Hopefully Our Worst Christmas Ever & Lottie Sue Hulks Out

Hi everyone! Christmas is over and our house is almost bare of any Christmas decoration (we move fast).

So, this Christmas wasn't what we envisioned. She is totally fine, but Lottie Sue had emergency surgery Christmas night to fix her shunt. She just wasn't acting right and was showing (shunt issue) symptoms we were told to look out for. So we took her to the ER and after a ct scan and a set of x-rays they confirmed that her shunt was not working. That of course meant surgery to see what the issue was and to fix it. BUT after it was all said and done, everything is great. We can tell she is feeling SO much better and bounced back basically after she woke up from the surgery. This kid is amazing! The surgery was very short, the first thing they tried to fix was the problem and they didn't have to do anything invasive. She was feeling great afterwards and was able to go home on the 26th, and while she was in the ER and in her hospital room Santa Claus sent over a few gifts for her. So after it was all said and done we can say that this Christmas was actually pretty good because Lottie Sue is doing just fine and feeling great.

Alright, on to the photos...Hey Harlan - shake it, don't break it, took yo mamma nine months to make it...

Harlan as a Chippendale Dancer (with a $100 in his drawers, not bad)

Check out those bottom teeth (with FOUR more on top just about in)

Megan disapproves of the electric drumsticks we gave Tommy for Christmas

Scarlet in formal attire

RRRR...baby angry...RRRR
Lottie Sue hulks out of her pajamas, today I bought more in size 12 month - um, she's not even 7 months...

Harlan surrounded by gifts at GranBunny and GranRay's house Christmas Eve

Cera and Harlan love each other

Matt and Lottie Sue nap at Grandma's house

OK, here she is the morning after surgery - doing just fine

Grinning at Dad, surrounded by Santa's toys

Harlan dazzles us with his musical abilities (note to self: buy earplugs when Lottie Sue is old enough to play with her piano)

The kids hanging out, enjoying each other (also, check out the thighs on Lottie Sue - cute and fat)

I hope everyone had a nice holiday - Happy New Year to ya!

Christmas Time Is Fun Time

Hi all, I'm taking a break from holiday festivities to post a few photos taken over the past few days. I can't spend much time on the computer seeing that I have cookies in the oven (I'm sooo domestic). Lottie Sue is napping right now and nap time is the time to get chores done around here. So I have photos of Lottie Sue with Santa Claus, the Mowrer family Christmas and us playing with our new favorite thing, the Wii - oh yeah, plus a few extras thrown in. Enjoy...I'm leading off with Lottie Sue's Santa Claus photograph session. She didn't look at the camera once and I think the photo I took with my camera was better than the professional ones.

Lots of fur on this guy's suit, interesting

You look like my Grandpa, mister

A shot at the mall, just shopping a bit

Here we are before opening presents with Dad

Matt gave me an iphone, you can tell how happy I was by the look on my face

Here's Matt about to hit me over the head with a frying pan, JK - it was a gift from Lottie Sue

Matt must have been very good, he got a Wii

Lottie Sue with Grandpa and the Mowrer Family Christmas Sleepover

Sydney and Michelle

Another shot of Lottie Sue

Here I am with the pizza I built (mom did all of the hard work though, I had the easy part of putting the toppings on)

Matt and Michelle hamming it up when I am trying to take a real photo

Sydney opening her digital camera

And then we had Christmas dinner with the Venables Saturday Night...

Suzy and Lottie Sue

Sam and Tony preparing the meat for the table

And later that night...

Wii love the Wii, Matt and Sara playing baseball

I made them pose for this shot, it's funny

See the intensity...

Cera knocks Tommy out

More boxing while Megan and I watch

OK, here are a few randoms, I will have a million to post after Christmas.

At the Nativity Pageant - I was stationed in the finishing makeup area, I blended and drew on lines for "old" people

Here I am with one of the actors for the Nativity Pageant

Some of my handiwork

Some of the kids in the cast

You must bundle when it's chilly

More to come later, I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

The Reason For The Season

Hi all, I mentioned before the Nativity Pageant and wanted share more about it. Megan is President this year and has done such a wonderful job. The Nativity Pageant is great to take your family and it's important to focus on the reason for the season. Megan's been all over TV and was even featured in Positively Schwall on Channel 10 - CHECK IT OUT!

"Nativity Preps" featuring Megan Smith

Megan also hired Matt to be the official photographer - his going rate was $1 but since he's had his first paying gig he's bona fide and open for hire...

This dollar bill will be framed

And here are a few shots of the pageant Matt took...


Alrighty, I STILL have a ton of photos to post but it will have to wait. Lottie Sue and I have a few errands to run this AM, then we are done with all gift buying and grocery store shopping - I can't believe it. Tonight is the Mowrer Christmas Sleepover, we're headed out to Kingston for pizza, presents and games. We're really looking forward to it! Tomorrow night is the Venable Christmas gathering and we're looking forward to that as well! MERRY CHRISTMAS!