Proud Godparents

We wanted to take a quick break from our holiday and birthday updates to send a heart-felt congratulations to our new, beautiful Goddaughter, Charlotte, and our dear friends, Jim and Kim. Charlotte was baptized at 1:30pm this afternoon! We feel extremely honored to have been chosen to be a part of her life.

The day went off without a hitch and the proud parents hosted a wonderful reception back at their home, complete with grandparents on both sides. Well, um, unless you define a hitch as Neve pulling down an entire poinsettia planter from the baptismal font in the middle of the ceremony!

The aftermath...Neve leaving her mark on Charlotte's turf!

Sorry, Charlotte.

I guess our Family 5 is a package deal.

Merry, Merry Christmas...a Little Late

What a merry, merry Christmas we had this year!  (Far cry from last year, when Michael was nursing a double ear infection...)  As we posted below, we made our way out to the suburbs of Chicago to visit with all of Mike's siblings and their families.  (Mike's mom and dad were certainly in our hearts and minds all weekend.)  A special thanks to the hosts, Bill, Maggie, Ben, and Tom, who turned their house into the most hospitable Christmas location for young and old alike.  Bill even pulled out his old (ancient?) Hot Wheels track to race cars around the basement.

The kids, of course, had a blast opening their presents.  Katie, being sooooo old and mature now, graduated from the "rip up anything in front of her with glee and abandon" unwrapping phase.  She was proud to be the official gift passer for everybody in the family.  She patiently waited to see what everybody opened and really expressed her gratitude.  Here she is with her new veterinarian's kit.  (Note to parents...perhaps tie her hair back out of her face next year.)

Michael, on the other hand, opened his gifts just as you would expect a 3-year-old boy would.  Think Edward Scissorhands.  All he kept asking for the entire holiday season was a new silo, so here is Santa delivering!  (Little did we know that Grammy Claus also came through with a better silo.)

And, we can't forget Neve, celebrating her first Christmas!  She wasn't really into unwrapping anything, but she sure liked watching all of the commotion.  She certainly didn't do too badly for herself, snagging some new dolls, clothing, and a ball popper, among other things.

After all the craziness of the presents, it was time to enjoy some of the new gifts.  Michael, in particular, got into his new pocket volcano, activated with baking soda and vinegar.  We made him wait for his new geyser (mentos + soda) until spring arrives.  As it is supposed to gush up to 25 feet, we figured it could wait until it was nicer outside.

As a special surprise for Traci, Mike bought us 10PM tickets to the new movie, Les Miserables!!  So, after we scrubbed the kids down and tucked them into bed, we set off for our own date night.  (Momentous picture...first time all three kids have been in the same tub!)  A WONDERFUL movie to cap off a fantastic day!!

Twas the Night Before Christmas - Chicago Style!

It's time to finally catch up on our Christmas trip to Chicago!  We have so many pictures that we'll break up our posts over the next few days.  Let's start with the trip out to Chicago, right up until Christmas itself!  (First shot, all of us - minus Mike - dressed up and ready to go to Christmas Eve Mass.)

Piggybacking off of our earlier Notre Dame post, we thought this shot of Neve was quite humerous.  Trying to navigate something as immense and complicated as Notre Dame's bookstore with three young children was quite a task in and of itself.  Since Mike was much more keen on getting himself some ND loot, Traci relented and took all three kids out to the foyer to chill out for a bit.  For some reason, Neve was perfectly content to just lay on the floor and look up at the elevated ceilings.  She attracted quite a bit of attention...we don't know why.

Once we finally reached our destination, it was time to catch up with some family members we hadn't seen in years!  Michael LOVED hanging with his godparents, Uncle Jim and Aunt Kathy.

Of course, the kids are absolutely obsessed with their older cousins, Ben (21) and Tom (16).  The guys were absolutely GREAT sports, amusing their younger cousins with childish play and conversation.  Katie and Michael were delighted that Tom even helped them to bake cookies for Santa Claus.  (And, we were all delighted that we didn't see him check Facebook for the entire cookie-making process!  :)  Seriously, that is a lot to ask of a teenager!)

Nobody wanted one of the cookies more than Baby Neve.  Sorry, babes, no sweets for another few months!

Once the cookies cooled off, we set out the plate for Santa and his reindeer!!

The kids were thrilled to open one present each on Christmas eve.  They each opened up a book to read for their bedtime story.

And then they nestled in with Uncle Bill for some quality reading time.  (Mommy and Daddy were already stressed about all of the gifts left to wrap...)

As all the kids were snug in their beds, St. Nicholas sure found his way to Chicago!!!

Belated Happy 6th Birthday, Katie!

Please enjoy the annual birthday video of our oldest daughter's amazing 6th year!  Of course, it is a few days late due to illnesses and holiday recovery.  Please forgive us.  Katie did want everybody to know, however, that she had a great birthday this past weekend, complete with balloons, cake, gifts, Papa/Grammy visits, and even a snake thrown in.  More details to come as we play catch-up on our postings this week...

Love Thee, Notre Dame

Man, we have some catching up to do now!  Why don't we start with one of the latest events in the past month?  As the vast majority of you probably saw, our beloved Notre Dame football team kind of got ... um ... annihilated in the National Championship game by the Alabama Crimson Tide.  (When did they join the NFL anyway?)  Yes, we were bummed, but we were also so ecstatic and proud that our "irrelevant" and "in-the-past" team made it that far.  Go Irish!  When we traveled to Chicago in December, we made a pit stop in South Bend so that all of the kids could see Notre Dame for the first time.  We spent some time in the Book Store (booming business!) and then walked over to the Basilica where Mike and Traci were married and the Admin Building (Golden Dome).  It was a bitterly cold day, so we don't think the kids saw the campus through the same romantic lens as we do.  Michael's mega-highlight of the visit?  Seeing the Notre Dame Water Tower, tucked in the back of campus!

Video Update:  Mike has been working hard, through little sleep, to finish Katie's birthday video.  He reports that it should be done today or tomorrow!  Tune back in!

DDD Night!

So tonight was Katie's "Daddy Daughter Dinner," our annual tradition on the night before her birthday.  Her choice this year...Pizza Hut!

It actually required us to travel out of our way to find a location that still offered dine-in service, but we would not be denied our pan pepperoni pie, breadsticks, and some kind of chocolate dipping sticks. Katie seemed to enjoy her selection and Dad, as always, enjoyed the one-on-one conversation which ranged from sphinxes to credit cards. The only sad moment was the realization that in the years to come, I will always be looking across the table and seeing Katie as her 5-yr old version of herself.

Bittersweet...

Down for the Count

We know, we know. Sorry that we have been offline lately! We've returned from a wonderful trip to visit Mike's family in Chicago, but some nasty viruses have caught up with us and we are struggling to get settled in to any sort of normalcy. We have a lot to report from our travels, but forgive us if we fail to get caught up until after Katie's birthday festivities this weekend.

Speaking of down and out, check out what the excitement of Christmas can do to a 3-yr old boy. In a quite hilarious moment, Michael suddenly left the table in the middle of Christmas dinner and was found passed out on the family room floor 30 seconds later. At least the kid is in tune with his physical needs! We all could learn a thing or two from him about the importance of a good nap.

HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody! More from the trip next week. Stand by...