Happy Birthday Fletcher!

We had a great time celebrating Fletcher's birthday with a wild little party on the actual day, December 21st. He is very proud of being 4 now! Sean made him a double layer chocolate Superman cake, and he was excited to open toys galore. With that and Christmas he's always a bit overwhelmed with new toys, but luckily we gave 5 trash bags full of toys away to a charity just before his birthday, so we now have room for all the new stuff.

Fletcher also has been saying a lot of "when I'm a dad, I'm going to let my kids..." to try and justify everything from jumping on furniture to staying overnight at a friend's house. He's got big plans! When Sean informed him that his wife would also have a say in making decisions, Fletcher said, "She can decide what we're having for dinner." Too funny - especially coming from him, when he's used to our house where Sean does 100% of the cooking :)

Maeve is really proud that she did her first modeling gig a couple weeks ago. It was a brief photoshoot for Oriental Trading Company. I'm guessing it is for an upcoming catalog of some sort. She had a lot of fun doing it! She is thoroughly enjoying being home on Christmas break - lots of relaxing and lots of board game playing. I seem to be getting beat more and more every day by her quick smarts! Ugh.

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas. We were all home together for 10 days - Yeah! We were able to see lots of family and friends. This week I was able to go to lunch with two friends I don't see often enough - Mary Dillon and Suzi Sailer. I love catching up with friends!

For New Year's Eve tonight, we're planning to spend a fun evening at home - just the 4 of us. We were hoping to make it to KC for a party, but it would've been too quick of a trip - so we'll plan a weekend getaway there for all of us very soon!

Have a very safe and happy New Year!

rockin' around the Christmas tree

Yikes Stripes! It's been awhile since I posted - as my mother so sweetly reminded me yesterday :) We're busy getting ready for Christmas, and loving every minute of it! All the shopping is done except about 2 items, so that's a relief. Now onto the wrapping!!

We enjoyed Maeve's school Christmas program last night. Lots of kiddos; lots of fun. Fletcher doesn't have a program this year, but he was dancing and singing along with her program last night from his seat. I think he's ready for these events to be HIS games and HIS programs - he loves the spotlight! Maybe we'll help him get started developing his entry for the annual Kelly Christmas Eve family talent show at Sean's parents.

Sean's been a busy elf working part-time this holiday season at Fat Brain Toys, check them out at www.fatbraintoys.com. I've been frantic trying to keep caught up on all my schoolwork - so far so good, but I remain a procrastinator who vows to change her ways :)

These are some fun pictures of the kids in their rocking chairs in front of our Christmas tree (hence the title of the post).

Merry Christmas to all!