Christmas Festivities 2015

The Christmas season is upon us, and we did so many fun things with the kids. Lights displays, Santa letters, 4 Christmases, Christmas at the Zoo, gingerbread cookie tree...our days were jam-packed!

Our annual night on Monument Circle to mail our Santa letters and enjoy a treat!

Enjoying the lights

My peeps

Love these two!

Enjoying our treat at the South Bend Chocolate Cafe

This goofball wanted ice cream!

Christmas in South Bend at grandma and grandpa's

A Minnie purse and giant Elmo make this one happy girl!

Oliver and I made a gingerbread cookie tree

This girl takes Elmo everywhere!

Checking out the lights at Reynolds Farm Equipment

Wearing daddy's old holiday sweatshirt

Christmas at the Zoo

Christmas Eve with Gigi, Uncle Matt and Aunt Fay

Georgia is obsessed with her new Minnie Mouse couch!

Christmas morning and the kids got a visit from Santa! Oliver loved it, Georgia not so much.

Oliver was over the moon about getting the Paw Patroller!

Diva

 

Our 1st Visit to the ER

One night while Oliver and I were Christmas shopping at Target, we got a frantic call from Don saying that Georgia had fallen and probably needed to go to the ER. We rushed home, despite the fact that Oliver wanted to stop and buy a Paw Patrol watch first. Ha!

We headed to Peyton Manning Children's Hospital where we ended up spending the next 5 hours. In running across the basement, she tripped and fell into the rocking chair and busted her lip. Turned out, she needed stitches, and they had to be done by a plastic surgeon. What I initially thought was a not very bad injury turned into one that required sedation, stitches and follow-up appointments. Shows what I know!

Georgia was such a trooper, though, for everything she had to go through! She's one tough girl!

Poor girl looks like a crime scene!

She was quite the trooper, though!

Her busted lip

Waiting for the IV

All hooked up and ready to go!

Waiting for the sedation to wear off

 

Grandma in Muncie

Right before Christmas, we lost my grandma in Muncie. I have such great memories of spending summers with her as a child. We shopped, ate at restaurants for every meal and worked in her classroom. She was the most amazing woman and the reason I became an educator. I am so glad Oliver got to know his great-grandma, but I will miss this woman every single day.

Even though it was under unfortunate circumstances, it was really nice to have our entire family come together from all over the country to celebrate this great woman.

This is how I will always remember her.

Her wedding picture...stunning.

Oliver and Georgia really enjoyed playing with their 2nd cousins.

All of my grandma's kids, their spouses and her brother

Oliver and his new friend, Paige. These two had a blast together!

 

Thanksgiving 2015

Ahh...back to one of my favorite places on the planet! I love sharing the traditions of Pokagon with the kiddos! It's always such a relaxing and fun-filled long weekend catching up with family. Once again, we enjoyed swimming in the pool, taking a hike, playing on the playground, painting in the craft room and playing games in the game room. Another great Thanksgiving!

Love the views of Lake James

Potawatomi Inn

My peeps

Shocking that they are both looking at the camera and smiling!

This girl loved watching the birds and squirrels at the feeders with her grandma.

We always love visiting the craft room! This year, Oliver painted a log cabin and Georgia (well, me actually) painted a little dog.

 

Georgia's Big Girl Room

In November, Georgia began waking up screaming each and every night. The only way to get her to calm down was to bring her into our bed with us. Obviously, this became a vicious cycle so we decided to convert her bedroom. This way, we could climb into bed with her when she woke up and attempt to keep her in her own bed.

I've had her bedding for quite a while now...I've just been waiting to pull it out! I'm so happy with how her bedroom turned out. I still have some work to do on decorative elements, but the big things are done.

I'm loving the pink and gray bunnies, and I think it's safe to say, Georgia likes it too! As a bonus, the kids are having a spectacular time playing in her new room. They especially like crawling under the bed and using it as a hideout!

She has my old bed and dresser. :)

I think she approves!

 

Halloween 2015

Halloween was a blast around here this year! Since Nini and Pawpaw now live nearby, we went to their neighborhood to trick or treat. The weather was the exact opposite of last year...warm and fairly sunny. By the end of the night, rain had moved in, but we were tired at that point anyways. Leonardo was so excited and ran from house to house. We could hardly keep up with him! It only took Minnie Mouse a few houses to figure out what was going on. :) At first, she was very confused and tried to walk into each house...lol! By the end of the night, though, when I asked her if she was ready to go back to the house, her response was, "No way!" I guess that's the sign of a successful Halloween!

Leonardo and Minnie Mouse

Trick or treating at the zoo

Trick or treating with all these fools...a shark, a taco, a Cheesehead, a Ninja Turtle, Minnie Mouse and an 80s rocker :)