Lights, Camera, CHRISTMAS!

It's December 1st! Time for the pretty Christmas lights!! The weather may not be frightful but the decorations and lights are delightful!

Here is our tree that is pre-lit that Andrew magically got the middle section of lights to come back on somehow! Yay Andrew!

Our deck lights

Front Porch Lights

Front Door Wreath

I can't wait to paint that door!! (Saving it for spring)

Yay for Christmas Time! I can't believe we've lived in South Bend for over a year now!
Happy December!

Baby baby baby...

Congrats to Diane and Kevin Stafford on the birth of their new baby boy Jack Charles Stafford weighing in at 7 pounds 3 oz and 19 inches long on November 30th.

Congrats Staffords! He's adorable!

Turkey Break

Oh what an eventful few days it has been...
Let's start with Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. I made a quick trip home to the 'lear for a night at the pub.  Good times.  Here are some pictures to prove it.

Brittany, Krissi and I

Little Bro and Friends

Brittany, KJ, Morgan, Krissi and a couple members of Suckerpunch (Greg was also our gymnastics teacher)

Brittany, Krissi, Pat and me

World's Rocking-est Dad and me

Dad rocking out with Suckerpunch (G-L-O-R-I-A!)

It was sooooo packed at the pub.  There was a FIGHT!! (I know! Crazy!)  But that didn't hold us back from still having a great time. 

Thursday morning I made the quick trip back to South Bend, picked up the hubster and we headed to Syracuse for the Thornburg Thanksgiving where I did not take any pictures.  :(  But we had a marvelous time with all the Thornburgs.  Erin and Cait were not there though... :( but they sent us this picture of them having a stellar time in South Lake Tahoe, California, where Cait lives. 

Yep, HUGE pinecones! Wow!! That place looks so beautiful!



Saturday we had the Keiper Thanksgiving.  I didn't get very many pictures of the family or of the actual Thanksgiving meal but I did get a picture of the dancing turkey...

And I got a picture of clean-up time....

Mmmmm-mmmmmm!!! Good meals.

Later that night the lil girls (Lilli and Izzy) and I had a fashion show.  They wanted to try on my shoes, clothes and jewelry.  Sooo funny!

She's a natural!

Gorgeous!

Matching outfits


And of course... the SHOES...

We also played a great game called Songburst which was a lot of fun.

It would have been more fun had I known more songs but it was 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s so I had some trouble with a few decades.  Plus I'm known for being terrible with lyrics when I do know the songs so there was no hope for me. 

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful Thanksgiving with my family and friends.

Bob Weottababyitsaboy

IT'S A BOY FOR TRAVIS AND KATIE!!! So very exciting!!
Meet Wyatt!

He was born 11/19/09 at 12:03 pm, 8.9 pounds and 20 inches.  He's already rocking the mohawk! :)

Congrats to Katie and Travis!

We remember when it all started.... Cocobongo style...

I think this had something to do with it too...

Now I can't wait until Travis and Katie start making videos like this...

Another wedding?? For real?

Pete and Carolyn got married this weekend.  It was a lovely affair.  It was also in South Bend so hardly any traveling for us. Nice!


The bride and groom bought everyone a lottery ticket for a wedding favor.

Andrew, Pete the Groom, and Jaxon

Carolyn-the bride and me

Me, Jane-sister of groom, and Sarah

Swains and Thornburgs

 













The Swains are in a band called The Ladybirds.  They rock.  Definitely give them a listen! They just signed to an indie label and they're recording an album next year.  You can say you knew them before they were super famous.  Or don't and be jealous when I can say it.  Jerk. 


Speaking of bands, they had a band (not The Ladybirds) at the wedding.

Yep, that is the drummer's son "enjoying" the band.

Tomato Beer....

Pete's roommates invented the game Tomato-Beer (because you know, you can't just drink at a wedding. You have to invent a game to make sure you drink too much beer). It's mostly a defensive game. Basically you just guard your cup from getting a tomato put in it.  If you do, then you have to finish it.
The funny part: Some guy (Pete's roommate) dropped the tomato in his beer and then put his arm around Andrew.  He looks at Andrew and goes, "Dude, are you a farmer?"  Andrew shakes his head.  The guy replies, "Because you are built like a brick shit."

Kitchel's Birthday Weekend

For Kitchel's birthday, he wanted to have friends over to drink beer, play KanJam, and watch football.  So that's exactly what we did.
Christina make him a cake, awwww! 

Kitchel tended to the fire.

There were feats of strength.

We played ride the bus. 

The Number of the Beast made an appearance.

The following pictures show exactly how AJ's night went.

1.) Having a good time

2.) Beam time

3.) Drop Cake on Floor, Pick it up, Eat it, Get it on Face

4.) The End

Way to go, AJ! You flew all the way from Denver last minute and passed out at 8:30 pm! Best. Weekend. Ever.

Kitchel made spectacular chili.  Bowman's face shows how spectacular it was.

And because Casey didn't show up, we all took turns wearing his hat.  Way to get sick, Gallagher!

So pretty soon, I will have the video uploaded from that night.  I cut up a few different videos and put them all together. It's my masterpiece.  It's called Drunkest Moments.  (You know, like Precious Moments with just loads of cussing.)  SOON SOON SOON! NSFW!!!

UPDATE THE VIDEO IS READY! YAY!


To finish off this post, I leave you with this picture.  I have more pictures of my husband doing things like this than I have pictures of the two of us.  What does that tell me?

Take.... these buffalo wings....

Last night Jake and Aditi were home to see Jake's parents. They came over and we went out to have some wings at Wings Etc.  It just so happened that Tuesday night was 100 oz Tanker Night for $10!! Sweet!

It was incredibly tall!

But super foamy! :(

The wings were excellent! I tried Aditi's TNT wings which were 2 levels down from the spiciest wings they have. They were HOT! (No shit?) But also pretty awesome. 
Mmmmmm wings...
Anyway, a good time was had by all.