My last 1st :(

Meghan was so tired, I had her open 1 gift before we put her to bed!

We also celebrated Braylen's 1st birthday from December. His mother was too busy to do anything for it:) He was not to happy as you can see!

Meghan liked her first taste of cake

Megsie's birthday cake

The Ross girls before the party

Our family

Happy Birthday Meghan Grace

We celebrated our last 1st birthday today:( Meghan will be 1 on Wednesday. We had a wonderful 1st birthday for her. It's funny I vividly remember Hannah's 1st birthday thinking how old she was. Now looking at Meghan I realize they really are still so little. It was a bitter sweet day because I know I won't have a little baby anymore. I always say this is my last party, but we really do have so much fun seeing our friends and having the kids hang out! John made a great lunch and the food was delicious! Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate Meghan's special day!

Winter

The girls are having a true winter here in Cleveland and they love it. I on the other hand...not so much. A human can only play so many games of bejeweled. Hannah and Kate love the snow. Each morning they ask if they can go outside and play in the snow. I am actually surprised at how much they can take out there. They bundle up and are able to stay out for about 30 minutes. I don't know how they do it cuz let me tell you it is cold. While I haven't ventured far from the couch, I have been able to add most of my phone contacts into my new phone and have been able to get my pictures organized on my new computer for the most part. We leave on Tuesday and while normally I dread returning home because I am on my own again, this time Grandma Ross will be following us the next day! So I have another 3 weeks off! Glen Ivy, Panera, Corner Bakery, and Brea Mall...here I come! Tonight we had dinner with all John's family and while dinner was yummy, the best part was all the free applications for my itouch that I discovered. I'm off to my bed to go pop bubble wrap and try to beat my score!

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year. 2009 was good to us starting with our baby meghan grace. we are fortunate for our health, jobs, family, and children. we hope 2010 brings a little of the same (minus the baby:)

Megsie took her first steps tonight!!!!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

The Ross Family

Oh, it's gonna be a good night for taking pictures...I can just feel it!

After a little milky milk

Santa's plates

Santa's big gift for hannah on the left and kate on the right!

(sorry for the large pictures, i accidentally uploaded them as large)

The presents are all wrapped, girls are all asleep, house is somewhat cleaned, and I am tired. I had a busy day today. The past few days Hannah has been telling Santa she wants a barbie. Well, this is the first that Santa had heard of that and tried to let it go, but after a few times, I thought Santa better rethink not getting her one. Unfortunately for Santa, all the cheap barbies were gone. Oh well. I am so excited for tomorrow. Last year at this time, I was almost to the end of Meghan's pregnancy and John was in Cleveland with the girls. I do have to say it was so nice just to have a mellow holiday. That is not too often with the Kollen house. Not as nice though as Christmas in our house with our 3 girls. I know this isn't Thanksgiving, but tonight as I go to bed, I am thinking of how lucky I am to have this beautiful life!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010~

john, courtney, hannah, kate, and meghan grace

American Girl Store

The red carpet to go visit Santa!

Kate thought she died and went to heaven. She loves dolls!

Kate and her baby at the party

Kaelyn and Kate with their babies

Lauren and her baby

Hannah

The loot!

Kelsey and Paige had a little shopping to do, so my mom and I sat out with the kids. They would not leave Hayley alone. Kate kept licking her finger and trying to smooth out H's eyebrows!

We went to the most wonderful birthday party. My cousin McKenna had her 7th birthday at the American Girl store at the Grove. I have been mildly excited about this birthday party for about 5 months now. Originally it was just me going from my family, but it worked out that Paige and Hayley and Kelsey and the girls and Effie were there too! I had no idea what to expect. I tried to excite the girls about it, but I don't think they had any idea. They were so excited when we got there. My aunt was so gracious taking the kids into the party while we shopped. Somehow I got hooked up with a personal shopper, Brenda, who did just that. We would tell her what we wanted and she would go get it. I thought we would have to wait in line, so I sent Kelsey to wait while I went and got all the stuff, but she even allowed us to pay for it there. Kelsey wanted this picnic table so bad and she even took it off and 'on hold' shelf to let her buy it. So much fun. It was the craziest store. Doll stuff everywhere. The girls wanted EVERYTHING. They were lucky that I answered the house phone as I was walking out the door. It was God (Grammie Ross) calling giving each of them 50.00 to spend. I never answer the house phone and for some reason I did! Thank goodness!

It was so awesome to see the girls faces. They were able to pick some things out for themselves and give a little list for Santa. I tell you, I don't know what this store does, but there were people spending money left and right!

Christmas Cookies

Getting tired of frosting
I started out strong

After they had finished frosting...they weren't suppose to have a bite yet.....hmmm

I made the cookie dough, but had trouble making the actual cookies, so john took over, the girls had so much fun helping him, meghan was just along for the ride:)

For those of you who know John's sister Julie, she makes the most magnificent frosted cookies along with looking absolutely fabulous. Every party we have everyone wants to know if her cookies will be here (along with fancy nancy's cookies and someone's bean dip, not quite sure who's) Well every year, I eat my weight in cookies...which is a lot! I always tell myself I am going to give it my best shot. I have no expectations of getting them even close to her, but just to make them look decent. While they taste really good, they look like well, CRAP! I started out good and then got tired so just slopped some frosting on. Not to mention, the girls were frosting there's too. They had such a great time. They couldn't believe how frosting changed colors when we added the food coloring. Here is some pictures of the night!

bye bye Mickey and Minnie

We took our last trip of the year to Disneyland. Our passes expire on Tuesday. The girls and I have had such a great time this year with all our visits. All my sisters had passes along with John's mom and dad. We probably went over 30 times and enjoyed every second of it. Last night, thanks to my unlce ronnie, John was able to go and experience it with the girls. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's a whole different view of Disneyland you get when you see the kids faces. I have never wanted to buy notebooks, pens, figures, cameras, phones, you name it, in my entire life. We were lucky because we got birthday money instead of free admission to the park so I was able to buy 'junk'.

Last night was the perfect night. No crowds. The longest line was for the cookie we had while watching the fireworks. I am sad to see this year end. It has been so nice spending so much quality time there with family and friends!