Sharing Christmas

Megan over at A Day with the Demos had a wonderful idea in inviting people to share Christmas via their blogs. Sadly, I don't have very much decorating skill. So here are a few shots of what we have going on in the Vileation Nation. But if you know what's good for you, you'll visit Megan's site which has links to other sites where people are also "sharing Christmas." People who actually decorate...and decorate well.

Here's the tree...and a toy of Jake's...

"Everybody loves a turkey and some mistletoe..." Or is it "Everybody loves a pug and a Christmas tree?"

We're so excited to have new titles this year...Mom and Dad! Which means new stockings, too...and of course Jacob has his own stocking as well.

Got this fun Advent calendar on sale at Target.

Jake will get a new ornament every year...this year he got a Panda, of course! And where did we get this ornament? Valley View Farms!

Our friend Glen is the coolest. He has given us the special White House ornament both this year and last. Very cool because last year's ornament is "A White House Wedding" and last year was our first Christmas as husband and wife. This year's ornament is "An Old Fashioned Christmas Tree." These ornaments are spectacular, I wish the picture could do them justice. Check out this site to get a better idea of how beautiful these ornaments truly are.

And here is Kevin's special ornament this year. You know he put the "Vile" in "Elvis."

Merry Christmas, everyone! Thanks for sharing the holiday season with us!

Santa Baby

Yep, that's Santa and a baby, alright!

Experiment

I have been experimenting with baking.  Obviously.  The gingerbread boys seem to have club feet.

I say "experimenting" because there is always a high likelihood that none of my end products will be fit for consumption.  That's why we always have a good rotisserie chicken available as backup.  Ha.  Not sure why there's a chicken in the picture. 

But some of the end products have looked decent this year, which I suppose is a start. Hopefully I'll have things actually tasting decent before Christmas arrives.  Because so far nothing has really stood out as a winner.  The sandwich-looking things above were relatively good...cranberry-oatmeal cookies with cream cheese icing in the middle.  Thank you, Rachael Ray.

In completely unrelated news, I paid $18 (tip and everything) for a haircut today.  I don't want to tell you how much cheaper that is than what I normally pay, but suffice it to say that now we can actually heat our house this winter.

I did something else monumental today.  I killed a spider.  With my father's college fraternity paddle.  Just looking at the link for the spider is making me want to run and scream.  A house spider.  Come on.  I've heard of house music, house parties and house keepers...but never a house spider.  

Heckuva day over here in the Vileation Nation.

Check out Jake talking with Luther.  Luther is obviously really blown away by Jake's sparkling conversation.

8 stones lighter...

Luther is officially 8 stones lighter than he was last week at this time.  He had surgery this week to remove the pesky bladder stones that have been making him crazy for some time now. 

We didn't know Luther was preparing to go under the knife...we just thought he was going in to get his teeth cleaned.  For those who don't know, dogs actually get "put to sleep" (the good kind, not the kind where they never come back) to have their teeth cleaned.  Anyway, the doctor said that she would go ahead and take out the stones, too, if we wanted.  Since the poor guy was already going to get anesthesia, we figured he may as well go all the way.

So here he his, recovering at home.

He seems to be recovering very nicely. I guess he should be...he doesn't have any of these things in him anymore:

In other news, Kevin is at the Army/Navy game today...GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!

Thankful

(thanks for the great bib, Aunt Dog and Uncle Jim!)

We are thankful for so many things...this year we are especially thankful to have seen so many friends and family members throughout the holiday...some of those friends being pumpkin pie, stuffing and lots of butter.

The McHenrys (on location in the Poconos...with the Dailey family who we somehow do NOT have a picture of!! That is the only drawback I can think of to the Pocono Experience...walking away without a souvenir photo of the Daileys)

Hanging out with Grandmom Vile

Playing Scrabble with Pop Pop Vile

Taking it easy with Glen and GG Mom

The Kmiecs (welcome, beautiful Megan!)

The Kruks (so excited to meet the twins!!!)

The Butvilles...with Kevin standing in for Jodi (welcome, sweet Carter!)

Alison and Aunt Evie (congratulations, Ali!!!)

Family

Gosh...we love our family.

Right now we are mourning with our family. And there are other things that we are celebrating with our family. But especially as we enter this Christmas season, we are overwhelmed at the power of family.

And because the Vileation Nation is not known for its depth or proclivity for intensity, we'll stop all attempts at that sort of thing right here and now.

So...if any of our readers reside in the Greater Charlotte area, you absolutely must check out Angela Pace Photography. You will not be disappointed. Jake heard such good things about this lady that he called her up and asked her to come be his photographer. And guess what...she did it. THE Angela Pace got on a plane and came to Baltimore just to take some amazing shots of our Jake. It's also worth noting that THE Angela Pace happens to be my cousin and has been known to go ridiculously out of her way to help people out. You may recall that she somehow recovered all of our Key West pictures. Yep...she's good. (check out her site for some more cute pictures of Jacob.)

Anyway, I have been searching for the words to express just how incredible a photographer she is, but hopefully you've already clicked on the link to her site and have seen it for yourself. I'm telling you, she's amazing. All the pictures on this post are of the SAME baby...can you stand it?

So that was our excitement this weekend! A visit from our fabulous cousin who has been blessed with an incredible gift for photography. Special thanks to the Pace family for letting us steal Ang for the day!!!! You'll never know how grateful we are!!! Especially because most of our pictures look like this:

We'll be back to posting our own horrible pictures in the near future. And as a teaser...it turns out that Kevin has figured out the iMovie feature of the Mac...so...stay tuned...

So now that the election is over...

...when does Scrubs come back on the air?  

We at the Vileation Nation do not plan to share how we voted, but you have to admit that this article is pretty funny.  (Please note the "I Voted" sticker in the above picture. Please also note that I still can't figure out how to use this Mac.)

So here's what we've been up to.  A big trip to Columbus, OH to watch Penn State beat Ohio State.  But other things happened there, too.  For instance, we watched LeBron James arrive to be a guest at Game Day.  Here he is.  Right behind his body guard.  Great photography skills by Amy. (read "unbelievably poor photography skills by Amy.")

Also, Kevin made Jake a nice sign to hold up in an effort to get on TV.

Also, Dog made cookies commemorating the occasion.  

Then Amy headed to Cleveland with her parents and Jake so that she could be in Akron for work on Wednesday.  It was a WONDERFUL week of lots of visitors and home-cooked meals. Thank you to Mrs. Edwards, Mrs. Olwert, Mrs. Elwell, the Daileys, the Goodmans and the Ciuleis for your visits and your general celebration of Jake!  Below are Jeff and Julie, James and Joseph...welcome back to Ohio, Goodmans!

Speaking of Jake, he took his third flight.  Evidently Continental knew he was coming because he was given an entire row in First Class and his mother was given a nice big glass of wine after she struggled to keep him from screaming before takeoff.  Also...our JD laughs now!  The best way to get a good hearty laugh out of him is to dance around like you have a top hat and cane. Gets him every time.  He loves this fabulous John Lithgow CD that the Ciuleis gave him. Perfect for dancing as though you have a top hat and cane.

Kevin's parents came to visit last weekend and somehow we did not get out the camera.  Glen came up for dinner, too, and it was really just such a nice, relaxing weekend. 

Oh...and Halloween.  Jake didn't dress up too much, he wore a cute little Halloween sleeper, but Luther wore his annual bumblebee costume.  We can't get enough of Luther dressed as a bumblebee.

Luther, however, can get quite enough of Luther dressed as a bumblebee.

The Newest Member of the Vileation Nation

No, the newest member of the Vileation Nation is not a baby, the newest member is our spectacular new sister-in-law, Kristin! Congratulations to Brian and Kristin on their marriage which took place this past Sunday, October 12.

Check out the pictures here. I wish I could have captured every detail on film, Brian and Kristin did an amazing job. Here is a list of just a FEW things that just really stood out. Incidentally, I'm typing this as I enjoy some of the homemade cranberry apple butter that they gave as favors. I am also listening to some music from the cd that they gave as a favor. Loving it.

• Adorable welcome baskets when we arrived at the hotel (chocolate, hand cream, gum, maps, awesome!)


• Amazing rehearsal dinner venue...the whole back patio area to ourselves! Complete with wine that Brian and Kristin selected from a wine tasting event.


• Unbelievable place cards that were stamped with a nature theme. Look for them in the pictures.


• Awesome music from a live jazz band and then a live band from Nashville, the Protomen!


• Kristin MADE all the bouquets, boutennieres, etc. Made them. Whoa. She was at the wedding site cutting flowers and tying them together the morning of her wedding.


• Hundreds of little meringue mushrooms that Brian and Kristin baked to put on their cake. Check them out in the pictures...amazing.

Honestly, the list goes on and on. Brian and Kristin had a beautiful day for their wedding and treated us all to a feast and a wonderful time of celebration. Congratulations to the Newlyweds!

At the Movies

Here's Jake enjoying a "movie" from his crib.

Back in the Saddle

Or "Back in the Baby Cage."  Whatever.

Oh boy.  It's a real Catch 22 around here.  We've been having fun non-stop and have so much to report and share.  However, all the fun we're having leaves little time for blog-posting. Especially when SOMEONE in the family insisted on buying a Mac as our new personal computer.  We have no idea how to use it.  SOMEONE should have done research on her own rather than just listened to people saying "you're going to love it!"  People said "you're going to love it!" about the movies Spaceballs and Throw Momma From the Train, but SOMEONE didn't enjoy either of them. *note:  the weird font nonsense that occurs halfway through this post is a result of the aforementioned someone not knowing how to fix the tricky html language junk. I blame the Mac.*

Anyway, we cannot possibly capture all the excitement that has gone on in the past month, so here's the quick run-down so that you're back in touch with the Vileation Nation.  We then plan to start fresh with covering Brian and Kristin's wedding which occurred this past weekend.

So...

We hung out with the Kmiecs a couple times, which included playing SpiderMan Yahtzee, Uno Spin, and Blow Out Your Diaper.

We hung out with the King girls for a little while, which included Jake being enamored with older women.  That's right, women between the ages of 4 and 9.

We hung out with Megan and Krissy and their kiddos.  Check out Krissy's synopsis over at Two Are Better Than One. Megan and Krissy were the BSG Ambassadors (that's Bible Study Girls) and they treated Kevin and me to some amazing dinners and tons of hands-on child rearing experience!!  It was a joy to spend time with Faith, Jonathan and Toby.

We hung out with the Jaglowskis as they passed through on their way to Ocean City for vacation and Sam's first experience with the ocean!  They tried to convince us that we will love the Mac.  Hmmmm.

Amy and Jake hung out with Melissa (from prenatal yoga) and her son Jack at the mall a couple of times.  We also went to Baby and Me yoga and learned such hits as Hopalong Yogi and Chugga Chugga.

So that's the quick recap.  Soon we will post about the big wedding in Atlanta this weekend. Hooray for Jake as he is now a member of the Delta Sky Miles program. Well, not quite, but he did manage to get to Georgia and back in an airplane, so we are very pleased with his progress. You will see that he has also become quite a prodigy at using his play center thing. With the help of a pillow for his feet, he's really giving that toy a run for its money. Then finally we have a picture of the boys outside for their fall photo shoot. Sadly this is probably the best shot. They are both super cute in person, the pictures don't do them justice...!

"I Can Tell That We Are Going To Be Friends"

This past weekend Jake learned that there is life on this planet to which he can relate. Jake's new friend, Aaron, came to visit along with Aaron's mom, Susan, and the famous Dog. It's no secret that Jake is a bit of a fussbudget from time to time...but what we had previously chalked up to gas is more likely the misconception that the only people in this world are giants that weigh over 100 pounds and stand more than 5 feet tall. When Jake was hanging out with Aaron, a happy 5 month old, he was a different man. As Susan said, it was like Aaron was saying "dude, you're acting like such a 2 week old. You're old enough to smile and be fun...you should try that out."

Dog, Susan, the boys and I spent Saturday in Annapolis walking around the Naval Academy (mainly so we could earn our trip to the fudge and ice cream store). Then we walked around Hunt Valley on Sunday (mainly so we could earn our pizza for lunch). We had a great time touring around Maryland while Kevin spent the weekend in Syracuse watching Penn State dominate. Unfortunately only one of us could have the camera, so check out Amy's pictures here. Below is how Jake felt when Dog, Susan and Aaron left. It's also how he felt after the big OSU loss.
Also, the Vileation Nation has been sucked into Facebook. And the Nation has also purchased a new computer. This is a bad combo. I could use another 8 weeks of maternity leave (more like "materNERDy leave") so I can learn all this new technology (read: "so I can play fun new computer games").

*special thanks to Aunt Linnea and Aunt Sarah for Jake's weekend wardrobe!!!