Baker Family: December 2007

I've obviously neglected my duties here in order to keep you informed of our travels along with gratuitous pictures of kids. So consider this my "month of December update".

We started the month out at the annual Yacht Club Christmas Party during which pictures were taken of the kids on Santa's lap. But they really weren't very good so, sorry, no pics of this event. (Honest, there really were pictures taken. I had neglected to charge my camera and even went as far as to borrow the MIL's camera for just this purpose.) Anyhow, Megan and Matt both got to sit on Santa's lap and Robert would have too had he not fallen asleep in my arms. But all three kids came away with some great gifts and had a fun afternoon.

The following weekend, we had a little "freak" snow storm that no one seemed to know about. It began around 3:30 in the afternoon and by the time I left work at 4:30pm, it had created a nice mess. Unfortunately, that mess led to an accident in which I managed to total the Pacifica. And somehow, although I was the third accident in a line of six on that steep hill, I was the only vehicle that was not able to drive away. It made for a long evening, hanging out at a stranger's home (very nice strangers, by the way), waiting for the police to show up and then the tow truck. Which of course Matt was ecstatic about because he got to see "Mater". (The tow truck from the movie Cars.)

Bill swears that I did this just so I could get a new car. I'll have you know that while I'll freely admit that I'm crazy, I'm not stupid and I would never put my kids in harms way on purpose, like we ended up in that evening. I'm sure it will be a long time before he let's me live this down but at least I've blown that theory out of the water. Let's move on, shall we?

For the next two weeks, as if we didn't have enough on our plates already with Robert's Christening and Christmas coming up, we began our hunt for a new car. We settled on a 2005 Honday Odyssey, which I have to admit, I absolutely love. Not only does it ride nice but the storage in this car is just unbelievable! The kids get in/out easily on their own, no more climbing over center consoles or struggling to put seats down so someone can get into the third row. I'm looking forward to our first trip to BJ's in it so I can prove to Bill just how much more room it has for all that bulk shopping we do!

(I just re-read that paragraph and it still amazes me just how much my life has changed that I am actually excited over a mini-van, storage and bulk shopping. Who would have thought?!) (And yes, that is my car in that picture.)

The weekend of December 15th rolled around which was the weekend that we planned to have Robert baptized. Of course a double snow storm was predicted and before the weekend ever rolled around we were scrambling to come up with alternate arrangements for God Parents. As it turned out, only Mom and Dad were in attendance as they were able to make the trip up from PA in between the storms. So while Dad stood as a proxy for the God Father, my MIL stood in for the God Mother.

We joked that if we had waited any longer to have him baptized that he would have been able to walk up and dunk his own head into the water. In reality, he really was the biggest baby there, among a sea of teeny-tiny 3 month olds. Oh well, the sacrament was received without a hitch, and then there was plenty of food back at the house to last us for the next few days due to the low guest attendance rate.

What was that? You want to see pictures of this event too? Yeah...ummmm...still didn't charge my camera.

But my MIL had her camera with her! Of course, she was standing in as a proxy so that meant she couldn't very well take pictures at the same time.

But my Mom was there and had no other duties to perform!! So she took pictures!! Did I mention that she's electronically challenged? No? Well, she is. I also think that she has an undiagnosed electronics phobia. Yes, she's petrified to use strange computers, cameras, DVD and CD players...and the list goes on. This phobia also renders her incapable of utilizing the common sense gene for actions like holding a camera still while snapping pictures. So while she did attempt to take some photos, only one came out (one that I took by the way) as all of the others appeared to have been taken by someone who had a bad case of the caffeine shakes. So when I get around to scanning that one itty bitty, beautiful picture, I promise I'll share it with you. Until then...you're out of luck.

Now, while my parents were in town, we were successful at something and that was building a gingerbread house. Mom patiently helped Megan and Matt, well mostly Megan, but occassionally Matt, decorate a pre-fabricated gingerbread house. (What? Did you think I actually had the time to bake these individual pieces? HA! Nice one!) But guess what? I managed to get pictures of it too! Never mind that they were taken a week later when I finally remember to charge the camera. They were taken just in the knick of time too as the two little devils in the picture were just itching to tear that thing apart. Which they promptly did as soon as I gave them the ok.

So this brings us up to Christmas. I end this post with more pictures and just a quick blurb that Christmas was a huge success. The kids are at such a fantastic age right now that I'm just having a good time watching them 'believe' in the magic. Oh, and their favorite gifts were their Leapsters which I honestly believe have been surgically implanted to their hands.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!!