Houston, we have a problem!

First, let me apologize for the delay in our blog updates...as you can imagine we have had quite an adventure this past week. First, we did not get out to ABQ until Sat vs. the plan of Thursday due to Hertz being a bunch of incompetent boobs (oh yeah you knew that already). Then we got down to ABQ and everyone got sick...and Payton decided to be a momma's girl which pretty much tied up Jen for the entire stay. Then we had to leave on Wed vs. the plan of Friday due to the incoming snow storm. So to recap: 2 days of traveling for 3 days at the grandparents! Hmmm, that sounds familiar....oh yeah...that is what we did when we went back to CT in the beginning of December. So I guess to sum up our December...4 days of travel for 6 days of "vacation". And we wonder why we are all so tired ;-)

Christmas: Besides the fact that I overcooked the prime rib, Christmas was a success. The kids had a ball. It was especially great for us since this is the first year that Kade seemed to really understand the whole concept. We even left out a cookie for Santa (which he liked) and some carrots for the reindeer (which I guess were good per reindeer standards). Funny how we forgot to leave out a beer - I mean milk - for Santa! And maybe next year we will leave out some Beefarino for the reindeer...I bet Santa and his elf would love that!! ("I'm so keen-o, on Beefarino, what a delicious cuisine-o, fit for king and queen-o." - Kramer)

Kades Birthday: So we ended up at Peter Piper Pizza for the party which turned out to be a nice break after spending the entire previous day opening gifts. It was actually a lot of fun for the kiddos as they really enjoyed the games. Kade especially liked the race car simulators. Dad really liked the basketball game as he whooped up on mommy...she must have been thinking about tea parties or something and didn't bring her A game ;-)

Uh...Houston we have a problemo. When I went to download the Xmas and Birthday pictures from just the one camera we have 298 pictures. Obviously this is going to take a while to settle out...and I am sure that Jen will claim she has a picture hangover after sifting through the ashes. Anyway, I gave it a go and tried to pull out some of the better (or at least funnier) pictures...

First one is a little pre-Christmas cheer going on by Jen. Apparently she was trying to "cheer" her way through a headache...personally I wanted to see this one succeed as I could have greatly benefited from that...

Second one is a little surprise I caught at the dinner table. Kylie (a.k.a., The Blizzard) was wearing black olives on all 5 fingers...by the time I got my camera she had stuffed 4 in her mouth...
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house the boys were fixing Santa's deliveries ;-)
Payton also got a charge out of the John Deere Gator. She liked driving more than riding in the back with Kade-the-destroyer...
So Kade figured out "forward-at-full-speed-into-the-coffee-table" pretty damned fast. He is apparently nothing like his father ;-)
I do believe that Rocky summed up the Chrismas festivities the best with this one picture...it was a long day...Fay gets an honerable mention too for her demeanor here also, but by far and away Rocky has it nailed.In an interesting experiment...it appears that the Gator's battery lasted longer than Kade's ;-)The two amigos in the Blizzard's new Barbie Jeep. Apparently Kade had a little more juice left in him after all!!!
One last shot before I sign off for the evening...apparently Payton had something else in her formula...maybe Russ slipped in a little eggnog....I guess we will never know for sure...but I have my doubts...
Later!