2012 ~ A Recap Of Our Year

JANUARY

A year ago at this time Adeline still loved her nukie and she was climbing out of her bed on a nightly basis.  This year she ditched the pacifier and traded her crib in for a big girl bed (although she still prefers to wander upstairs and sleep in between (or really more on top of) Mom and Dad.

Also last January, Careline made her First Reconciliation at church.  Buddy has to make his first confession this January and in his words, "It's going to take FOREVER to confess every sin I've ever committed!"

FEBRUARY

We took a family vacation to The Wisconsin Dells.  We're looking forward to heading back there again in February.

MARCH

Braden turned 7 years old and finished up his first year of hockey.

APRIL

Adeline turned 2 years old on Easter Sunday, Careline made her 1st Communion, Buddy lost his first baby tooth, and I finished a Half Marathon.

MAY

The soccer and baseball seasons started up keeping us busy running nearly every night of the week.

JUNE

Judy and DJ, the fabulous couple who took such wonderful care of our kids for years, retired.  Whenever we could, the kids and I headed out to watch Daddy play softball.

JULY

We attended the Carel Family Reunion in Northfield.  It's good to catch up with family and I especially cherish every opportunity I get to spend with my Uncle Bruce.

AUGUST

We celebrated the end of Summer by taking the kids on their annual trip to Valleyfair.  Pat and I took a real trip out to Vegas to watch the Gopher football team take on UNLV (a game we actually won in triple overtime!)

SEPTEMBER

The kids headed back to school.  3rd Grade for Careline, 2nd Grade for Braden, and Day School for Addy.

OCTOBER

Halloween is always one of their favorite holidays.

NOVEMBER

Careline turned 9 years old (going on 19).  We also sadly said Goodbye to Grandpa Jerry.

DECEMBER

December is always such a crazy month with all the holiday celebrations and the kids big Christmas Break.  Mom and Dad are anxious to send the kiddos back to school on Wednesday and get back to a less hectic routine (but really, are things ever quiet around here???)

Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year!

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

As part of their Christmas gift from us, this afternoon I escorted Grandma Ginger, Grandma Ellen, and Mary Jane to the XCel Energy Center for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Concert.  Oh what a show they put on.  It was 2 and a half straight hours of awesome music with an amazing accompanying light show and unbelievable pyrotechnics.  A big Thank You to Pat for having a fabulous dinner on the table for us when we got home from the concert complete with crab legs, beef, steamed asparagus, bread, a dinner salad, and cheesecake for dessert.  What a treat.

Click the video to watch their closing number...probably their most well known tune.

My Merry Maid

I've enlisted Buddy's assistance this morning to help me disinfect every single possible surface any of us may have touched while we were sick.  Everyone seems to be on the mend around here and none of us want ever feel that icky again!

A Predictable Ending

Ughhhh....I so wanted to be able to report that our beloved Gopher Football team was victorious last night in the Meineke Car Care Bowl over Texas Tech...but just as they've done in every single bowl game that I can personally recall....they totally blew it at the end of the game.  We were leading by a touchdown with mere minutes to go.  If only we could have got enough yardage for another first down to burn more time off the clock,...if only our Freshman quarterback hadn't thrown a last minute interception,...if only, if only, if only.

It's really hard being a sports fan in Minnesota!

How The Flu Bug Stole Christmas

If you've checked my blog over the past couple of days and thought to yourself...those McLaughlin's must be so busy playing with all of their new Christmas presents to take time to write a post...au contraire.  I should have known when the kids were so not like themselves on Sunday that they were coming down with something.  Careline was the first to fall victim to the nasty flu bug before Sunday was even over.  That meant that she and her Daddy stayed home and missed Christmas Eve at Grandma Ginger's house.  It was at that very Christmas Eve celebration when I began to shiver and knew that I was flu bug Victim #2.  If you think this story ends here...you're wrong.  I spent most of Christmas Day in bed, really only up long enough to watch the kids open their presents and later to let Pat (Victim #3) take a long nap in our bed.  Buddy never became terribly ill...but he's got a hacking cough like the rest of us, his eyes just look sick, and he's taken a nap each day for the past couple of days...so we'll name him Victim #4.  I'm really hoping that Adeline doesn't come down with anything since she's already on antibiotics for an ear infection she had last week...but at this point I'm thinking if she doesn't become ill it would be a Christmas Miracle.

On a happier note...we got some great presents and are looking forward to using them when we're feeling better.  Hope your Christmas was Merry and much Healthier than ours!

We're Ready For You Santa!

Our stockings have been hung on the barstools with care...and Buddy spread the reindeer food on the sidewalk leading up to the front door...so dear Santa, we're ready for you to come visit tonight.

PS...We've been good (well, for the most part)!

A Lazy Sunday

It's been a pretty low key day in the McLaughlin household thusfar this Sunday.  Adeline has spent the majority of the day channel surfing wearing just her Elmo shirt and her diaper, Careline hasn't yet changed out of her jammies and is watching tv in Mom and Dad's room, and Buddy has fallen asleep watching the Vikings game.  Oh goody...they'll have even more energy than normal for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

Buddy's 1st Official Hockey Scrimmage

This afternoon the Farmington Tigers came to Wakota Arena for an hour of scrimmaging.  Braden is #3 gearing up to take the puck away.  He's plays very defensively, doing everything he can to keep the puck out of his own net and forever trying to take it away from the other team.  Unfortunately even with Buddy's efforts today, the other team had control of the puck much of the day and definitely dominated this scrimmage.  In defense of Braden's team, the Farmington boys were one level higher and most of them older than the boys on the South St Paul team.

Here's a true Buddy moment.  Right in the middle of a play, he stopped to exchange pleasantries with the opposing teams goalie.  Such a talker, that kid!

Adeline's Christmas Concert

Unfortunately the acoustics aren't very good at the Croation Hall in South St Paul...but Adeline and her toddler classmates were so darn cute as they sang Up On The Housetop that I just had to post this video for you all to see.  She's the munchkin furthest to the right.

Of course her Grandma's both came to watch her performance.

Santa was even there tonight...Buddy and Careline were happy to see him, but no way Jose was Addy going  anywhere near him (she does want him to bring her a Barbie on Christmas day, though!)

Ugly Sweater Day

It was bad sweater day today at work.  I was only there in the afternoon...so I missed the group photo and didn't get to see everyone in their "pretty" sweaters...but the ones I saw sure were something.  Aren't me and my pal Jacob a sight for sore eyes?!

Funny story about when I was getting ready this morning.  I put my sweater on and Adeline took one look at it and said, "Don't like it...take it off!"  The girl has a good sense of fashion.

The best of the worst had to be my old Boss Mark and my friend Amy in their matching attire.  I'm sure Amy's husband will be oh so proud of his wife when he sees this photo!

And just for old time's sake...you may recall what Mark wore on this very day last year.

Emily Turned Eleven

On Sunday afternoon we ventured over to the Kay residence to help Emily celebrate her 11th birthday.  The lucky girl got lots of cold hard cash to spend on her upcoming clothes shopping spree.  Happy Birthday Em!

The Two Year Olds

This afternoon we headed over to William and Madelyn's house to help them celebrate their recent 2nd birthday.  Can you even imagine the Terrible 2's times two?  Good Luck in the coming year Tim and Chris!  

New On Our Tree This Christmas Season

As many of you probably also do...we in the McLaughlin household like to add some new ornaments to our tree each year.  This year we have a new Reindeer, Santa Claus, and Snowman.  I think they look strangely familiar...take a look for yourselves.

Happy Birthday To Cousins Emily, Will & Madelyn!

It Looks Worse Than It Feels

Careline's nose and eye continue to heal after her little incident last week...but every morning when she wakes up we play a little game of "Guess what color under the rainbow will be displayed on Careline's face today".  Jeez...a bump on the nose sure produces a lot of bruising in several varieties of yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Payback For Last Year's Mild Winter

It's Been A While Since He Last Fired This Baby Up

The Basketball Season Begins

Thanks to goofing around with her Brother the other day...Careline is currently sporting a swollen and bruised nose.  It doesn't bother her though, and in fact, she was almost glad that she had it today for her first basketball game of the year...Here's a quote from our little sports start..."It'll make me look tough and scare the other team!"

It should come as no big surprise that she is a good little basketball player.  She's just one of those kids who is naturally gifted in whatever sport she tries...which I'm sure makes it more fun for her to participate and definitely makes it more exciting for us to watch.  Even though she is the smallest one on her team by far, Coach G has her playing the all important Point Guard roll because she handles the ball so well and makes good wise passes.  It's probably going to take some adjusting on her part to be comfortable with assisting rather than scoring, as in soccer she's so used to being the top scorer, but I think she'll perform her roll well and come to understand that setting up the play is just as valuable as making the basket.

The Packers won their first game of the season by the score of 20 to 11.

Disney On Ice

Grandma Ellen, the kids, and I took our annual trip to the XCel Energy Center last night for Disney On Ice. We thought it wasn't as good this year as last year...but it was still fun.