A Very Merry Christmas

We have now returned from Tell City and had a wonderful Christmas holiday. Grace especially enjoyed time spent with Grandma and Pop, Uncle Matthew, Aunt Vanessa, Great Grandma, Great Grandpa, John, Trevor, Trent, Grandma Mary, Bob, the Hartz family (especially Mason!), and the LeClere family! We are very thankful for such wonderful family and friends. Here are some photos of the Christmas celebrations. There are lots...but I will post separate pictures of our afternoon with the Hartz family and our Tacky Black-Tie Fondue Night!

We hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve and is able to ring in the new year with family and friends!

Grace's Gift for Santa

Merry Christmas Everyone! Here are some videos of Grace wrapping and then putting out her gift to Santa.

Wrapping the gift...


Putting out the Gift, Milk, and Cookies...


Tomorrow we'll post a video of her waking up.

Merry Christmas!!

We hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Welcome Jackson and Ellie!

Congratulations to the Nickoloff family!!! They were blessed late Friday evening (birthday of December 12) with the birth of their two beautiful twins...Jackson and Ellie. We visited with them today and all are doing well. Both of the babies are absolutely beautiful, and Sarah and Chris are on cloud 9!! We are so happy for their family and can't wait to share many memories with them in the future. Click here for a few photos of the twins, along with some from the weekend.

We also really enjoyed the rest of the weekend in Chicago. We did a lot of shopping and enjoyed a few nights on the town!! Thanks to Shane, Nicole, Mike, Steve and Becky for a wonderful weekend!!

New Beginnings!!!

It's been a while since we posted (our apologies...the holiday season seems to have been more hectic than usual!). However, we have exciting news to post today...we are on our way to Chicago to visit with the Nickoloff family! Sarah has been in labor since this morning, and we are hoping for the arrival of the babies this evening. We are so happy for Sarah and Chris and can't wait to meet their little bundles of joy!

Tomorrow Shane, Nicole and Mike will be joining us in Chicago for a fun weekend! We are going to do lots of shopping, eating and enjoying of the holiday season!

Gracie is spending the weekend with Papa Tuff, Grandma Alys, and Buddy. She was SO excited to see them, and will have so much fun! Grace has really been enjoying the holiday season, and especially liked her visit with Santa. She sat on his lap and told him just what she wanted for Christmas. It was too cute!

Another recent and favorite past time has been gymnastics. Grace LOVES it, and it has been a wonderful bonding experience for her and a little friend, Lily. The coach, "Mr. Andy" is fantastic too...here are some additional pictures to enjoy of our little gymnast!

Our Little Princess!!

Gracie has just recently been interested in princesses and "girly" items. Boy though, now that it's here there is NO stopping her! She just loves dressing up now and playing Cinderella!! Here are a few photos in her dress up clothes...courtesy of Keegan! Very sassy, don't you think?!

Apple Day - Year 27!

This weekend we gathered for the 27th annual LeClere / Ewing Apple Day! It was by all accounts another huge success! Friday evening we (Scott, Micki and Gracie) shared a fun dinner with Grandma, Pop, Uncle Matthew, Joe and Leanne. We also enjoyed a few nightcaps in the hotel lobby...thanks to some VERY upscale wine glasses courtesy of Leanne :) Saturday morning we were up bright and early...the men all met at 7:00 a.m. to set up the tailgate. The rest of us joined them at 8:00 a.m. to continue the fun! Joe made his famous egg sandwiches, bloody mary's and sausage balls! Grace was ADDICTED to the sausage balls - I guess I'll have to get that recipe! We really enjoyed the rest of the day...it involved lots of friends, family, corn hole, flippy cup, beer pong, food, beverage, and birthday celebration (happy 26th birthday Jenna)! Dad, Matthew and I headed into the game for the second half. It proved to be a lot of fun, and we watched the Hoosiers pull out a big win against # 22 Northwestern! After the football game we watched the Cream/Crimson scrimmage of the basketball team. It was fun to watch them practice and got everyone ready for basketball season!

After a few hours on Kirkwood, we headed to Bw3s to watch the Notre Dame / Washington, Penn State/Ohio State, and Alabama/Tennessee football games. We were all relieved to see the Irish pull out an impressive win, and Penn State prevail in the final minutes versus OSU!

We always enjoy Apple Day and every year are reminded of the wonderful tradition!! It has certainly changed from the days of picking apples, riding mechanical horses, and even picking pumpkins at Huber Winery. I'm anxious to see what the years ahead may bring...future spouses :), children, and who knows what adventures! Regardless, we're guaranteed that it will always result in fun!!! Here are lots of fun pictures from our weekend!

I also would be remissed if I didn't congratulate Matthew and Vanessa. This definitely deserves its own entry (which I will do), but wanted to send them a special congratulations on their engagement!! We are so excited to welcome Vanessa to the family and love her very much!! Congratulations you two!

Fun at the Cabin!

We spent a great weekend at Kidders Cabin in Baldwin, Michigan. We started our adventure on Friday afternoon with Scott, Micki, Gracie, Sydney and Toby all piled in the truck. After an evening catching up with Tuff, Alys and Buddy, we retired for a wonderful night of sleep (I slept better than I have in MONTHS). Not sure if it was the new mattress, crisp fall air, or silence of the Michigan environment, but I awoke more rested than I have in a very long time! Saturday was filled with long walks around the lake, watching the dogs run and swim, walking through the woods, and observing the beautiful deer. We built a great campfire and played a serious game of scrabble! Gracie also shared her school toys with Papa Tuff and Grandma Alys. The kids take turns washing the toys over the weekend, and it was Gracie's turn this weekend! It was very cute! Sunday we went for a boat ride and explored the Pine River.

It was a wonderful weekend at the cabin, and we hope to go back again very soon! Below are some of my favorite weekend photos, and click here for many, MANY more photos. Enjoy!

Congratulations Sarah and Chris!

Last weekend we (Micki, Scott, Gracie, Clay and Barbara) traveled to Naperville, IL for a shower in anticipation of the births of the Nickoloff twins! It was so wonderful to visit with Sarah, Chris, and lots of our friends and families! Sarah looks amazing and it was so exciting to hear of the progress the babies are making, and to see and feel them move...independently yet so in sync with each other. We are incredibly happy for them and can't wait to meet little Baby Boy and Baby Girl Nickoloff!

It was great for Gracie to meet and see some of her friends as well...Keegan, Avery, Ethan and Libby! She hopes to see them again soon!

One quick and funny story about the babies...I asked Gracie the other day if her teacher, Ms. Cripe, had a baby insider her (she does). Gracie simply responded, "No Mommy...Cooper has babies inside her!"

Click here to view more pictures from the wonderful shower!

On a separate note, two of our close friends (Heather Glynn and Wendy Angst) are running the Chicago Marathon today. Good luck to both of you - we know you will do great!

New Home Update

The framing is moving along very quickly, both the first and second floors are almost complete. Here is a picture of the front as well as a picture from the inside looking from the family room to the stairway. Grace was acting up so I sent her to her room and the third picture is her crying in her new room.

We have been very busy making selections for the house. For a color scheme we have chosen a dark greenish siding with a cream colored trim.

For the front door, we selected this craftsman style wood door.

Inside we are going with white trim and this three paneled door.

To keep with the early 20th century craftsman style of the house, we are hoping to incorporate as many vintage features as possible. Here is a sample of the interior door handle we are considering.

Next up we will be working on the kitchen cabinets and hardwood flooring.

Here is a nice video that depicts the type of cabinets and features we are looking for.