Baby It's Cold Outside!

Only three days back from Florida and I've already got the wintertime blues. The 30 degree South Bend weather doesn't help...the cold, the wind, the snow. How many more months of this do we have?

The only upside is that Gracie LOVES playing in the snow. Sunday it snowed really large flakes for a while in the afternoon. Grace had a great time catching it on her tongue! Although Grace experienced snow last year, she wasn't old enough to react and actually play in it. I can't wait to take her sledding soon!!!

Fun in the Sun!!!

After a week spent at the beach in 80-degree weather, we have now returned to snow-covered South Bend and 30-degree bitterness! We had an amazing vacation and Thanksgiving! Gracie spent every day at the beach or in the pool and loved every minute of it. She had so much fun playing with Pop, Grandma, Uncle Matthew and Vanessa! She also learned several more words this week, including Football, Up, Bee-Bo (Sandra Boynton for belly button), IU, and Pop! She tries very hard to say Grandma, Matt and Vanessa...it's not quite perfected but she is very close!

Marco Island was simply beautiful! The beaches were wonderful and we saw dolphin every day swimming in the nearby waters. We also explored Naples, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island, and Fort Myers. In addition to the beaches, we rented a deck boat, attended the Naples Lights Festival, rented wave runners, and ate LOTS of seafood! Matthew and Vanessa treated us to a clam bake for Thanksgiving dinner...including lobster tails, clams, shrimp, potatoes, onions, corn, and amazing key lime pie!

It was a great trip and wonderful way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday. Here are pictures of our great vacation...beware, there are lots of them!

Florida...here we come!!

In less that five hours we will be heading to the South Bend Regional Airport, about to board our flight to Marco Island, Florida. We cannot wait to relax in the sun this week with Grandma Babs, Pop, Uncle Matthew, and Dr. V! We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We may blog a bit from Florida this week, but in the event that we don't get a chance - we hope you all enjoy the holiday week!!

Now off to bed so that we can get a little rest before the big trip!

Welcome Home Grandpa Bud!

Grandpa Bud gave us quite a scare this week...he spent a few days in the hospital but was released to come home on his birthday!!! Gracie and Scott spent the afternoon with Gram and Grandpa on Saturday (Mommy was at the AWFUL Notre Dame game!). Grandpa is feeling much better now, but we were all very worried about him.

We are so glad he is back home now. Happy Birthday Grandpa Bud - we love you!!!

Congratulations Grandma Mayor!!!

Gracie would like to send a BIG congratulations to Grandma Barbara. She was elected Mayor of Tell City yesterday, November 6th! Gracie and I traveled to T.C. Monday evening. After calming Mom's nerves a little Monday evening, we all jumped right to the swing of the campaign Tuesday! We spent the day working the polls, talking to voters, calling citizens to encourage them to vote, and finally reading the results that evening. It was a very exciting evening...a little nerve racking, but amazing in the end! Mom swept every precinct and we could not be more proud of her!!

Here are a few links to her website and the Perry County News. We'll post pictures of the big night very soon!

Again, congratulations Mom...we are so proud of you and now can't wait to relax in Florida in a couple of weeks!

We love you!

Happy Halloween!

Gracie had a wonderful Halloween! We traveled to Elkhart on Tuesday evening to visit with Gram and Grandpa, Papa Tuff and Grandma Alys, and Nanny and Papa. Gracie got TONS of treats and toys. She especially liked the dancing ghosts and goblins at Gram and Grandpa's. It took her a while to warm up to them; but then she learned that she could make them dance by clapping her hands! It was hysterical! Papa Tuff also gave her a duck that moved across the floor...she loved it! She kept screaming, Duck Duck all night long!

We went to a few doors on Wednesday, but found that Gracie most liked passing out the candy to all the neighborhood kids. We spent the evening with our neighbor Amy...eating chili, drinking a few beers, and watching Grace pass out the candy. It was hysterical to see her react to the costumes!

Here are a few pictures of our little Minnie Mouse!