CHRISTMAS AND STUFF (John's story)

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Jones' house;
That's where the song ends, because there were creatures stirring.
We got in at around 3:30am, which was cool. We were looking forward to getting up with Aiden and Ri-Ri. We didn't sleep. Riley walked into the bathroom threshold at around 4:30am. That was funny. Aiden was in Dave and Annie's room at 4:00am. Did I mention we didn't sleep.
We got up at 4:45 to open presents with the boys.



Here is Aiden opening the first present of Christmas 2006. He is being watched by the maid from Tom and Jerry...remember the lady who used to shout,"Thomaaaas!". Her name was Mammy Two Shoes.






The next picture is Aiden and Riley looking chill in the candy cane PJ's with their Grammy.



Here's a cool pic of the Jones clan. Note Davey's pimp 2-piece PJ's.








It makes me feel like a true slacker for sleeping in a Taun-Taun every night (Remember when Han Salo sliced open the Taun-Taun for Luke Skywalker to stay in in Empire Strikes Back).



Taun-Tauns are cute.

Anyway, that was Christmas. We also jumped on trampolines. Actually Davey and I din't get to jump on it. I was able to help him put up the safety netting, which went quite smooth.

Byyyyyyyye!

Christmas Morning - Two's version

This year Christmas for us was nuts!! We had a Christmas Eve Eve party at our house on Saturday night so that we could see a lot of our friends and family that we wouldn't see on Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at John's parents' house, but we decided since we didn't drink to make the trip up to my brother's house late night. We left Philly around 2 am (yes we are crazy!) and arrived at Dave & Annie's house at about 3:15 am. Everyone was nestled in bed sleeping when we got there. We tried to unwind but to no avail we could not fall asleep. This is the chain of events that led to our Christmas morning:

3:15 am - arrived at Dave and Annie's house
3:30 am - still couldn't fall asleep
3:45 am - I whisper to John - "are you still awake", he replies "yes" and we both giggle!
4:00 am - We hear my mom get up to go to the bathroom
4:10 am - Davey's alarm clock (that is birds chirping) goes off, someone hits the snooze button
4:15 am - we hear Riley fussing/crying and see him run before my mom bare butt because he thinks he wet the bed (but he didn't)
4:20 am - Annie (who hates mornings especially at 4 am) gets up and shuts our door so that we can get sleep (yeah right!)
4:30 am - Davey's alarm clock goes off again, someone hits snooze
4:45 am - I hear "alright, everyone up" time to open gifts
5:00 am - We are all up around the tree with our eyes half open trying to look excited!

And with all of this, I still say it was all well worth it! One of the reasons we wanted to get up there so early is because Grammy (my mom) got the boys a trampoline for Christmas! I just realized though that I didn't take a picture of it - I will when we go up there this weekend.

Anyways, I will let John tell his version (complete with pictures)...

Comments Please...

I just have to tell all of my blogger friends that I LOVE when I get comments left on my blog from other people! I know that a lot of my family out there reads my blog, so I thought I would give some instructions (especially to you MOM) on how to leave a comment.
First, under the entry where you would like to leave a comment:

1. Click on where it says "" comments under the entry
2. You will need to create a username and password (you don't have to start a blog to do this)
3. Where it says "No Blogger account? Sign up here. " Click on that
4. Type in your existing e-mail address and create a display name (this is what will show when you leave your comment) and also a password. It will help if your password has letters & numbers. You will also need to type in the word verification
5. E-mail yourself your password so that you remember it
6. You will need to name your blog (don't use you last name) be creative! And also your blog address. You can check availability to see if it is already in use (use your first name, nickname, numbers, whatever floats your boat!)
7. Click on the acceptance of terms box
8. Now you are all ready to start posting comments! Now when you click on the comment link, you will click on "Switched to the beta?Sign in with your Google Account " And sign in with your e-mall address and password that you set-up

HAVE FUN!! I will be posting after the holidays for sure!!

The "Real Santa"

Last Sunday a much better looking Santa stopped by my brother's house to give Aiden & Riley an early Christmas present! Boy does he put Uncle John to shame!!

To All Who Read My Blog

Does anyone know anybody who lives in Linwood, NJ? Let me know by way of comment, thanks!

BAD SANTA

My mom thought it would be funny if John bought this Santa suit that was at a Christmas store we all went to last week. Unfortunately, the one size fits all concept at this company was referring to the "skinny santa" style. Made all out of felt (and the belt out of plastic) John played Santa for a couple minutes...God awful!!!

Lost Pictures

While surfing through my camera today I found a few pictures I thought I would share with the world...

Thanksgiving: While the adults were downstairs drinking, watching sports and having a good 'ole time, Aunt Kristy strategically set Aiden & Riley upstairs with a tray of sweets, Spongebob on TV and lots of pillows! Needless to say, they were content for a few hours!!






Sometime in November we had the kids for the weekend and I thought it would be great to send the kids outside just as Uncle John was raking up all the leaves in the yard. I think I said something like "get your shoes and coats on, run as fast as you can in the yard and jump right into Uncle John's pile of leaves!" John was defeated at that point and ended up raking piles for the next hour!

C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E

Last night we all went to Hershey Park. Speaking of traditions, this is one that I forgot about. It's funny when I try to think of things we do every year, I always seem to forget a few. We started off by going to "Chocolate World" to see the tour of how the chocolate is made.



Then it was off to the park. Rides, sights, lights, lines and munchies!!


We finished off by visiting Santa's reindeer. I was very impressed by how the girl who was working there was able to point out to inquisitive Riley each Reindeer by name. I didn't think he was going to stop questioning her (who is the most important reindeer (why?), why do they lose their antlers, what happens if they don't get them back by next year, etc.











I was very relieved to also see this sign that they had posted!

Everything is BIGGER in TEXAS!

Okay, so the #1 motivation for this blog entry is to keep my good friend Erin happy!! I do not want to be taken off of her blog (I've already been warned). Some of you know what I mean!!!

I admit, I haven't been too good with the blogging lately. Looking back at my blog, it seems that I only want to blog about the good times or "occasions" that have been happening. Not too much has been going on lately and I'd hate to bore everyone with little details of my life right now.

But, again, for my good friend Erin who I love dearly I know this means a lot to her! I will give you all an update!

I am not working right now, yes collecting unemployment for the first time in my life and actually just for this moment it feels pretty damn good to get some of that tax money back that I've paid into all these years! The only thing that I am regretting right now is that besides for the temporary relaxation, I am not doing anything meaningful with my time right now and it is getting to me. I will have my AS in Behavioral Health/Human Services in about 2 weeks (yipee)! It only took me about 7 years :-)

I have been traveling with my dear husband for his work which is going great! I am so proud of how far he has grown with the company he is with, he is doing very well in his "After-Market Sales" career. We have been so far this year to St. Louis, Hornell (NY), Pittsburgh, Binghamton (NY), and the past few days we've been in Dallas (TX). I just haven't taken any pictures - we didn't really do any touristy stuff, but we did drive by the "grassy knowl" where JFK was shot. We wanted to stop there but we were on a highway and believe me the way the people in Texas drive, you do not want to mess around! It's funny, being out there for a few days I realized how rushed we Philadelphians are all the time. Everyone out there is in slow-mode pace (except for on the highway!) I actually stopped and thought "why are we always in such a rush?"! John went to one of his customers and the company's break room had a pool table and all in it. They really know the meaning of "taking a break".

Well, right now it is 1 o'clock in the morning and I am rambling! Hopefully I can post something more meaningful in the next few days!