Merry Christmas / Happy New Year

Happy Holidays!! The McClain Family had a wonderful holiday. As was expected Ryan and Aidan were spoiled beyond belief, they received every noisy toy that Fisher Price and Leap Frog have to offer. My ears ring every night after we get them down to bed. The UPS man earned his overtime this year. We even received a full set of packed stockings from Great Grandma & Grandpa McClain. Katie and I had my Mom and Aunt Ginger over for a Christmas morning brunch and gift bonanza. We are heading to Borrego Springs for New Years with our friends Perry and Matt and their daughter Carly. The last time I spent New Years Eve in the desert I woke up in the back of my truck with a beer box on my head (unfortunately that is not a joke- see below.) I have a feeling that this New Years will be a tad more mellow.

The picture above is one of my favorites. I LOVE these ladies. This was taken as we were getting ready for our Christmas card shoot. We seriously took 500 pictures in order to create the perfect Christmas card. Between Ryan, Aidan, Sydney and me 499 of them had some trace of drool.

Ryan opening her first gift - a tummy time mat

Aidan received a pot and pan set to bang on! This was sent by Katie's sister Suzi (yeah the one with 4 daughters) I am guessing it is some form of sick revenge.

This was the biggest hit. Ryan loved her barnyard ball, it kept her attention for at least 10 min.

Grandma Jiggy and Ry Ry

Grauntie Ginger and Aidan

Poor Sydney got the shaft this year. Just a couple of rawhides.

Later that day I gave Aidan a little pep talk encouraging him to grow some hair

The following are just a couple more of our favorite recent pictures - i.e.. no more lame jokes.

Ryan testing the limits of the Bumbo seat

Aidan in the best baby toy ever (the Jumperoo)

Ry Bear

Aidan says bye for now, more soon.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. We would like to dedicate this posting to Katie's Grandmother Mary Malloy Stanley. "Nan" as she was affectionately known by all who loved her peacefully passed last week. Katie and Nan were very close and while she lived a wonderful and long life she will be missed. We had the good fortune of having the time to take Ryan & Aidan to meet Nan a couple of weeks ago. We will always treasure the time and pictures we were able to take with Nan. All four of us were able to make it back to Jacksonville last week to celebrate Nan's life. Here are a few of our favorite pictures of Nan.

Nan & Katie

Ryan, Nan & Aidan

Nan & Grampy

October 26, 1940

Babies Christening

The babies were Christened on November 6th at St. Brigid Catholic Church. Katie's sister Suzi and her husband Terry were able to make it out from Florida and are Aidan's Godparents. My good friend Derek and Erin are Ryan's Godparents and Derek was able to make it down from San Jose to be with us. We want to thank Jane & Ginger for all their help with plannig the reception. It was a great day.

Ryan & Aidan shortly after being cleansed of "original sin"

Jane, Alice, Patrick, Aidan, Ryan, Katie and Ginger

Ryan & Aidan

Patrick, Terry Suzi, Aidan & Katie

Patrick, Derek, Ryan, Erin & Katie

We also introduced Ryan & Aidan to solid foods last week. They really do not like Rice Cereal, and after trying a little for myself I can understand why. It is like drinking sake with out the added benefits. They do like their carrots much better than the cereal.

Aidan wearing 89% of the food we offered him

Ryan

Other than all the excitement life continues to go on at the McClain House. Here are a few more random pictures from the past few weeks.

Ryan in my favorite sweater

They LOVE baby Einstein.

Happy Halloween

Katie and Aid-Monk

Happy Halloween everyone. We had a eventful 15 minutes of Halloween. That is how long Ryan & Aidan lasted in their costumes as it was about 85 degrees when we dressed them up. Ryan & Aidan are doing very well. We had a check up last week and Aidan is 15 1/2 pounds and Ryan is 12 1/2 pounds. We have the go ahead to start them on rice cereal and orange vegetables. Why they have to be orange I have no idea.

Ry-Bear

Our Perfect Pair

Busy Busy!

Nan with Ryan & Aidan

We have been BUSY this past month! We made a last minuite trip out to Florida a couple of weeks ago to see Katie's Grandmother, the rest of the family and a few friends. It was a quick trip but well worth the effort. Once again we were blessed with very cooprative babies. Both Aidan & Ryan were very good on the plane. We had a great visit with Nan and she loved meeting the twins. Here are a few more pictures of our visit.

Nan & Aidan

4 Generations of Stanley Ladies

Grandma Marty was also very happy to have all her Grandbabies in one place

Me & Peyton

Katie & Tina with Aidan, Ryan, Jake & Riley

Taylor

Tahoe greets Ryan

Jenna & Megan feeding Ryan

Joey & Aidan

Katie & Bounce with Aidan, Ryan & Syd

After we got home Katie's Aune Anne (aka Bounce) came to spend the week with us. Bounce spoiled us with her amazing cooking. Katie & Bounce spent the few hours that they were not in the kitchen re-arranging our house. I am still trying to find my socks.

Happy Birthday Penny!!!

We love you and can’t wait to meet you, Aidan & Ryan

Go Boilers

I know they are just shy of Four Months but I honestly can't tell you how many weeks they are today. I can however tell you that they are the best pair of kids you have ever seen and are more fun every day. I was an hour late to work on Thursday because as I was saying good bye to Ryan and encouraging her to be a good girl for her mother she started flirting and smiling at me like you can't imagine. Needless to say I spent the next 45 minutes encouraging more smiles from her and telling her that I was the only man she was ever allowed to smile at.

Aidan & Ryan in Purdue gear

This morning was a rough one in the McClain house. I was excited to get the kids geared up in their Purdue outfits in preparation for Purdue's first conference win against the unranked Golden Gophers. Unfortunately after 4 quarters and two overtimes I learned the hard way that Minnesota has a really good Running Back in Laurence Maroney. I am not a fan of his.

My new favorite picture of Aidan

Ryan at 'My Gym'

Super Aidan

Katie took Ryan & Aidan to 'My Gym' last week. They met their friends Betsy& Lily and Robyn & Blake. They were able to play in the balls, go down slides and swing from a trapeze! If they turn out to be Carnies I blame Kate

Aunt Nicki & Ryan

Two weekends ago my sister Nicki and her boyfriend Kevin came over to spend the afternoon with us. We had a great time and Nicki got a lot of good bonding time in.

Aidan & Ryan

Family Shot from a coupe of months ago