Whine, whine, wine, wine... hmmm...

All you blog-naggers have driven me to drinking. Just kidding... I can't take the hate anymore though, so I'm camping out in our new office (which I'm not going to tell you about because it only slightly concerns Nora, and according to the unsolicited polls, if it ain't about the girl my name is mud.) This is going to be the world's longest post, so grab a drink and cut me some slack!

Before everyone got here in CO for the holidays, we went downtown to Longmont's Holiday celebration where Nora got to see the Reindeer again. It was sooooo cold. That was when I realized that Nora had actually outgrown her snowsuit from last year. I didn't notice until later when I was loading the pictures on our computer that her snowpants had ridden up and her bare skin on her legs was exposed. I felt so bad, but she still had a blast looking at all the trees and lights.
Looking at the Reindeer

Well, it felt like it took forever for them to get here (and we weren't even the ones stuck in the middle of Kansas because of an ice storm!!) but Big Murf, Claudia and Robert FINALLY made it out to CO!! They caravaned out here and we were so happy and relieved that they made it safely. They wasted no time in getting their hands on this girl.

Less than a week later, my parents were in town, and a day after them, my brother Michael and nephew Anaciano got here. It was so exciting and so much fun to have everyone out here. Nora and Nano played so well together and they just adore each other. Here are some pics of him sharing his new ViewMaster with her...

Michael and Nano

A favorite game of theirs, pretending to sleep... Maybe its another thing she learned from the dogs (Notice Jack in the background)
Watch out, American Idol, I'm serious, this kid has a serious ear for music.

We took the kids to the mall to see Santa and ride a special train they had. It was a long ride throughout our tiny mall (made to seem even longer because my knees were up to my chin and my butt was wedged in a seat barely wide enough for a Yorkie, yet both my dad and I endured it without too much complaining.) I literally had no wiggle room. Murphey sat it out and took pictures of us, and then got accosted by a security guard wanting to know if he had a child on the train or if he was just some perv taking pictures of random kids. Poor guy (Murphey), the whole thing really bothered him, but we both know that it's better that they noticed and questioned him, rather than them not noticing some guy who was really a perv.

Nora refused to sit on Santa's lap, but sat on my lap, next to him, and at one point, reached over to his beard and stroked it saying "Awwww... Pet santa?"And Nano proceeded to then ask Santa for one thing: "Chinese Connection." I assumed it was a game that was a hybrid of Chinese Checkers and Connect Four. My mom and I were both flabbergasted that Michael did not have this gift for him, seeing as it was the only thing he asked Santa for. Until we found out that it's a Bruce Lee film Michael won't let him see...

Erin (Murphey's sister) and her boyfriend Bryce got into town the same afternoon as Michael and Nano. I picked them all up at the airport at the same time, and we wasted no time getting them to a ski shop to get fitted for rentals. The next day we headed up, in wonderful snowy, cold, weather to a local ski resort. Michael and I skied and Erin and Bryce snowboarded. We were too late to catch any lessons, so I attempted to teach Michael, and Murphey spent the whole time teaching Erin and Bryce. Michael gave it an honest effort but after an hour banged up his knees and had to sit the rest out. We can't wait to go with them all again...
Michael and Me

You can't tell from the picture, but I was going FAST!
We went to another Longmont event that promised carriage rides and a historic ranch decked out with a Scottish theme. It was neat, but they had a lot going on in a small space, and it was FFFFrreeeeezing cold, AGAIN, so it was not as cool as it had sounded. We still had fun and got some good pictures.

Nora with the beautiful horses
We had a great time when everyone was here with our Wii. So much fun. Will, Murphey's cousin from KY, who is midway through his Freshman year at Boulder, even came out for the weekend to celebrate his birthday (I have yet to get my hands on a great video of the Mariachi band at our favorite mexican restaurant serenading him, but once I do, it is definitely going on the blog).
WillAnd Will's birthday dessert of choice: Fruit Pizza. It was a big hit here too!!

My dad hanging out, enjoying the festivities. (Nora would hear me calling him "Dad" and started saying it also)

Claudia catching me sneaking a picture of herBefore my parents left I wanted to give Nora her big Christmas present from me and Murphey. She loves her new kitchen and we now have another chef in the house!!
Nora in her new reading chair from my parents.

Grandpoppa made it a personal goal to increase Nora's shape repertoire. He successfully taught her trapezoid. I know they were working on pentagon and hexagon, and I keep forgetting to check in to see if she's gotten them yet. She loves pointing out shapes everywhere and knows circle, square, triangle, diamond, star, rectangle, and now trapezoid. She's blown us away by teaching herself the letters A-E, H, and I and all the primary colors. Those Leapfrog fridge letter things really do the trick. She loves 'em!
On the McCloy cookie day (Dec. 23) this year, we made a gingerbread house from a little kit. So much fuN!! Ginger and her mom Eileen (remember them from the Emmy's on Oct?) stopped by to say hello also. Oh, and to amuse Nora, I made the front door of the gingerbread house a trapezoid. She did such an awesome job putting the candy on (and she discovered she likes icing.)
Nora and Claudia

Christmas morning brought many happy faces. Nora loves all the gifts she got and had great time playing ball with her new shape sorter from Grandmomma and Grandpoppa.

Charlotte has been a very busy bee this fall. She made Nora a beautiful (understatement) quilt. We can't imagine the blood, sweat, and tears that went into this. It keeps Nora warm every night now.We hope everyone out there in blogland had a wonderful, safe holiday.