Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas

By K.J. Cardinal

Merry Christmas everyone! Today is sure to be the best Christmas of my life, thanks to these two little kiddos. I hope everyone enjoys time with their families because I know I will. Ho ho ho!


And... here's our "Christmas card" in case you haven't seen it yet. Enjoy!


[WATCH VIDEO]

Monday, December 20, 2010

Morsh

By K.J. Cardinal

What the hell is a "morsh" you ask? It's the key ingredient in the cutest Christmas song ever heard. Take a listen and I think you'll agree.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Anna turns 17

By K.J. Cardinal

Not really, but my little girl looks so old (and so adorable) in this photo. I'm gonna be in trouble when she really does turn 17. Excuse me while I load my gun.

Family Christmas Party 2010

By K.J. Cardinal

For the second-straight year Tiff and Pete graciously hosted both sides of our family at their house for a Christmas ripper on Saturday. It is absolutely one of my favorite days of the year, so thanks guys for throwing such a great bash once again.

Holiday festivities this year are going to be extra special for us as we now have "little" Leo to experience numerous "firsts" and Anna is at the absolute best age for Christmas.

The day was filled with food, laughs and presents, but my favorite part about both sides of our family is that it's always all about the kids. And boy did they steal the show... particularly Leo.

He has got to be the best natured baby I've ever been around. Everyone was playing "pass the baby" all day and pretty much every photo of him throughout the day shows him smiling away and enjoying himself... this is so evident in the photo of him and Auntie Carol... one of my favorite photos of all-time. I honestly don't know who's having more fun.

Anna got her fix of cousins and uncles on the day too, that's for sure. Like usual, Anna had a blast playing with Kaeleigh and Marisa, but also got some solid time in with Uncle Jim and Uncle Bill. One of the classic moments of the day was watching Anna parade Uncle Jim around the house, holding hands and playing... so cute. And the way she says "Uncle Bill" is simply priceless.

Anyway, the holiday season has officially begun for our family and we can't wait for next weekend's festivities in Ludlow and back at Tiff and Pete's again on Christmas day.

On a side note: How gorgeous are these two?

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Belated birthday celebration

By K.J. Cardinal

We capped off a great weekend today by having my parents down for a belated birthday celebration for my mom.

It's sad to say, but I hadn't seen my parents in over a month and I was definitely jonesing for a fixin' of Meme and Papa.

We celebrated the only way we know how, with good food, good drinks and great company. We supplied the lobster, my parents brought the filets and a full-fledged Cardinal celebration ensued.

Papa did his best to tire Anna out... or maybe it was the other way around??? Either way, those two were in their glory playing together, which was perfectly fine with Meme as she got to spend some serious QT with Leo.

The best part of today's get together is that it officially marks the start of the holiday season. Today was the first of at least three-straight weekends we get to see my folks. The holidays truly don't get any better for me as work slows down and family time picks up.

Happy birthday, Mom! Thank you guys so much for making the trip down to see us! We can't wait to spend the next couple weekends with you guys and the kiddos.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Christmas Tree 2010

By K.J. Cardinal

Today we were able to continue our family tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree on Papa's birthday. The original Leo Cardinal would have been 95 years old today.

This year's tradition had extra meaning for us as it was the first time having a little Leo Cardinal of our own in tow to help carry on the tradition. Obviously Leo didn't have much of an active role in the process this year, but it was definitely a special occasion and his namesake would have been proud.

Anna, however, was VERY active in the whole process. She helped pick out the tree, helped cut it down and provided entertainment along the way.

We told her she could pick out whatever tree she wanted. At first she liked this idea, but then she was a little bummed when we informed her that she couldn't get this little sapling that she seemed to love.

In the end, Anna helped pick from the handful of full-size trees that we chose. It was a good compromise, but in hind sight, I kind of wish we would've gone with the sapling just because she was so cute posing with it.

At the end of the day, I noticed something that caught me off guard a little and left me a little teary-eyed. Behind where we parked, there was a shed housing an old Ford tractor.

Sure it wasn't the right color or the same model as Papa's old, red tractor, but the fact that a 50-plus-year-old Ford tractor was sitting there staring at me on this day brought back a lot of memories.

When I asked the elderly man that owned and operated the tree farm about the tractor, he was quite proud of his old machine that he's owned "forever" and still uses to this day to plow snow.

Talk about the most fitting way to end our annual tree cutting tradition. Little Leo was with us in body, but the original Leo Cardinal was also clearly with us in spirit. We miss you, Papa.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Anna the elf

By K.J. Cardinal

Well, Christmas season is officially upon us and Anna has become addicted to Elf the movie.

She definitely takes after her dad and Aunt Kate as she is quoting the movie already. Take a listen to these two little nuggets I captured: Buddy the elf | Cotton-headed.

I can't wait for Christmas this year, Anna is at the perfect age. And, work should slow down enough so I can catch my breath and actually update everyone on my cute kiddos. Stay tuned.