New Friend/Relative!

We just got word today that our friends, Justin and Cricket just had another baby! (Justin was a groomsman at our wedding.) Here's the scoop from the proud papa:
"Cricket, Sawyer and I received the best Christmas gift imaginable this year... a beautiful baby girl. Kiera Dee (pronounced keer-uh) was born at 1:05 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 23. For all you statisticians, she weighed 8 pounds, 1.5 ounces and was 20 inches long. Cricket and Kiera are both doing great, and even made it home for Christmas Eve just 36 hours or so after delivery. Sawyer keeps commenting about how "cute" and "pretty" she is. Of course, her parents couldn't agree more. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Love, Justin and Fam"

Congrats to Justin, Cricket, Sawyer and Kiera!

From the Vrbi

Christmas in Des Moines

Howdy y'all. We spent Christmas and the weekend before in Des Moines with Aunt Susan, Great Grandma and Grandpa K, Granny Janny and Rick, Uncle Jake, Aunt Emily, Uncle Mike, Kealey and Taylor. It was a blast! I was spoiled rotten, got lots of presents, barely slept, and charmed the pants off of my family! All in all, a really great first Christmas! We let Aunt Susan serve as the official photographer, so enjoy the photos! We covet her camera--which we know is wrong, but we can't help it!

The day after Christmas, we stopped by Uncle Dan's to see him. Unfortunately, Aunt Amber had to leave for work right before we got there. Sorry Aunt Amber. We had dinner with Uncles Dan and Jake, then headed home. When we got home, Mommy and Daddy fed me oatmeal with prunes. When they went to wash my grill, they learned that the pump on the well wasn't working so they had to call the well company in this morning to take care of it. If you can't imagine what it's like to get back from traveling and have no water, let us tell you it's a bad thing!

No laundry, no ability to wash dishes, no toilets. We have a policy here in the house today: "If it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down!"

We'll have more photos for you soon. Susan's sending the last of them over today. And we'll have more photos of when we head to see the other side of the family this week. (If weather permits!)

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

My pre-Christmas bath was a good one. Aunt Susan's sink was just the right size!

Granny and Me

What kind of razor you usin' Gramps?

I love my Grandpa George!

Chillin' on Christmas Eve Eve.
Up, Daddy, UP!
You two are so fun! We have to visit more often!
Jack, Grandma Edna and Grandpa George.
Grandma, you can trust your local licensed State Farm Frames Adjustor.

That's Mommy's nose!
Dex, Jack, Aunt Susan, Grandpa
Uncle John and Aunt Karlene sent me some great books. Susan caught Daddy and me reading all about animal tails. What fun. Thanks, guys!
Me and my Ma.
Deja vu, anyone?

One of the rare moments when I actually took my bottle.
Daddy and Jack on Christmas morn.
I had sweet potatoes on Christmas, just like my grandmas and Aunt Susan.
I think I was just being cute here. Mission accomplished!
Feet up!

Among other things, Grandma and Grandpa got me a toy bar to play with when I'm in my carseat. It kept me occupied when trying to reach our destinations! Taylor, me and Kealey.
I had so much fun with Kealey...
... As evidenced by Exhibit A & B.
Yep, this one's definitely going in a frame. Fo' sho!

(Jack and Uncle Jake)

Among other things, Granny Janny got me a book about "Snow Friends". The book got the 'Daddy & Jack Seal of Approval'.
I like Mike!
You can see the pile of clothes Aunt Emily, Unca Mike, Kealey and Taylor got me, but this shirt was photo-worthy. It reads 'I Do All My Own Stunts'.
I also got this onesy I can wear in about a year. It has a Minnesota flavor. By the time I wear it, I'll have my own accent to put with it!
Aunt Susan got me the Baby Beach Band toy. It was named the winner of the 2006 Best Toy Award. It also gets the 'DJSA'!

The Super Happy Fun Time Christmas Pictures

We like your sign, Jack. Back atcha, baby boy.
Look at that funny little elfin boy.
This one was taken between angry and happy.
Sticking his belly out as far as it could go. (Skinny little twerp.)
Dad, these elf stockings are ridiculous!

Okay, so now that most of the holiday cards are out the door already, I feel like I can post these pictures now. Do you know how hard it was to wait to post these? It nearly killed me--especially since they are so darn adorable! Jack was being a little pill most of the time, so it's suprising to us that we got these quality photos out of the whole deal. Daddy and Mommy did a pretty good job with their first foray into Christmas pictures, I do declare.

Just FYI

We're still working on getting the last of the Christmas cards out. We thought 50 would cover it, but it turns out we're so popular we had to up the count to 90! Ha ha...

That increase meant printing 40 all-new cards at Walgreen's and getting a new print cartridge to finish printing the newsletter. We're missing some addresses too, so if anyone can help with this handful of addresses, it would be much appreciated!

Jesse & Seri (Sandman) Neal (I hear they live in Alba now)

Mary Sue Haag (we forgot to get it off the envelope before we tossed it)

Jan Riley (I may just send this one to H&R Block in McCook or PO Box, Indianola?)

Please leave a comment for us if you have any of these folks' addresses. Thanks!

My First Christmas Present

Uncle Jay and Aunt Nanci (The Martin's) stopped by tonight with a gift for Baby Jack. The hat, if you're too lazy to click on the photo, says "Baby's First Christmas". Jack liked both the hat and the bow that came on the gift. Daddy didn't realize that Mommy wasn't zooming in on Jack, so he just continued to look like a complete tool.

Thanks, Martins!

Important Note: Daddy's shirt does NOT say what you think it does. It actually says "Show Me Your Tat2's". Inappropriate enough, but not as inappropo as you may have thought. Yikes.

My Feet, A Boppy, And The Dawg

Such delicious feet!
Hey Ma, can you fetch me some ketchup?
Reaching for my favorite horsey.
Trying to get o'er the toppy o' the Boppy.
When Dexy licks my hands, it makes me laugh.
(Look how good I'm sitting up, y'all!)

Okay, Dexy, that feels creepy.
Dexy gives Jack a wet kiss on his ear.
When babies sweat, Dexy gets busy cleaning them up.
Dexter has become quite the caretaker. He's very protective of his baby. Jack laughs at Dex a lot and likes to pull his fur. Dex doesn't even flinch.

By the way: The holiday cards are officially in the mail today. The newsletter had to be scaled back quite a bit because we honestly don't have the time to devote to it. You understand that feeling, I'm sure! Amy and I were laughing the other day about how we devoted two entire pages to Dexter a couple years ago. Remember "Professor Dexter's Rootin'-Tootin'-Doopy-Makin'-Dogs-Don't-Know-It's-Not-Bacon Happy Fun Pages"? We had way too much time on our hands! We wish we could have an 1/8 of that spare time back. We'd spend it all with Jack!

Wrapping It Up

"Whaddaya mean these presents aren't for me?"

(Jack's been a little fussy since his shots on Wednesday. He just wants to be held all day. This picture was a bad choice!)

The motherlode of gifts for our adopted family.

Jack and Daddy get ready to wrap some charitable gifts.
Luckily, Jay took care of Dexy for us while Nanci, Aaron, Dave, Camden and Jack wrapped gifts.
Camden was Santa's little helper. He supervised the wrapping paper.
Aaron and Nanci enjoy the game while helping out with the wrapping of the gifts. The game was much more enjoyable after we were done wrapping, but that's only because that's when the Huskers finally got warmed up! Yikes!
And...I'm...spent.

Last night was a busy one. We had Aaron and Camden and Nanci and Jay over for the Husker volleyball game and pizza. While we were enjoying the game, we wrapped gifts for our adopted family so the gifts could be picked up today at The United Way. The family will be able to pick their gifts up at 10 a.m. Thanks to the generosity of everyone at Dave's work, we were able to get everything on their list...and Dave went back to Kohl's and T.J. Maxx on Wednesday to get an extra pair of jeans for each of the kids. That's how generous everyone was! Amazing--especially when you consider what a small staff we are!

With the three of us working and Cam-o and Jack-Jack contributing in their own little way, we were done in no time and could enjoy watching the Huskers make it to the national championship finals!

Toward the end of the game, Uncle Dan and Aunt Amber stopped by to see Jack. They were in McCook for a couple days and were just heading back to Omaha. They dropped off a gift for Jack-Jack and we got to see their new vehicle. Very nice, we must say! We also get to see them for Christmas! Oh, and Uncle Jake was here the other night too for dinner as he was heading back to Kearney from Omaha. He had London Broil with us and got back on the road so he could be a responsible uncle and get to class the next morning! We can't wait to see everyone for Christmas. It'll be a very special Christmas with Jack Parker joining the mix.

HEALTH UPDATE: Jack had his 6-month checkup yesterday morning and he is in the 50th percentile for his length, but only the 25th percentile for his weight. Doctor Herbek ensured us that he is fine. He is definitely in the healthy range, he's just pretty lean. Jack has been a little fussy since getting his shots on Wednesday morning. He had a great Wednesday, but must have had a delayed reaction because yesterday he was feverish and fussy. Nothing we couldn't handle, but we felt kinda sorry for him. He wasn't able to enjoy watching the Huskers win the as much as he usually does--and that's a crying, fussing, dirty shame!