Christmas 2011

Oooh, it did it to me again. I don't know what I did differently from my last post where I could type before my picture appeared, but I must not have done it this time. Ugh! For the past several years, Dean and I have gotten together with some of my high school friends on Christmas Eve. This year we all had babies within 2 weeks of each other. Kate (in the green vest) is the wife of my friend, Kevin. Their daughter, Annie, was born on June 23. My friend, Kelly (who has been my friend since I was 4), had Hannah on June 24. Her other daughter, Brittlyn (in the green shirt), was born 5 months before Ryan. Then I had Patrick on July 6. This was the first time all three babies got together. You can see by the way they are holding hands that they like each other!



After opening the first round of gifts on Christmas morning, my mom prepared a scrumptious brunch. Here's Mama Katie holding Patrick.

Daddy couldn't resist either. . .

We spent a good portion of Christmas at Uncle Doug and Aunt Julie's house. Ryan sat still long enough to pose with Mama Pat and Papa Joe.

We drove back to our house on the 26th to see if Santa stopped by while we were gone. We had our doubts, but St. Nick surprised us and left several things for Ryan and even a few for Patrick.

Patrick, happy as always. Doesn't seem bothered by the scratch mommy gave him while trying to wipe his nose.

Santa even brought Daddy a jersey of former Packer great, the late Reggie White.

As promised, here are the pictures from our visit to Santa. Ryan wasn't quite ready to sit with Santa on his own. Patrick, on the other hand, was none the wiser.

And this is the first photo since coming home from the hospital with Patrick of all 4 of us. Bass Pro Shop allows dogs, we should've brought Gizmo to make our family photo complete. Hopefully we can get one of all 5 of us before next Christmas!

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. The Stoeber Family certainly did. Wishing you love and laughter in 2012!

We haven't been up to much, other than spreading and sharing germs amongst ourselves! After Dean's had 2 colds, Ryan a flu and a cold, me a migraine & a little cold, & Patrick a cold/cough I think we're all safe. The only one immune in the family was Gizmo. Maybe we need to eat what she does - yeah right!


So when it came to make a trip to visit Santa, better late than never, right? Again we went to Bass Pro Shop at Gurnee Mills Mall. It was well worth the wait. The Santa there is truly magical and awe inspiring. I will try to scan and post those pictures soon. In the meantime here's Patrick waiting to see the Big Man.
Ryan waiting by the reindeer.

After we made our visit, we passed by the carousel. Ryan's never ridden, but we know how much he loved the merry-go-round at John Dixon Park in Dixon, so we figured we'd give it a go. HE LOVED IT!!!

We had a Groupon to use by the end of the year at the local bounce house place, so we invited our friends, the Bleims to join us. Here are 6 year old twins, Ryan and Ben, going down a slide.

Their big sisters, Beth and Katie went down another slide.

The two Ryans with the Crazy Coupe.

And here is the entire troop!