The Long Road Home

We loaded up the SUV and headed for PA on Tuesday after Charlie's Christmas program at preschool.
I was already expecting this road trip to be a pain and wanting to strangle my children after 18 hours in the car.
Gotta say though, it really wasn't that bad!
Everyone behaved themselves!

Our Elf on the Shelf even graced us with his presence....
The boys LOVED that!


James brought these camo neck pillows home from Bass Pro.
The boys wore them the whole trip.
They wouldn't share with their mom :(

We drove for 10 hours straight on Tuesday and ended up getting a hotel room in Louisville, KY.
They had a decent continental breakfast and we were back on the road by 7:30am.
Arrived at Nonna's house at 3:30 that afternoon.
It snowed most of the way from Cincinnati to Pa.
But the roads were clear and it was a pretty sight!

Wednesday morning Chelsea, and her boys, Carter and Elliot came over to play.
I thought it would be a fun idea to let them decorate a gingerbread house.
I've never done this myself, so I was interested in trying it.
How hard can it be right?

Very hard, when the piping bag full of icing bursts open all over the house.

Or when the walls won't stay "glued" together and keep collapsing in.

Disastrous.
Where is my pastry chef, Steph, when I need her?

Of course, 3 sets of eyes were on us as we were trying to get the basics covered...

ok, this is progress!

Looking like a gingerbread house!

The boys got to decorating right away.

Serious faces!

Half of the candies got eaten.

"No More!" was not understood, but ignored as two mothers were yelling to their boys.

That's my two hands holding the roof up as the boys decorate.

It would not stay up!

Then I read the instructions that say, "Allow gingerbread house to dry for 2-3 hours before decorating."

oh, well, that's just not going to happen today.

Charlie looking devious as always...

Carter analyzing the shoddy construction of this house.

[and chomping on candy]

getting there!

[my fingers are still holding it up]

ok, done!

I stepped away and two seconds later...

collapse.

we decided that the gingerbread house was just going to be a candy land.

We failed.

We also threw it away after the boys left the room.

Maybe next year I'll read the instructions BEFORE construction starts...

Merry Christmas!

Gilmore Family Pics Dec 2010

Our friend, Tony, who happens to be a really good photographer, and who also takes our Gilmore Family Picture every year for our Christmas card met us in a field one sunny December day.

It was a rushed Saturday afternoon and no one was really in the mood for smiling for the camera.

But I insisted.

I had to get Christmas cards ordered and in the mail.

Pronto.

It was burning a hole on my "to-do" list.

There's always one kid who doesn't want to cooperate with photo shoot rules.

Jackson was not that kid this year.

It was Charlie.

And as you'll notice, Charlie was in none of the photos except for the very first one I posted, which just so happened to be our Christmas Card pic.

It had to be.

I had no choice.

Jackson and his doggie, Champ, whom he loves very much.

At this point, Charlie is screaming crying and not wanting anything to do with Tony or his camera.

At least he got Champ's attention!

Mr. & Mrs.

I was like 3 months pregnant in these pics and trying to hide it because we were leaving for PA in a few days to spend Christmas with the fam and they didn't know yet!

Tony didn't even know....

It wasn't hard though, I wasn't showing much.

I do recall having serious nausea that day though...

Ahhh, here we go.

Charlie ruining the day for [me].

James in the background hightailing it back to the car.

He had had enough too.

In and out in less than 15 minutes. Nice.

Just can't imagine next year's session with a 6 month old and two kids and a dog.....

That's going to require some major bribes!

My Little Patient

Charlie had his tonsils and adenoids removed on Tuesday.

He's still in a lot of pain.

Two days later and he's still not eating much.

Or drinking much.

I'm on top of that though!

I do not want to have to go to the hospital because he's dehydrated....

so I'm forced to force liquids :(

He hates me right now.
Watching tv on the couch.

This had been his location since we got home from surgery.

Pillow--check.

JEE JEE--check.

Nick Jr.--check.

Nap?--check.

I hope he feels better soon.

In the meantime, I've almost caught up with my pathetic excuse for a blog!

I am determined to be caught up before Christmas pics!

Hence the reason for Charlie's birthday post earlier. His birthday is in August....yet just got posted today :/

Pumpkin Fest 2010

The boys and I flew up to PA for the annual Pumpkin Festival at our family's farm this year.

Yes, it took place in October.

Yes, I know it's December.

Such is life these days....

oh, and facebook doesn't help matters either!

It's much easier to post pics on facebook.

But I am doing this blog for my kids.

Someday I'll make it into a book for them.

That way it can be a keepsake and great for remembering their childhood!
I love this time of year at the farm.

Beautiful colors everywhere!

The weather was nice.

Not too hot, not too cold.

Of course, the first thing they wanted to do was go on a hayride.

We talked our cousins, Elliot and Carter into joining us!

The four of these guys together is hilarious!

Can't wait til Elliot can be more of a contributor.

[Chels, if you have anymore boys, then we're really doomed.]
Brothers :)

The sun was so bright!

Found this crazy boy in the corn bin.

Let's just say I was fishing kernels of corn out of my washing machine for weeks.....
Sweet brothers.

They really love each other.

Except for the occasional throwdown here and there ;)
Nonna and the boys.

Such a great pic!
Ok, funny story.

The weekend before we were in PA, my cousin, Steph, and her kids were in PA. She snapped a pic of my mom wearing a fanny pack [gasp!] [oh the horror]..I know what you're thinking.

She sent it to me and immediately I texted my mom and said, "Take off the fanny pack before someone gets hurt."

She didn't know that Steph and snapped a pic of her wearing the fashion faux pas and was in a little bit of shock.

Busted!

Long story short, she sported the "crossover" the following week that I was there.

No worries.

I confiscated the fanny pack.

It no longer is a temptation for Cindra :)

Jackson is getting taller!
Charlie with my cousin, Mike's little boy, Zach.

Boys everywhere!
My job was to collect $$ for the hayrides on the day of the festival.

Jackson was my helper.

He needed to take the occasional hayride out to the field and check things out.

A white pumpkin!

He collected several of these over the weekend.

And we forgot to take them home with us.....oooops.

Jackson wasn't too happy with me when we got back to LA and he went looking for his white pumpkins.
This is my friend Kenny's little boy Max.

Such a cutie!

Max, that is....not Kenny
I don't know why the sky is so blue and crisp on fall days...

I love it!
This is a picture I snapped of the farm looking down from the top of the hill.

Just to the left is Grandma Reeger's house.

That's the market straight ahead...

Love this view!