It makes sense

Bedtime gets a little silly around here. Tonight we were going through the nightly ritual, jammies, diapers, stories, songs. (Background: We have been having trouble getting Jill to stay in her bedroom all night long, so we bought a brighter night light today so she won't get frightened in the middle of the night.) This is the conversation that ensued.

Kevin: So, Jillian, are you going to stay in your bed tonight.

Jill: No. I'm going to say "Mom, Dad, I'm scared" (said in a falsetto voice) and get in your bed.

Kevin: No. Because you have a night light, you don't have to be scared. And you don't want to sleep in our bed anyway. It's stinky. We have B.O. and we're hairy so our bed is gross. *Thank you honey*

Jill: Your bed is gross?

Kevin: Yes, and one day you can sleep with your husband.

Jill: My husband?

Kevin: Yes, after you get married. And then your bed will stink too.

Jillian: Oh.

There's nothing quite like "reasoning" with a two-year-old.

Jesus is her favorite. How 'bout you?

She came up this entirely on her own. Pure genius.

Steve Martin with some good advice for all of us!

I think it was Kevin's mom who showed this to us. It's hilarious and we're trying to live by it:) Check out this wise advise here!

WE LOVE OUR FAMILIES AND THE HOLIDAYS!

We got to travel to visit both of our families for Christmas and Kevin and I both agreed it was one of our very favorite married Christmases so far. Okay, so we've only had three married Christmases so far but it was a great one. It is fun to get more comfortable with the families that we have married into (I realize that's not gramatically correct but when I wrote it the other way it sounded way too nerdy) and just relax, enjoy Kevin's time off and celebrate the holidays with our loved ones. It was awesome and we already can't wait until the Christmas season is back in 2009. Oh, and this is one of those posts where I just couldn't decide which one was cuter, so I included them all:) I still need a picture of the nativity angels and the family photo from Tessa's blessing to add.

Before we left, we went to see Santa at the YCMA and ate breakfast with him. He was, I'll be honest, a pretty weak Santa Claus. He looked about 15 but the kids seemed impressed.

Dad in his chair

Crazy sisters

Loving the princess ornaments

Admiring her work

She was having fun at first. I promise!

We have a family tradition of all getting on "the boat" Christmas morning. This is what Kevin, Peter and I found when we came up from the basement. We still had to wake Katie up but everyone else was there. Every year the bed creaks a little more and I think we've managed to break a board or two.

Let's go see the PRESENTS!

"Is everybody ready? Yeah, man!"

My dad always sings this jolly little phrase.

Big kids get excited about Christmas morning too

She stopped after opening a few presents to read her animal book to Baby

The beautiful quilt Mom and Katie made, and just a cute picture in general of these cute girls

Who was more excited about this gift? It's debateable.

Very excited about the princesses Santa brought her

Our sweet, contemplative boy

Jill and Grandma

Nice shot Hadley!

I love this action shot of Kevin.

Every December the 31st in Raleigh an acorn is dropped at 8 p.m., for the littlest partiers, and at midnight. We were thinking of going to the First Night Raleigh celebrations but then we found out it was $12 a person so Kevin created our own festive ball to drop. It was really a basketball with lights wrapped around it lowered into a hoop. It was very clever and much more accessible than going all the way downtown in the cold:)

The spectators

This is for Pops. Our resident weather specialist!

Gibson, Ryen and Jill

Marbleworks on a magnetic wall

Fashion designer in the making



Peter loved these drums!

Pete also thought these fish were pretty sweet!

January 15, 2009

"What's so special about that date?" you might ask. Well, that's the day that Kevin found out his hard work had paid off and he could, in actual fact, become an ophthalmologist!!! We'll be heading to UNC Chapel Hill in 2010 for him to begin his ophthalmology training. We feel so grateful he matched at such a great program and in such a great place, close to both of our families, near the beach, a place with college sports teams, affordable housing, friends and did we mention our families? We couldn't be more excited or feel more spoiled and blessed! Our whereabouts for this next year are still to be determined on yet another match day in March. The choices include SLU, two programs in Connecticut, Wake Forest, and possibly Emory and any other interviews he may get in the very near future:)

Another less exciting but very cute thing also happened on January 15th. It was VERY cold with the high at 1 degree Fahrenheit! We headed out, however, to take Kevin to work and go to Jillian's gymnastics class at the YMCA (where she successfully "skinned the cat" with a little assistance- she's been practicing this at home on Dad's Iron Gym:). Peter was all bundled up in a full body cast-esque suit and none too happy about it. I look back at the kids in the car at one point and Jillian has somehow managed to wiggle his little hands out of the suit and they are holding hands. Nothing will get in the way of holding Brother's hand! It's so neat to watch them become friends and confidants!