Odds & Ends from December

Yeah, yeah, we know. We've all sucked at blogging lately. Maybe it's the weather, the holidays, the things going on in our lives or maybe we're just bored of ourselves! So here's some catching up from December...

When my sister came in she bought Ella a new wardrobe for Christmas. Too bad she didn't buy me one. When she wins the lotto, I know I'll be first in line for her spoils!Ella started doing chores. Here she is making dinner...
and vacuumingAnd getting Otis dressed for the day (in Addie St Leger's shoes!)And this is what Otis did the next day. I'm sure it's not related. BTW, those are Ella's vitamins that she won't eat anyway. Here's Otis hiding from the rath of Buzz

And here's Ella's new vitamin gummy stuck to the back of her hair. That's right people, she won't take liquid vitamins disguised in anything, no Flintstones vitamins and no gummy vitamins - even when they're cut up into minuscule pieces and hid in her oatmeal!

That's all folks!

Dog Santa

Here are some pics from our yearly visit to Santa at the Spring Hill Mall. On Mondays you can bring your dog so of course I am all over this! It was just a bit embarrassing because when we first got there, Greta barked Cujo-style every time another dog walked by. But with enough yanks from Buzz, she simmered down...

This year my Aunt Beth & Uncle Jimmy met us there with their dog, Bear. My cousin, Kacy, was sick otherwise she would have come but my other cousin, Kyle, was apparently to embarrassed to join us...hmmm
Jimmy and Beth ADORE Ella and we usually see them every other week for lunch or babysitting. When I was little they would always take me and my brother overnight and we would go to 7-11 and buy whatever we wanted and then go back to their apartment and watch movies like, "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." It was always fun with them. One time we asked them if we could swear. Well they wanted to stay the cool aunt and uncle so they said, "sure." Next thing you know, the only thing coming out of our mouths were swear words so they had to renege.

We waited over an hour to see Santa and had to keep Bear and Greta separated in fear that Greta would eat him!
He does look tasty...
I taught Uncle Jimmy how to pose for photos so you look thinner, though I think he took his chin down just a bit too far.
As we approached, Ella was saying, "Santa, Santa." But when it was her turn she stuck her little arm out, waived it and said, "no, no."


Not only did we put poor Buzz through the torture of this experience again, but we made him walk around the mall and then sit in the food court while we snacked. His face says it all.

Christmas Cards

In 2006, I came across a photo of Otis and he reminded me of the Grinch's dog Max and voila...my first customized X-mas card was born. It received some praise and so the next year I tried again. For this card I had to take a photo of the television paused and insert various Otis photos until I found the right one.
Then Greta came along and threw a wrench in the cards...what to do with two dogs? Guess how many photos we took of these two in bed that night? Hundreds...
As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I knew what my next card would be. The photo shoot didn't go as planned so I had to take pieces of different photos and combine them. The nativity in the background is my mom's actual nativity.
And that brings us to this year's card. I knew I couldn't top last year's with its religious satire and all but I tried to get a laugh. This may be the last year because I am out of ideas. I wanted to get these all in the blog so I'd have a record of them and I promise to start blogging more starting now...

Dickens in Dundee

So we go to Dickens in Dundee every year. It's a three-day event that starts off Friday night with "living windows" on Main Street and some tree-lighting ceremonies. The St. Legers were supposed to join us but the plague hit their house so it was just us. Buzz ran out and got Ella a hat before we left and for the whole night we heard how much she looked like Santa Claus. We did a lot of standing outside waiting. We heard some high school choir and walked around a bit.

This lady is here every year with her little dog. She reads him a story. It looks especially creepy with the dirty window.

Buzz really enjoys himself. We used to take Otis and he loved that too ;)

We got a free photo with Santa and some free cookies, hot chocolate and popcorn. The main event was Saturday starting with a parade with Santa but I had to work so we couldn't go.

Yes, Ella, There is a Santa Claus - actually there's a bunch of them...

Why take your kid to see Santa once when you can go multiple times, right? I didn't plan to take Ella to see Santa this many times, it just happened that way...
The first time was in November at Macy's downtown. There was no line and the boys were in so why not? Ella cried when we handed her to Santa but she was cool with sitting on Cole's lap. This next one is from Dicken's in Dundee. And it was the only free picture, and it was taken by a professional studio, and they took two pics (one with me), and Ella matches Santa Claus, and...

Here's our traditional dogs with Santa shot at Spring Hill Mall. We drag them, I'm sorry, I drag Buzz and the dogs every year to get their pic with Santa. This year we met up with Jimmy, Beth & Bear, but more on that later. In most of the pics she was screaming but the dogs weren't in place and you know it's all about the dogs so...

And finally, here's our Woodfield Santa shot. Beautiful background, authentic-looking Santa, more than an hour wait and no cameras or videos allowed. Jerks. If Ella wakes up with nightmares in the next few weeks, can you guess who she'll be dreaming of?

Creepy Baby

A Day Downtown

The one good thing about my Grandma's passing was that it brought my sister and her two little guys in town for a few days. The boys were so sweet to Ella. I had the great idea to use our only free day to head downtown to see the lights, windows and eat in the Walnut Room like we used to every year when we were little. My mom supplied Ella with a hat that she'll be able to wear when she's ten. Seriously, it fit my sister's head. Now she has a small head but still! The older sister was not happy about having to drag her ass off the couch and bundle up for a trip to the city. She'd much rather watch soaps. Yeah, she still watches soap operas! Ella enjoyed her first L ride.

We decided to check out Santa while we were there because there was absolutely no line. Ella led the way down the winding hallways in search of the jolly fellow.

When she finally found him, she was not happy and so Kerry and I had to pose in the picture.

Since they were dead, we tried again and she was okay as long as she wasn't touching him.

Afterwards my sister picked out a bunch of clothes for Ella for her Christmas present.

Ella was more interested in the car selection. And I'm okay with that ;) - I think!

Next we head to the Walnut Room to eat under the tree and we're visited by the ghost of princess' past? Seriously, why does she look dead?

Finally, we head outside to see the windows! They were totally disappointing. Either when I was a kid, I appreciated things a lot more or since Macy's took over, they've cut the window budget.

Aidan was not impressed! Him and his mom were two peas in a pod. They both wanted to go home.

But Cole was as trooper like his Aunt Kelly and loved every minute.

I picked up this hat that was handmade in Nepal at the Kris Kringle market. My sister said it makes me look like a cow.

The pigeons warming themselves by the fire.

I found my soul mate.

My dad pushed Ella around and she was a trooper too. It was so cold that day and she never complained. We worried when her nose and toes turned black with frostbite but she got over it.

Had to include this shot of my old friend, Bill Kurtis. When I worked for the production company he was good friends with my boss and we'd work with him sometimes. He always liked to say, "Kelly Kane can," in his newscaster voice.

We even headed over to see the bean at Millennium Park and happened upon a live taping of the Ellen show. Ellen was skyping from her show and they were doing some kind of ugly Christmas sweater contest. All of a sudden my sister wasn't so cold anymore. We had to drag her kicking and screaming away from the lights and cameras.