Christmas Day

Colleen making paper angels

Kellen with all his toys

Colleen in her dress up clothes

Colleen opening presents

Colleen with her "Mommy make me better" doll

"I'm not touching anything"

The doctor will see you now!

Christmas Day was so wonderful.



The kids slept in for a little while, which was great for Jeff and I. We actually got Colleen up, courtesy of Kellen's diaper change, at around 7:30am. We thought for sure she would have been up before that.


Colleen was so excited that Santa had arrived. She got her Mommy make me better doll, moon sand, princess books, princess dress up clothes and TONS more stuff

Kellen wasn't sure what was going on, but loved opening his presents and playing with them. Kellen got a Wheel Pals racetrack, baseball tee, blocks, blocks and more blocks!


Later, Jeff's parents came over for breakfast and the present giving continued. At one point there was so much paper on the ground, Colleen started making "paper angels"


In the afternoon, we headed down to my sister's house to visit with the rest of my family. It was fun to see Grandmommies and Mr. Lou one more time before they had to leave. We did miss out on seeing Eileen (Kellen's Godmother) and Suzanne because they had both left for Colorado.



PS - I was very excited about my gifts. Jeff got me a new 10 megapixel SLR camera. I was so excited and surprised. Jeff's parents got me a standing mixer - Yippie! My Mom got me a really nice necklace with the kids names on it.


Jeff got his new playstation and an LT Chargers jersey from me!

Santa Came

Christmas tree with all Santa's presents

Stockings full with goodies

Christmas Eve Afternoon

Pumphrey Family

Kellen opening present from Uncle Tony

Kellen with Uncle Tony

Kids in their matching PJ's

Leaving cookies for Santa

Christmas Eve afternoon was very busy.


Jeff had to rush home from work so that we could get to church 30 minutes before it started so that we could have a seat. Turns out we didn't make that deadline and ended up having to stand in the back of the church with the other 50+ people who didn't make it either.


After about 30 minutes, the kids had had it and we had to pack it in and go home. Luckily for us, Uncle Tony (Kellen's Godfather) had stopped by and gone to church with us, so it made things a lot easier.


Uncle Tony also gave Kellen an awesome present that BOTH Colleen and Kellen love and won't stop playing with.


After church, we got the kids ready for bed. Kellen couldn't hold out past 7pm, so he hit the hay early. Colleen on the other hand was very excited to watch the end of the Polar Express and leave cookies for Santa.

At bedtime, Jeff and I were with Colleen and Jeff asked her what her Christmas wish was. She replied "For everyone to have good times and that I stay with my family forever" That melted our hearts. Here we were expecting to hear her blurt out toys or something else, and she says the sweetest thing possible

Christmas Eve morning

Jeff had to work Christmas Eve, so I spent the day with the kids.

Colleen was very excited that Santa would be coming that night. The first thing she had to do was rush downstairs and hang the last animal on our count down calendar

We spent a lot of time making cookies for Santa that morning. Colleen decided which color sprinkles to use on each cookie!

Christmas Eve Eve

Colleen opening up her present from Mr. Bill and Louise

Colleen, Cousin Ben and Cousin Emily

Colleen and Kiely watching Ben unwrap his gift from Kellen

Cousin Emily, Colleen, Cousin Ben and Cousin Kiely

Since Christmas Eve fell on a Monday and not everyone would be off from work, my family decided to have a Christmas Eve celebration on Christmas Eve Eve


My sister-in-law, Sue, hosted and everyone had such a great time.


The cousins enjoyed playing with each other, but more importantly, they enjoyed all the presents!


Here are a few pictures from the fun!

Family at UMBC Basketball Game

The kids sitting with Jeff

"Go!"

Colleen with her elf ears

Kellen shaking the seats

Jeff really wanted to take the kids to a UMBC basketball game this year, so we decided that last Saturday would be the perfect time to go. Students wouldn't be in school, so hopefully the crowd wouldn't be so bad and the kids would be able to sit really close to the action.

When we arrived at the game, we got polariods take with the Retriever mascot, who was all dressed up like Santa. Kellen cried as soon as he sat on his lap. Colleen REFUSED to go near him, so I had to pull her next to him for a quick shot.

We were able to sit 2 rows back on the floor. It was great. Kellen and Colleen sat through the whole entire game!

Kellen would turn around and stare at the students who were yelling behind him. It was very funny to see that. Kellen LOVED shaking the seats when it was time to yell "DEFENSE"

Colleen got to hi-five the Cheerleaders and help Jeff start the "DEFENSE" chant every time Hampton had the ball. By the end of the afternoon, Colleen was a little hoarse from all the yelling she had been doing.

All in all, the game was such a fun time and we will definitely take the kids back again!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Colleen loves Rudolph and she was so excited at school because they made "reindeer hats"

Here she is sporting hers and pretending to be Rudolph....trying so hard to make her nose glow!

The Next American Idol

Jeff bought a new Playstation 2 for Christmas (the one he had before broke)

With the new Playstation came a Sing Star game which allows you to sing along with popular songs and grades your performance.

It is very fun. Jeff and I have been playing a lot.

But the other night we let Colleen play and she LOVED singing into the microphone. Sure she didn't know the words to "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt....but her Baa Baa Black Sheep sounded wonderful to us!

Holiday Trains at the Firehouse

Over the weekend we took the kids to the firehouse to see the holiday trains that they set up every year.

Colleen and Kellen LOVED it. They were both equally amazed at the trains. Colleen was tall enough to push some of the buttons to have the displays do other things too.

Kellen enjoyed getting a fire hat from the fireman there and gave out a nice, loud squeal with delight which deafened a lot of ears

Mommy's Poor Boy

My poor angel boy, Kellen, has been sick.

Kellen was sent home from school last Wednesday with a fever and wasn't himself for the rest of the week.

Today, Daddy took him to the doctor to get his 2nd flu shot. While at the doctor, Daddy had them check Kellen's ears. Turns out he has a tiny ear infection, but it might clear up on its own....we hope!

The picture above his from Thursday when Kellen wasn't feeling well and would just lay on the chair.

Visit with Santa

Colleen and Kellen went to visit with Santa for the 2nd time this year. Santa was visiting at our church (OLPH)

We weren't sure if Colleen was going to sit with him, but bribery always seems to work. It also helped that her best friend, Natalie, was in line right before her.

Colleen asked Santa for Mommy make me better, Moon Sand, Cinderella doll and a house thingy.

Kellen sat with Santa too.....but not for too long

We also had a visit from "The Grinch" on Friday. Colleen was having a rough day at school and her teachers had to call me at work so I could calm her down. So the Grinch came over and took her new Cinderella doll because she wasn't being a good listner at school. The Grinch even left a note explaining what he did and how Colleen could get the doll back.

Sunday morning, after a great weekend, Colleen went up to her room and found her Cinderella doll back in her bed. She came running down stairs tell us that the Grinch's heart grew because he gave her doll back

Hopefully the Grinch won't come back - but we can't argue.....he was VERY effective!

Colleen's Cold

Last week we had our 1st snow fall of the season!

Colleen was so excited to make snowballs and a snowman.

It got extremely cold one night and we hadn't adjusted the heat yet, so you can see from the picture, Colleen knew how to resolved the problem herself.

She put socks on her hands! Smart girl!

After I saw this, we went and kicked up the heat so she wouldn't be cold.

Kellen LOVES to Read

Kellen LOVES to read his books every night. Especially one Baby Einstein book (in the picture)

If I am reading a different book, he will find his favorite, put it in my hands and then plop himself in my lap for me to start reading.

It is VERY funny. He knows the book by heart......as do Mommy and Daddy from reading it so many times.

Cousin Larry's Wedding

Larry and Alyson

Jen and Tony

Lou with the centerpiece

Lou dancing with Sue

Lou dancing with Suzanne

Lou dancing with me

Lou dancing with Mom

A bunch of my siblings and I attended my cousin Larry's wedding over the weekend.


What a fabulous time we had!


I think Lou (my Mom's husband) had the best time of all. He was out on the dance floor with every woman he could get his hands on. Even though his foot was bothering him, he didn't let stop him from getting out there and cutting a rug!


The wedding was beautiful and Larry and Alyson make such a cute couple. I know we all enjoyed them walking out to "Hail to the Redskins"

And the picture with Lou and the centerpiece is hilarious. He won the centerpiece and decided that he would wear it as a necklace.......he just needs a spear