. It is hard keeping up with your cousins who are all much bigger than you. Come to think of it, pretty much everyone is much bigger than Hannah, and that trend is likely to continue judging by her parents.

Hannah and Reilly have scheduled more time with their cousins at Thanksgiving, and are looking forward to seeing them again.

Thanks to the Nicholas clan for making time to come see us in Atlanta.

Reilly looks on...

In the mean time, while his sister and cousins were off doing wonderful activities, Reilly spent some more time watching from the relative comfort of the carrier, and posing with Momma. Reilly is a happy boy (during the day when you are paying attention to him, but not so much when he is hungry or in the middle of the night when he loses his pacifier).

The close up picture of Reilly is when he was entranced by the Gorillas.

Hannah and McKay - Great friends

Hannah and McKay had a great time at the zoo. Neither were big enough to do some of the activities with MaryKeenan or Curran, so they did some things by themselves.

Hannah and McKay went to see the Flamingos, and took some time to practice being one...

They rode the Merri-go-round together, and I get the feeling she thought it was a long way down off that elephant...

And posed in the Meerkat camera station...

The roaming gnome/Hannah...

To appreciates these pictures you have to understand "The roaming gnome". The short shorty is a yard gnome was stolen from a neighborhood yard, and the people who stole it would take it to exotic locations and take pictures of the gnome at those locations. The thieves were not identified, but the gnome went everywhere...
Fast forward to the ride to the zoo, and you will find Hannah passed out from playing hard and staying up late with her cousins the night before at Stone Mountain. The Nicholas cousins went ahead but our family stayed back in the car to feed Reilly and let Hannah sleep for a little while.
When it was time to go into the zoo, Hannah was still asleep, so we gave her the roaming gnome treatment.

Check it out... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaming_Gnome

Everyone gets a turn...

Just about every time Hannah and Reilly get together with the Nicholas cousins, they fight over who can hold Reilly. We all took turns holding Reilly, and the peace was kept. Reilly absolutely loves his cousins and his sister, and like to be held by them.

The morning of the zoo...

Hannah's cousins had a sleep over with Hannah after we returned from Stone Mountain. When everyone woke up in the morning, it was time to take pictures with Reilly. To fully appreciate these picture, you have to understand that at almost every moment in the day, Danielle has a bow/ribbon in their hair. It is hard to find pictures of any of the Nicholas girls when they are not dressed up.

Coming soon...

The weekend with the cousins continued at the Atlanta Zoo the next day, check back soon for those pictures...

At the bottom of Stone Mountain, we all rode on the train. Hannah decided it would be best to look DIRECTLY into the camera, Reilly liked riding with God-Mother Danielle, and we all were unprepared for the sun to go down, and for the weather to get a lot colder.

The top of Stone Mountain is WINDY, real windy. On this day, it was also cold. Hannah had a great time trying to keep up with her cousins. Hannah took some pictures with McKay (her closest cousin in age), and afterward most of us walked down the side of Stone Mountain. Momma, Reilly, and Danielle took the smart way down, on the gondola, the rest of use took the 1+ hour walk down. At the end, Daddy figured out he is not as young as he once was, and that his legs give out around 45 minutes down the side of a large stone mountain. In the end, we all made it down unharmed.

The family met up with the Nicholas family in Atlanta for a weekend of fun for the kids. Hannah, Reilly, Momma, and Daddy got together with Curran, MaryKeenan, McKay, (God-Mother)Danielle, and Shane and we all traveled to the top of Stone Mountain! Reilly travelled in a carrier and Hannah climbed on everything.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Sorry we're a couple days late, but he thinks his celebration should last at least a week anyway! (Reilly slept through the photo op)

Halloween...Would You Like Fries with That?

We all had a blast being the happy meal of our neighborhood. You could hear the kids screaming down the street...hey look, here comes some french fries and a cheeseburger! The ketchup was a great little trick-or-treater...he slept the whole time in the wagon!