Christmas Part One

Christmas has once again come and gone. I am sitting here enjoying the glow of our Christmas tree for the last evening before we pack it away again. I'm still trying to figure out where on earth we'll put all of the new toys and gifts, and leftovers from oversized meals still reside in my fridge. As much as I love Christmas, I'll be glad to have everything packed away, cleaned up, and back to normal.

Christmas Eve, our wonderful neighbor, Kathy, spent several hours making a gingerbread house with Owen. They did a terrific job, and all of our holiday guests admired their handiwork. It was so sweet of her to spend the time to make this with Owen, and he really appreciated getting to do it.

After Christmas Eve Mass, (which was far less eventful than last year's mass!), we came home and the boys put on their Christmas jammies and watched the Polar Express.

Christmas morning, the boys discovered with excitement that Santa had indeed made a visit during the night. They were thrilled to be able to rip into the big suprise!

And they were even more thrilled to discover what Santa had brought!

Later in the day, we were joined by more of the family. Grandma and Grandpa McKinney, Grandma and Grandpa Gessner, and Great Grandpa Norbert all joined us for presents, food, fun and family time.

Owen and I also made a birthday cake to celebrate Jesus' big day!

As Christmas came to a close, jammies were re-donned, books were read, and tents were crowded.

It was a wonderful day and we were so thankful to be able to spend it with the ones we hold dear. How lucky we are to be so blessed this Christmas!

Never take your eyes off of a two year old. Never

Guess what happens when you combine...

a plug and cover plate laying innocently on the floor

a hole in the wall

and a master of mayhem?

That's right, you get to spend the next 30ish minutes scraping the crap out of your arm while you use various kitchen utensils and tools rigged up with magnets to fish out said plug and cover plate.

Awesome.

Casa de COLD

Monday night into Tuesday we got another healthy dose of snow. This was that perfect, wet, dense snow that packs like a charm. A very rare snow indeed! It was also a perfect day for playing outside since it wasn't so cold. We made the most of it and bundled the kiddos up and spent the better portion of the day doing something really productive-- making an igloo!

Matthew and I can both get a little exuberant making snow structures. (Gessners-- remember the 10 foot long snow tunnel a few years back at Christmas?? Case and point.) Once we realized how well the snow was packing and how quickly we could roll giant snow balls, the idea became more and more realistic.

The finished product is a wonder to behold. An igloo with vaulted ceilings that all four of us can fit inside of. It even has a slide that wraps around the side!

Those of you coming here for Christmas will get to appreciate this beauty in all of its glory! Need a place to stay? We're considering putting it up for rent- I'm sure that the local Inuit population will jump right on it!

COLTS!!

Man did we get lucky this weekend! Matt scored tickets for field level suite tickets to the Colts game. We've been to several games, but never like this!

It was really such a neat experience, and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to do it!

Little Loves

Look at these two little monsters... I'm just adoring how ridiculously cute they are in their new hats.

(Don't ask about the look on Owen's face... I can't explain him. Won't even try.)

Annnd look what I found in the sleigh by my tree. Allie seriously sat in this thing and allowed us to take pictures of her for probably close to 30 minutes. Quite the obliging little thing considering she'd just had the surgery the day before! Isn't she such a doll?

Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

Earlier tonight, Sara called me to tell me about how Allie rolled over on the pillow she was laying on and ended up on her back on the floor. (The pillow was also on the floor-- just to clarify!) It was a pretty stellar milestone, but Sara also felt as though it might have been a "mommy fail" since Allie rolled off the pillow in the 5 seconds that she looked away to get her camera.

I assured her that if that was the worse thing that Allie did when she wasn't looking- that we could probably call it a success.

Point proven tonight by my youngest son.

Matt and I were cleaning up from dinner, and I told Owen to go get his jammies picked out and then I'd come give him a bath. Eli ran back to the bedroom with Owen, so I took a couple more minutes in the kitchen before heading back. Just as I was about to head to the bathroom, I heard Owen cackling and shrieking. I ran to the bathroom and discovered Eli, grinning, wet up to his armpits, drinking from his tiny, little cupped hand, from the toilet. Yes. From the TOILET.

Disgusting. I don't even know what to say.

See Sara, now don't you feel better about what your kid did in the seconds that you looked away? ;)

Lesson Learned!

This weekend we went down to Brown County to finish up our Christmas shopping in Nashville and spend a night in one of favorite local getaways, the Abe Martin Lodge. We succeeded in finding the perfect gifts and made our way to the lodge.

The boys had a wonderful time swimming at their indoor waterpark. Owen had been counting down "sleeps" and "schools" all week in anticipation of our trip. The boys both LOVE the fact that they are allowed to go down the great big slide! Matthew and I love the fact that the waterpark is just the right size for our little guys and that it captivates them so well. We are also fans of the fact that they sleep extremely well after a day of playing in the water :)

After swimming for several hours, we went to grab dinner at our favorite Nashville pizza place and then returned to the hotel just in time for story time. The boys enjoyed listening to The Polar Express while sitting near the crackling fire.

As we were returning to our room to tuck our little guys in for the night, (They were already in jammies), we noticed a commotion going on in the gathering room just down the hall from our room. Matthew informed me that there was an "elf" dancing in there.

Well, you can't be told that there's an elf dancing, and NOT go check it out. Right? So we mosey on down there to nib nose, and see what was going on. Turns out, the "elf" was a square dance caller, and the "Bucks & Does" Square Dancing club of Nashville was hosting a dance right there in the lodge.

We were immediately approached by one the members who began his high pressure square dance sales pitch right away. He kept on trying to tell us how easy it was, and how much fun we'd have- and how we really, really NEEDED to get out there. We politely refused his repeated offers, but he didn't go away- he continued to do everything in his power to try to get us out there. We didn't feel as though we could walk away. The old boy was sweet and engaging and telling us his family history- how could we leave? I tried to tell him that we needed to get the boys to bed, and it really was getting late- but it was to no avail.

Soon, several of the women members of the club came over and informed us that they were watching our boys, and we WERE going to go dance. We continued to refuse, but it was all over when the caller spotted us, layed down his mike, and came over to drag us onto the floor.

Yes folks, that's right, Matthew and I square danced on that fine Friday night in Brown County, Indiana. I can now say that we have do-si-doed, promenaded, grand right and lefted, and various other square dance moves. All of the people were super nice and very patient with our lack of skills. They even had suggestions for my dyslexic self not knowing my right from my left. "Just put a bracelet on your right wrist, honey!" After the dance was over, all of the dancers came over to pat us on our backs, shake our hands and thank us for participating... As if we'd had a choice!

I have to admit that we did have fun. Matthew even admitted after much grumbling, that it was a *little* bit fun.

So! The lesson learned here is that if you ever see this...

And you don't intend on dusting off your dancing shoes... DO NOT for any reason go any closer. If you can see the whites of their eyes, you're probably already too close. Avert your eyes, and walk away. quickly. in the other direction.

On the other hand, if you're up for an impromptu, good time- go ahead and take a look-see. Because curiosity doesn't always kill the cat. Sometimes it just makes him dance!

Did someone press fast forward?

Was it seriously three weeks ago that I said that I would put a new blog up later that week?? I swear it was like three days ago.

It's not a suprise to anyone that this time of the year just flies by, and blogging has toppled right down to the bottom of my to-do list. It makes me sad though. I love my blog.

So let's see, things that have happened since Eli's party...

The following weekend, our nephew, Nolan was baptized. Matthew is his Godfather, so you'd think that I'd have some good pictures of the ceremony- but nope, Eli decided to shriek like a banshee, so we observed from the cry room. It was a lovely evening, and I do at least have cute pictures of Nolan from his party :)

Isn't he just the cutest?? I just love him and he has such an awesome personality to match his sweet face!

This guy was awfully cute too though- doing some light calculus reading before the party :)

After we got back, it was time for Owen's halloween party at school. Jodi was an excellent sister-in-law and came over to watch Eli so that I could go help with the party. Those kids were so stinkin' cute, it was ridiculous. I was also reminded of the fact that Owen's teachers are magic. MAGIC! I say! They have 20 four-year-olds towing the line and never even raise their voices. Owen adores them, as do the rest of the kids from what I gather.

Owen is in between the Ninja Turtle and Wonder Red on the front row.

Then it was Halloween for real. We took the boys trunk or treating at the church, and we totally thought that we were off the hook for actual trick-or-treating, until Owen asked us when it was going to be "dark Halloween". What exactly is, "dark Halloween", I inquired. He informed me that it's when it's getting dark so that the houses turn on their lights and you go knock on their doors for candy. Hmmmmm, can't pull the wool over his eyes anymore...

Then we bought a mower. It's awesome. It was a long time coming!

Sara and I took the kiddos to the zoo and Sara got to experience the awesomeness that is cool, fall zoo day. Our day especially rocked because my neighbor, TJ, who is interning in the Oceans building showed us around and even fed the penguins so that the boys could watch him. TJ is totally their hero after that!

Then, Holy Geez, it was Thanksgiving! We made the trek to Southern Indiana and spent the holiday with our Gessner family. We also got some quality Koenig/Fleck/Dilger time as well.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we spent the day with my Toschlog family. It's always great to see all of them, but it was even more special, because we were able to take my Little Sister, Michelle, along- as well as her little one, KaeLynn! I just love those girls, and I don't get to see them nearly as often as I'd like!! It was so great to be able to spend the day with my sis, and snuggle that sweet, sweet little girl! (Why don't I have pictures of this day!?!? I have no idea!)

Next up was Owen's Christmas program at school. It was SUPER cute, and Owen was seriously the cutest little guy there. This was confirmed by completely non-partial third parties such as Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Sar!

No, seriously- tell me he doesn't look ridiculously handsome!

Last Friday/Saturday, we got our first snow of the year.

The boys were excited, and Owen especially loved playing in it. Eli however doesn't love being bundled up in all of his snow gear.

Eli layed there like a slug. It was his only defense.

Saturday, we got to babysit Cooper for the first time. We had a great time, and the boys loved loving on Cooper. Owen informed us that he would be a good big brother to Cooper... Not Eli... Cooper.

Eli expressed his love by putting Cooper in a headlock/strangle hold. Fortunately, Cooper didn't seem to mind too badly. He's working on toughening up by spending time with my two hoodlums :) He is just so gosh darn cute. We're loving this aunt and uncle gig!

Last Sunday we celebrated St. Nick's day at St. Susanna with the St. Nicholas breakfast. Jodi and Cooper joined us for the event- and Cooper even got his picture taken with St. Nick (Who has apparently been doing Weight Watchers!)

That night, we took my my mom and dad to their first Colts game at Lucas Oil. It was a fun evening, and I'm thankful that they were able to go with us!

Well, now you're all caught up. That's what we've been doing. You better have something to say about it in the comments section, so that I feel missed and like I should write some more blogs! ;)

I'll do my best to get a couple more blogs up between now and Christmas, but I need to buckle down and get my elf hat on, 'cuz I've got some gifts to make between now and then!!