We Have Moved!!

Well, we didn't move, but the blog has!  I finally made the jump over to WordPress, and I think I love it!  LOL!  Still figuring it all out, but the big bonus is that I can now blog from my iPhone!  LOL!  Yay, Trey will be so friggin' happy about that!

So update your blogs, bookmarks, calendars, contacts, etc!  You can find us over at....

http://amylatta.wordpress.com/

And thanks so much for following along on our crazy journey!

Love,

Trey, Amy, Isabella, Sean, Ryan & Sophie

Blood on the Ice!

Well, not quite yet, at least!  We got Sean into a Play-to Learn hockey program, which is as absurd as it sounds!  One of the coaches is a guy that Trey works with, so even though it's in Granite City, IL (45 minutes away!), we made the trek this past weekend for the first session.

Rick presenting Sean & Trey with all the gear.

The overwhelming feeling begins to set in!

He's getting smaller by the second.

Hoisting Sean into another layer of gear.

Uh-oh.  I think we're starting to lose him!

Sizing note:  See those bulky hockey pants?

They're supposed to hit lower-thigh, above the knee.

Those pants are wearing Sean.

This is taking so long, Ryan's starting to go out.

Alright!  We're down to the skates!

And thanks to the random hockey dad for loaning us a jersey!

This is the last smile I saw for over an hour.

If you can call it a smile.

All suited up and ready to go!

This is about the best stance he had the entire time!

BTW, it was an outdoor skating rink.

It was maybe 15 degrees.

Just to add to the adventure!

So dad and Sean cut out after about 45 minutes.

I think that is a genuine smile on his face!

But never fear!

We got home and Sean was ready to get suited up again,

and get practicing on those mad hockey skillz!

You will see us again, Granite City!

You will see us again.

New Year's Eve '09

Just like last year, the Lattas brought in the new year with the Caylor family at their New Year's Eve party. It's always a mix of people, and like always, the Caylors know how to throw one heck of a party and we had a blast!

No, seriously, we had a blast.

See, Trey's getting in the spirit!

Sean, on the other hand...

Hey, Party People!  LOL!

Abby & Isabella, trying to figure out who can be the loudest.

Geez, that was fun!  LOL!

Daddy, Sean & Mommy

Isabella was too busy blowing her horns!

Baby Ryan brought the new year in sleeping upstairs!

The Day After Christmas 2009

Not to be confused with a Catastrophe movie, we had our big Christmas dinner with my dad the day after Christmas this year.  It was a mix of our family and Annie's family, and it was so great to have Jessica in town.  Such is life when we all live in different places, so those times when we can be together are so special.  =)  That, and the boys were so excited to get out in the cold!

"Really, Mom, do you know how cold it is outside?"

"Don't talk to me."

Ryan taunting Charlie Brown with his cookie.

Opening presents with GiGi, Aunt J and Jake.

Ryan & Daddy

What handsome guys I have!

Two birthdays and three Christmas' later,

I'd say Ryan has the "opening presents" thing in the bag!

Christmas Morning

So Christmas Eve night, we headed home and got the boys to bed so that the Big Man could visit us at our house.  I love this so much and indeed reminds me of being little - going to bed, waiting for Santa to come, waking up to find that He CAME!  Christmas is so fun through your child's eyes!

On Christmas Eve night, the boys opened matching PJs for Christmas morning.  And you'll see how pathetic my attempts were to get photos of my freaking cute boys!  So we got the boys up in the morning, and Sean runs to the window.  I was so confused, but he looked outside, saw that it had snowed and said, "It snowed!  It IS Christmas!"  That kid will be disappointed to find out we don't normally get a White Christmas!

This may be the best pic of them in their matching PJs!

But they are CUTE!

The boys opening their stockings while we wait for Grandpa and Oma.

Crappy camera or not, Sean is simply gorgeous.

Ok, with a really big head.

Ryan likes what Santa brought his brother more than his own goods!

There's an awesome Christmas Morning Grin!

The boys opening "The Big Present" from Santa!

Wait, Ryan's just playing with the trash bag in the background...

It's a BAT CAVE!

The best money Santa ever spent.

OMG, Santa brought a Batcopter, too!

It's the best Christmas morning ever!

After the presents were opened, we had an amazing brunch with Grandpa and Oma, Aunt Jessica and Uncle Jake and my Uncle Dave.  We stuffed our faces, played Guitar Hero for a couple of hours, and stayed warm by the fire.  Oh, and Trey tried to "fix" our stereo receiver, which had one speaker not working, and ended up breaking the whole damn thing.  Guess what Trey and I bought ourselves for Christmas!

Christmas Eve in Hannibal

OK, I've only started this post FIVE times!  So...I'll eliminate the fantastic wit (HaHaHaHa!), and just get straight to the pics.  Ryan's new favorite habit is slamming the laptop screen on my fingers.  Why he thinks this is funny, I'll never know...

We spend every Christmas Eve celebrating with the extended Latta family in Hannibal, and Christmas Eve morning is our time with Isabella.

Me and my kiddos on Christmas Eve morning

They all opened presents together.

Isabella was the best big sister, helping her little brothers!

Ryan's lovin' this opening presents thing!

The boys eating breakfast at their new kiddie table.

Sean refused to look at me and smile.

Lil' Stink.

After hanging out at Grammy's all day, we headed over to Poppa & Nana Roxy's for Christmas Eve dinner with the whole family.  Lots of good food and kids playing and visiting with all the family!

Piglet and Momma

Ryan, Momma & Isabella

My IzzyB and Me

Um, yeah, the best picture I could get with Sean.

Lil' Stink.

Trey & Amy

Celebrating out 9th Christmas together!

Sean put on a little performance with one of his new Christmas presents.

I have to get some video of him - he's a rock star in the making!

Nana Rox, Santa, Poppa Latta

Santa showed up - and this was the best picture I got!

The kids were not so much interested in getting their pic taken.

My boys playing with their new stuff.

Wait, that's Ryan with my phone.  Again.

Out with the old...

To make room for Christmas, we did a pretty massive family clean-out around the house, loading up two van loads of toys, games, and clothes over the course of the last two weeks and driving them over to Goodwill.

Not wanting to be seen as the Unproductive type, Ryan helped us clean up, too.  Unfortunately, like most of his "help," it was not asked for, and not necessarily helpful, either.

OK, I've gone through all the movies!

Momma, I helped!

Could it be.....

Apparently we had a prankster in our midst during my Holiday Coffee Club.  Best part about this was that the party was Monday morning.  Tuesday night, Trey's sitting at the dining room table talking to Mandy on the phone when he says to me "You have bad friends."  I had no idea what he was talking about and he kept telling me to look at the mantle.  I can't tell you how long it was before I realized some sick, twisted person had switched up "Santa" to say "Satan."  A sick, twisted person after my own heart!

Candy Cane Bandit

After Ryan's birthday party, we had loads of candy canes left over from the hot chocolate bar.  Candy canes wrapped in impossible-to-open cellophane.  Well, impossible if you're an adult.

Ryan now understands what Buddy the Elf is talking about.

Ryan, being smarter than his own Momma, figured out that if you violently broke the candy cane, that pesky cellophane broke free from the sugary goodness inside.  Next thing I knew, Ryan, Sean and even Sophie were all hopped up on goofballs.

Christmas Traditions '09

Every time someone asks me about our family Christmas traditions, I get a little verklempt.  Since I've been married, I've had to accept that I won't experience a Christmas like I had growing up, and I think this year is the first time I've been OK with that.  Mostly because Trey and I have tried hard to establish our own family traditions, trying out new things during the season to see what works and what doesn't.  It's also a bummer that Isabella misses so much with us, but we're all about Making It Work!  So this year, we experienced....

Fort Zumwalt's PAT Christmas - while not our school district, we heard great things about the Fort Zumwalt Parents as Teachers Christmas activities up at the City Centre.  So glad we braved the cold for this night.

Ryan loved shoveling the 'snow'...

...and building the towers and knocking them over!

While Sean & Sis went over the river and through the woods.

And Isabella attacked giant bears.

The best part?

Free pic with Santa!

Family Tradition verdict: Maybe.  Free pics with Santa are always good!

The next thing we were able to do with Isabella was Christmas Lights!  We love, love, love the Avondale house, and are bummed to see that he's taking a year off.  While many places are starting to do the synchronized lights with music, this guy has the best show in our area.  Check out the videos on his site.  Love his Trans-Siberian Orchestra number!

If we had been smart, we would have continued our light tour during the week.  Instead we waited until the weekend to finally check out Tilles Park this year.  Tilles is located in Ladue, and we opted to do that instead of the usual O'Fallon city display.  Of course, it wasn't until we got there (30 minutes later) that we found out they only do carriage rides on Saturdays.  And it was cold.  And the boys were in jammas!  So we opted to bring back another family tradition in it's place - since we were half way there, we headed downtown, and visited the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.  This is one nugget from my teenager Christmases that Trey and I have kept, and I love it!  Market Street is also nicely lit, though St. Louis really could learn a lesson or two from bigger cities about Christmas trees.  Ours kinda sucks.

Family Tradition verdict:  Of course.  Where there are lights, we will travel!  We would still like to see Tilles, Our Lady of the Snows and that place next to Six Flags.

The following week, we experienced Journey to Bethlehem, an incredible play/live action/reenactment at Harvester Christian Church, where the boys and I attend MOPS.  You travel as part of a family from Nazareth to Bethlehem, right behind Mary and Joseph, and along the way, witness a wedding, visit other travelers camps, pass through the Roman soldiers camp, see the Angel, visit the Bethlehem marketplace, and finally to the Inn and the manger out back.  It's all outside, in the woods behind the church, and it was simply amazing.  Sean was pretty freaked out, especially when the Roman soldiers pulled me aside and threatened to take me and Sean as slaves!

Family Tradition verdict:  Probably.  It may be a bit intense, and it's definitely freezing cold, but really just too cool.  And Isabella missed it this year.

Two days later, we barely made it to Trey's union hall for their annual Christmas with Santa.  This is an established tradition, we have gone three years in a row.  They set up little Christmas vignettes, they have live reindeer, and of course, pics with the big guy.  You've seen him before - this Santa has now graced two of our Christmas cards.

The Latta fam and Mr. Claus

Whom no one wanted to sit on!

Dasher, Ryan & Isabella

My babies.

Isabella making friends with Prancer.

Ryan taking it all in.

That's not ice.  Just a nicely waxed floor!

Family Tradition verdict:  Of course!

And then on Monday, the FitMommas had our first Holiday Get-Together.  I love these women - some of the best!  And I'd never been to La Chata, on Hwy K - So Good!  And we had a white elephant gift exchange, which are always fun.  Unfortunately, I only had my crappy iPhone, which takes awful pictures.  Mac failed on that one.

Nothing like a preggo Kelly, pretending to chug 'ritas.

Kelly & Erin admiring their regifted gifts.

My girl Kari.  That's a simple wave she's performing there.

That Naughty Sommer!

Mandy, hangin' with us Christians, 

and Gina, and her sassy new bangs.

Family Tradition verdict:  Family, no.  Tradition, it better be!

The following weekend, we hit another free church activity, and this one blew Journey away.  Drummer Boy put on by Stikyard at Grace Church.  Wow.  Watch the video through the link.  This is a first-rate production, worthy of the Fox, but is totally free.  The only downside is getting there an hour early and still struggling to get a seat.  Once the show started, the boys did great for about 40 minutes.  Of course, I'd guess the show lasted an hour fifteen!  Either way, add this to your list next year.  Do not miss it.  Afterwards, we hit Las Palmas with the McCanns.  Their present to us this year?  Pitchers of Margaritas!  Love them!

Family Tradition verdict:  Without a doubt!  Any chance Isabella can be with us next year for this?

Two nights later, we were conned into freezing our butts off for Wild Lights at the Zoo.  Really, Kari, you told it was going to be warmer this night!  And while the McCanns skated in with their US Bank passes, we were unable to convince Sean that he was two years old, and had to pay $5 a piece to get in.  For what is, at best, a mediocre light display.  I loved the fiber optic trees, and it is pretty nifty that it's actually warm in the Penguin & Puffin Coast.  But after shelling out fifteen bucks to get in, we still had to pay for hot chocolate and the carousel.  Ppbbblltttt!  Of course, I can't wait to see Sean's new carousel friend Hank the Hyena when it's warm again.


Family Tradition?  Um, no.  Not until it's either Free or they start throwing in some extras!  Isabella is so lucky she was with her Momma.


Unfortunately, we once again bypassed the Annual Latta Christmas Party.  Ryan's birthday really puts a snag into that planning.  Maybe we'll host a winter party after the first of the year?  I dunno.  Also, because of the weather, we missed Christmas Traditions on Main Street - something we've only managed to get to one year in our stay out here in St. Chuck County, which is ridiculous, since it goes on for four weeks.  Just once, I'd like to see the Santa Parade!  Next year.  I promise!  And I've heard Santa's Workshop at Bass Pro is something to see.  Do you need to own camo to attend?


So there's our Christmas Season activities for this year!  Actual Christmas postings to come this week!

Editor's Note:  I have no idea what's up with the spacing in this post.  Tried to fix it a few times, and it ain't workin'!