Christmas Morning at the Dunnes....

Henry and his sound effects! He is such a silly guy...

We had to bring our new truck with us... so much fun!

presents!

Grammy, Henry, the bottle and the balloon!

Tickle time with the dad and the grammy... all while holding on tight to his balloon... oh Henry!

The boys love visiting the live plants in the Dunnes house... thank goodness the plants can't bite back! :)

Sullivan sitting pretty like a big kid!

Trying out the new chairs! We had to build the table once we got home... the boys enjoy doing puzzles and playing at their new table and feel fancy sitting in their own chairs!

Sullivan and Grampy reading a favorite book!

Christmas morning at our house... a very first for us...it was wonderful!

a very small tree for two small boys and our small house! :)

santa came!

the boys had no idea what was going on... too funny!

sleepy sullivan and a busy henry....

next stop grammy & grampy dunnes house for more christmas festivities!

Christmas Eve....

On Christmas Eve we Skyped with my parents who were at home in Walla Walla while the boys opened their gifts... which by the way was not as much fun as being home for Christmas....
:( then we were off to meet the Yamatanis for our Christmas Eve church service! Oh what a busy night we had....

The boys just love reading.... we read and read and read.... a very good thing!

Snow 2009

SO MUCH SNOW!

I opened the door to the deck and this is what I saw.... then I shut the door :)

Patrick shoveled and shoveled and shoveled some more.... poor guy.... there was SO much snow!

The snow kind of put a damper on our outings... so thank goodness Patrick was home for two weeks.... we just took short outings between storms.... next year we'll have better snow gear...because when we heard the snow was coming Patrick went shopping and EVERYONE was sold out of all fun snow gear... lame parents we are... at least we tried.... WE WILL BE READY NEXT YEAR FOR SURE!

Santa... a wonderful meeting!

Today Sullivan and Henry met Santa for the first time... Patrick even met us for the festive event.... oh and we had lunch with our bestest girlfriends too :) The boys were great meeting Santa.... no tears! Santa was really wonderful... the boys loved him.

a lunch date....with all FIVE of our kids!

Today we met Danielle, Avery, Sydney & Whitney at Tysons II.... we met Santa and enjoyed a lunch with all of our kids.... Patrick was able to meet up with us... he walked across the street to say hello....

Oh... so Danielle had to use the ladies room... :) I was standing outside of the restaurant with the five kids... and a woman passed me and said... those children aren't all yours are they?!!!? She was very concerned... I laughed....

Just thought I'd share...because I thought it was funny....AND because I can't even imagine....

30th Birthday Surprise for T I M!

Our friends here at Belmont, Gina & Tim, invited us to a great party up at the club... it was a splendid event.... the babies even had fun! Thanks for including us Gina & Tim!

Sweet Gina!

Sullivan checking out the Christmas trees....

henry just watching the people.... probably chewing on a snack... too cute!

here goes sullivan once again!

the dad and the sullivan....

the momma, the hens & his balloon!

Balloons or shall I say ba-oons!

the boys are talking more and more these days.... repeating everything... I wonder why they talk so much!? ha... just kidding...I mean look at who they hang out with all day - M-E! :) So anyway.... they love to say "balloon"...although it often sounds like "ba-oon"!

sullivan and his ba-oon! oh he is so excited....

henry proud as can be with his new found love...ba-oons :)

So a very new thing well, as of right after thanksgiving.... the boys fell in love with balloons... they fell in love when they partied it up at their birthday bash in October... but I think the love grew deeper shortly there after :)

I typically grocery shop once a week and the boys come along.... well this is when they get their super duper treat... a fancy balloon of their choice... and of course on this day they picked gold stars.... Now I want you to know that these boys...especially Henry... walk around this house just holding on tight...occasionally looking up to make sure it is following them... and then they smile... pure happiness... oh if life were only that simple for all of us! :) These boys are easy to please.... with each week the set of balloons die... so it is time for new ones....

Thanksgiving vacation & Mom's 60th Birthday Celebration! Vegas bound!

henry poolside with his momma....

the entire family at night by our pool... the lights you see to the left behind us is down town....the lights of the strip...

some of us went to a show to celebrate mom's bday.... simply amazing!

auntie mary & uncle luke and ALL their Brennan boys! Not a girl in sight...well accept for mary :)

my sister in law, Erin & Caedmon (her son) - she is married to my younger brother John

caedmon reading one of our favorite books!

auntie mary and the boys people watching.... I can't imagine what these little brains were processing that day... oh my lord!

We took several trips to the park near our AMAZING house!

Jill (my sister), Andy, Ben, and Jack.... and YES, we were one of "those" families that took their kids to Vegas...but we didn't let them touch anything and we scrubbed them clean when we got home... ICK.

Angie (my sister in law, who is married to my older brother scott) enjoying one of our nights out with her wolves.... she just can't get enough... oh and not sure why this pictures won't flip... sorry... :(

Touring the harvest celebration at the Bellagio and yes, that is a real pumpkin!

these boys are getting heavy... can you tell? This picture was taken when we went to visit the lion cubs at MGM... the boys were just a piece of plexi-glass away from some very sweet cubs!

A hug from the Henry ... pricelss... he is such a great little hugger! He knows how to give "loves"...so sweet.

Uncle John (my brother) and Sullivan exploring down town... oh so fun!

I will add more pictures but this is a start.... My dad took most of the pictures from the trip so these are just what I could find from my camera.... I need to get his as he is a fab photographer!

We had a great trip...celebrated my mom's birthday... enjoyed tennis, golf, every kind of sport, swimming and lots of other festivities....our house was perfect...it was so fun to see everyone... we haven't all been together for a long time... all in one big house...big meals....lots of laughs... just like the old days back in good ol' walla walla! The dynamics are fun.... we're all grown up...some us with kids and those without look just that much more rested! I think I've aged 100 years in the last 15 months! I was just telling Patrick the other day that I need to invest in some really expensive eye cream! :) Don't get me wrong.... it hasn't been a bad stress.... just the most exciting year of my life.... and I've got the lines to prove it! :) If you look close that is.... well, don't look too close!