Scenes from Christmas Morning in Ohio

We had a few guests with us Christmas morning here in Ohio: my Mom, Bill and Uncle Sammy (or as the dudes call him, Tammy). Since we weren't able to make it to my family's "Kelly Christmas", my mom brought the gifts to the dudes to open on Christmas morning. Thank you to everyone we didn't get a chance to thank in person for the gifts you got. Here are some pictures and video from Christmas morning:

The scene when we finally got up on Christmas morning (they didn't wake up until almost 10 o'clock)


Mom & Bill got the dudes 'Celtic' soccer jerseys (Celtic is an Irish soccer team)

Grandma K got the dudes Elmo Live. Aidan fed the talking Elmo doll a spatula.

Abby keeping Sammy's head clean

Dudes playing with their new Elmo kitchen from Aunt Kelly & Uncle Chuckles.

Nico in his new Spartan gear playing his new piano

Dudes in their new Spartan jerseys, ready to cheer on MSU in the Capital One Bowl on New Years day.

Nico playing with his new car he got from Aunt Sheila and Uncle Mike.

Dudes with their new baseball mits from Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Joe

Dudes playing their first Wii game (Nico scored a 92 and Aidan a 65 in bowling (or Boomball as they like to call it)

Grandma K playing with the dudes Christmas Eve.

Uncle Sammy hanging out with the dudes o Christmas Eve

Dudes opening their new Elmo Kitchen from Aunt Kelly & Uncle Chuckee Staxx

Dudes playing with their new Elmo Kitchen from Aunt Kelly and Uncle Chuckles

Aidan opening his new Elmo Vacuum from Aunt Reen


I am trying to bring the new tricycle bikes into the family room for the dudes to open, and they saw what it was before they opened it.


Uncle Sammy playing with the dudes Christmas morning

Miller Family Christmas

We attended the Miller Family Christmas party in Jackson two weeks ago. Here are some photos from the event followed by a few other random pictures taken over the past two weeks:

Our happy family picture

The dudes with Aunt Tracy (left with Nico) and Sherry (right with Aidan)

Annual three sets of twins picture

The dudes love Poppop

Aidan with his buddies Amy and Mykayla

Ready to open presents

Grandpa G (aka Poppop as the dudes call him) set up the old school atari games for the dudes to play

I am not sure where we went wrong here, but obviously we have some work to do teaching the dudes basic biology

We found two of Uncle Bud's old dolls in our bedroom closet. Aidan has adopted "Monkey Bud" and Nico has adopted "Baby Buddy".

New towels

Another picture and video

Aidan wearing his new penguin towel from Nubar & Carrie

The humidifier came back out now that winter is nearly here. The dudes have figured out that hitting the buttons makes it louder (and in turn makes them laugh louder).

Our visit with Santa

Last Wednesday, we visited with Santa. Louie's employer throws a party every year just for the kids and Santa arrives with gifts for everyone. The dudes did very well this year. The crying was kept to a minimum and Aidan even gave Santa a high five. And yes that is me trying to hide beside santa to make sure no one is going to freak out.

Sorry, our computer has been out of service. Here is what we have been up to

The dudes turned 2 about a month ago. The first set of pictures shows some video of their party and pictures of the party and their actual birthday spent at home in Ohio with a few guests.

Aunt Kelly and Uncle Chuck got us our cool new hats. We look like little old men in them.

Uncle Sammy got us our tailgating shirts - we are ready for MSU's 2009 Big Ten Championship run

Three sets of twins in the Miller family at the Dudes' birthday party

On our actual birthday weekend Aunt Reen, Grandma & Grandpa G and Uncle David came to Ohio to celebrate. We opened a few gifts and went to Red Robin.

Aidan chillin' with Uncle David

Aidan talking to Grandma K in England on his birthday
The dudes inherited a train play station from my cousin Colleen and her children. The train tracks have been temporarily taken away as they turned into weapons.

The dudes got Elmo chairs from Mom & Dad and thought it was hilarious to fall backward out of them.

Halloween has passed since our last blog update. We went as Elmo's and Granda G went as Tigger.

At the MSU-Wisconsin football game, Grandma & Grandpa G surprised us and brought the dudes midway through the first quarter. Once we got them in the stadium they seemed to like the atmosphere in the stadium. Next year we will try our first full game with tailgating. MSU won the game on a last second field goal.

We should have thought of labeling them a long time ago. So much easier to keep track of who is who
My employer is in the business of making drums. I visited a fiber drum plant and they gave me this toy drum to bring home. The dudes have figures out that turning it over and standing on it provides them with a way to get into things on the counter

The dudes hiding in the cupboards



Last three pictures are of Nikki & my vacation cruise to the bahamas

This was our rental car in Florida. It is no wonder Ford is in financial trouble - why would you even make this color car?

More stuff

These pics and videos are from September, I just haven't had a chance to get them all on the blog in a timely manner.

This picture, if you look closely, shows Nico sticking his tongue out at a gorilla at the Columbus zoo. In his defense, the Gorilla was sticking his tongue out first, which is where Nico learned it.

Sneak preview of our Halloween costumes. The dudes seem to love Elmo. They recognize him any time we see a book, picture etc... at a store or on tv.

Nico playing with the camera

Clearly they get their dance skill from their dad. At the very end, you see Aidan throw a ball, it went behind him. He has good form, we are working the execution.

big shoes to fill...