Christmas Eve Traditions!

My dad reads Twas the Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve.  Everyone gets to open one present before he reads it, and it's always a new pair of Pajama's.  If someone makes a lot of noise, or interrupts him...he starts OVER from the very beginning!  It is the highlight of our Christmas activities every year.  We have always done this tradition, and we have done it with Jack every year since he was born at my parents house.

Jack tried to help Poppy this year!

It didn't work out so well, so Jack made up with Poppy!

Family photo in our Pajama's on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve Service

Alexis and Sommer Freeman are my nieces, and they were angels in the Christmas Eve play in Michigan.  Sommer is the 3rd from the right, and is on the far right.

From the left: Rachel (Nick's girlfriend), Jack, Nick, Steven(I think), John and Scott (I think...they are twins...YIKES)!

Don't they look like angels?  Hmmm...don't believe it for a second! hehe!

Jack's thoughts on the Christmas service!  He was beat...no nap, and he just couldn't make it.  He slept through the entire service.

Prepare for the Holiday Posts!!!

This is what we looked at for an eight hour ride to Gaylord, Michigan.  Snow is horrible to drive in...and we made a long drive in it.  This was my view straight ahead.

This was my view when I looked down.  This is Dozer, my brother's dog.  He lives with us.  My brother spent 3 weeks in Michigan (I'll explain in a post to come)!  We brought Dozer with us so it wouldn't be to overwhelming to have him there for 3 weeks.  He seriously sat on my lap the entire trip!  Personal heater...I guess!

My mom and dad...enthusiastic couple and dozer couldn't miss the fun!

Jake is the pair of sweatpants in the backseat. Jack has some great bedhead from his first nap.

Big Poppa was over the trip at this point!

Indianapolis Children's Museum....WOW!

This was the first time I have ever taken Jack to the Children's Museum, and he LOVED IT!

Jack loved fishing, and I loved the fact I didn't have to touch a fish or bait!

Jack is going to be a rockstar when he grows up, and he loves to practice it now!

He got to be in a parade, and now we have to march in family parades all the time.  This had to be the highlight of the museum for Jack!


Jack made me pizza, and he had to smell everything before he served it.  Jake says that he learned that from me.  I'm a freak about stuff! If something doesn't smell ok, I won't eat it or use it.  It freaks me out a little bit!

We didn't show daddy this picture yet!....YIKES!  At least Jack talks about wanting a baby sister sometimes now.

How  cute is this little girl he played with?



The giraffe freaked him out at first, but by the end of the ride...he didn't want to get off!

Enjoy Events Company Christmas Party!

We took our core group of employees to Buca di Beppo for dinner, and then to Fountain Square Theatre for duckpin bowling.  Here are some photos!

Jack's first Pacer Game

Sunday night against the Boston Celtics...we had a lot of fun!

Jack LOVED the giant slushies (not as much as Uncle John)!

Grammy and Poppy came to the game with us as well!

Favorite Pix of the night!  Jack yelling at the Pacers.

Jack had to keep Daddy up to speed on the game:)

Something was funny...not sure what, but they sure thought it was funny!

All Jack talked about was Boomer!  He was excited about seeing Boomer, until he came up our aisle.  We were only 13 rows off the ground, and Boomer came up our aisle.  Jack wanted nothing to do with him up close!

We enjoyed the time with our family!  Jack did great, and we will be back for another game!

John and Ashlee (his girlfriend)

Jack Cheesen it!

What a great family adventure!  Can't wait to go back!

Girls Gone Wild...Teenage Girls!

I had visitors last weekend!  My sister (Sarah), niece (Alexis) and her three friends Karly, Rachel and Ligxy.  They came as a thank you to Alexis.  She was diagnosed with Arnold Chiari-syndrome this year, and it has been a trying road for her!  She had to undergo surgery a few weeks ago and her friends were there for her through it all!  My sister won a limo ride at my adoption auction and she decided to plan a trip for Alexis' friends in Indy.  They are from Gaylord, MI.

They arrived around 8:30pm Friday night and we headed to the movies and saw The Boy in the Striped Pajamas...good movie!

Saturday morning we took the girls to the mall and tied up some loose ends for their surprise evening!  We met the girls at P.F. Chang's for lunch, and then took them to my house to get ready.  The limo picked us up at 4:30pm.

The limo that took us around for the evening!

The first stop was at Scholar's Inn, a fantastic restaurant downtown on Mass Ave.

Did I mention the fantastic desserts they have?  Don't you wish you were there?!?

From the left Alexis, Ligxy, Rachel and Karly.  The girls had a bouquet of gerber daisies waiting on them at Scholar's Inn with a Thank you note from Alexis.

The next stop was at Silver in the City.  It is also on Mass Ave.  We picked out a silver ring for the girls earlier in the day, and they got to stop in and try them on and pick a size that fit them.  They all left with matching rings, that were super cute!

The next stop was a carriage ride around downtown.  The carriage had instruction to drop them off at Southbend Chocolate Company on the circle.  

The girls had chocolate covered strawberries and hot chocolates waiting for them at Southbend Chocolate Company...yummy!

The circle looks so beautiful downtown around Christmas!

The limo ride was fun, and it took us around downtown till our last stop...keep reading to find out where we ended up!

The last stop was at the Murat Theatre.  We saw The Lion King Play.  If you haven't been yet, you HAVE to check it out!  It was an awesome show to see, and I would highly recommend checking it out!  The costumes are worth it!  

Ligxy just couldn't resist kissing the young simba!

The end of our day consisted of the girls and I going to Cheeseburger in Paradise for appetizers.  We went there around midnight.  They had a live band, and I dared the girls to dance, and they did it!  I WISH I had my camera for that part!  They were so cute!

After CIP, we went to Meijer and played a little shopping game.  The girls broke up into teams of 2.  I gave each of them a list and some cash.  They had to collect the items and pay for them.  The first team to get back won a prize.  This was on the fly, so I bought some pez dispensers for them all.  The winners got snowman pez, and the others won Joker pez.

It was a blast of a day!  I can't believe it went so quickly!  I hope the girls will be back soon!

Girls Night Out!