Downtown Christmas

We started a "tradition" last year where we walk around the circle downtown, go up into the monument and then go have a cookie and hot chocolate at The South Bend Chocolate Company. It was so pretty because it was snowing lightly and wasn't very cold at all. Claire was bundled up in her carrier and was a perfect angel. The picture at the bottom of Connor is him crying and us making fun of him because he was fake crying. Such a fun time with the family. I love them so much-they make me happy!!!

Elf Yourself

Yes, I think this is insanely funny. Taylor was CRACKING up at the dancing. http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/NGXGcGKtGsSP4juV9aJ6 Props to Officemax.

Christmas at the Zoo

We were supposed to go to Christmas at the Zoo with the Hutchersons and Moose family but Cheryl had to work late and the Hutchersons had a few sickies so just our family went! The weather was decent and really wasn't too bad, however I thought it was so mild I could get away with wearing a vest instead of a coat w/ arms. Okay, that wasn't a smart idea, thankfully I had my hat and Claire's extra body warmth. The only cold part was waiting in line for the train because it was up a little high and the wind got us. Claire rode snug in her carrier on the front of me the entire time covered w/ a blanket and didn't make a peep the whole time-she slept soundly. I would have to say that the boys liked riding the train the most-Connor was so excited he could hardly contain it. Taylor took his new camera and took pictures of everything. We went to the dolphin show which was specially adapted for Christmas w/ red/green lights and Christmas music. The lights were so pretty-they were everywhere! We didn't visit Santa because the minute we walked into the building with Santa, Connor started crying. He is really afraid of him this year. We did get to see the reindeer though which was pretty exciting.

Daddy and Connor on the train.

Mommy, Taylor and the blanket that Claire is underneath on the train. Taylor is sportin his new hat that Grandma made him.

One of the pretty trees lit up that Taylor decided was a perfect photo opp.

Two of Santas reindeer.

The cutie patootie boys in front of the reindeer.

Christmas Cookie baking

Every year me, my mom, sister and some or all of the kids spend the entire day baking cookies. We usually bake quite a few. This year I think we baked somewhere around 1200 cookies (mom has the official count) and then we give them away (or eat them). I have been averaging 6 cookies a day since last Saturday which is so not good-especially when I am wishing to get rid of this baby weight from having Claire. This was Claire's first year cookie baking. She was quite the fuss ball all day so actually slowed the process down, but she was certainly cute as a button!
Taylor played games for most of the time. I included this pic because look how stinkin old he looks!

Cousins/brothers doing a group hug. So cute!

The boys sprinkling the butter cookies-some of them got WAY over crowded with sprinkles as you can only imagine.

Here they are scooping the cookies onto cooling racks. Really Austin and Connor were just moving them around from rack to rack.

Ali is getting cookies ready to be sprinkled.

Basically I had to carry Claire around in her carrier all day because of her fussiness. So she was up close during a lot of the baking. She got a few crumbs on her head from time to time.

But when she looks at you with that adorable little face, you can't help but melt and forget that she just spent 90% of the day crying.

Trimming the tree and house

I line up my hallmark ornaments every year in order of the year they were purchased. My mom started buying me and my sister an ornament every year in 1981; then when we were old enough to have a tree of our own, she gave us all of the ornaments that she bought for us each year. I LOVE ornaments-it is the one thing that I sorta "collect". Each of them has a special meaning. Therefore, each Christmas I like to take my time to look at each one as it gets hung on the tree. I have started the same tradition for each of my kids-I buy them an ornament each year with the year on it so that they one day have a collection of their own to put on their first Christmas tree. I only hope the boys care about that since they are boys :) Don't think I won't come to their houses when they are adults and make them hang their ornaments on their tree if they don't :)

It was Connor's year to put the Angel on top.

Claire participating (sorta) in her first tree trimming; hanging her first ornament. Please excuse my hot messness in this photo.

The decorated three. Not sure what the stool is doing there.

When Connor first saw the stocking, he tried to put it ON his foot like a real sock. And because I can never be found far away from my camera, I got a picture of the moment. Priceless! :)

Daddy put the tree skirt on Taylor like a real skirt. He spun around like a ballerina to show off his new digs.

The lights on the house; mostly picked out by Taylor, which is why there is no rhyme or reason to them. :)

Happy 6th Birthday Taylor!

Taylor had a fun birthday weekend. He turned 6 officially on Monday, December 7th, but had a family birthday party and a friend birthday party on Saturday. First we had family over for lunch (pot roast), cake (Taylor picked yellow cake w/ lemon frosting and chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting) and ice cream. His family from Ft. Wayne came down (including cousins Dylan and Quinn and uncle Troy and Aunt Erika). This is the first time all of his cousins have been in the same place at the same time. Fun! He got lots of great gifts to keep our house entertained for the year to come. After the family part he had a party at Monkey Joes, which is a place where kids bounce and jump on lots of equipment. He had another round of cake (cupcakes). Then, the Hutcherson crew came back to our house so that the kids could play and we ordered pizza. Overall, it was a busy but SUPER FUN day for Tayor, which is what we wanted since it was his birthday. Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us!!! We were supposed to go to Incredible Pizza Company on Taylor's actual birthday but that started the week of sicknesses in our household with Connor throwing up, so we didn't go anywhere. Good thing we hadn't told him about that ahead of time, we were able to forego the disappointment!

Welcome Klein babies!

Congratulations to Will and Kim Klein and big brother Ben Klein on the birth of twins Samuel James (6 lbs 5 oz, 19.5 inches) and Josephine (Josie) (6 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches) Ruth born on December 1st! Hopefully Kim will get better soon and get to come home with those beautiful babes!

Christmas tree hunting

So we got a real tree this year and I'm glad we did-it was a fun experience. We went to Piney Acres tree farm in Fortville. We took a wagon ride out to the field and they let us of with a saw. We picked a tree andTodd cut it down then Taylor and Todd carried (yes my baby helped his daddy CARRY a tree) it to where the wagon picked us back up. They trimmed, bagged and loaded our tree while we were inside visiting Santa and having hot chocolate and popcorn. Connor wanted nothing to do with Santa but Taylor did. He simply asked for "toys" for Christmas. Hmmm....easy enough! The tree was a little pricier than expected but next time we will just have to be a little more selective .

This was the tree Connor picked out. Maybe in a few years.

This is the tree we actually got.
Todd cutting down our tree.

Taylor of course wanted control of the camera.

Visiting with Santa

Thanksgiving Highlights

To see all November pics, go to http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=801611426805%3A1400439743
We had a fun but busy Thanksgiving. I'm pretty sure I gained at least 5 pounds and continue to eat turkey leftovers because cold turkey sandwhiches rock the house! Actually I didn't eat any turkey on Thanksgiving because I knew that I would be eating leftover turkey :) We went to my dad & Carla's Thanksgiving morning. It was good to see Jim & Jeri and Jim Morris, whom we don't get to see that often. The food was fabulous too! Unfortunately Mikey was sick with the flu or something and couldn't make it-we missed him. Then we went to Ft. Wayne to celebrate with Todd's family. His extended family from the Goshen area came down. His cousins, Tasha & Danny have 4 kids (Madison 14, Aiden 9, Andrew 7 and Lauren 4) and Taylor loves to play with them. Andrew and Taylor had so much fun playing together. Taylor says that was his favorite part of Thanksgiving was playing with Andrew :) All of the Frantz cousins were home from college. Stephen is in Med school at IUPUI, Sara is playing volleyball for St. Joseph's and Rachel is in her first year at IU. It was also good to see Ann, Todd's Aunt, in such good spirits and looking so good! She just finished with chemotherapy for breast cancer and is expected to have surgery to remove it all on December 7th. We are praying for the best possible outcome. We did a little shopping on Friday-just hit a few stores but not until after the morning madness. The only bad part was not being able to see my mom and Derrick; well we did see them on Sunday, but to not celebrate Thanksgiving with them. Mom went to South Carolina this year to see her Aunt Jo who is on her deathbed and Derrick was at the lake. I am very thankful for my wonderful family and amazing friends who all make me who I am and help me through everything. I am always thankful for these things but it is nice to stop and remember just how much they mean to me.

The Manns (I'm a stickler about getting family photos)

Connor eating lunch at the counter with his hat

Andrew and Taylor

Andrew, Taylor & Aiden

Taylor reading his First Thanksgiving book to Aunt Jeri

Uncle Scotty & Claire

Taylor & Connor making their turkey pictures from tracing their handprints.

My super cute Pilgrim and Native American in hats that Taylor made at school.