Christmas visit with J&J!

We got to have dinner with the Porterfield family last Wednesday. It was kind of a surprise for us to be able to match up our schedules this time of the year so we were pretty excited to see everyone.

This is how Jax eats biscuits...LOVE it 

Jax has energy to spare these days and of that we are all jealous. He cracks us up and we try not to laugh because his parents don't always think his antics are as funny as we do. :)

Joss loves "selfies"

Heidi made a pot roast in the crock-pot that was super good. She also made brownies because she's a queen in the kitchen and she likes to derail all of my dietary gains. ;)

Jackson putting Joss to bed

Jackson shocked us all by going up to Jocelin's room to help her calm down and go to sleep. Jax and I came upstairs to see Jackson rocking a now quiet and tired Jocelin. Even Jax said, "wow!!" before we went back downstairs to play with the dogs. I had fears Jackson would want children after this experience. We're in the clear. He's still good with borrowing the Porterfield children. Whew. All is well that ends well! :) Thanks for hosting us, Porterfield family!

Fred is at it again...

This week Fred really turned it up a notch and got wild with marshmallows!

Lucky Charms spell a message...YUM!

Fred taking a "bubble bath" in miniature marshmallows. He's just missing the hot cocoa.

Rub-a-dub-dub

I hope Alex is being a good boy so that Fred doesn't have to work too hard!! :)

Mauck Wedding

We headed down to Nashville, TN early Saturday morning to see our friend Kortnee get married. Yes, she's the one who is famously marrying a pig farmer. His name is Jason, he is actually quite nice and only talks about farming when asked. He is probably asked more often that he'd like around a certain someone who writes this blog...

Nashville's #1 Sports Bar was our first stop!

Our friend Derrik ("Heinzy") rode along with us and kept the long drive fun with his command of the car's stereo. What did people do on road trips before YouTube?! Anyway, we got to town a little early (a first for the Petefish family. Derrik is a veteran so he is all crazy about timeliness. Something about it being a respect thing. I don't know. HA!) so we grabbed lunch and caught a couple of the college football games. We horsed around a little too long and made it to the wedding exactly 1 minute before it began. What? It is normal to ask the bride to wait for you, right? Sorry, Kort!

We had good seats! 

I didn't get a shot of their little chapel because we were running into the service so quickly, but it was adorable. The wedding was less than 10 minutes and required no standing or kneeling which means it was awesome. :) They tied a "fisherman's knot" during the ceremony only it wasn't really a fisherman's knot because Jason (nope, not Kort, she had it down!) couldn't master such a knot. Hilarious. As you can see this symbol meant a lot to Jackson and Derrik...

Unity.

It was a small wedding so we actually got to say hello to the bride and groom which is always nice. I even had a photo taken of our "wolf pack" all dressed up. We usually only see each other in jeans, jerseys or sports t-shirts!

Fancy wolf pack

Fancy Petefish

I looked for the right dress for a country wedding forever. I liked my ultimate selection but it was freezing in Nashville so it got worn for about an hour before we switched into our normal sports gear. Whoops. :)

Free BBQ? Cha ching!

The reception was at Jack's BBQ on Broadway. It was really good. We'd been the the restaurant before but it was cool to have the whole upper level to ourselves. Kort and Jason had their first dance at a bar down the street where I attempted to hang out for about 20 minutes before admitting to my status as an old lady and wanting to go somewhere quieter. Jackson and I went to a sports bar (notice a theme here? I love college football Saturdays!) to watch Florida State slaughter their latest opponent. Then we braved the cold and walked back to our hotel for the night. Around 10. Because we're old. No worries, Heinzy somehow made it home around midnight and banged on the door until we let him in to pass out. He forgot to turn off his electric rooster alarm and treated us to that again at 5 a.m. I was reminded why married people don't share their hotel rooms with others at that point. Ha! :)

Jackson and I felt fine the next morning so we got up early and hit the Pancake Pantry. It is a famous place in the Hillsboro Village area of town near Vanderbilt University. You guys, go to Pancake Pantry. Go early (we were there at like 7:30 on Sunday morning and didn't have to wait) and wait if you have to. It it the best breakfast I have ever eaten at a restaurant. EVER. EVER. EVER. I'm hungry thinking about it again. Go.

Best date to the best place

Their pancakes were like something from heaven. The hot cocoa had real marshmallows in it. Yep. The Grill Cook's Medley featured mounds of hash browns with onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and ham, all grilled up crisp, melted American and Swiss cheeses with two fried eggs on top, wheat toast and pancakes. It is worth the drive to Nashville. Trust me. While we felt good after breakfast and were ready for the long drive home, our passenger was feeling a little rough.

"Ugh. Sunlight." 

Heinzy was pretty much snoring except for the one time that we stopped to get fuel. He got out and puked then curled back up. I guess his age is catching up with him. ;) The weather got a little spotty on the way home but Jackson did an excellent job of getting us home safely. Thanks for hosting us, Kort!

Fred's antics...

For the two of you on the planet (!!) who don't know what Elf on the Shelf is:

The Elf on the Shelf® is a special scout elf sent from the North Pole to help Santa Claus manage his naughty and nice lists. When a family adopts an elf and gives it a name, the elf receives its Christmas magic and can fly to the North Pole each night to tell Santa Claus about all of the day's adventures. Each morning, the elf returns to its family and perches in a different place to watch the fun. Children love to wake up and race around the house looking for their elf each morning. 

There are two simple rules that every child knows when it comes to having an elf. First, an elf cannot be touched; Christmas magic is very fragile and if an elf is touched it may lose that magic and be unable to fly back to the North Pole. Second, an elf cannot speak or move while anyone in the house is awake! An elf's job is to watch and listen. 

Elves typically appear in their families’ homes at the beginning of the holiday season (around Thanksgiving). On Christmas Eve, the elves return to the North Pole with Santa Claus--until next year! (http://www.elfontheshelf.com/content/about-us)

As I mentioned previously, I got Alex an Elf, "Fred." I didn't celebrate Christmas with Santa Claus growing up because my Mom thought it took away from the meaning of Christmas. I tend to agree. Also, it is a big lie that everyone tells to kids and the whole ethical issue with that really bothers me. Anyway, I'm not a parent, I'm an aunt, so lying for fun about Santa is totally OK. ;) Alex isn't home every night but when he is my sister dutifully stages Fred around the house which is 100% of the fun! People have gotten pretty creative with staging their elves and there are whole websites about it. (http://elfontheshelfideas.com/)

Alex and Fred playing Elf on the Shelf games online

Fred making a "snow" angel

Whoops- Fred got put in time out for those antics!

Fred is better than a lump of coal!

Fred cares about his dental hygiene, too! 

Another cool thing about the Elf on the Shelf is the whole website they've built. It will send your child emails and letters from Santa. There are games and movies to watch. It is pretty awesome!
Alex and I shared a favorite Fred placement: the toothbrush! Kylie said Alex laughed for 5 minutes about it and so did I. Good work, Kylie. I hope you're both enjoying it as much as I am from miles away! Love you!

Santa terrors

One of the many reasons that I love the Porterfield children stems from their reaction to Santa each year. They're the most priceless photos I've seen. Does that probably make me a bad person? Yes.

"MOMMY! COME GET ME! NOOOOOOOOOW!" 

Close up of angry Jocelin and smiling Santa

Flashback: Jax as a baby hating Santa, too. 

I have laughed at these photos repeatedly and just had to share them. Ohh Heidi- when will you stop abusing those poor children?! ;)

Happy birthday, Susie!

We celebrated Susie's birthday a few days early by having her over for dinner. We ordered miniature cupcakes from Gigi's since Susie is always watching her figure and they were a hit!

Laughing at Jackson...

Does eating two minis = one regular?! 

Any extras up there?

We had a great time hanging out with Susie and hope she had the best birthday yet!

Thanksgiving & Babysitting

This year we had Thanksgiving in Upland. It was so nice to see everyone and catch up. I actually got my big brother chatting and we talked for hours. He's usually pretty quiet so it was a great experience! MacKenzie always loves coming up to visit Macy and Madison, too. They all got plenty of turkey. I saw to it. ;)

I'm thankful for the cutest puppy on the planet.

All three pups taking a break with Guy

We got home just in time to change and head out to Target to get a Black Friday (gray Thursday as Jackson called it) deal on a t.v. for Susie's birthday. No worries, as of this writing the gift has been given and she loved it. Anyway, we went to bed for a bit and then I was out at Castleton at 5:30 with Shannon. It was amazing. The mall opened so early on Thanksgiving that by Black Friday morning itself the place was empty. Cha ching! We did some major damage and enjoyed a leisurely brunch before she headed for a Thanksgiving celebration and I went home to do some wrapping.

MacKenzie "helping" me wrap presents

Jackson got home from work and wanted to experience some of the all-day deals so we went back out the the Fashion Mall. Oh, dinner at Cheesecake Factory? Nope. Jackson "cheaper than cheap" Petefish took me to Noodles and Co. for dinner that evening. Yep. We actually walked into Cheesecake so that he could pee and then walked out and had fast food. I swear I'm not still bitter.

Saturday morning we headed down to Evansville to help my sister with her big move. As you may or may not know, Kylie and Nick were divorced earlier this Fall and she bought her own home. It is a nice place in Newburgh and I think she'll be very happy there. Alex's bedroom is adorable, too! When we got there on Saturday morning I made the rookie mistake of showing Alex all of the presents I brought down for him. Yep. That was not wise. See below:

"I WANT TO OPEN ALL OF THEM!"

"I WANT TO OPEN THIS MORE!!!"

HA! :) He got to open them really early because I'm a sucker. Oh well! We got him an Elf on the Shelf and look forward to seeing how "Fred" (can you tell Kylie helped to name him?!) ends up each morning. Kylie needed to run out with my Mom & Guy so she left Alex with us to help unpack. Yeah, it was my first time babysitting. Ever. We all survived! Did we have a few meltdowns? Yes. Were they all Alex? No. (HA!)

Alex got angry and hid. The dogs found him. :)

Once Kylie came home and order was restored the unpacking progress was more noticeable. Jackson and I spent hours in Target over the course of two days buying the things we thought Kylie and Alex needed to make their new house a home. We also grocery shopped for Kylie and thought for sure that Target would say that any trip with both mac-n-cheese and Oreos in it couldn't be real Petefish charges. They didn't and we got them all stocked up. :)

Alex's new art wall!

Kylie running from Alex. Typical. ;)

CLOTHES HUNG UP IN A CLOSET!! 

Kylie is not an especially tidy person. She never has been and it caused plenty of tension between us growing up. I joke that she could see something and say it is black and I'd see them same thing and call it white. We just don't see eye to eye on this very important aspect of life. ;) I thought that this move was the perfect time to finally organize her stuff without annoying her. I was wrong. I annoyed her. A lot. I also got through all of her boxes and hung up clothes (!!!!!!!!!!!), had Jackson hang pictures and send 36 pounds (not kidding. 36 pounds) of paper to bed shredded at FedEx Office. She actually had junk mail from 2003 in her files. Yep. True story. She was a pretty good sport about me throwing out all of this old paperwork, though. I kept joking that I'm used to doing this kind of work once someone has passed away so getting feedback during the process was a little startling. It was a big purge and I loved it. Her house looks great and she even has been making her bed! Dare I say we turned over a new leaf?! One can hope! ;)

We got to quickly see Kathi and Susie (who was in town for the holiday) before heading back to Indy on Sunday afternoon. I had a 4 day weekend that I fit about a month's worth of activity into and I'm still tired from it. Ok, just the babysitting part is still tuckering me out. ;)