~The Experience We Call Life~: 2009

Let's Play Catch Up

My longtime friend, Necia, was in town to visit her family for Christmas & she was kind enough to invite Mandi & I to lunch at Kneaders. I really enjoyed catching up & seeing her again!

I love Sadie's eyes in the picture; their blue color is so intense!

I had started to get Marley dressed on day & managed to get her shirt on. Then I left for a few minutes to get something & this is what I found her in...nice! She seemed to think that PJ bottoms & a swim suit matched her shirt! She's such a goofy kid & I love it!

Christmas Day

This was such a wonderful Christmas. This is the first year that Marley actually started to understand presents. Kevin & I were up until 1:30 am Christmas Eve while Kevin put together her adorable kitchen. (Kevin had put the fire truck together earlier & we put it in the back room & forgot to shut the door. Later, I heard a 'ding, ding, ding' coming from that room & I found Marley in there ringing the fire truck bell! Dang it!) She didn't wake up until 9:45, but the look on her face when she rounded the corner was priceless & worth the wait! She loves, loves, LOVES the kitchen! In fact, we couldn't get her to open any of her other gifts because she wanted to play with her kitchen the whole time. I started opening some of her gifts, hoping she would see what I was doing & that she would help me out...but nothing could tear her away!

She also really liked the fire truck & her little play house.

Papa Jerry, Grandma Ruth, & Great-Grandma Violet came by later that morning to see what Marley got from Santa.

Christmas Eve

Dear sweet Ruth & Jerry provided a fantastic Christmas Eve party for us & Kevin's siblings & their families. She made a delicious meal & we played LRC & just hung out! It was really laid back & relaxing.

Upper left: Emorie & Kevin, how cute!

Wow! Jerry that's quite the smile!

We played LRC (left, right, center) using chocolate coins instead of dollars. Marley really liked the chocolate coins & kept trying to pass out extras to everyone (you start out with 3).

Marley got a cute little knit hat that her cousin Isabelle made for her (I tried to get a picture of her wearing it but Marley wasn't having any of that!) & books (surprise, surprise) from Alyssa. Marley immediately went to Aunt Trina to have her read her new book!

Emorie & Trina were SO excited to open the gifts Kevin & I gave them...

Emorie & Ethan showcasing the fleecy delight that only a Snuggie can provide!

Kevin got the best present ever from his nephew, Seth. Ton Katsu Sauce & Panko crumbs! That sauce is SO hard to find!

This had to be the best present of the night! Years ago Jerry got Trina's name & gave her a shirt with his face & 'favorite father-in-law' printed on it. Shortly after I married Kevin, Trina got my name for Christmas & re-gifted that delightful shirt to me (as I'm the only other daughter-in-law). The next year, I got her name, so I re-gifted it back to her. This year Trina got Jerry's name...& she got really creative this year! Such a brown-noser!

This year we decided to get the best possible Christmas present for Ruth & Jerry. I just had to take pictures of her face as she opened it! It was pictures of all the grand kids as a group & individually. See the pictures below:

A few months back, we managed to get all the grandchildren together & Kevin took some great pictures of them (even if we did take a couple hundred pictures to get a few good ones, it was totally worth it!)

Kevin couldn't resist the Snuggie's appeal.

Aren't they so adorable!

Attack of the Oreos

One of the 12 days of Christmas gifts from Papa Jerry & Grandma Ruth contained a bag of mini Oreos. I had turned my back, for what I thought was just a few minutes, & when I found her, she had consumed an unknown amount of those mini Oreos, as evident all over her face. My poor disheveled child!

Ackroyd Family Christmas

We had my family over Christmas Eve eve for dinner & gift exchange. It was really wonderful for all of us to get together & celebrate the wonderful Christmas holiday!

Since Marley loves books, that's what she got! Which is a good thing as we were running out of new books for her to look at!

Upper Left: my father, Doug. Bottom Left: my mother (with a peculiar smile), Orimi. Bottom Right: Tina (one of Marley's favorite aunts!)

My brother, for some odd reason, decided to surprise, his lovely wife, Tina with her Christmas gift early...peanut butter & jelly combo & a Nintendo DS...hmm, odd combo.

We all got some fabulous gifts!

Marley wanted the money so she could put it in her pocket!

Alece & Tina's watch power! YE-AH!

Cooke Family Christmas Party

My husband's wonderful Aunt Kathy & his cousin Bill & Bill's wife, Maria, did a great job hosting the Cooke family party this year. It was Mexican food, which made for a nice break from the typical holiday food, ham & turkey!

Upper left picture is Kevin's nephew, Ethan, who wore these awesome glasses & lately had been handing out his autograph! We love that kid!

Upper right picture: Maria & Bill Jr. Bottom left picture: Bill Jr.'s father & mother, Bill & Kathy. Bottom right picture: cousin Garn & his wife Cristen

Upper right picture: Maria's cute parents. Upper left: Aunt Eloise's family.

Upper Left: Cousin Rodger's children. Bottom Left: Cousin Heather & her husband, Whitman.

Upper left: Nephew Seth & his brother, Aric. Upper Right: Aunt Kathy & Aunt Eloise.

Bottom Right: Luke

Left to Right: Brothers & sisters, Uncle Dallas, Aunt Kathy, Jerry, & Aunt Eloise

Top Picture: Kevin with his sister, Kristen.

Christmas with the Norths

We had a little annual (is annual being a little too presumptuous?) gift exchange/dinner get- together with Mandi's lovely little family. We ate Chinese food, at the Dragon Isle (one of Kevin's favorite places.) They gave us a lovely gift basket filled with delicious treats. A fantastic summer sausage from Ford's Locker & wonderful Brie, among other heavenly things. Marley got a cute little pair of Hello Kitty galoshes which she wanted to put on & tromp around the house!

Marley's New Apron

We received a lovely gift package in the mail from Karl, Chantae, & Charlie. One of them wasn't wrapped & was addressed to Marley from Charlie. Marley immediately grabbed it & tried to put it on. Then she said 'picture, picture' because she wanted to model it in front of the camera! This apron is SO adorable!! Thank you Charlie!

12 days of Christmas

Marley's Grandma Ruth & Papa Jerry decided to surprise us with the 12 Days of Christmas! Each day we got to open up a new present & Marley couldn't wait to do it! She would always ask 'present, present'. Some days I would have to tell her to wait until daddy got home. So she patiently waited, but was all over opening it as soon as he got home!! Thanks Grandma Ruth & Papa Jerry!

THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS