'Tis the Season...

This Christmas was an amazing adventure this year - new house, new dog, new life on the way. It was hectic and crazy, but by the grace of God and the kindness of our families, we pulled through and had an absolutely beautiful holiday.

On Christmas Eve, I packed up the kids and spent another Onrubia Family Christmas at my aunt's in Waldorf, MD. Even though not all of my (extremely large) extended family made it, there was still ample amounts of laughter, story sharing and delicious food. After a late evening trek back to my house, my parents, brother and cousin and I partook in one of our favorite Christmas traditions - opening gifts at Midnight! This has been something that we've done since my brother and I stopped receiving 'Santa' gifts. The boys who were granted a reprieve from bedtime got to enjoy this as well. (Of course, keeping them up this late was intended to keep them sleeping until Daddy got home from work the next morning which, by the way, was successful).

On Christmas morning, after Dave got home from work, the kids awoke to see that Santa had indeed stopped by (despite my numerous threats in the car ride home to get them to stop hitting each other), enjoyed their cookies and milk, and left them some absolutely wonderful items under the tree. Keegs received a pint-sized digital camera, Joey finally got his "Indiana Jones airplane legos", and Rowan received a little "Cozy Critters" dollhouse. A little later that morning, Dave's parents and brother came by and we opened more presents and enjoyed a brunch before Daddy had to hit the hay :).

In all, it was a whirlwind of shopping, decoration and preparation from Black Friday until Christmas Day. Everyday was another crazy holiday event at school, another party, and more preparations. Every night was a different Christmas movie, a new story, or a special visitor. From moments of utter chaos came some of the best (and most hysterical) memories ever.

Some of the highlights from this season....

1. Celebrating Keegan's 7th birthday.

(Keegan, self-portrait)

I can hardly believe that my little man is 7 years old (nor can I believe that I am the mother of a 7 year old). As my first born, I was absolute awe at his birth, crumbled when he was sick or hurt, and marveled at every breath, every step, and every word that came out of his mouth. I still find myself in absolute wonder at how intuitive he is and how quickly he learns things. He is my little thinker (often, like his father, over thinking things) and is about as honest and realistic as they come. He is my video game playing partner, my legomanic, and my Spongebob afficianado. (The photo below is by Keegs, I'm glad Santa brought him a digital camera).

On his birthday, we brought Spongebob cupcakes (yep, homemade, haha!) to share with his classmates and after school, I brought him a gigantic arrangment of birthday balloons (much to the awe of his friends and classmates) and (because it was pouring out), a new Spongebob umbrella. To which my little Keegan responds..."Hey mom you got me a new Spongebob umbrella!", nevermind the looming # 7 balloon that was over his head! Hahahaha! After a trip to McDonald's for lunch (his favorite, the kid can devour an entire super sized chicken nugget extra value meal on his own), we made a cake, ordered some pizza and celebrated with his grandparents, his siblings and his Ninong (which for your non-Filipino folk means godfather).

(Keegan gets ready to blow out his candle.)

(Yummy! Daddy-made cake, decorated by Keegs and Mommy. That's a wand on the left, and a wizard hat on the right. Not bad for a 7 year old, eh?)

(Love this picture of Keegs and his grandfather.)

2. Celebrating Lola Helen's 90th birthday. I LOVE my grandmother. She is a truly remarkable woman. We held a mini-celebration complete with a presentation of traditional Filipino dances (my pinsans are amazing, and BRAVE folks) at our family Christmas party this year. (If only I could give her what she really wanted for her birthday....)

(Verna and Helen)

(Helen dances with candles!)

(Rob and Chris, aka Coconut men.)

(What made it worth it all.)

3. Joey's song for Santa and Rowan's "Jingle Bells". At our family gathering, Santa (aka Uncle Bob), comes and pays a little visit to all the kids. Well, as he arrives, the kids get together and sing "Santa Clause is coming to Town". He gives a little gift (a little preview of what's to come that night) and each kid gets to further petition jolly ol' St. Nick to for a place on top of his "nice" list). And this year as he departed, my Tita Leny asked if anyone wanted to sing him a song. Joey pops up and announces that he will sing and launches into a solo of "I wish you a Merry Christmas". My aunt kindly corrects him, by singing "We wish you a merry Christmas" along with him. Joey turns around and says "No! Just me, so I wish him a merry Christmas".

(My super-cute nephew RJ)

(When's it gonna be our turn to see Santa...patience from the girls)

Another fabulous take on a traditional Christmas carol was Rowan's rendition of "Jingle Bells", which she says should be sung as "Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell all the way". Of course this is the only line of the song she knows and sings loudly over the WHOLE family.

(Furture Vet? Taking care of her stuffed toys, Dr. Rowan enjoys her present from Santa)

4. Establishing and enjoying our own family traditions. I've got my own little world here. My little troop of kids who make everyday worth living and every moment a lively one. I look forward to every holiday being filled with not only traditions that Dave and I carry over from our families, but traditions that we create and celebrate on our own -- including our pre-Thanksgiving dinner tree decorating, shopping for and selecting Holiday pajamas, Daddy's Christmas Eve pancakes, and of course, enjoying our own private little (very) early morning Christmas celebration.

(The boys look over their loot.)

(Who needs Christmas pajamas, when Santa brought you new shoes!)

Here's to celebrating the season for all the right reasons. Cheers, everyone.

Lego-maniacs!

Keegan LOVES his legos...here are a few pictures from a lego battle that the boys constructed at Grandmom's and Grandpop's. Apparently it was Harry Potter and the Knights of Narnia versus the evil Pirates. Very exciting!

Happy Turkey Day...

Despite just about everyone in my house being sick, we managed to pull off our very first Thanksgiving (and yes, I did cook a majority of it, haha!). Just our (local) family joined us, and enjoyed food, drink and dessert. Cheers!

All of us (photo taken by Robyn's boyfriend Randy)....

(Just the kids/grandkids)

Who's your MOMMY !?!?

Can you guess who their mommies are?

(From left to right...Amelia, Rowan, Isabella and Ally)

(From left to right...Suzanne, Kat (me), Jenn and Etta)

Answer:

Isabella belongs to Suzanne, Ally is Jen's youngest, Amelia is Etta's baby girl and Rowan is my little princess pie!

Birthday Fun, Round 2...

We continued Rowan's birthday celebration with another little party, celebrated at our home...Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles were all there along with some of Rowan's good friends. Everyone had a great time!

Happy Birthday Rowan!

Rowan gets ready to make a wish!

Suzanne helps the girls get ready for a princess fashion show!

Jenn gets attacked by Isabella and Joey!

Joey and the ladies!

Amelia is a super star!

Ally enjoys a piece of cake.

Oh my, look who's 3!

Happiest Birthday to our little Rowan Kate, who turned 3 on Sunday! Thank you for making me the happiest mommy in the world. I love you, and your little "Shake-my-butt" dance, your uncontrollable giggle and the ways you show me that you love me back! I can't wait to see what year 3 brings! I love you, bug-a-boo!

Birthday Fun, Round 1

Rowan kicked off her birthday weekend with a little party at her daycare with all of her little friends. Erin, our awesome provider, had the place decorated in pink "My Little Pony" decor. I sent along some pinkalicious cupcakes (Ro's favorite book is "Pinkalicious", a story about a girl who turns pink after eating too many pink cupcakes) and goody bags. To top off the event, Erin gave Rowan a "Pony baby" which she absolutely adores! More party fun this weekend to come, with another party with family and more friends!

Here's looking at you...sorta

So, yesterday we had one of those really cool 4D sonograms. I mean, really cool. I'm sure this technology was availble while carried my older three, I just never had the opportunity to have one myself. Anyway, here is the pic of our little bug at 21 weeks - perfect and beautiful. (I again passed on the amnio, but look forward to our next sono in 4 weeks!)

Fall Fun!

We kicked off the fall with some leaf pile-jumping fun at Grandmom and Grandad's! How the O'Toole kids kick off the fall:

Step 1. Wait for the leaves to fall...

Step 2. Get Grandad to rake us a gigantic pile of leaves.

Step 3. JUMP and allow the leaf dancing to commence!

Step 4. Repeat....

Step 5. Repeat....

Step 6. Repeat....

(Fantastic) Four Eyes

Well, after failing the eye exam at school (twice), and the one at the doctors' office. We took Keegan to see the opthamologist at Children's Hospital. It turns out the kid has a lazy left eye, so to correct that he is wearing glasses now, and he gets to wear a patch for about 4 hours in the evenings. He doesn't mind the glasses (Hooray, Harry Potter!), but HATES wearing the patch ("I don't want to be a pirate, mommy!"). Fortunatley, the patch wearing will only last about 6 monthes or so. I think he looks like such a little man now (Even with the food around his mouth).

Mustangs, GET SOME!

Cleaning out the storage closet at school today made me a bit nostalgic. Its my last season coaching field hockey at Meade, as I want to concentrate on building the lacrosse program. The program went really far in the past three seasons and while I'd like to say that I played a role in that, I really owe the credit to my amazing seniors. Leaders, who poured their blood, sweat and tears into the team. It was a great time ladies, thank you.

Top 5 things I will miss about Meade Field Hockey....

1. Getting pants almost daily. Being preggo did not make me any less vulnerable.

2. "Mustangs, get some"; "We piss excellence", "Boom Boom Tap" and all the other slogans/team mottos that these girls came up with still brings a smile to my face.

3. Ice. Yes, getting ice and water down my back after a win, even if it was freezing out, made my life. If winning could be described in a feeling, it would be shocking and refreshing all at once.

4. Laughing, every game, every practice, all the time. I could come to practice mad and frustrated at the world and leave with my sides hurting (especially at U.S.'s perverted bantor, K.P.'s daily butt-smack, and N.S.'s dirty dance moves).

5. And, being able to show the girls that four years of hard work really DOES pay off.

I voted!

Hope everyone got out there to vote! Regardless of the results, it will be a historic election. Cheers!

Spooky Fun!

BOO! Our really cool and fun next door neighbors set up a great Halloween display, complete with fog, a ghost that popped up from the ground and tombstones! The kids definitley enjoyed it!I really love that our new neighborhood gets into the holiday spirit (even if it is just Halloween). While we were out trick-or-treating, they told us that they had about 100 kids stop by. Its a great change from our old neighborhood!

Dog'gone it!

Just in case you didn't already know. We got a dog! Willow is a female black lab, about 6 monthes old. We adopted her in early October, care of my really good friend Natalie. She's an absolute sweetheart, even though she's peed on my new carpet three times, makes me vacuum at least 3 times a week and eats socks. Most importantly, she's great with the kids!

Happiest Halloween!

Trick-or-Treat!

It was definitley a treat! This was the first Halloween in years that we've been able to go Trick-or-Treating as a family (its been at least 4 years since Dave has had the evening off)! Keegan was Harry Potter (for the 4th year in a row, really it doesn't get old for the kid), Joey was Indiana Jones, and Rowan (who went through numerous costume changes) was a princess/butterfly/fairy.

(What you don't know: she dresses like that everyday)