Dear Connor and Grace, We spent New Year's Eve in Indianapolis. It was Connor's first road trip and we think he cried more than half of the way down. Unlike your sister, you HATE being in your car seat and the motion of the car doesn't calm you down. We celebrated the holiday with some of our very good friends. The Wilson family met us at the Vetor's house. Enjoy! Love, Mommy
Future best friends? Right now a month seems to be a big difference but in the game of life you two are the same age.
Nothing is cuter than daddies with their little girls.
Dear Connor and Grace, We spent Christmas Eve at Grammie Mo and Grandpa Den's house. It started with a gift exchange with the O'Connors, followed by cocktail hour, dinner and a visit from Santa Claus! Enjoy! Love, Mommy Grace, you and Auntie Colleen share a love of Winnie the Pooh. You sat on her lap and made her read your new coloring book to you.
Everyone was so excited for the guest of honor.
Connor, you couldn't take your innocent eyes off Santa.
Grace, you still wake up in the morning and from your naps saying "ho, ho, ho" and reminding me that you waved "bye bye" to Santa as he was leaving.
Santa brought every good boy and girl a little something, giving everyone the opportunity to sit on his lap for the perfect photo opp.
We feel beyond blessed and grateful this Christmas season to be surrounded by so much family. It's completely different than how we celebrated as a little family of three last year. We had three days of Christmas with family this year starting with the Thompson brunch and gift exchange the Sunday before the holiday. Everyone brought a little something- making it a very relaxing morning. Enjoy!
Love, Mommy
Baby's 1st Christmas!
Mimosas or Lonnie's famous bloody mary's anyone?
Yes, please.
Connor, your personality is showing more and more everyday through your smiles and giggles.
I'm obviously not the only one enjoying them. :)
Aunt Susan introduced our family to a British Christmas tradition years ago after visiting her best friend, Julie, in the UK. Christmas poppers! After hearing a loud pop there are goodies and paper crowns to be found inside.
Aunt Susan started the gift exchange by handing out an extra surprise this year for Daddy and the two Uncle Matts. Santa iced the boys.
It's a silly drinking game that Aunt Libbie started the day she married Uncle Matt. When you're at least 21 and someone sneakily gives you a Smirnoff Ice you have to take a knee and drink it.
Uncle Matthew gave Papa Lon IU basketball pants just like Daddy's. These were a hot item this year.
You were so excited to receive Uncle Matthew's handmade gift to you and Connor. He spent an endless amount of hours in Papa Jerry's garage making all his future and current nieces, nephews and kids of his own a set of table and chairs. You recognized them from Papa and Grandma's house and sat down right away. Thanks to Papa Jerry, Aunt Libbie, Uncle Matthew and I had a set to play with growing up too!
Your engineering uncle also set up your train set from Ma and Papa.
Between this little blue train and one of your new train books, you seem to always have one in hand while saying, "choo choo."
Our family may have some quirky traditions, but we sure do know how to laugh and have fun together.
Dear Grace, We can't believe how quickly two years have gone by. You've been so much fun getting to know as your personality continues to develop. You are one of the sweetest 2 year olds we know. You bring joy and laughter to all who meet you. You're in love with books, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse, dancing and your family, especially your baby brother, "Ca ca." We've lived in London and Chicago and have traveled the world together. We couldn't be happier now that we've settled close to our family in Munster. Having a newborn, we wouldn't have been able to throw you the birthday party we did without them. A special thanks goes out to Aunt Susan who baked your amazing cake herself. Enjoy!Love, Mommy and Daddy
Happy Birthday/Christmas to Miss Grace. It's pretty convenient having your birthday just after Cyber Monday.
I love how your family sat down and immediately started placing orders for the kitchen.
I make a video recapping the past year. You couldn't take your eyes off of it. You danced to the music and sucked your thumb completely mesmerized. It was definitely worth all the time and effort.
I couldn't help looking back at where we were this time last year-
Dear Connor and Grace, This has been quite the exciting week between Grace's birthday and Christmas only being a couple weeks away. This week also brought the arrival of the Elf on the Shelf. For those of you who aren't familiar with the storyline, Elf arrives at your house during the Christmas season and reports your behavior back to Santa. Grace doesn't remember to look for him in the morning, but she shows her excitement by yelling "Elllllf" once she spots him. For now he is called Elf, until next Christmas when she'll be old enough to name him. Enjoy! Love, Mommy
One of the Elf on the Shelf "rules" is that you're not supposed to touch him. We'll work on that one next year...
Of course Grace had to run and share the excitement with her baby brother.
