Part III - The Friends Dinner

When I say that, I can't help but think of the Friends and wonder if people think I'm referring to it. I guess that shows my age, doesn't it? Friends and Seinfeld...the ONLY must see TV NBC has ever had...

Anyway, we started preparing pretty early for Friday. Cory did all the shopping on Wednesday, getting beer, sodie, requesting the super stuffing from his dad... we cleaned and cleaned in preparation. Yes family, it's true. We cleaned for the friends, not for you. LOL

For those of you who missed it, here's the spread and the reason for the meat jokes: ham, brisket, turkey, green bean casserole, fruit salad, rolls and mashed taters. That's right. A 3-meat combo. Merry Freakin' Christmas! Everything was SO good. For dessert, we had homemade cookies, chocolate mocha trifle, buttermilk pie and a chocolate layered pudding dessert. We were all about to explode but it was soooo worth it.

Jerm & Andia got Kaia the coolest giant hippo (see separate post... the gift is NOT for the dog) from Ikea. I've actually used it for a pillow, it's so soft. Kaia has laid her head on it and squeezed it too but I haven't captured that with the camera yet...

Isaac and Kaia met and exchanged gifts. She was all over him, he was not sure what to think of this handsy little girl. Grabbing his face, taking his toys...


We got him this little safari roller which needed to be inflated. Holly started to blow it up and Cory, being the generous host, piped in, "Oh I have something I can do that with" so she gave it to him and he disappeared. For like, an eternity. Finally, I got up to see what he was doing. The "thing" he was going to blow it up with didn't work, so he was sitting quietly in the nursery... well, here ya go:





I died laughing, and was proud at the same time. Despite his crabby demeanor, my husband is really such a softy.

Everyone played Wii bowling while Diane, Paula, Holly and I oohed and aahed over the babies. Rick, Diane D. and Josh stuck around til midnight and we all played some righteous Wii tennis.

It took us three shifts of cleaning the kitchen to get it back to normal. The dishwasher is cool, but it made us lazy. We didn't want to hand wash all that shit so we filled up the tiny thing, emptied it, filled it, repeat. :)

It was a great time and no matter where we are next Christmas, we must find a way to repeat the event. I really enjoyed it and am so thankful to have such great friends, old and new. I wish one of these days we would get our shit together and take some group photos!

Best Christmas EVAH (part 2 of 3)

We woke at the normal time, 9-ish, with Kaia hungry and me barking like a seal. Stupid sickness, go away! Can’t I please leave 2008 healthy?!? Anyway, we got up and started to get ready for our day.

Family started arriving around 9:30. Cory started cooking (meat, again!) and once everyone got there we had brunch. Bellinis, breakfast casserole, southwest quiche, cinnamon rolls… man, we had quite a breakfast spread. Kaia gummed some cinnamon roll but was more interested in the bags and tissue paper around the tree.

Since this was all about her this year, we let her tackle her gifts first. She got her first pony! J A cute little red ryder pony and she squealed like we’d never heard her squeal before when she started bouncing on it. Too cute. She was pretty much giddy all day, like she knew it was Christmas. Just wait kid, it only gets better!

We put Kaia's party outfit on her again so the Cheney clan could see it. She looked just as cute in it the second time around, minus the tights because they were covered in dog hair from the night before. :) Thanks to Aunt Candice by the way for providing the tights and shiny shoes.

What I wish I had record of is Cory's dad laughing his ass off and playing Wii golf. I've never heard the man laugh like that. In fact, I don't know that I've ever heard him really laugh before, at least nothing more than a short chuckle at someone else's expense. It was good to hear and kind of cool to see the two of them doing something together and enjoying it...I think babies just bring out the best in everyone.

My sister's new boyfriend

I gotta hippopotamus for Christmas...

but my dog won't let me at it...

Watchin for Santa...

Best Christmas EVAH! (part 1 of 3)

It really is true, kids make Christmas. Kaia doesn't even have a clue that it's Christmas yet somehow she was extra giddy and didn't want to go to sleep on Christmas Eve. :)

We spent Eve with my mom at my sister's house. We got her all dressed up in her party dress and headed over. It was Kaia's first attempt at opening Christmas presents. She of course was mesmerized by the paper. We had to take it away from her because she kept sucking on it, getting ink everywhere.
























She got some great books and a beautiful stuffed care bear from Grandma Jane. I used to love the care bears when I was little, and used to draw them obsessively (along with Garfield). Anyway, she gave the bear a big hug to welcome him to the family.

More later, I smell a poopy diaper...

Kaia's First Christmas

I can't wait to post details and pictures. Check back soon. ;)