Merry Day-After-Christmas (a.k.a. Return Stuff Day)

Merry Day After Christmas! I hope you are all enjoying yourselves and are successfully cleaning up after the Christmas Carnage. We're doing pretty good here due to some pre-Christmas stuff purging. I'm wondering if Santa came to your house? Does he bring too dang much when he comes? How do you ask Santa to bring less?

We love our zoo membership from my mom, and the new clothes from Dad and Nancy were a hit since they wear 99% hand-me-downs. Oh, and the remote control helicopters from step-Dave were awesome. And by the way, a sweet woman from church said Santa came early to her house and delivered gifts to each of my kids early, which they opened yesterday. They were toys, but they LOVE every single one and each one was so perfect for my kids' personalities (no, they don't have multiple personalities, I'm just not sure how to grammarize that sentence). So, thank you to Kay and Amanda so so much! Michael's new teeny turtle (Giggy) got a ride on Sam's dumptruck. Poor thing.

Then there's Eva's Pikachu pillow pet and Callie's American Girl knockoff and Joel's Nerf Longstrike gun and my Happy perfume and WOW! pens and  ... I'd better stop now.

Basically, I want to know how your Sunday (yesterday) was. Leave me a comment here or on Facebook, because sometimes it's just easier to leave on there, let's face it.

Love to my friends, family and followers! Have a great week! Photos to come!

Your Baby Can Read! Who Cares?!

LOOK! Sam can read! My baby can read! Wow! Wait, he's not really reading, is he? He's just looking at a book while relaxing all cozy with his water bottle next to him. If he could read, that would be pretty cool, but I'm certainly not TEACHING him to read anytime soon. What do you think about teaching babies to read? I mean, who cares? It's like bragging that your 1-year-old is potty-trained and my 3-year-old is not (for the record, I don't have a 3-year-old, as Michael is sitting here pointing out to me! Eva is 4 and potty trained). Who cares? It all shakes out by the time they are 18, right? The playing field is kinda evened out by then, don't you think? So my baby sleeps with me. He won't be at 18. So he's nursing still. He won't be at 18! Maybe your 12-year-old is a real jerk right now. Maybe he'll be better at 18,  maybe not. Dangit! I always refute my own arguments! Gotta go.

Dena's Vintage Closet in Kentucky

I am in love with vintage stuff and always have been. When I was 18 I got the greatest black cashmere 1960s coat at a vintage shop in Manitou Springs, Colorado and was hooked. Later I got things like 1960s cocktail dresses (I think I fit in that turquoise gorgeous concoction ONCE to go to the Savoy Grill; after that I was never that tiny again) and other great items. I even temporarily owned a Herman Miller couch ... coffee tables built into each end and green/blue plaid on the back.

I currently sport a Marcwyn 1960s red wool coat with big buttons. Today someone at Westlake Hardware told me I was very Jackie O ... what a compliment! So I decided to look for my coat online to see where it would lead me and found Dena's Vintage Closet. I had always thought I couldn't afford to go vintage or that I wouldn't have the time to shop that way (with all the kids in tow!), but now I see I can go online! Yippee! Do you have any favorite vintage places to shop?

*The coat above is a 1960s swing coat and is only $39 ... and will stand the test of time for sure. I'm sick of buying crap at Target and WalMart and even Eddie Bauer and having it get holey after a few washes. I'm going to start investing in vintage things that are classy!

Clean Up Your Dog's Poop, Moron!

People act like I'm the craziest woman on earth for toting 5 kids around. It's like they think I don't know how to use birth control, but I know better than 99% of the USA how my flipping cycles work and when to AVOID getting pregnant so I never have to utter those assinine words, "I had a surprise pregnancy!" It's never really a surprise unless you were not aware you were having intercourse, no?

Anyway, I want to know who is stupider in society ... me for having a bunch of kids or those people who let their dog rule their life and crap all over the place and don't pick it up.

If I change a freaking diaper in public it's an outrage. If I step in your dog's crap, that's somehow okay and I have no way of tracking your nasty ass down. I think we need to start a DNA database for all animals so I know who is letting their dog crap in the grass at Target and is not picking it up. And who is using the grass at the school park like a dog park and then kids ride their bikes through and step all over dog crap.

Yeah, I know some dogs are strays and they are the ones pooping. Still, a database would take care of that. You could track down the original owner and make them come pick up the poop within 24 hours or send them a $50 ticket. I'm just brainstorming here, folks. It's not a foolproof plan ... yet.

McLoughlin Family Christmas Letter 2011 With BONUS Pics!

I ordered these awesome photo Christmas cards and picked them up from CVS and don't have a file, so here's a picture of the picture I ordered. Scroll down for the actual letter with BONUS photos! It's your lucky day! Whoot whoot! Whoo ho! Boo-ya!

So here's the annual Christmas letter. I'm not sure why I even write one since I have the blog. I started doing it because my husband's family always did one and I thought it was neat. The thing is, they started it because they moved AWAY and had to do a letter to keep everyone up with them and their 5 kids. My mother-in-law used to use clear gelatin to make copies of the letters. No joke, folks.

Merry Christmas! Here’s a little update (youngest kid to oldest kid) so you have something to read while you use the restroom (it doubles as toilet paper!):

Samuel turned 2 in October and loves trains, fire trucks, anything that makes noise and BALLS. The boy scares me with how he can dribble a basketball and then sit on it like he’s some lifetime player. Put a soccer ball in front of his foot and he’ll kick it into any goal. He is ornery, but lucky for him his cuteness offsets that. We’re currently trying to keep him from unwrapping ALL the gifts under the tree.

Eva turned 4 this month and loves anything Barbie. She likes to play with babies, have her makeup done and nails painted, but she is also pretty tough! She can be found most days painting with watercolors and sneaking popsicles from the freezer. She fits in a ride on her little princess bike whenever she can.

            Callie turned 6 in February. She started a dance class in the spring and had a recital in June which Tutu got to come to. She recently switched to Upward Cheer and will cheer at her first basketball game in January. She is a little actress who can put together a fashionable outfit with anything that’s laying around, and likes Barbie, singing and dancing.

Michael turned 8 in April and is taking gymnastics with Joel. He’s had Henry the King Betta for about a year now. Speaking of fish, he and Joel got to go fishing twice this year with Aron and their Poppy. Michael got 1^st in Pinewood Derby for siblings again and 1^st in Raingutter Regatta! In the spring we got to go down by Kemper Arena for his Junior First Lego League competition, which was amazing (his team built a little mobility scooter). The boys are crazy for Pokemon cards right now!

Joel turned 10 in June and we keep him in playdates galore. Always the businessman, he shoveled driveways when the snow hit and sold lemonade all summer. He went to Cub Scout camp and was top seller of popcorn in his pack, along with winning 2^nd place in Pinewood Derby again and 3^rd in Raingutter Regatta! He still has Daisy the Hamster and now also Herman the Hermit Crab. He likes to volunteer at Harvester’s with Grandpa Mac, and a couple of weeks ago he built the World’s Biggest Leaf Pile with his dad and siblings (I helped!).

I turned 40 in June and Aron had a big party for me with Mexican catered food, a DJ, moonwalk, Adirondack chairs and a rented red Mustang convertible! I started Bible study at Holy Trinity (the 3 oldest kids go to Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at the same time), and otherwise I’m just sitting around the house homeschooling, stripping wallpaper, being involved in Scouts, blogging, writing (for 93 magazines!) and (as Sam gets older) I’m even getting my photos organized so I can start scrapbooking again. I’ve always been pretty lazy like that.

            Aron turned 45 in November without a party L However, I did rent him a red convertible Camaro for a week, and we had fun! He’s had to go to Phoenix some this year for work, but thanks to Jordan we’ve been able to go on a few dates this year! He’s still a Cub Scout Den Leader, Religious Ed teacher (Joel, Michael and Callie go to class) and awesome dad and husband. We’ve been together for 16 years now, and I don’t know how he puts up with me!

This year found us going on tons of outings: to the pool, the zoo, nature centers, farmsteads, museums, parks, pet stores, seeing friends and family and more. To keep up with us, check out TheKerrieShow.com, where I regularly post photos and other fun family information (and inflammatory opinions!).

Here’s hoping 2012 is even better than this year for everyone. Take care of yourselves and of each other ©

Love from Aron, Kerrie, Joel, Michael, Callie, Eva and Sam McLoughlin