HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I want to wish everyone a fantastic new year and new decade! As I look back on this past decade, I get a little overwhelmed with emotion. It's just been fantastic, I met my best friend (and married him), we had adventures in Australia and New Zealand, we moved to Idaho, I got my master's degree, we bought a couple of houses (and sold a couple!), got a dog and were blessed with two wonderful children. Phew, actually, I'm kind of tired thinking about all of that! I'm hopeful this next decade will be just as exciting, rewarding and joyful.

I also want to take this opportunity (man, I love having a blog, I get to do all the random shout-outs I want!) to send my love to all the special people in our lives. This past decade wouldn't have been nearly as meaningful and wonderful without all of our peeps. You know who you are!

Since we are ringing in this new decade in with the true Kearney spirit of adventure, we are currently moving so I haven't been able to post any pictures of our Christmas. As soon as we are settled, I will post some. We had a fun filled Christmas holiday! (As mentioned in a previous post, we recently sold our house *wahoooo* and so we are moving to a great little rental house, while we try to find our next home. We are so thankful for our excellent realtor, Ryan Skene, for selling our house!!! If anyone needs a realtor referral, we'll give you his contact info!!!)

I'm running out of ideas!

Entertaining a 5 year old and almost 3 year old when it's cold outside is getting a little difficult... Morgan is on winter break from preschool and I fear she's getting a little stir-crazy. So what's a Mommy to do? Why, t.p. her, of course!

I love the look of disgust on Aidan's face over his sister and my shenanigans... Don't worry, we pulled him to the dark side and he thoroughly enjoyed decorating our living room with toilet paper.

What's really frightening about this picture is that I think I make this face a lot.

What I really wish I had a picture of is Ryan's face when he came from work to find the inside of our house, as well as our children t.p.'ed. I love being a mom!!

Merry Christmas!

The Kearney's are ready for Christmas! (Well, kind of, I mean there are still presents to be wrapped, food to purchased, cookies to be made, etc., etc.). So I guess "mentally" we are ready for the holiday!




I took Morgan shopping yesterday to get some last minute presents. We bought Ryan a new ipod (yes, I can post this because, well, keep reading). I took Morgan with me for some "girl time," and right after we bought it, she told me that she had a plan to ask Daddy if he wants an ipod for Christmas. I said, "NO," because if she were to ask him that question, he would definitely know what we had just purchased. She asked me several times if she could ask him that and several times, I said, "NO!" So guess what she asked Ryan right when we walked in the door, "Daddy, do you want a new ipod for Christmas?" Aye, aye, aye! For those of you who don't believe in karma, come meet my daughter and I. I used to do this EXACT same thing around the holidays....

The holidays wear this little guy out. He's decided to only wear red, head to toe, these days. I like to think it's because he's in the Christmas spirit, but I think it has more to do with Lightening McQueen. (Note: 5 minutes after the taking of this picture, Aidan turned our couch into "Aidan Lake." So our house smells like a litter box at the moment. Good news, I have been wanting a new couch!)

Helping Daddy with the lights, well okay, just lying around while Daddy puts the lights up!

What could be cuter that 12 singing Christmas trees?

Not much! Morgan's school, Garabatos, had their Holiday program on Friday. It was so cute to hear all of their little voices, even if I don't speak Spanish and could really only pick out the word, "Navidad" here and there. Morgan was pretty proud of all of her hard work.

I get the giggles everytime I watch this. Apparently when you are preschooler, maintaining a loud noise level is the most important part of the performance!

1st Annual Pub Crawl

I won't post a lot of pictures of this night, but we were celebrating two things. First, the holidays with our great friends and second, WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!! The theme of the night was "dress to impress." To the normal person, this would mean, dress nicely. To Laura, Jed, Ryan and myself, this meant, dress like an idiot. Because we were doing last minute selling your house things on Saturday, we couldn't get to the thrift store to pick up our tacky outfits, so we sent Laura and Jed to do the dirty work. Here's what they came up with. And yes, Laura and I are wearing matching light and hot pink cords that are way too short and in the style of "mom jeans."

Yes, Ryan's shirt is too short and second, yes, there is a hole in it. Laura and Jed said picking out Ryan's outfit made them laugh all day. Since it hasn't happened in our 30's, maybe we'll act like adults in our 40's? Probably not, that's right around the corner. Perhaps our 50's...

The whole gang. Ryan really got into the "spirit" of his outfit.

Gingerbread houses!

Luckily for me, I am friends with Molly, who is extremely creative and crafty. This was the second year that she put together gingerbread houses for the kids to create. It is so much fun, although, a difficult temptation for our little sugar addict, Aidan! Thanks Hamiltons for a fun morning!

NEED - MORE - CANDY!!!

Santa Claus is coming to town...

Well folks, I am happy to announce that Morgan's severe and nonsensical fear of Santa Claus has left. Phew! I mean, seriously, who doesn't like strangers bearing gifts? Maybe it was the whole "being good" all year thing that she didn't like. Or could be she's going to be one those anti-big-brother folks who doesn't like the idea of someone watching over her and knowing when she's asleep, awake, being bad or good, so be good for goodness sake whole thing. That is kind of creepy when you think about it! Or it could be that she's the true daughter of a social worker, who has ingrained a whole new level of stranger-danger after my days of doing child protection work. Regardless, the fear is gone!

Anxiously awaiting the big guy's arrival. At this point last year, Morgan's heart was pounding a million miles an hour and she was hanging onto me for dear life.

Giving Santa a big hug. Maybe this was her way of saying sorry for treating him like there was fire coming out of his eyes and nose for the past five years or because she really wants a "princess toy." If someone can figure out for me which "princess toy" she is referring to, that would be helpful.

Oh how far she has come! Last year, we sat downstairs in the Hamilton basement, while Morgan and Fisher screamed to the high heavens. That was fun.

While not being terrified, Aidan was still a little unsure. This was about as close as he would get. He did have on his favorite "p-tar" shirt on for courage.

Wiggle and Giggle...

I recently signed Aidan up for a "wiggle and giggle" class so that he could meet some new friends and so we'd have an activity on Mondays while Morgan is at school. The premise of the class is that the moms will dance and play with the kids while the instructor leads, and then the moms will move to the sidelines as the kids become more comfortable. The other children seem to follow this plan, however, as with everything else with my children, they play by their own rules! Each week, all of the moms start the class off by wiggling and giggling with their little ones and then sit back and watch their little darlings. At this point, Aidan has usually decided that the wiggling and giggling is overrated and he joins the mommys on the sidelines. What makes this funny is that I continue to dance and play, and he cheers me on. He claps his hands, like any proud parent would do, and exclaims, "Good job mama, you's a good danca! Yah!"

Hi ho, hi ho...It's off to the allergist we go...

This is a familiar refrain at our house, as we are starting to feel as though the allergists office is our second home. It's that time of year when Morgan's skin starts to look like she's been boiled (eczema) and we have been suspecting that she does have asthma after all. As I was driving there this beautiful morning, I was thinking...

• Thank God it's the "just" the allergist's office that we have to go to. Morgan's allergies are potentially life-threatening, but with vigilance, she'll be okay. We are SO lucky she has a condition that we can control.


• Thank God we have insurance! I can't imagine not being able to access a specialist when you need to or having to choose between buying food and going to the doctor.


• Thank God we have good jobs so we can pay our sometimes astronomical co-pays. (Even though we do have good insurance). Seriously, do they put diamonds and gold into Morgan's eczema cream? That's the only reason I can think of that it costs $500 a tube !!!!!!


• Thank God we have a daughter who is "detail oriented," okay, let's admit it, she's kind of anal. She does a great job advocating for herself.


• Thank God we have wonderful friends and family who are just as vigilant as we are about what types of foods are around Morgan.

We have so much to be thankful for!

p.s. She does have asthma... But knowing my daughter, it's not going to slow her down one little bit!

My new best friend, the Elf!

My mother-in-law bought us an "Elf on the Shelf" last year and let me tell you, it's worth it's weight in gold!!! It "moves" throughout the house and is monitoring the kids' behavior to report to Santa. The kids have been driving each other nuts with their kindness towards each other. Morgan will have some type of treat and say, "Here Aidan take this, it's yours, no really, take it, please TAKE IT!" Morgan's also been telling me I'm pretty and the nicest mom in the world, it's funny how this always seems to happen within ear-shot of this little elf. Aidan also thinks that the elf is telling the "dodo (binky) fairy" about his sneaking the dodo when we aren't looking. Every once in a while, I'll hear a little shreik and Aidan will be running to his room and throwing his dodo onto his bed as fast as possible. This might be turning the kids into neurotic, elf-fearing little people, but it sure is going to be a peaceful and well-behaved month in the Kearney home!

I think he's kind of funny looking, but Morgan exclaimed today (of course within ear shot of the elf) that he is the cutest thing she's ever seen. She's named him Bookie, either my child will develop a penchant for gambling in the future or she really likes books. We're hoping for the latter!

Christmas Tree Anyone?

Today we loaded up the kids and headed for the snow to get our Christmas tree! The kids and Byron had a blast playing the snow...


Going after our #1 pick!

We'll just pretend that we made this snowman and that it wasn't already there. Aidan was so happy to see the snowman, until Byron peed all over it.

Trying to get a little sledding in between scouting...

This was a very scripted pose. Apparently, Morgan has been watching America's Next Top Model, she kept striking these crazy little poses...

Thanksgiving with the Morin Family!

It's becoming quite the tradition for us to go over to the Morin's for Thanksgiving. Noel always makes an incredible feast, while their darling daughter, Emma, entertains our children... I kind of feel guilty, but just can't turn this great deal down! I didn't get any pictures of the "big kids," they were too busy with the gluttony!

Well, of course Aidan's wearing a Dr. Seuss hat! Isn't that what you do on Thanksgiving?

Silly kids! When we left the Morin's at around the kid's bedtime, the only way that we could get Aidan to leave was by telling him that we were just running home to get him some of his beloved Frosted Flakes, but then we'd come right back. Luckily, he was asleep by the time we got home or that would have just been weird for us to show up again at the Morin's at nine.

Goofy little guy, he keeps us so entertained!

Mommy's Helpers...

Having a child with food allergies means that we do a lot of baking, especially around the holidays. It's really important to us that Morgan gets to feel like she's a part of the celebrations at school, with family and friends, so we are constantly trying to copy what will be served in an egg-peanut-tree nut-fish-sesame free version!

Aidan and his favorite "p-tar" (guitar) shirt... To see this kid play the air-guitar, you'd think we have a reincarnated Jimi Hendrix in our midst.

Morgan and I gearing up to make our first round of pumpkin pie. Note the matching aprons, thanks to Grandma Dolly. According to Morgan, she and I must be matching at all times, if at all possible. It's great having a 5 year old picking out your wardrobe, (insert sarcasm, this kid comes up with some crazy ideas!!!).

My little baker!

This is what happens...

When daddy is playing poker at the neighbor's house... Mommy and Morgan have fun helping Aidan work on his best imitation of Chris Farley (or maybe this look is more Jane Fonda?). This comment is for 16 year old Aidan, "Sorry buddy, you just give me so much material to work with! But I love you and your silly spirit!"

Family Pictures Again...

Here are some more pictures from our photo session with our friend, Marjorie. If anyone in the Boise area is looking for a fantastic and fun photographer, she's your girl! www.marjoriemcbride.com

A week without a temper tantrum=HEAVEN!

We all know that Morgan can be a little "intense" at times. For the most part, Morgan is a sweet, loving, funny, smart little girl, however, she can have moments when nothing in the world is right with her! Usually, it has to do with what she is going to wear, she will act as though we have told her that we are about to peel her toe nails off when in actuality, we've asked her to put on a coat because it is freezing outside. Or she will act as though we have just told her that her first born child will be sold on the black market, when in actuality we've told her she can't wear her free Little Gym t-shirt to family pictures. So we instituted a "fit-free chart" and WOW, there is PEACE in the Kearney home! Her first reward for a week free from the dreaded "fits" was a trip to Pojos with her friend, Gabi. We had a blast and the $10 spent on game tokens was well worth the peace and quiet in our house!div>

The look of a girl who is pretty dang proud of herself!


Bumper Car Mania!


The kids showing what they earned from their game playing skills. Morgan chose pink vampire teeth, Gabi a tattoo and Aidan a worm, although he isn't showing it, he's just happy to be hanging with the big kids...

Family Picture Time!

As mentioned previously, we had family pictures on Sunday! And we already have them back! Our extremely talented friend, Marjorie took the pictures... I HIGHLY recommend her! Here's a preview!

http://www.marjoriemcbride.com/Kearney/

Halloween...

We had a great Halloween weekend! Our little Minnie Mouse and Dragon Boy are both exhausted as I type this from all of their adventures. We started off the weekend at a Spooooookkkkkyyyy Party, thrown by our great neighbors, the RebaCamps, we trick or treated with the Hamilton's and Company, had an open house (since we are trying to sell it), and had family pictures taken at Camel's Back by our extremely talented friend, Marjorie. Here are some photo recaps of the fun...


Halloween Pre-Funk... Preschool style. Things have changed since college pre-funks!


Morgan and Ory waiting for their shot at the world's strongest pinata!


One happy little Minnie Mouse!

Walking home from Friday's party... My three favorite peeps.

I tried to get a shot of the two of us and this is what I got.

About to start the trick or treating fun! Someone named Aidan is excited for copious amounts of sugar!

The gang. Watch out NorthEast Boise, this crew means business.

I LOVE SUGAR!!!!!!!

Morgan has come a long way with her "fright factor." Disneyland might be an option before she's 25 after all...

Trick or treating in the 'hood. Busloads of people from everywhere came to our end of town.

Swine Flu - Morgan Style

The Kearneys were lucky enough to develop the joy of the season, also known as "Swine Flu" or H1N1. Fortunately, it wasn't that bad of a virus and the kids are doing great. Morgan, however, was developing some respiratory issues and was put on an anti-biotic and a nebulizer because of the concern of her developing pneumonia. If you're going to have to use a nebulizer, why not do your best Taylor Swift impersonation and butcher every song with phrases like, "she's the peer leader and I on the keetcher" (aka "She's the cheer leader while I'm on the bleacher") while you are doing your breathing treatment? That's my girl! I think when I grow up I want to be Morgan, you just can't get this girl down!