More Christmas-ing

We are shortening our Christmas season this year by leaving for Florida on the 18th so we had to cram in a lot of celebrating early. This meant making cookies on Sunday evening to pass out during the week. We made a ton of cookies! The wild part was that we had the doors and windows open because it was so nice outside. I'm loving this unseasonably warm weather we've been experiencing in the Midwest. 

Another batch of Lena Cookies ready for icing

MacK is always so helpful when I'm wrapping

Tuesday evening we got to grab pizza and breadsticks and visit Mauck farms for Christmas with Sir Liam!

Too sweet!

MacK also "helped" Sir Liam unwrap!

"Golfing" with Dad

Just hanging out- we just love this family!
(Kort's baby proofing with noodles is priceless)

We got Liam a little tractor and a personalized book that made the rounds on Facebook called "The boy who lost his name." It was a super cute book, but it may have been a bit long for his age. Whoops!

We had big plans for the rest of the week and then illness struck. On the way home from the Mauck's Jackson started feeling really bad. By Wednesday morning we were both feeling awful and ended up staying home from work. I rallied and was back to work on Thursday, but Jackson was in terrible shape.

Nurse MacKenzie on duty

Little Miss MacKenzie stayed by his side each minute. I ended up taking Friday off to take Jackson to the doctor as he was just too ill to not do anything. It turns out he had a horrible case of the flu. He got about 70 prescriptions and then came back home to rest. Poor thing. We're going to try to get on the road once he wakes up from his nap since we've already paid for the hotels along the route to Naples.

In other news: Jackson got his headshot back from his trip to Denver. Doesn't he look handsome?!

Mr. Petefish

Weekend in Eville

A new indoor cycling studio (CycleBar) opened in Carmel and had 10 days of free classes. Score! I love a good cycling class and with it being free Jackson even agreed to go with me. The first class we attended was on the night of their grand opening so it did not go as well as we'd hoped. They had issues with their sound system and such. We decided to give it another try on Saturday morning since the classes were still free. Holy cow was it a fun class this time. To make matters even better (for one of us) Jackson came in 1st place in that morning's class! Impressive to beat 39 other riders on only your 2nd visit! He then danced around the house to Nelly's "#1" and demanded to be called "winner" for the rest of the day. That was sure fun for me. ;)

Sweaty but super pleased with himself.

After Mr. Winner and I got cleaned up we got on the road to Evansville to have Christmas with my sister and Alex. We got to take the new section of I-69 that they had just opened a few days before our scheduled trip. It was awesome. We cut considerable time off of the trip and the route is just gorgeous now. You can also set the cruise and then do just about anything else because there are no curves and even less traffic. Amazing.

The new I-69- woot!

We got to Kylie's place and made the mistake of carrying presents in with us. When you're 5 presents seems really awesome and you have not learned to contain yourself yet. We spent the next hour telling Alex he could open his presents "soon" as we tried to deal with Kylie getting a new stove delivered. We finally gave up and let him open!

"I think this one is clothes. UGH!"

"Oh! A game!"

"So much tape"

Kylie letting MacK smell her gift from them

A new ball! SWEET!

We got Alex two new games, tootsie rolls, a new sweatshirt and a new shirt. He was less than impressed with the clothing gifts. Whoops. We went to dinner that evening with them at Uno's. Kylie said Alex picked it but we all know it is her favorite place. Too funny. Then we made what I've since deemed the ultimate sacrifice and went with them to see the Peanuts Movie. You guys. It was horrid. The people behind us talked the entire time through a movie I was already struggling to focus on. It was like one long detention. The things we do for those we love...

We parted ways after the riveting film and went to do some late night Christmas shopping. We had Alex's shopping done when we arrived but had yet to shop for Kylie. Whoops! We found her gifts and a few others before calling it a night.

The next morning we got up and at 'em to go fun a run along the river in Newburgh. The weather was just about perfect for an outdoor run and we enjoyed our time out there among the friendly folks of Southern Indiana.

Post-run selfie

We stopped in at Kylie's to drop off her gifts- still unwrapped (yes- worst Santa ever)- and play with Alex.

Handsome Jackson showing Alex how to play
his new (frustrating!) game

Kylie trying the game...

Even MacKenzie wanted to play!

I taught Alex to be too good at the new tic-tac-toe game (Goblblet Gobblers) we got him and he started schooling everyone. It was just tragic to be beaten by a 5 year old who is not a gracious winner. ;) We eventually said our goodbyes and started the journey back to Indianapolis.

Relaxing in the back- practicing for
her roadtrip to FL soon!

MacKenzie did such a good job on her trial run at road tripping. We think she'll have no issues making it to Florida! Hooray!

Dinners and Showers

It is a good thing we got our shopping done because it was soon time for Christmas with the Bates family. Little Josslyn won't be an only child for much longer now! Hooray!

"Hi, guys!"

Josslyn is so much fun! She loves to watch music videos on YouTube and have dance parties. She already a far better dance than I am.

DANCE PARTY!

We made a little video of her opening her present from us because these times are precious and I don't want to forget them!

We also took the time to celebrated (albeit a bit belatedly) Shaya's birthday. I made her birthday brownies and insisted that she blow out candles as we all sang. Note: They had a "3" candle and then regular candles so it appears that she was turning "311" instead of 32. Hilarious.

In the spirit of giving already, I organized a baby shower for one of my co-workers, Travis. He's got a son already, but his wife is expecting another baby, a girl this time, just before Christmas. Since he hates all things girly I decided that throwing him a shower with a pink theme was fitting. He loved it. ;) He was totally surprised and it was great. I love a good party!

A man and a pink shower!

Heidi (HKDesigns) even made him a pink camouflaged
nursery sign

Christmas shopping

One of our little friends, Sir Liam Mauck, gave his parents a scare on their anniversary this year by getting really sick and being admitted to the hospital. It broke my heart to see him sick! After a few hours he was on the mend, though, and back to his normal, playful self. This little video was too cute not to share! :)

Speaking of little friends, once we arrived home from Denver we realized that Christmas was upon us and we had yet to shop for our kids. Off we went to Target! It was SO fun shopping for them this year since we've got some 5 year olds, 3 year olds, and 1 year olds.

"Can we get this?!"

Some shopping completed

"Oh, this looks fun!"

"SIR LIAM NEEDS THIS!"

He needs this, too.

Our haul

We seriously spent THREE hours in Target's toy area. It was great fun. We truly enjoy being an aunt and uncle in both the real and honorary manner. 

I HAD ALL OF MY HAIR CUT OFF!

In other news, I cut 4-5 inches off my hair and have freaked out about it a bit since.

Snowmobiling to the divide

Snowy morning in the village

We woke up to more snow falling in Winter Park. It was gorgeous. We took it easy all morning and then headed over to "Ride the Divide" with Grand Adventures. I'd wanted to snowmobile to the contintential divide since we lived in Denver so it was high time we got it done. After a quick stop at a thrift store for snow pants and goggles, we were on our way to a snowy adventure.

Hoping to stay warm! 

Jackson ready to go!

LIVING IN A SCREENSAVER

Gorgeous scenery 

THE. VIEW. WAS. INCREDIBLE. 

Obligatory selfie with the view ;)

Jackson showing the snow's depth

Cloudy at 10,000+ feet, but gorgeous

Thumbs up = ready to go

I guess I was still ready to go-?! HA!

I cannot urge you enough to go take this ride. It met and exceeded all of my expectations! We had the absolute best time.

Starbucks in the ski village

We took a quick detour to the ski village for coffee and a potty break before heading back into Denver for the evening.

Sunset over the front range

We got checked in to our new hotel (and scored an upgraded room- woot!), cleaned up and headed out for the evening.

WONTON SOUP!

The first stop? CHERRY VILLAGE ASIAN GRILL in Parker. I used to keep this place in business and it did not disappoint this time around.

"I've never been happier to eat somewhere!"

No fortune in his cookie! :( 

We hit up my favorite mall (Park Meadows) for a little Christmas shopping before calling it a night. We were fortunate enough to get to meet up with our dear friend Meg for lunch on Sunday. We hit Cherry Creek- yum!

Cherry Cricket with Meg!

Meg lives in the Denver area and had not yet been to a dispensary. We remedied that. 

What is a trip to Denver without a stop?!

No one bought anything, but it was an enlightening stop in. We learned all about the different kinds of marijuana, edibles and so on. 

Washington Park

We dropped Meg off and headed to Wash Park for a stroll around memory lane. We loved the park when we lived in CO and that feeling has not changed. 

We've missed this place

My favorite house I've ever seen

We hopped on over to the airport after our stroll and got back to Indy late Sunday night. I worked on Monday and Jackson went up to Marion to get MacKenzie from my Dad and Diana. They kindly kept her for nearly TWO weeks!

Sending MacK off

I've never been more excited to leave work than I was that evening. I could not wait to see my little pup again!

Reunited!!!