Holiday Joy!

Wow - two whole weeks since we last posted. We apologize for the shortage in posts...we have been enjoying the holidays with friends and family! We spent almost a week in Tell City...it was a relaxing yet fun time spent with many of our closest friends and family. Gracie had a wonderful time with Grandma and Pop, Great Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma Mary and Grandpa Bob, Kay and Bob, the card club clan, and of course the entire LeClere family. As many of you are aware, we have an annual fondue night with the LeClere family. It is a long standing tradition and one of the highlights of the year! We decided to spice it up a bit this year, and I must admit it was a huge hit! Matthew, Vanessa and Lauren proposed a "Tacky Christmas" theme this year, and boy did we embrace it! As you can see from the pictures, we all really got into it. Dad won the "tackiest" costume though with his impersonation of Cousin Eddy from Christmas Vacation. It was absolutely hysterical. Thanks to the Ewing and LeClere families for making this such a wonderful tradition. We truly look forward to this every year and hope it continues for many years to come!

We hope everyone has enjoyed a wonderful and blessed holiday season! Happy New Year to you all - enjoy the festivities today! We will be enjoying lobster and fillets with Coley, Patty, Heather, Bob, Anthony, Caroline and all the little kiddos. It should be a wonderful evening! Happy New Year!

Gracie's big day!

We apologize for not posting last week. It was a hectic week of holiday parties, pink eye (the saga continues), and shopping. We had a wonderful weekend though...Friday evening we hosted supper club at our house. We had so much fun visiting with everyone; we only wish that the Bradys would have been able to join us. Unfortunately Elly was a little under the weather - Gracie sure does hope her friend is feeling better! Grace spent the night with Nanny and Papa on Friday, and had a great time playing with Will and Drew!

Saturday we went to dinner with the Coryns and then back to their place so Gracie and Eli could play. They were so darn cute and really had a great time together. Today was kind of a lazy day, with lots of shopping, playing in the snow and finally doing our Christmas cards! We did have one big event today though...Gracie got her first hair cut. As many of you know, we weren't really sure what to do with Grace's hair. It is VERY thin and blond, a combination which proves to be a little difficult. While her hair was growing rapidly in the back, it's kind of halted on top. So, we decided to get the back cut...while she still looks like a boy at least the mullet is gone! She did very well too...she sat very still and let the nice lady go to work. Of course - this only took about 5 minutes and cost a whopping $5...well worth it!!!

It's Christmas Time!!

Scott, Grace and I officially kicked off the Christmas season yesterday. While we had decorated the outside of the house and put up one of our trees before now, we just weren't into the spirit yet. Well, that all changed yesterday!!! We picked Grace up from daycare around 2:00 and headed to visit Santa. While Gracie certainly wouldn't sit on Santa's lap alone, she did a lot better than I expected. She kept waving to him and saying, "ho, ho, ho!" It was very cute!! In the end though, we do have a photo of the entire Kidder family sitting on Santa's lap!

After our visit with the big guy, we did a little holiday shopping. While this was fun, it strengthened my opinion that you just cannot do a lot of shopping with a toddler. Rather, we ended up at Build a Bear, where Grace made her first bear, "Bree". She had a great time...picking out her animal, giving it stuffing and a heart, and finally dressing and naming it. Bree is doing wonderful in her Build a Bear box home, where she will stay until Christmas Day!

We stopped for a quick dinner at then proceeded to get our tree. Last year we did the full tree farm and cut down our own. It was very Griswold of us! This year we opted for the "tree farm" on Grape Road...precut trees that took us literally 15 minutes to get from start to finish. It was fabulous! After a quick stop at TJ Maxx to show Grace her favorite Spiderman toy (yes, she is addicted to this Spiderman toy that sings Itsy Bitsy Spider), we headed home to decorate the tree. Grace fell asleep immediately which left Scott and I to enjoy a glass of wine and decorate our tree.

It was a wonderful beginning to "our" holiday season. Now I'm off to Chicago for a weekend of shopping, time with Cooper, and Sunday sushi with the girls. I can't wait!! Cooper - here I come!!!! Oh, and here are more photos of Grace's fun night at Build a Bear!!!

Puppy Love

Gracie is battling a "potential" case of pink eye, so Scott and I split the duty and stayed home with her today. I got the afternoon, which included lots of dancing, applesauce (the girl is addicted to it), playing with Baby, cartoons (by the way - afternoon cartoons are awful), marching around the house, and playing with the dogs. Gracie just couldn't get enough "doggy hugs" today, as you can see by the photos. Both Sydney and Toby seemed to enjoy it and let her crawl all over them. It was pretty darn cute, if I don't say so myself!

Thank you Papa Tuff and Grandma Alys!

Scott and I attended the Junior League Holiday Ball Saturday evening, so Gracie was able to spend the night with Papa Tuff and Grandma Alys! She was exhausted today from all the fun...throwing snowballs, playing with Buddy, throwing rocks in the pond, reading books, playing with the alphabet blocks, looking at the beautiful Christmas tree, etc. The list goes on and on!

Tuff and Alys - thank you so much for watching her over night. Gracie always has such a great time at your house! We had a wonderful time at the ball as well; it was fun to get dressed up and enjoy a night out. Thanks again!