Cutting our Christmas Tree

Sometime after Thanksgiving in the blur that has been December, we went to get our Christmas Tree. Since the weather was nice, we opted for the cut-your-own route this year.

So glad that we did! Linvilla Orchards runs a lean, mean holiday machine. You take a hayride out to the trees...

...and then they hand you a saw and point you in the right direction.

We searched high and, umm, low until we found our favorite.

Daddy did all of the work while the ladies sat on their butts and drank hot chocolate. (I see the makings of a tradition here...)

Then, a tree wagon comes and carts your tree back in and we got to go on another hayride.

While they are drilling, shaking off loose needles, and bundling your tree, there was a big bonfire with marshmallows waiting to be roasted and hot apple cider. Pull up to the loading station and they tie your tree on your car for you.

No wonder their tagline is "I love that place!" Everytime we've been to Linvilla we've had a great time!

(Pictures of the tree at home coming soon... unfortunately we have a technology curse on our house right now and don't have a working camera or cell phone camera to snap a pic.)

Where's Shannon?

Shannon has gotten really into hiding, sneaking, and surprising us lately. She likes to say "boo!"

Our curtains in the family room have become the venue for a nightly game, "Where's Shannon?"

(Be sure to turn your volume up so you can hear her giggling/answering while she's hiding!)

Busy, busy

It's time to catch up on a month's worth of posts that I just haven't seem able to find time for. Make sure you work your way all the way down to the post about Mike and Hanna's wedding, and we'll all be caught up!

Our DC Friends

On this episode of Shannon's Travels...

We finally made our way down to DC to visit Monica, Steve and Addie at their new house. Ever since our fun weekend at the beach, we've talked about how it was our turn to come visit them in DC. And this weekend, it happened!

We left bright and early on Saturday morning but pointed our car to Baltimore. Notre Dame was playing Navy at the Ravens stadium and Chris' friends found him a ticket. Since it was right on the way, Shannon and I dropped him off before driving the rest of the way to DC.

While Daddy was in Baltimore watching the game, we spent the afternoon with fellow one-year old Addie (who celebrated her big birthday on Monday) doing all sorts of fun one-year old things, like...


Going to the playground

Running away from Mommies and Daddies

Picking up mulch, trying to eat mulch, finding new mulch...

Chris took the train down after cheering the Irish on to victory. Hanging out at the house, we...

Giggled about Addie's new Barbie Jeep as the girls climbed all over it...

Added to Addie's birthday loot

Necklaces!

Ate yummy food all weekend and then had a post-dinner dance party (oops, didn't get pics of either!)

Took a bath

Had a naked baby-fest in Addie's room (rats, no pics on my camera of this either!)

And then shared some jammie kisses.

The plus side to waiting so long to visit DC is that we also got to visit Marty in his new apartment down there. Shannon and Percy reunite!

Another fun weekend, but we're certainly looking forward to a relaxing weekend at home next week!

Grammy and Gramps Visit

This weekend we weren't travelling, but we were busy hosting. My parents came for a long weekend in early November.

While Mommy, Daddy and Grampers were stuck working, Shannon and Grammy got to spend long days play, play, playing the day away. And having photo shoots...

On Saturday morning, we all got to go to the zoo. It was a rainy, overcast day but we decided to give it a whirl anyway. And we were so glad we did! The animals were incredibly active because of the weather. We almost got sprayed by the elephants who were splish-splash-taking-a-bath less than 10 feet away!

After church on Sunday, Shannon showed off her driving skills in the driveway.

Thanks, Gramps!

Thanks for coming, we had fun!

Halloween

Mooo!

Miss Shannon trick or treated as a cow this year. (In McGee culture, 2008 is the year of the cow. :)We completed her outfit with some cowbells (from a race Chris ran earlier this fall) and her mooing cow flashlight gifted to her at her birthday by Marty.

What really pulled the whole costume together was Shannon's latest trick: knowing that a cow say moo. (Although we do miss her old answer/pronunciation to the same question... cows that say Moe.)

What happened to the Phanatic costume idea, you ask?

As World Series fever was sweeping through the city, we got the brilliant idea to make Shannon a little Phanatic (the Phillies' mascot). Unfortunately, we couldn't find green fur and the fabric spray paint suggestion from a nice lady at Joann Fabrics just didn't do the trick. So here's the costume as it stands today.

Gonna finish it and maybe we'll show it off at Opening Day 2009!

Alllllll the Way to Seattle

Just four days after arriving home from New York, we packed our bags again and headed to the airport. Our destination: Seattle. We were headed to see the Kuders: Bill, Katie, and Will. Chris and Bill were good friends at Notre Dame and our families line up perfectly. We were married three weeks apart, we had our kiddos three weeks apart and we're both expecting to new babies in the spring. (Who's guessing three weeks apart?)

The Kuders, Jalopy, The McGee's

The timing on our visit was not because we're looking to build our jet-setting reputation, hopping coast to coast on the weekends but (like much of our social life in the fall) because the Notre Dame football schedule. ND was going to take on Washington and we all had tickets.

It was a big weekend of firsts for Shannon: first plane trip, first time meeting Will and Katie, first ND football game. Squeeze in some golf for the daddies, a booze cruise for all of us, the 3 hour time change and preggo mama and you see why this was a blur of a long weekend!

Cutie-pie Will

Little Irish Fans

House from Sleepless in Seattle (We also saw Bill Gates' home but didn't get a pic...)

Awesome play area at Philadelphia airport... highly recommended! Terminal D!

Our rockstar traveller... she was so, so, soooo good. This was our early morning jammies flight.

Thanks for the hospitality, Kuders! We'll be back!

Mike and Hanna's Wedding

They're married! Mike and Hanna tied the knot on Saturday afternoon. The wedding took place in Manhattan and friends & family from all over the country came to celebrate.

Here's our little fam (with crazy hair since we didn't get around to snapping this shot until after the wedding back at the hotel).

And here are the full length versions of the ladies so you can check out the dresses (and Mama's growing belly).



Horrible lighting because the video guy was right next to me, but here's my parents walking Mike down the aisle.

Shannon was soooo good the whole weekend. She even managed to take her afternoon nap while the rest of us were enjoying the cocktail hour.

It was a f-u-n reception. One of the best parts was the photo booth they rented. They had their guest book set up right next to it with photo corners already in there so that after snapping your shots, you could paste your favorites right in.

Shannon thought the booth was super cool, but looked very angry in most shots because it had a really bright flash. I'll have to scan some and post them, umm...sometime...


Four generations of lovely ladies.

Shannon tore it up on the dance floor.

And she thought the dessert buffet was t-a-s-t-y.

But sadly, the wedding had to end... "oh no!"

Congratulations Uncle Mike and Aunt Hanna! We love you!

Fall Fun

There's a chill in the air. We're pulling on sweatshirts and putting away capris. We've logged a lot of hours watching College GameDay. Yep, it's Fall.

To get even more into the autumn spirit, we decided to check out Linvilla Orchards. What a fun place! Shannon had a great time checking out the pumpkins at PumpkinLand, playing on the playground and picking out some mums and apple cider to take home.

They had an awesome playground. Here's a clip of Shannon on the slide (check out her signing "more" after each ride.)