December 2013

As it traditionally happens, December was busy and fun-filled once again!  Between birthdays, holiday parties, Christmas and New Years, it's always a hustle and bustle of activity from the 1st to the 31st!

As previously posted, we took Jane to see Cinderella for her birthday the first weekend of December, and then enjoyed hosting my parents for a visit the second weekend, for Jane's actual birthday on the 8th.  That happened to also be Evan's Christmas party, which was a great time.  Evan has been at the bank almost 5 years and it's hard to believe all that he has accomplished and learned in that time.  He is currently in the midst of a leading a huge conversion project, and though he wouldn't admit it, he is doing a fantastic job despite putting in countless hours.  We are very thankful for the generosity of his employers and the opportunity to grow in his industry.

We also traveled down to Indianapolis for my work Christmas party, which also turned out fantastically!  Seeing as this was the first year I have been managing people, I was a bit nervous about planning and semi-hosting a fun event for all the guys on my team and their spouses, but everything went great!  We enjoyed a great dinner and time getting to know each other more!  

For the first time ever, both Evan and I took off the entire week between Christmas and New Years and we cannot believe what we have been missing!  It. Was. Awesome.  We got to sleep in (as much as possible with toddlers), relax, watch movies, play with the kids and in general just decompress.  We planned some fun things to do, including a day trip to Kokomo to take the kids to see Monsters, Inc in 3-D.  They absolutely loved it, and are very much into movies as much as their parents.  

New Years came around and Evan's birthday with it - we enjoyed a nice dinner out with friends and then played some games, both entirely impromtu, and both very fun!  

Bank Christmas Party - I feel like we look very 'presidential' in this picture.  We aren't.

Jane loves "working" with me.  She actually puts her hands on the correct keys on my keyboard.  I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing yet.

Both kids still LOOOVE reading.  Like, a lot.

Our cool cats getting ready for Monsters, Inc in 3-D. 

Happy 33rd Birthday Evan!  And Welcome 2013!

Four Christmases

The holidays have come and gone and I'm eager to share with you the wonderful Christmas season we enjoyed this year.  Although the title of this post is similar to a popular movie from years ago, we actually had the pleasure of enjoying many Christmas celebrations this year!  Despite being exhausted by the afternoon of the 26th, we feel so fortunate to have been able to spend the Christmas season with nearly all of our family (we missed you Arizona crew!)!

Our first Christmas celebration was at Aunt Jane's house on December 23rd.  This was a change to the usual tradition of a Scheper family party on the 24th, however the day turned out marvelously.  Nearly everyone was able to make it, and it was an awesome time.  Many thanks to Aunt Jane and "Herr-y Meier" for a great party.  

Luke and Grandma Scheper continue their special bond

Look how tall she looks (is)!!

All the Grandkids/Spouses + Great-Grandkids

The partying continued the following day where the Kubala kids (+spouses+grandkids) celebrated Christmas Eve together at mom and dad's.  It was also a great time, where we ate amazingly (as per usual), played our usual 5-stud -poker-game-with-cards-as-big-as-your-head, did our gift exchange and in general enjoyed the company of one another.  It has been quite a long time since we were all together and it was AWESOME!

The kids were obsessed with playing "poker" with the huge playing cards.  With a crazy dealer like that, who can blame them?!

Our amazing hostess

 

Whew!  After a fun-filled Christmas Eve, we woke up first thing on Christmas Day, packed up, and headed up to Rochester to Mimi and Papa's house for another Christmas celebration!  We arrived just in time for lunch (perfect timing!) and excited to be with our family.  The kids immediately napped and we also thought it was perfect timing for that too!  After naps, we opened presents and got to spend time visiting and enjoying being cooped up together as the weather started to take a turn for the worse.  We were able to play some games and eat again before deciding it was time to get our crew home!

The kids love these banks from Mimi and Papa, that help them Save, Give, and Spend.  Given her OCD, Jane organized all her coins by denomination and then placed them, randomly, in each tin.

Last, but certainly not least, the Gottschalk Family woke up on "Christmas" (the 26th) and stayed in our pajamas and enjoyed a fun Christmas with just the 4 of us.  I think we'd all admit we were pretty wiped after what seemed like a week of nonstop-on-the-go action and partying.  Evan and I actually took off work until January 2nd and we're both committed to doing that again - Jane kept commenting on how much she "loves Chwis-mas vay-tation" and we did too!

Jane really wanted a "pink guitar' for Christmas (no idea where that came from).  I think we may have missed the mark slightly on this one...

Luke totally confused by his matching red guitar.  We have put these in storage until they are a bit bigger.  Oops!