Donna's Baby Shower

On Saturday, the 12th, we had a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Donna.  We had a great time!  So excited about their soon-to-arrive baby BOY!!!

The rubber duckies didn't seem to want to float!

Game time!

Kaitlyn's been looking forward to meeting Baby James!
I must insert this little story here...
In the week leading up to the shower, I told the kids we were going to have a baby shower for Aunt Donna at our house on Saturday.  That triggered a lot of questions.  The main one being, "Why can't Aunt Donna take a shower at her house?"  Then, Kaitlyn asked why she couldn't just take a bath.  Oh, gotta love the simple mind of kids!  Even after all the conversations we had, she still had it in her mind that Baby James was  going to be at the shower, and sleep in the cradle that we put in the living room for the gifts.

Some of the guests...

The beaming, soon-to-be Grandma Gleason!!!

Natalie loved all of the attention she got!

And, of course, the gifts...

They are doing the nursery in The Lambs and Ivy Aviator Bear set.  My mom made the cake to match.  It was adorable... and yummy, too!

This is the blanket that goes with their set.  Awesome job, Mom!

With both Grandmas

Can't wait to meet little James Michael Pollard!

Party's over...
Time to have some coffee and relax!

Dinner Conversation

Talon loves football- especially the Seattle Seahawks, and is a huge Russell Wilson fan. (For those of you who don't know, he is their rookie quarter back).  Talon runs through the house constantly throwing passes, catching passes, getting tackled, calling plays... he LOVES football.  He reminds us frequently how he is "just like Russell Wilson".

You see the resemblance, don't you?!

  When Talon first started playing the Wii, he loved Mario Bros.  In fact, he asked that we call him 'Mario'.  When Kaitlyn would call out his name, he would correct her... "No, I'm Mario. Can you please call me Mario, Sissy?"

Well, yesterday Anthony made the comment to me, "I wonder when Talon's gonna ask us to start calling him Russell Wilson". So last night at the dinner table we had a little conversation...

Me: "Talon, if you could name yourself, what would your name be?"
Talon: "Nolan."
Me: "You like the name 'Nolan', huh?"
Talon: "Yeah!"
Me: "Kaitlyn, what would your name be if you could pick your name?"
Kaitlyn: "Kaitlyn!"
Me: "You like your name?"
Kaitlyn: "Yeah, it's pretty for me!"

I wasn't even going to ask Nolan, I figured he wouldn't understand. But he piped up immediately and said, "I be Suuuuuzie!"
Me: "Your name would be Suzie?"
Nolan: "Yep!  I be Suzie!"

Needless to say, we had a good laugh.  That kid doesn't miss a thing!

Christmas Week 2012

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with just our little family. The kids got in their jammies, I took a ton of pictures, and they got to open their presents from us.  It was great!

I love all of these pictures of the kids in front of the fireplace.  They were so excited and had so many different expressions, I couldn't choose just one or two, so I'm posting them all!

Nolan wanted to hold his stocking...

...then he gave up the stocking for Pooh Bear.

Love this one!!

Then we moved to the front room to take pictures in front of the tree...

What a goofy bunch!

And now for the fun part....PRESENTS!!!

Talon and Nolan both got Seattle Seahawk jerseys.  They were so excited! 

Of course, they had to put them on immediately!

...and they both got a football.

Kaitlyn's big gift was a Lego Hello Kitty doll house with a bunch of extra sets to make it a little village.  She loves it!

Natalie got a new doll, clothes, and some other fun toys.  She has a bit of a hair fetish... she loves to pull it and wind it around her fingers.  Now she can pull her doll's hair all she wants!
She also went for all the wrapping paper and boxes that covered the floor!
Happy 1st Christmas, Baby Girl!!

This is the view she had of me while I was standing over her taking these pictures.

And I had to take some pictures of the mantle after the lights were out and everyone was in bed.  I finally have a fireplace where I can hang the stockings!! *big smile*

I love the big family get togethers on the holidays, but there's just something special about having my little family together, and celebrating Christmas with just the six of us!