Christmas 2010

This holiday season, Don and I spent a lot of time at home relaxing. We enjoyed our time together. Since we got quite a bit of snow before Christmas, Hoosier enjoyed playing outside in it. He is quite the snow dog...I don't know what he would do without water and snow!



He really enjoys burying his face in the snow and rolling around in it...ha!

We also took some of our time off to travel down to Georgia to visit my dad, stepmom and brothers. We ate at several delicious restaurants, including the Varsity in downtown Atlanta. What a legendary place!

We had a great time hanging out with everybody. We did some shopping and even headed over to Columbia, South Carolina to walk around the University of South Carolina campus. We had such a great time catching up with everyone!

Noah, who is now about 4 inches taller than his big sister!

Brock...can't believe how fast they've grown up!

I hope everyone had a peaceful and memorable holiday season with their loved ones! Here's to a Happy 2011!

Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas to all...from our family to yours! Have a sweet and blessed holiday!

Holiday Decorations 2010

Last weekend, I decorated the house for the holidays. I absolutely love doing this every year and can't wait until Baby K is here and big enough to help!

Our tree is a bit of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but once it's decorated, it doesn't look too bad. I love coming home at night and seeing the tree lit up in the window!



I really love how the mantle turned out (even though you can't really see it clearly). Baby K even has his or her own little stocking this year!

Happy Holidays to all from our house to yours!

Thanksgiving 2010

Last week, Don and I dropped off Hoosier with some friends and headed up to Pokagon State Park for the Thanksgiving holiday. This was my 8th year at Pokagon and Don's 27th! We absolutely love it. It is such a relaxing way to spend a busy holiday. We always have such a good time visiting with his family (there were about 25 people there this year), spending time outdoors, swimming and, of course, eating!

Wednesday evening was spent playing cards and catching up with relatives. On Thursday, we ate a delicious Thanksgiving meal and headed out for the annual post-dinner hike. Unfortunately, we made it only approximately 10 steps outside the lodge when it began to rain. It didn't stop until the next morning!

Here we are about to take a hike (or not)...




On Friday, we had a delicious breakfast with several family members and hung out at the inn for a bit. The inn was decorated beautifully for the holidays.

Later that morning, we headed out to the tobaggon run. Of course, I unfortunately could not partake in the tobaggan festivities, but Don went down with our niece. Here they come! I think they clocked in somewhere around 35 miles per hour!

After the tobaggon run, Don and I took a nice, peaceful hike on the trails. Here's a look at the inn as we were heading back...

and Don contemplating whether or not to take a dip in Lake James (he decided against it)...ha!

It was another great Thanksgiving spent at Pokagon. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday!

Going, going, kind of/sort of gone...

When we moved into our house in April 2009, this is what our backyard looked like. We had a nice deck and a patio with a hot tub. Unfortunately, we quickly found out that the hot tub did not work and would cost us a couple thousand dollars to fix...thanks but no thanks.




We got rid of the hot tub and finally, in July 2010, we decided to get rid of the paver patio that was beginning to look overgrown. It was a L O N G, hot process.

Finally, though, we had hauled all of the pavers out of the backyard and stacked them up in the garage (to do something with later...ha!).

We also removed the wood edging and were left with a very large square filled with...sand. We tried to get rid of the sand, but that wasn't happening...there is a TON of it. So we decided to just plant grass seed on top of it.

Which we finally did a few weeks ago...in October.

So far, we don't have any grass, and I'm beginning to wonder if we should have just left the hot tub patio alone. Is it too late to ask that question?

Family Pictures

A couple weeks ago, Don, Baby K and I had our first official family pictures taken! My friend's sister-in-law, Ashley Ernstberger, took them on the campus of Butler University. She did such a phenomenal job! We are so pleased with them.

Here is just a small taste of the many pictures we got...



I think this is my absolute favorite picture of them all...

Love the black and white...

Love this one! Hi baby!

If you are in the Indianapolis area and want some pictures taken, check out Ashley's blog and give her a call!

A Special Surprise

Yesterday, Don brought home these lovely daisies for me!

Aren't they lovely?

BIG News!

That's right! Baby K will be making his or her entrance into the world sometime in April! Keep up with the latest over at Baby K's very own blog, www.thetalesofbabyk.blogspot.com.

Summer Randomness

As I've gotten into the swing of another very busy school year, I am missing my carefree summer vacation more than ever. Here are a few pictures that I never got around to posting that take me back to those stress-free days.

I had some really fun girls' nights. Here are E and Jess on one such impromptu night...



Karen, E, Jess and me...we hung out at Jess's house until the wee hours of the morning, drinking wine, playing games and having a fantastic time!

My trip to the beach with my BFF and her beautiful little girl, Carleigh...

Ah, how I'd love to relive this day again...right now...

Izzy and Carleigh...

I suppose if I can't go back to the lazy days of summer, I can at least enjoy looking at the pictures! Hope everyone is having a great start to the school year!

Hello and Goodbye

Yes, I am still alive...just very busy with beginning of the school year stuff. I promise I will be back soon with a few all-new posts! Hang in there!

A New 'Do

Before: shaggy dog with no eyes



After: Ooh-la-la! Isn't he handsome?

Happy Sunday!

Family Week-Part III

On the last day of the boys' visit to Indy, we headed over to the Indianapolis Zoo. We had a great time checking out all the animals, and the weather was absolutely perfect for walking around.

We saw the giraffes...



and the elephants...

then we headed over to the dolphin show. We had a terrific time there!

This is my favorite little guy at the zoo. Isn't he adorable? I wanted to take him home...I mean, he would fit in my bathtub, right??

After we finished up at the zoo, we went next door to the adjoining White River Gardens...which, of course, the boys loved...ha!

Here are a few pictures of some of the beautiful things I saw (in the 10 minutes the boys allowed me to walk around!)...

The following day, we packed up the car and drove down to Santa Claus, Indiana, to Holiday World, an amusement park and waterpark in Southern Indiana. Well, that's all the fun we had...and we all survived!!