Gma E's

One of my favorite places on Earth- along with a certain unnamed cape cod in Surf City, NJ- is Gma E's house. I love it there and so does Jackie these days. She has plenty of cousins and aunts and uncles to play with, as well as delicious foods to eat like linguini alfredo and lasagna. Unfortunately we did not enjoy a seedless (?) poppyseed cake on this particular occasion, but we did watch slide shows which is the best. Grandma Debbie requested that we not watch slides that include her high school years. I hope we watch those first next time.

Below is Jackie playing with cousin Mark (who she now points in pictures).
Uncle B and cousin P, looking pretty.
Below are a few crowd shots of the feast, chefs and fine company.


Above, please find Hillary asleep in the corner. I shoved as much fettuccine in my face as I could in record time ready for her to wake up screaming.

Suspenseful gift-opening.
Another crowd shot- good times were had by cousin Jill & cousin Parker. Jackie and Hill's beautiful grandmothers in the foreground.
Alright, Jim just woke up and I am listening to Christmas music and should probably stop ignoring my children now. :) I kid. Jackie is playing contentedly with her kitchen set. We went to the outlets today and I scored new work shoes at Ann Taylor for $25.

Xmas in NY

Let me begin this entry by noting that about 45 minutes away from Katie's with 2 screaming children in the backseat, Jim and I realize that we forgot to pack any food for Hillary. Food for which she was screaming. Luckily, I woke up with an ear infection that morning and was deaf in my right ear. This deafness would be the only peace and quiet I received for the remainder of the car ride. Katie was kind enough to run out and buy us formula so that it was ready and waiting upon our arrival. This incident did not prevent Jackie from busting a move with Grammy, Pops and cousin Griff shortly upon our arrival.
These pics are out of order, as per usual. On Xmas morning, Jax got to bond with Aunt Kate and Finley by playing Barbies. I think it's clear where Jackie gets her hair color from!
This was Christmas morning too, I think. Griffin and Jax playing piano. Below is also Xmas morning- 3 kids playing on Griffin's new horse. This provided hours of entertainment.
Below is Aunt Betty and Hillary on Xmas Eve. Hillary loves Aunt Betty.
Below are all the kiddos except Hillary. Imagine a screaming baby sitting amongst the children- that screaming baby would be Hillary. Sweet Hillary!

Above is a picture I love of Pops, Griff and Jax. Jackie has been talking non stop about her cousins and aunts and uncle on this side. She really got to spend a lot of time playing with her cousins and now loves to point them out in our photo albums at home. It's really cute.

Detour

I will resume my Christmas posts, but my friend (and Jackie's godmother) is in town until tomorrow so I haven't had the time to upload. Annie bought the girls adorable matching dresses. Their diapers are showing because I didn't put on the cute little diaper covers for the pictures.



Jax is super excited Annie is here. Before bed tonight she was dancing around to a lively rendition of Wheels on the Bus- "ALL through the TOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWN!!!!" Complete with shaking her head during the grand finale.

We love you, Aunt Annie and we will miss you when you leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas Post 1

Santa came to our house on Thursday night because he knew we wouldn't be home on Christmas- we'd be up in NY. He didn't make us transport the kitchen set, which turned out freaking awesome- as you can see above. Towards the right under the tree is a Clifford book Dada ordered from Jackie's school. When I picked it up, I almost died when I realized Jim ordered the wonky Spanish version. He was so pissed. This alone made my Christmas.
This is Jack on our Christmas Eve. She told me she wanted to leave for Santa chicken and a ba-ba (bottle). She is serious about chicken nuggets. Little does she know that I only feed her the vegetarian ones. Anyway, we set out animal cookies and milk for Ho-ho. She ate the first plate of cookies we set out.


Hillary held down the fort, as usual.

We learned this Christmas that Hillary is a homebody- just like her dada. Since we got home last night, she's been nothing but smiles. Such a nice change from the miserable baby we've been carting around since Friday! Our Hillsy...

There will be at a minimum 3 Christmas Posts: Christmas Eve at our home, at Katie's and then at Grandma E.'s.

Baby Alive and Bed time

Jax is super into dolls right now. I thought she'd be into boy toys forever, but she has expanded her interests to include toys geared toward the feminine variety. I was feeding Hills on the chair and watching Jax play. In the photo, she was focusing very intensely on sitting the same way that her baby is sitting. And then, she nourished her with bananas (below).
To delay bedtime at all costs, Jackie's new thing is crying for the dogs. "LOUIE!!!! LA-LA!!!!" She desperately wants to kiss them good night and play with them and be near them, etc... Hannah is on the other side of that gate. She is not one to miss out on any action.

Happy Birthday, La-La

Happy 3rd Birthday, Hannie! You are our majestic beast. Even though you are a bull in a china shop, we can't help but pause every so often and say to each other, 'God.... that dog is so beautiful.'




Below is a picture I snapped of the day I bought Hannah behind Jim's back. As the bank teller handed me $600 in cash, I was so excited that I said to her, 'I'm going to get a puppy with this money!' The large golden is her uncle. Her father was even bigger than this. His name was Grommet- he was so hyper and crazy that they kept him locked in a separate room when potential buyers came. Hannie is the little puppy in the background. This family with 3 children bred golden retrievers on site- I met Hannie's entire extended family. My dad always says, 'Michelle, animals are different than people. She wouldn't recognize her relatives' when I bring up Hannie's familial roots. But, considering Louie was bred at a puppy mill, there is just something special about getting to see Hannie's relatives and how similar they look to her. The little kids at that house named her "Sugar." I knew I wanted a dark golden retriever and Jim wanted a girl. If she was a male, I would've named him Red.

The owner said to me, 'Do you have another dog at home? I feel sad when I know the dog will be alone all day.' I reassured her that Hannah would receive a ton of love, but laughed to myself knowing how furious Lou would be once she met this beast with razor teeth who would disturb her peaceful slumber.

Their relationship started out rocky, but they have become best friends. It was cute to watch Lou "teach" Hannah when she was biting too hard while they were playing. These days I often catch Lou nestled deep in Hannie's back fur (and, yes, occasionally butt, but Louie is a perv and we all know that).

Happy 3rd Birthday, Hannie! You are the happiest and most genuine member of the household and we love you!

Jax and Hills

While uploading 7 pictures of my daughters doing basically the same thing, I thought, 'Eeks... overkill?' But then I realized, 'This blog is called Jackie and Hillary.. and the only person reading it is probably their grandmother! What the hell does she expect??' So, as promised, here are 7 pictures of my 2 loves in their Christmas PJs. Nothing is more expensive than holiday PJs (by a mere few dollars, but still...), so to justify my expenditure, once more, I must include photographs.


I had trouble keeping Jax from picking her own nose during this photo shoot. I said, 'Jack, stop picking your nose.' So she did what any reasonable nose-picker would do in such circumstances and picked her sister's nose.


I've been doing a lot of crunches lately to get rid of my baby belly, so I pulled up my shirt in front of the mirror this morning, thinking I was alone. All of the sudden I hear, 'Woohoo, Mama!' Guess who? Haha. That's my girl!

A Dutch Christmas

What are you viewing above is a poor quality group shot from my dad's Christmas in Lingelstown, PA. We celebrated at my uncle's church (he's the pastor in suit in the background). The adults partake in a game of white elephant (or Dutch Auction)- we each bring a gift and you pick numbers and, in order, either open up a new gift or steal somebody else's. Uncle Brian was kind enough to put a copy of "Puerto Rican Cookery" in the pile. Jim and I almost left with this fine piece of literature, but it was stolen by Nana.
Jax hijacked cousin Abbey's doll and stroller most of the day. She received food and dishes for her future kitchen set. Another bad group shot below, but cousin Parker and Uncle Mickey and Uncle Brian are in the background, so I had to include it.
Below is Grandpa holding Hillsy. I didn't realize how crazy looking that outfit was until it was already on her. D-.
And below is Jimbo himself. Admiring his wife's elegance & beauty, no doubt.

Cousin Con-man was also here, but I didn't get a pic. Hillary kept my arms full a most of the time. Jenny made her sour cream baked beans and Aunt Lynn brought sushi. Hillary got a tummy time mat from Aunt Jeannette and Uncle Mickey. She christened it yesterday and screamed bloody murder after 4 minutes.

Christmas Got Serious

"Serious" not only describes Uncle Jim's facial expression as he routes loudly against the Eagles, but it also describes how Christmas event-filled things have become. Grandma Debbie baby-sat on Friday while Jim and I braved a Christmas party (no pics), my dad's Xmas was Saturday (pics to come) and my mom's first smaller xmas party was Sunday.

Below is James, contemplating how lucky he is to have married into such a stellar family. He is hoping that his wife (ahem... me) grows to be as awesome as Grandma E, also featured below.
Below are Uncle Mickey and cousin Con-man. Probably talking trash. Or reciting Home Alone 2 by heart (lovingly referred to as HA2 in these parts).
Jax cashed in. She received a ball pit, shopping cart, food & dishes, and a Baby Alive (that comes with her own gear). The Jackson is resourceful- she morphed that shopping cart into a stroller stat. "Creative troubleshooting." I will see that she puts this on her resume.
Before she received Baby Alive, she used the shopping cart appropriately and had it filled with provisions. As per usual, she commanded all the attention from Cousin P that she could muster (which was a lot).
Below is Jax and Pop-pop, who tired her out accordingly with jumping-off-the-couch fun!
Below is Grandma and the H-ster in her Xmas PJs with her new Sophie the Giraffe. Grandma hooked up Hillsy also - fear not.
And below is Grandma E showering Hillary with love.
Connor's loot, below.
Brian watching TV and Aunt Donna giving me the stink eye...haha (to be fair, these pics were snapped with my phone. She was probably like, "Wtf are you taking a picture of? Who does that?")
And the Hillster herself, posing proudly with Sophie.
Needless to say, both babies slept awesome last night. I have a theory that Hillary is a mama's girl, but it hasn't yet stood up to the scientific method in order to become a law. I can tell you with certainty that these days, Jax is a daddy's girl. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Hillary is too! I can't blame them. He's pretty cool- he plays the guitar, wears good shoes and buys them extra Christmas presents behind mama's back. What's there not to like?