Happy Birthday To You!

Ben's new favorite song is "Happy Birthday To You". Isn't he a great singer?! Here he is singing to his Papa Joe for his birthday.

Christmas Eve--McCarthy-Style!

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We enjoyed a family dinner at my Aunt Colleen's home and the babies received so many cute clothes! Thank you, everyone!
Ben and his best-girl/God Mother Maureen(aka Nina)

Milly and Dada(yes, she's standing! With assistance)

My beautiful Grandma Pat, Me and Milly

Mills and GiGi (beautiful dress courtesy of Rinny! Thanks!)

Ben and one of many new books!

Christmas--Rossi-Style!

We had a wonderful time Christmas-Day visiting Dan's family in Sacramento. Here are a few pictures of the little ones with Dan's Grandma Patty and Grandpa Bill.

Ben's Favorite Gifts

The sunglasses and sippy cup featured in this picture are among Ben's all-time favorite gifts. Now, tell me why we all spent so much on him?!

Emily's Fav Present

We have a future pop-star on our hands here! Emily received the Fisher-Price Little Superstar Singing Stage toy from Santa and has been having so much fun. She loves to sit in front of it and gaze at her beguiling reflection. Can you blame her, though? If you looked that cute, too, I'm sure you'd be just as vain;)

Tooth-Watch '08

Any day now Chompers will finally cut her first tooth. Until then, we're making sure to keep lots of teethers on hand. For those who don't know, we're still nursing and I am NOT looking forward to those new little pearly whites.

Making Cookies

We made cookies today! Ben is an expert decorator and really enjoyed himself. The sugar-high afterwards was really fun for me.

Have you ever seen more beautiful cookies? I think not!

Hard at work, creating his masterpiece.

C'est Finne! My masterpiece is complete!"

O Christmas Tree!

Ben was very excited to wake up to find the Christmas tree! He looked at all the ornaments and helped "rearrange" a few. He's actually pretty good with it; I'm surprised! Our cat, on the other hand, seems to be possessed by the Ghost Of Holiday Jerks and has almost knocked it over several times. If it's not one thing, it's another!

This is Ben's fav ornament. Homer Simpson dressed as Santa stuck in a chimney=)

Daddy's Girl

Milly is a tried-n-true Mommy's Girl, but lately she's got a new man in her life. It's so cute to see them play together! She's definitely turning into Daddy's Little Princess=)

Ben's New Kicks

We have a little shoe fetishist on our hands, here! Ben loves, loves, LOVES shoes. Yours, mine, or his--doesn't matter. If they're shoes, he loves 'em and will try to put them on. He also has an affinity for Dan's Steelers hat, so his proud papa bought him his own. Here's a couple of pictures of Ben dressed and ready to go!

Here's Ben wearing Dan's shoes and hat.

Dan couldn't resist this photo op when he saw how handsome Ben looked in his gear.

Night Owl

Lately, Emily has been waking up between 10 and 11 pm and wants to play! If I can't get her back to sleep, we let her get up and spend some time with us. Here's a few shots of her practing to crawl. One of these days she's going to get it!

Bennis The Menace

It might seem that this blog is a little uneven at times; like Emily has more posts dedicated to her than Ben does. It's hard because she's at an age where she's learning new things every day and will actually stay still to have her pictures taken! Ben is like a hurricane these days; always on the move and always getting into massive trouble=) He's been talking SO MUCH lately and it's really funny to hear. He says so many different words and phrases, although much of what he says is still undecipherable unless you're his mama. I spend every day with him, so I'm the one who understands him best. I can't wait until I can have an actual conversation with him! No matter how many posts belong to each child, Ben is STILL my best boy!

Come Into The Light

We're getting ready for the holidays around here! Santa's Prettiest Helper wanted to untangle the lights for me. Why not turn it into a photo-op?! Here's our little elf helping out:

Naughty or Nice

Feeling ambitious and nostalgic, my mom and I decided to take the kids to see Santa. We waited FOREVER and Ben was not feeling it. He hated Santa on sight and refused to sit on his lap. Emily was indifferent, possibly because she admired his fashion sense.

Santa got the pleasure of my company for our photo

Emily sported her new coat while we waited out in the cold to see the Big Guy

I should have known what to expect after taking this picture 5 minutes after arriving!

Emily was a little embarrassed to be wearing the same outfit as St. Nick. She maintains that she wore it better. I agree.

Sitting Pretty

Emily has learned to sit up all by herself! We're all very impressed because her older brother didn't do this until he was over 8 months old. She loves to sit up and play with whatever toy Ben will actually allow her to touch. Shhhh! Don't tell Ben that we let her play with his toys while he's napping.