A Very Merry Vacation

Well, it's not February yet! It has taken me forever to post my vacation pictures, and all I can claim is distraction from book clubs, laundry, sleeping, and, oh yeah, work. So, here are some pictures of all the fun we had. It's not enough to prove it. There were so many more fun times that did not get documented and people visited that didn't get a photo op. We had a great time, and loved seeing everyone. It was so hard to say goodbye and leave, but we were happy to come home to Daddy, Murphy and our nice routine.
I don't know how many flashlights my family has given Mike over the years, but he loves them every time. Kelly got a special gift from Kathy...

Scenes from a Holiday Visit

a snuggle with Charlie, Leah and Kathy

a cousin pile-on

a puss and boots hat from Auntie - a bow and arrow from Uncle Kring would later follow

a movie night out

a warm weather ride outside on the drive before the snow

Playdate

New Year's eve day, we had a blowout play date at Mom and Dad's with Kathy's kids, April's kids, my kid, Sam's kid... it was a lot of kids! We were keeping a pretty good eye on them- except when we lost one for a few panicky minutes- but then he was found and not injured from the scissors he was holding, whew! This was also the day my old friend from high school came over with his new wife. I honestly don't remember much about their visit; I wish I did, but there were a lot of kids around.
Mom threw some garage sale Lego's down on the table and, an hour later, look what Emmet made? Amazing, right? That kid is some kind of Lego genius.
And here are some of my favorite girls in the world. I just love going home to visit and seeing everyone. It's so much rowdy, crazy fun.

New Year's Eve

We spent New Year's Eve at my parent's home. After many days/nights of non-stop visiting, eating, drinking we were kind of wiped out. I think Kelly invited 100+ people on FB, basically everyone we knew in central IN. We were kind of relieved most of them had other plans and just 14 showed up. With those 14, we could have easily worn our PJ's, but we rose to the occasion. K had a fun idea to make facinators (a la Royal wedding). I got pretty overwhelmed making mine. In the end, I picked out the colors and put together a puzzle with Milo while K assembled mine. We should not have taken pictures of them in front of the tree, since they get kind of lost, but they were all creative. I really liked Donna's with the peacock feather. I also really liked how Donna took Milo to a nearby hotel later in the evening leaving me with my pals and to sleep until 10 am! Aside from not kissing my sweetheart at midnight, it was a really fun night.

Happy 4th Nathan

I love that Nathan's birthday is on New Year's Day since it gives us another day to see everyone. Sam and Lyna always throw a great party that is super organized, has a fun craft, perfect treats for kids and a creative cake! This year's theme was diggers. The kids decorated their own hardhats with stickers and markers, there was a game with a barn image and the cake was in the dump truck mixed with pudding- easy and delicious! A+ party.

Children's Museum

I won't go to Indianapolis without visiting the Children's museum; it is a favorite! Thankfully, April's family has a pass we could all enjoy including Donna.

Milo spent a lot of time molding a dragon head, and we had so much fun running around with our buddies Eli and Emmet.
The winter slide was up, and we were all ready for it even little Eli who liked me a lot. He wanted to ride down with me! What a treat.

Back to Chicago

To catch our flight home, we made our way back to Auntie and Uncle Mike's in Chicago. We had a lot of fun there visiting the Field Museum of Natural History.

They have a very impressive dinosaur collection.

On the road trip there, we stopped at Fair Oaks Farms for lunch. We got some great cheese made from mystery cows that were no where to be seen. We did wander a bit in the cheese maze though. It sure smelled like cows, but where were they?

Some Final Giggles