Christmas Gifts

Conor opened most of his gifts in his bouncy seat. One of the gifts that he got from granny and grandad was water given to the poor in another country on his behalf. Pretty cool! We were delighted because that is one of the things we want to teach Conor about Christmas - give to the needy. Conor is not needy and does not need much - we want to teach him to give at Christmas.

Christmas Afternoon

We are having a great day and are posting our pictures so James' family can see us.
We love you all and miss you guys.
We started the holiday by going to my aunt Kathleen's house last night and had a nice time with my cousins and aunt. This morning James read the Christmas story to Conor and I. My dad made us an Irish breakfast. Then we went to Church with my family, came home and had a lovely dinner. After dinner, we opened our gifts... Conor enjoyed it more than I thought he would. My dad really wanted to play phase 10 so we did and I won :) That has been our Christmas. We are having dessert now ( just incase anyone is writing a book about us!) Lots of love,
James, Aisling and Conor

Family Photo

Christmas morning - Conor in his swing

Conor at Church on Christmas Morning

Conor's First Christmas Eve

Happy 2nd Anniversary to us!!

James and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary in Paris, France. We had a blast!! My family took care of Conor (he was fine and loved all of the attention! He is definetley a people person)
We stayed in a hotel down town and could see the eiffel tower from our bedroom window. We went up to the top floor in the eiffel tower and enjoyed the view. We also went to a church which is the highest point in Paris. It was lots of fun but coming from America we couldn't believe how expensive everything is. A can of coke was 4 euro!!! which is around 6 dollars! We exchanged 100 dollars and got 49 euro. madness. We went to Disney land over there too and loved watching the parade and listening to all the cute festive music. The rides were pretty good and ... scary! (I was scared - James thought they were cool) The Disney castle was beautiful. Well I will put pics of Disney land later.
We went over on tue and came back thur night. We had a wonderful time and don't know how we will out do that anniversary celebration. We couldn't wait for Conor to wake up this morning so we could kiss him and hug him. He was so happy to see us. :)
Hope everyone in doing well.
Look at Karen's blog - Eoin is standing all by himself. How cute!

More to say

Conor and I got in on Friday morning to Ireland. I carried a back pack with Conor's diaper stuff and then Conor in a baby front pack. It worked out very well getting my suitcases and I was glad not to have a stroller.
Tina picked us up from the airport which was nice. Mam, dad and Stevie were at the house to welcome us. Tracey came down a little later after work. It is nice to see how close everyone is and how mam's kids are grown but return often... like nearly every day often! It is weird without Kevin's family here (they are in GA). We do miss you guys but we look forward to seeing you in the summer.
Tina and I took Conor to the Irish Sea ( his first of many visits to the Ocean). We have done some shopping with mam and the girls. It was great to see everyone at Church (Lifegate) on Sunday. I grew up there so I have a lot of great memories with a lot of great people. They have a new Church building since I have been home last and it is amazing!
Conor has been sleeping pretty well at night time. He wakes up once which is not too bad. I think his teeth are really bothering him.
Well I think that is all our news. We do have some pics. Maybe I'll post them later.
James is keeping very busy at the Church and we are all looking forward to our vacation with daddy.

Update

I thought I should write and tell you all that Conor and I are having a wonderful time in Ireland. Conor is being so good and all the family say it's like having good medicine to be around him and see him smile! Stevie's (my bro) kids enjoy Conor too and we are going there tonight to spend the night. I have not seen their new house so I am looking forward to it.
Conor was very good on the plane. Take off was a little rough but that was more my fault than Conor's. The landing was fine because I was more relaxed by then. Conor's ears didn't bother him that much on the landing but the take off was a little rough (he threw up everywhere!). Because it was a night flight, he slept pretty well in the little cot in front of me. I had two seats which was nice. The lady by me had a baby boy days younger than mine so we had a great time chatting away. Her little boy was very good on the plane as well. Everyone around us was amazed at how quiet they were.
Well, I will write more later.
Aisling
James comes in 4 days :)

Conor with Tina and Anna

Tina came to visit us from Ireland last week. She loved being with Conor and took great care of him! She will see him again next week because we are going to Ireland to see grandad and uncle Stevie. Conor will spend his first Christmas in Ireland... I wonder if Santa will know where he is?? I take care of a cute little girl during the week. Anna and Conor really enjoy playing together!

More pics from Karen's visit

I liked this pic of Conor smiling. His smile is hard to catch on camera so excuse Eoin looking down :)

James and I played Karen and Jonathan in our fav board game (settlers of catan) - we won twice so we were delighted... we have a travelling trophy but Karen and Jonathan didn't bring it back because they thought they would win... or they used the malt vinegar on their fish and chips?! After that, Karen and I hopped in the hot tub - I'm tellin ya, we need to be neighbors!

Conor's best friend Eoin Harrison

I have known Karen (Eoin's mammy) since we are babies so it is always fun to see her and now we have sons just 5 months a part! I am brain washing Conor and telling him Eoin is his best friend :) I love hanging out with Karen and Jonathan - maybe someday we will be neighbors?! you never know!

Thanksgiving with the Solareks and Millers

Grandma Carma with Conor
Solarek boys with Grandma Solarek
Andrew and his buddy
My two sisters, Tina and Tracey, were with us... and Kerrie - Here is a pic of Tina ( Kerrie and Tracey dodged the camera!)
Timothy held Conor lots this trip... we didn't capture it on camera though! By the way, Andrew beet his two brothers in basketball this trip - James won last trip - next trip Conor and I are rooting for uncle Timothy!!

I have to say... trying to take pictures with Conor is not very easy! ... But it is kind of funny to look at him refusing to enjoy himself and crack a smile in these photos :) So if you get a Christmas card from us and Conor is not smiling - I'm sorry - we tried realy hard but he was not having it! :)

Go Miami!

We bought Conor his first of many miami shirts last week . We looked for a Colts shirt for the big football game last Sunday but didn't get one... Maybe that's why they lost to the Patriots? ok maybe not.