'Tis the Season....

....for sugar, elves, sugar, cookies, crafts, sugar, presents, sugar, and over-excited children!  We had a great Christmas at the McCann house this year.  Ronan went to some fun Christmas programs, learned a lot of Christmas songs and really embraced the holiday this year.  His favorite songs were Rudolph, Frosty, and Jingle Bells ("Dashing all the way!" in the words of Ronan).  One of my favorite Ronan moments was going to church Christmas Eve after Kevin spent the day explaining that it was Jesus' birthday.  When we walked in Ronan loudly asked "Where is Jesus?  Where's the cake?"  Perhaps Christmas Eve mass is a little different than the birthday parties he is used to attending.  Apparently he was not happy that the "real" Jesus wasn't there and he kept saying "I want her to come down"  (from heaven, not sure why he calls Jesus her).  Everyone must have been very good this year because we got all we asked for and more.  It was a great year, and Christmas reminded us how much we have to be thankful for. 

Cutest elf ever! And the perfect size!

Polar Express at the Library

Craft Time

A quick hot chocolate and book break.

Christmas Eve with Cousin Reagan

Cousins don't shake hands.  Cousins gotta hug!

Setting out cookies for Santa (and taking a cut for himself)

Setting our trap for Santa

Excited kids!  I almost photoshopped myself out of this one but figured everyone would love to see me in my 8 month pregnant, double chin glory:)

Bootprints!  We outsmarted the big guy!

Train Table!

Dinosaur train toy!

Checking out the new tent

JaJa and Papa came on Christmas day...and brought more presents!!!!

That's quite a stocking!

Boppy, JuJu, Uncle Steve, Aunt Shelley, Kaylie and Cade came down the day after Christmas....and brought more presents (and matching sweaters for the boys)!!!!

Uh oh.  Someone found the cookie table.  And no, the table isn't that low, they climbed up on a cooler to get a better look.

Boys gotta wrestle

A couple of happy guys!  What a way to end the year!

Ronan's say the Darndest things

Ronan has recently started saying things that make me laugh out loud at least once or twice a day.  His language seems to be developing by the day and he is coming up with some real doozies (at least I think so, maybe they are only funny to a mom?)  While I'm not sure he will ever rival our friend Finn in funny toddlerisms, I just had to jot some down. 

I call this one "A Girl Can Dream"
Ronan: "Mama, what are you getting for Christmas?"  Me: "I'm not sure.  We'll have to see what Santa brings."  Ronan: "You gonna get some duct tape, Mama?"

Don't ask me why but Ronan pronounces Playdough "Guido".  We were playing in the kitchen and Ronan started throwing playdough all over the floor.  Ronan: "I'm feeding Guido to the duckies."  Me: "We don't have any ducks."  Ronan: "Yeah we do.  They live in the basement and they want some Guido."  This one kinda starts like a Sopranos episode and ends as a horror movie where I have human-eating ducks living in my basement. 

As I was grabbing a new diaper for him one morning, "I don't need that Mama, I'm fresh as a daisy."  Stay tuned as JaJa teaches him more phrases that were popular in the early 1900's.  Won't that be the bees knees?

As we were walking outside the other night.  "Look at that twinkling star Daddy.  What's that star doing up in the sky like a goofball?"

I'm sure there will be more to come....

Santa!!!!

Someone had a super time visiting Santa today.  He was such a little man.  He told Santa his name, age, and then said "I want all the toys I saw yesterday" and then asked him about his reindeer.   He hugged and high-fived Santa and had a dandy time.  I often question where his lack of fear comes from and actually wish I had a little more of this part of his personality. 

As a side note, here is my favorite recent Ronan story:  Ronan came in from another room with a smile on his face that I knew meant trouble.  I asked him if he did something funny and he said "Yeah, I want you to come look."  I followed him and saw that he threw clothes from the laundry basket all over the floor.  I said "Ronan, that's not really funny."  He replied, "It's a little bit funny."  We could be in some serious trouble.  A friend that I told this story to implied that perhaps I deserve a child who is a smart-ass.....hmmmmmmm.

 
More holiday pictures to come!!