Great Grandma's

A couple days before Christmas (and the 9th anniversary of Brian and I's first date) the McMenamy side of the family met at Great Grandma's house for dinner, presents and fun. Nolan was beside himself and although I had a hard time keeping him from opening other kids' presents, he had so much fun. He ran around with his cousins and became best buds with Nathaniel, his cousin who is about one year older. They fought over cars, encouraged each other to be naughty and most of all made us all laugh with their antics. It was wonderful to see everyone.

Brian's Dad and Grandma:

Maddie (our niece):Great Grandma with the great-grandkids:Nathan, Me, Nolan, Great Grandma, Kathy, Maddie & Dennis: The opening of gifts:We had to have an adult sitting on the stairs at all times because these two little boys kept slyly trying to go higher and higher. They would pretend they would pose for a pic, then one would go up one more stair. So the other would match it, then they would look at us adults and laugh hysterically because, you know, they were totally pulling the wool over our eyes!

Thanks Susan & Peter!!

A couple nights before we headed to St. Louis, Nolan and I went to Cheyna and Andrew's for dinner. Andrew's dad, Peter, was in town and the two of them LOVE to cook...and let me just say I didn't mind one bit letting them cook up a storm and enjoying their hard work. It was an AMAZING meal!! Susan flew in the same day or the day after I flew out, so we missed each other, but hopefully next time we'll get to catch up. Anyway, they were sweet enough to think of Nolan this Christmas season and had a toddler sized apron personalized with his name so he can help out in the kitchen! It's awesome! I hope I'm not stealing thunder from Chey's blog, but they got one for Abby, too (of course), so it was so cute to watch the kids in their aprons "cooking" in Abby's "kitchen!" Thanks for thinking of us Susan and Peter, you guys are awesome! New Apron (that's a race car under his name, could it be any more fitting?)! Abby looking for something, I think:First we dump the kitchen supplies/food:Then out of the 100 pieces, we play tug of war over one!

Home and Safe

Nolan and I arrived late last night into Florida and it was actually after midnight by the time we got back to the house. A huge thank you to Cheyna for picking us up so late! Our return trip was much calmer and even though we encountered a delay and the guy next to me being escorted off the plane (he wouldn't turn his cell phone off), things were much better on the way home. We already miss all of our family and friends in St. Louis, many whom we didn't even get to see!!! But we're settling in and it's always nice to be back in your own house, especially when Haley and Tootsie came home, they were soooo excited!!!! I just uploaded the pics to our computer...275 of them, I kid you not. So...I'll do my best to give you a taste of our time in St. Louis, it truly was a blessing. Our bodies are tired, but our hearts are full.