Tucker & Me

Last night I saw the movie Marley & Me. I highly recommend it! While I was watching the movie I couldn't stop thinking about our dog Tucker. Tucker was equally as bad a Marley as a pup. He would destroy the house while we were at work. He ate my Halloween costume one year, ironically it was cat ears and a tail. He made me chase him 10 blocks, on one of the hottest & most humid days in Philly, through city streets filled with people and cars, when I was 7 months pregnant, as he bolted toward our apartment. He has had so many trips to the ER because of stomach problems, he's cost more to keep running than our car (seriously!). He has destroyed important things, including Marty's orthotics- Martin couldn't run for months. BUT... We love this dog! Tucker has NEVER snapped, growled or bitten a child or an adult. He loves to play ball and always indulges Jack in a game of chase. Tucker has a big scary bark and makes us feel safe when Marty is traveling. He gets sad when we argue and leaves the room (usually to hide in the down stairs closet), reminding us that we are being ridiculous anyway.

Here are some old Tucker pictures and new Tucker pictures. The video is from this year. Tucker was in the Christmas spirit and helped us all unwrap presents.

Christmas with Friends

One of the best moments for me this Christmas was seeing my friends from high school. April & Matt hosted a party. Not every one could come (Bran, Lynnette & Liz we missed you) Marty couldn't make the party (we was stuck in the Seattle blizzard and trying to drive to CA for Christmas), but it was great fun. The best part was seeing our kids together. Jack and Haylie had a ball and we just know the younger boys will be great buddies!

Christmas Morning

Jack was stunned by all of the neat things that Santa and the reindeer did for him. In fact, he was so overwhelmed, Jack opened one small gift, then ran back to bed for a few minutes of down time. Eventually he returned to the living room and discovered the reindeer had eaten the carrots and celery we left for them in wooden clogs (a Dutch tradition). The reindeer left Jack a note and a little bag of snacks as a thank you.





Between Santa's gift, and presents from family and friends, Jack has nearly all of the characters from the movie Cars. In fact, we all got something special, including a flock of Chickens from Heifer International for Grandma, and a giant bone for Tucker; but the best gift was the time we spent with family!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Nana & Poppa. We had a great turkey dinner and then opened presents. Jack really got into present opening, then Tucker discovered the fun of opening presents. The two of them made up the "present opening team," and opened all of the gifts.









Bryce's favorite gift was his Bumbo Chair from Poppa & Nana. Later Bryce even took a bath in the chair. This proved rather unsafe because Bryce is so chubby that he and the chair floated, and we had to hold him down.







Marty's favorite gift was his CAL gear. Go Bears!

Christmas Cooking Spree

On December 23rd I went on a cooking spree. I spent the entire day in the kitchen cooking. In the morning my mom, Jack and I made a gingerbread house. Later Jack and I made sugar cookies. Marty and Jack frosted the cookies and we recreated the Dillard family.





The Sugar Cookie Dillards- Marty (top left) has the addition of an orange gum drop. Jack put it there- Daddy's got some flair. Marty gave Sarah (top right) green hair and a green skirt- living the punk-rocker dream. Jack (bottom left) decorated his own cookie so he has a nose and no eyes. Bryce is on the bottom right with the stripes. As you can see we only had red and green sprinkles.

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Here's Bryce in the Jumper Family Santa Suite. Sarah wore this suite when she was a baby and her older brother Tom wore it too. Both Tom & Sarah were born in October, so the suite was a bit snug on Bryce, but Santa is suppose to be chubby right?!

Christmas Party

Every year Sarah's Aunt Sandy has a Christmas party. Each year the number of guests grows. This year the house exceeded fire safety codes, but we all had smoking good time (Yeah I know bad pun). We brought Bryce over in the Santa suite. When we first got there he took a short nap (in Charlie's arms). I think he got over heated, or maybe he was embarrassed, he was pretty fussy when he woke up. When we took off the suite and put him in jammies he was much happier.



The kids kicked off the night with the traditional Christmas gift exchange. Jack's cousin Ryan drew his name and got Jack several of the characters from the movie "Cars."







Later the teens and 20 something (sadly Marty and I are not in this group any more)played a game of "Dirty Santa." Read more about it here. If you've never played the game, it can be fun, it can also be very frustrating. After that, the adults palyed "Dirty Santa." Then we all enjoyed delicious deserts and time with family.

Cabo San Lucas

We went to Cabo with 28 of Sarah's childhood friends. We spent 5 action-packed days enjoying the sun and water. One of the neatest things was watching Elliot, Jack and Aurora play together. Holly and I grew up together and played with each other on a regular basis from birth. It was so fun for us to watch our kids enjoy each other!





The kids loved the pool, and were usually in it by 9 am. Bryce enjoyed his first dip in the ocean & a swimming pool. While we were in Cabo a huge nest of baby turtles hatched. It was like National geographic come alive!















The last night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset and had a great bonfire, complete with smores!















Here's a link to our Cabo Picture Album