Christmas in Indy

This year my mom, sister, and Justin came out for Christmas weekend. On Christmas Eve we all just relaxed in the morning.  We went to church around 4:00 and had dinner after.  Going to church on Christmas Eve has always been a family tradition for my family.  It always is a good way for me to clear my head and really get in the Christmas spirit.  After dinner the boys put their Christmas PJs on and we had Christmas story time.  Then we put out some milk and cookies for Santa. 
The next morning we all went downstairs and had our gift exchange.  It was a lot of fun to watch Andrew and Justin open presents.  They were both so excited.  We had brunch and then my family went home.  This Christmas was great!!  I feel so blessed and thankful for my healthy family and friends.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Family shot after church

Grandma with her grandsons

Christmas Eve Story

Milk and Cookie

Justin was so excited about his remote control helicopter

Andrew with his first gift

Digging for more

Grace enjoying her presents

If these cupcakes don't put you in the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will

Christmas Tree Update:
So, here is the tree with all of the decorations for those of you that read about our first real Christmas tree experience.  After the spider situation everything seemed to go great with the real tree.  We even went out of town for a few days and it didn't really dry out.  I kind of decided that overall I liked the real tree until it was time to take it down.  It wasn't horrible taking it down and we used a bag (thanks for the tip Megan) so we didn't make a huge mess.  The problem was the spider web on the star and the live spider hanging from it when I took it off the tree.  Then I saw another spider on a branch by the star.  I am so glad that we provided a lovely spider home for the spiders for Christmas.  So that brings the spider count to NINE.  The good news is that I have not found any spiders in the house...yet.  I think they just liked their little home in our Christmas tree.  Next year we may try it again, but I can't make any guarantees :)

The decorated Christmas tree

Christmas in KC

This year we visited Mark's family in Missouri the weekend before Christmas.   All of his siblings and their families we are able to make it.  It was great to see everyone in one place again.  Andrew wasn't great on the drive there or back.  We actually had to pull over because Andrew was crying so much.  I think he just gets sick of sitting in his car seat.  Next trip a portable DVD player is a must.  Andrew really enjoyed Christmas this year.  He still doesn't fully understand everything but he is getting there.  Andrew loved seeing all of his aunts and uncles!!  On "Christmas morning" Andrew was pretty excited when he realized what Santa brought him.

Andrew sitting in his new chair

The Creason Men

The whole group

Aunt Sandra and Uncle Keith

This is when we pulled over to give Andrew a break

We learned that he loves the music as loud as it will go

A Visit With Santa

These pictures pretty much speak for themselves.  We took Andrew to see Santa and he strongly disliked Santa.  The Santa was so nice and patient with him.  We were able to finally get a little smile once I sat with Andrew.  Yes...it was a little awkward sitting on Santa's lap, but I guess I had to take one for the team.  Hopefully, next year will be a little better. 

Andrew's 2nd Birthday

This post is so late, but I guess that is how my Decembers are going to be.  Having a December baby, Christmas, and traveling make December a crazy month for us.  Get ready for a bunch of posts to catch up. 
Andrew was lucky enough to have two birthday parties this year!!  The first party was on Friday and it was a joint party with our friend Max whose 2nd birthday is 10 days after Andrew's.  We invited all of our neighbor friends and had a Sesame Street party.  Both Max and Andrew are really into Sesame Street right now.  The boys had a lot fun with all of the Sesame Street decorations. 

Cupcakes with an Elmo and Cookie Monster candle.  Andrew had to carry his candle around for the rest of the day.

Laura's creative game, Oscar's trash toss.  The kids loved it.

The boys before the party eating some goldfish and watching Elmo's world.

Favors,  Laura had the best idea to do Elmo PJs for the little kids!

Pin the nose on Elmo

Getting ready for cupcakes

The other party was at our house the day before his birthday.  We decided to go with a football theme because of his obsession with football.  We had family and close friends over to help celebrate.  He had a great time.  He was so tired after everyone left, but so excited about everything that he couldn't even settle down for a nap.  He seems like such a big boy to me now!

Some of the food

I have to give credit to Sweetheart Cupcakes in Plainfield for doing such a great job with the birthday cupcakes.  I am pretty much obsessed with that place now.

Favors and gift table

Andrew's gift from Papa and Mema

The Grandparents

Ready for some cupcakes

On Andrew's real birthday we gave him a basketball hoop.  I think he had a blast on his birthday weekend.   It feels like yesterday that I was planning his first birthday. 

2 years old

1 year old

My brand new baby

Andrew is changing so much everyday.  We did go to his two year check up and everything is going great!  I was shocked when they said I didn't have to come back until he is three!  Three??  That seems like forever from now.  It was just a reminder for me to take time to enjoy everyday with him.  He is amazing and I love him so much. 

Happy Birthday Andrew!  We love you very much!

Our 1st REAL Christmas Tree

Every year that Mark and I have been together we have always had a fake tree.  I guess I was just used to a fake tree because it is what we had growing up.  I started to notice a few of my friends get real trees and they seemed to really like it.  They told me stories about going to the tree farm and picking out a tree.  Sounded like fun to me this year and I thought it could be a new family tradition for us.  As many of you may know, I am not the outdoorsy kind of person.  I am not a big fan of getting involved with the outdoors and nature.  I like to look at it from my climate controlled window.  One thing I have learned over the years is to step out of my comfort zone and experience new things.  So that is what I did. 

We were able to tag along with my friend Bev and her family to the Christmas tree farm.  Our friend Kersten and her family also came along.  I was so excited to find the perfect tree for our house.  Last year we put our fake tree in the entry way and that is where I wanted it to go this year.  Our entry way is two storys tall so I knew we didn't have to worry about how tall it was.  When we arrived we took a tractor ride over to the Christmas trees.  They handed us a saw and dolly.  Off we all went to find this perfect tree with six adults and six kids.  Sounds fun right??  Well, the kids were not into it at all.  I think they were just confused about the whole thing.  They followed along and they were all pretty good. 

There were a few different types of trees and I had no idea what to get.  I did find one type of tree I liked but they were all so short.  We ended up deciding on a tree with the long needles and I have no idea what kind it is. 

Here it is...

All ready to go home.  That seemed easy enough.
 

When we got home we put Andrew down for a nap and got to work.  Mark cut off some of the trunk and we brought it in.  I was worried about putting it in the tree stand because I have heard a lot of stories about trees falling down.  Our tree seemed to fit right in the stand.  Everything seemed to be going great until I saw a spider.  I am sure everyone knows that I HATE bugs!!!!  This wasn't just any spider, it was a jumping spider.  Then I started to worry...what have I done??  Our house is going to be infested with spiders.  To make matters worse, I found SEVEN spiders on the tree.  Mark vacuumed up most of them with a shop vac and that made things better.  It is now 12/15 and I have not seen a spider since the second day we brought it home.  Thank God!

We decorated the tree the day after we got it.  After we decorated it we decided it was too wide for the space we intended it to go.  So yes, we moved a decorated nine foot tree to another room.  Mark really loved that!  The good news is the tree didn't fall and no one was injured. 

So, I guess the jury is still out on if we are going to get a real tree next year.  We haven't really had a problem since the spiders.  The one thing I was looking forward to was the great smell everyone talked about, but ours doesn't smell.  I guess we got the wrong kind.  I will post a picture of the decorated tree soon.  Can't believe I haven't taken a picture of it yet. 

Andrew has pretty much left the tree alone.  When he looks at it he says, "Christmas tree big."  I tried to put the breakable ornaments up high.  There is a soccer ball ornament that he likes to play with, but I try to remind him not to touch the tree. 

Hope everyone has a great Christmas!!  We just finished Andrew's birthday celebrations so hopefully I will have more time to post on here.

Tracey 





Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken in October and I am finally taking the time to post a few.  I thought this year would be easier because Andrew is a little older and can kind of understand when you tell him to smile.  I was wrong!  It didn't help that the temperature was in the 40s and the pictures were all outdoors.  Andrew's nose was running and after the fifth picture he was done.  Shelly was still able to capture some good candid shots and I love them.  Our life isn't a perfectly posed shot.  It is totally unpredictable, just like these shots. 

Kisses for Mommy

Nice necklace Mommy (Just trying to avoid the lady with the camera)

Andrew is finally ready and we aren't even looking.

Love this one with Daddy!

A stick!

My fav of me and Andrew

Love this one too

That is more like it

This was kind of Andrew's overall mood for taking pictures that day

There's a smile

Last picture of the session, runny nose and all

These were just a few of the pictures.  Shelly really did do a good job.  I am saving the really good ones for Andrew's birthday invitations and our Christmas cards.  Be watching for them in the mail!