POW # 35 - pics of Christmas WAY past

Today's POW is really a buy one, get one free kind of a situation. I came across these old photos when we were unpacking our old albums and I got completely distracted from putting the rest of the stuff away for a few hours while I strolled down memory lane.

Both of these come from our very first Christmas in our first place together in San Diego, back in 1998. Our good friends Jeff and Barney from Colorado had just moved to Huntington Beach, so we were stoked to have someone from back home to celebrate Christmas with. We bought a super tiny tree and went to celebrate on the beach... I love how Rob is wearing a Broncos jersey, by the way. Nothing says festive like celebrating your home team, ha!

Then, speaking of festive traditions (?) we went back to our apartment to eat dinner, and learned that the local rock station was having a Metallica-fest. Since Rob, Barney, Jeff (and even I) are such huge Metallica fans, especially back then, we had such a blast jamming out to Metallica all night long. Probably our least traditional holiday by far, but one of my favorite memories.....this picture absolutely epitomizes the hilarity of the night - it CRACKS me up!

Ho-Ho-Ho *SNATCH*

We had a really nice, low key holiday gift exchange with our friends last night - I love that freaking gift snatch game. I mean, really, nothing epitomizes the generosity of the holiday than swiping a fantastic gift straight from under a loved one's nose. :)

Of course, we all had to get some Ruby and Bennett time in first:


Tara is such a natural, I can't wait until hers and Jason's little girl comes on the scene in a few months! Look at her beautiful belly - isn't she just radiant?And then, it was gift time!

Jason ended up with some adult underoo's, truly the perfect gift for him. Rob had to help him model his loot.

Alex scored some ipod speakers:


Aaron scored some beer:
I shouldn't have ever posed with a gift, it guaranteed it's snatchability, for sure. It was a cute Kate Spade wallet while it lasted, though. Don't feel too badly for me, though, I actually ended up with my own gift - a mani /pedi, woot!

Some other pics from the night:







Merry Christmas, everybody! Excuse the quickie lame post but we are actively getting the house in order for all of our guests arriving in a few days - My sister in law and nieces are coming from Alaska and my Mom is coming all the way from DC! I couldn't be more thrilled to have family in town for the holiday, I'm so excited to see everyone - if I can only get through these next few days of work. Ready set go!

Holiday disaster averted (barely)

We very nearly had a Griswold Christmas tree moment this weekend. Since we're in the new house with high ceilings, we figured we'd go for the gusto and get a big tree. Well, apparently we either underestimated the size of the tree we picked or overestimated the height of our ceilings, because when we huffed and puffed and finally jimmied the tree into the stand.....SCRRRRRRAAAAAPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE! The tree was too dang tall and it totally scraped the crap out of our ceiling! Bwa!

Rob had to get on the ladder and trim it pronto...and we eventually had to loosen the light bulb mere inches above it so the whole damn house didn't catch on fire.

Once we got the tree trimmed, Rob went to the garage to grab the Mega-Suck dry vac and I was looking a little closer at our tree. At our precariously tilted tree. About-to-fall-down-on-our-new-couch-tree. In a flurry of needles and sap and god-knows what else (squirrel?). On! Our! New! Couch! The leaning tower of Piza has nothing on us and this photo doesn't even do reality justice!!

But never fear, we caught it in time, and all was well. Until the annual tradition of puppy torture....

"damnit, Mom!" Oh wait, there's treats involved? Fake like you're having fun!Poor little abused puppy...his life is so rough.

More of Ruby

We went over to Karen and Alex's last night to see little miss Ruby again, can never get enough of her.

Uncle Rob got a turn...
and then took a crazy super up close shot of Auntie Beth snuggling Ruby - zooooooooommmmm!!

Bennett had to show me the Christmas lights outside, and of course we had to wear our festive hats in order to do so. Nice photo bomb, Uncle Booter
Then we took some pics of Bennett and Ruby together. He is such an adorable big brother posing with her and he kept saying "nice to meet you" to her and kissing her - you're killing me with cuteness, kid!

My new little buddy Ruby

She's here! After waiting all this time, our friends' Karen and Alex's precious little girl Ruby has arrived. She's amazing...I actually am going to throw out a quickie blog entry so we can head over to their house and visit her again, I just can't get enough of the little miss.

We entertained big brother Bennett while Mom and Dad and Grandma Lindy and Grandpa Tim and Uncle Pete all went to the hospital. Nothing like hanging with Uncle Booter and Auntie Beth to make you feel special - he seemed to have a really fun morning.

First, some playing with Uncle Booter:And then after a few more hours of that, we're off to the hospital! Here's what passes for entertainment in the Warrenskimobile:

Bennett slayed me with knowing what was happening:

As we approached the nursery, there was quite an entourage waiting, Ruby had already made it into the world and Mama was recovering nicely! Here she is, our first glimpse:
You'd think we all had something to do with bringing Ruby into the world with all the carrying on, boo-hoo'in and celebrating we were doing :)Pink representing!

All the Dads...and an Uncle Booter thrown in for good measure.

Luckily, Bennett had plenty of activity and attention, I don't think he'll ever feel left out...that dude will never be ignored.

After having around for a while, we finally got to go see Mama...I was dying to give her a big smooch and tell her how proud I was of her. She did so great! It was really special watching them wheel Ruby in for Karen to see her and hold her for the first time -

First photos together with Ruby:
The proud Uncle:

An adoring Auntie: And finally, we get to hold her together. She's probably thinking "man, it's you two that have been yammering on and on for the last 9 months, do you guys ever quit talking?!"

Us girls!

Welcome to our lives, sweet little Ruby! I know we'll have lots of fun adventures together. With your arrival, all is right with the world.