A Farewell to 2009

As expected, we’ve spent most of the past month meeting up with friends and family at annual get-togethers and family gatherings. This has afforded us the ability to take a lot of pictures… and that means we have a lot to put here!

Kicking off December, Kori and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe we’ve been married for that long. Nanny and Auntie Kim watched the kids so that Kori and I could have a quiet dinner at Panda Inn in Pasadena, the site of our first kiss and our wedding rehearsal dinner. (Those were two different occasions. We got married fast, but not that fast!)

Keelie does enjoy a good book. I wonder where she gets that?

To bookend that weekend, we attended a gathering of LaughingPlace.com staff, contributors, and community members. We had the upper floor of a restaurant at Downtown Disney (Anaheim).

Disney Legend Bob Gurr sat with us. Here he is with another great guy, Doobie, holding up a button commemorating LaughingPlace.com’s tenth anniversary.

As you can see here, Kyle was thrilled.

Keelie had load of fun playing with LaughingPlace.com owners Doobie & Rebekah’s other joint venture, their 10-month-old son.

Seriously, they were giggling and having a great time.

Doobie publicly blamed me for nagging him into having discussion boards in the first place. A lot of friendships have been formed through them and some people are extremely passionate about them, and that’s why most of these gatherings happen.

I’m seeing the strong resemblance Kyle has to my baby pictures.

Here’s Keelie insisting on playing in the cold rain runoff pouring down from our roof.

It was straight to the warm shower after that.

And here’s Kyle in his second-favorite spot.

One day was especially busy as we drove up to Pasadena so that Keelie, Kori, and Nanny could attend Teddy Bear Tea at the Langham in Pasadena (Huntington Hotel), before returning to Anaheim and getting ready for the annual Keel Family Christmas Party.

Keelie is ready for Teddy Bear Tea! Thanks, Aunt Vicki!

Awwwwwwww…

She got to meet Santa twice that day.

And here’s Kyle, working the rooms at the Keel party.

Kyle loved being held by the ladies. And they liked holding him. And I liked them holding him.

Kyle wasn’t so sure about being held by Santa!

Keelie wasn’t so sure about dealing with Santa again.

But she enjoyed unwrapping a couple of Clifford’s friends!

We were in Pasadena again Christmas Eve to see Christmas lights, have dinner, and exchange gifts. Cousin Macon holds the youngest male in the family – the kid who displaced him from that spot.

Christmas morning, we were back at the Keel’s for breakfast and exchanging gifts. Here’s Puma and Granddaddy…

And Uncle Toby…

Later, we went back to a different destination in Pasadena – to see Grampa and Grandma Pellman, and company…. and have more good food!

Keelie had a lot of fun playing with the dogs.

And Kyle enjoyed showing Grampa Pellman all his latest tricks. “Am I teething?”

And a kiss for carrying on the Pellman name…

Okay, that’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by and reading. Let us know how you are doing and what you are up to! Thanks again to everyone who hosted us for parties and meals. You can leave a comment here, or e-mail us: KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com. Have a healthy, peaceful, prosperous, and Happy New Year!

Christmas Card and Letter

If you read this blog, then you know what we've been up to this year and how we're doing. But we don't want to entirely abandon the tradition of having a Christmas card and letter. So, this is our environmentally-friendly Christmas card and letter, which should work just fine, since you are here reading it.

But if you still need something in your hands, then feel free to print this out.

Click on that card to get a larger image.

And here's our Christmas Letter...

Greetings! This year has been mostly boring in the sense that there really isn’t much to say of the sort that ends up in the traditional Christmas letter. That's a good thing. Although we can't tell you about one of us graduating, or getting a promotion, or about us moving to a bigger, better house, or taking a month-long trip to some tropical island paradise... we didn't lose our home, I didn't lose my job, no major crimes were committed against us, we didn't have to file a lawsuit against anyone, none of us suffered a major illness or injury, and the dog didn't die.

The big thing this year was the birth of our son Kyle, which happened nine days after the arrival of our niece Lainey. Kyle Emerson was born August 30 at 7lbs, 7oz, 20 inches, four hours after we got to the hospital, and fifteen minutes after Kori started pushing.

Keelie (2 1/2) is still at an age where she seems to learn new things every day, so watching her grow has been a lot of fun. She is full of personality and will, and sharp as a tack.

Please keep in touch!
–Ken, for the Pellmans of Anaheim
December 2009
KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com

On the Passing of Roy E. Disney

It's the end of an era. Really. I explain why at LaughingPlace.com.

You will be missed, Roy!

December Descends

Kyle’s first Thanksgiving Day is behind us. Keelie is appreciating the Christmas season more this year, being two-and-a-half. Our fifth wedding anniversary is approaching. On top of all of that, we’ve all been under the weather at some time over the last several weeks, with Kori and Kyle still dealing with that as I type. So this update is pretty much going to be all about the pictures. I’m thankful life isn’t more interesting for us right now.

I’ve included a few pictures like the one below, to demonstrate Kyle’s second-favorite place to be.

Having his left cheek on Kori’s left shoulder is where he wants to be…

…when he’s not nursing, anyway. But we’re not posting pictures of that. Notice the roll of paper in the above shot… it is standing in as facial tissue.

Keelie loves her books. Now that her baby brother has been around and out of the womb for three months, she’s caught on to the fact that he’s not going away, and sometimes she gets jealous of the attention he gets. But she does frequently offer him kisses anyway.

There he is again!

And below, he’s next to Cousin Lainey.

And it is back to his second-favorite spot…

Here’s Cousin Lainey being a flirt, as she and Kyle are held by their scruffy fathers…

Kyle with Nanny…

We were able to have a Thanksgiving meal with Kori’s side of the family a couple of nights early, where Keelie had a lot of fun with her aunts and uncles, as she typically does. Then on Thanksgiving Day we went to my old apartment in SoPas where Vicky and her latest roommate (and longtime friend) hosted my side of the family, among others.

We were able to eat outside, after sundown. That’s SoCal for ya.

As you can see, Keelie couldn’t wait to clean up.

Kyle got fussy at one point, despite being the arms of Nanny and Aunt Vicki. But when Uncle Chris took him, Kyle calmed down and was docile for quite a while.

So we call Chris the Baby Whisperer.

Vicki got her turn to hold Kyle…

Keelie is very fond of her Uncle Mike. Here she is playing with him, seeing who can blow the biggest bubblegum bubble…

..

Notice Mike’s shorts and flip-flops, all you who are about to be snowed in.

Planning some mischief…

Playing with Cousin Macon…

More with Uncle Mike…

And who knows what Kyle is plotting from his portable throne?

The kids have been keeping us busy. We live close enough to Disneyland that I’m able to take Keelie there from time to time after returning from work, like we recently did to view the holiday edition of the fireworks.

A lot of annual events are coming up, and we hope to make most of them. Maybe we’ll see you at one?

Thanks for stopping by. Let us know how you’re doing. You can comment here or e-mail us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Sleep is a Luxury

We’re ten weeks along with Kyle. I look forward to when he’ll be sleeping through the night. I’m so glad Kori takes care of him most of the time - and so is he! Let’s see… where did we leave off? Oh yes. With something like this…

Notice the reddish tone to his hair? I may be a little biased, but I think he’s adorable. Especially when he isn’t screaming in my ear.

Kori got a picture of Keelie sleeping, too.

Yeah, normally she takes her naps in her bed, but here she simply fell over in the pool and went to sleep, which was okay since it is devoid of water and in the dining area. She looks all peaceful and everything, but there’s hell to pay when she wakes up in any other place than her bed. She does not like that at all.

We made it to Boot Hill this year. Actually, I was the only one of the four of us who ventured through the experience. But Keelie was entertained by the walkarounds. I told her they were “spookies” and she referred to them as “smookies”. Boot Hill gets better every year.

We made it up to my hometown of South Pasadena on Saturday, October 31, as some friends call it. Others call it Halloween, All Saints Eve, or Reformation Day. Did I miss anybody? First, we hit Garfield Park to meet up with Grandpa and Grandma Pellman.

The park was convenient because their house had recently taken it upon itself to spontaneously begin the remodeling process early in a rather dramatic way. Keelie is better suited to parks than delicately decorated homes, anyway.

After leaving the park, the four of us dropped in to Nanny’s place for a while.

Then Nanny and Auntie Kim took Keelie trick-or-treating, with Kori, Kyle, and I going along. No pictures of that – sorry. But you can see where we went by checking out a few movies. Kyle was dressed as the Sun, Keelie as the Moon, and Kori and I were stars.

Clearly still on a sugar high, Keelie was happy to be going to Disneyland the next day.

We stopped by the Ranch.

Be nice to the goats!

Kyle, as you can see below, was very excited to be there.

Keelie can be a rather intense child. Witness this pictures we took of her coloring…

Yeah… this is NOT the same picture…

…she’s just really intense, like I said. You can imagine that she can be a handful sometimes.

To celebrate Granddaddy’s birthday, we all (Kori, Keelie, Kyle and I… Kendra, Steve, and Lainey… Troy, Toby, and Kirby, and Puma & Granddaddy) got together at Puma & Granddaddy’s for dinner. Here’s Kyle telling Uncle Troy all about what he’s been doing these days.

Being held by Aunt Kirby…

…who took Keelie to the park as the Sun set.

These pictures really catch Keelie’s personality…

Smiling at the thrill ahead of her…

Getting ready…

Let’s do that again!

On the way out of the park, Keelie had to stop at the trees and count as if she was starting a game of hide-and-seek.

Caught ya!

Ahhhh, the three babies… Lainey, Kyle, and Keelie.

Keelie makes a bit of a mess when she eats cake and ice cream.

But she does manage to keep her peeps entertained.

Here she is with the birthday boy.

That’s all for now. Thanks for stopping by and checking it out. You can comment here or contact us at KEPellman [at] yahoo [dot] com. Be sure to keep us up to date on what you’re doing!