March

Not quite sure what happened to March, it flew by. 

Boo had some fun theme days at school.  There was farmer day, and I let her take a horse and told her it was her 'trusty steed'.  On the way to school she asked J, "What is this called again?"  J answered, "A trusty steed.  That's what they called their horses in the old days."  And Boo replied, "Is that because they didn't know it was called a horse?"

There was also an Easter Hat Parade.  Boo wanted dog ears for her hat.  In the end it ended up looking like a flop eared rabbit hat, so it fit a little better with the Easter theme. 

Of course, Kitty then wanted some dog ears too.  Green ones.  To match her green nightgown, which had replaced her pink pajamas as the outfit of choice.

Superbowl Sundae

We hung out with the Rupps for Superbowl and had a great time.  Heather had the brilliant idea to do a Superbowl Sundae.  She dished out three quarts of ice cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, and an entire can of whipped cream. 

Isabelle and Kitty heard the words 'ice cream' and were at the table in no time flat. 

The kids (and adults) loved it, and you better believe we ate it all!

Super Bowl XLVI

 The Colts had an awful season this year. We persisted in watching every game, and were rewarded with a win or two at the very end of the season.  Thanks Dan Orlofsky. At every game, Boo would ask if Peyton Manning's neck was better.  When we replied, "No, not yet," she would sigh and say, "Well, I guess we just won't win until he comes back."

But Indianapolis was hosting the Superbowl this year, so we had that to look forward to.  I was hoping the Niners would make it to the Superbowl, but the Giants were a good consolation.  The city created a Superbowl Village, so we went downtown to see the sights the day that the Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants flew into town. 

We picked J up from work early and parked in his parking garage.  I drove up to the top of the garage to get a good shot of the JW Marriott.  

We parked and walked through the tunnels to the Marriott.  Media was everywhere.  The hotel lobbies were beautiful, and packed with media.  We stopped at the big screen over the huge fireplace in the lobby to watch the coverage of Eli Manning smiling and waving as he got off the plane in Indianapolis. 

Then we headed to Superbowl village.  We walked through the convention center to start with. 

Then we headed outside.  Walking around outside this time of year is usually unbearable.  Once my parents visited in January and it didn't get above 12 degrees the entire week they were here.  But this year, Indianapolis had the most unbelievably warm January and February I've ever experienced.

But on the downside, the ice sculptures were melting before our eyes.

They didn't even have to turn on the heated benches.

I totally wanted to ride the zipline.  But the three hour wait deterred me.

My favorite site was the gigantic Superbowl letters on Monument circle.  Don't ask me why, but this was the only thing I cared about seeing.  

 
After a couple of hours and a stop at Jimmy John's, we headed back through the convention center and up to the parking garage.  As we walked through the tunnel that connected the Marriott to the convention center, we saw a girl holding a big sign that read, "Giants Press Conference" and an arrow pointing the way.  I exclaimed, "OH!  The Giants Press Conference!" and she said (in all seriousness), "Oh yes, are you here for that?  Right this way!"  How I wish I could have rolled with that and gone to see the Giants IRL.

A few more Christmas pictures

One morning, Kitty and I visited J downtown while Boo was in school.  We walked through the statehouse to see the giant Christmas tree and got a cinnamon crunch bagel from Panera.  Best day ever.

  Lucky for  me, the beautiful red dresses Grandma made for the girls for Auntie Em's wedding still fit by the time December rolled around.  So the girls had cute, matching Christmas dresses with no effort required by me.  Win! 

 The day we took pictures, Boo wanted no part of it.  But Kitty obliged us.

 Kitty made friends with the Father Christmas I inherited from Grandma Ottley.  Everywhere she went, he went too. For the month of December, they were inseparable. 

Boo's Christmas program

Every year, Boo's preschool has a Christmas program.  And it is a darling program.  This was her second year participating.  Each class has different songs, so while the overall program was the same, her parts were new. 

She got to be one of two bell ringers for one of the songs.  We had no idea until we saw her name listed in the program.  I was actually completely impressed that she was able to keep the rhythm going for the entire song.  Never in a million years would I be able to do that.

 After the program she had a great time posing for pictures with her friends. 

But by the time we all got together for a family picture, she was done with all the attention.

 Kitty was enamoured with the manger scene, and kept stealing baby Jesus.

And don't you love those boots with the dress?

Christmas 2011

Ahh, Christmas morning! 

Boo was in Littlest Pet Shop heaven.  And Em was in Kindle Fire heaven, as you can see in the background.  :)

Purple nail polish in the stocking was a hit.


Unfortunately, it was the second year in a row that Kitty has been sick on Christmas.  She had enough energy to sit in the recliner and eat chocolate from her stocking, but that was about the extent of her interest for the morning.

But Boo had enthusiasm for two.

Christmas Eve, 2011

For Christmas Eve, I originally wanted to go to this really cool Lutheran Christmas Eve service that is kid friendly.  But in the end we decided to just stay home.  And I'm so glad we did.  We had a nice dinner and enjoyed a laid back evening. 

The girls opened their Christmas Eve pajamas and a couple of Christmas Eve gifts. 

As far as Kitty was concerned, it was goofy face night.

But in the end we got a good one.

 

Christmas at the Zoo

As I've said, Em and Nathan stayed with us for a couple of weeks.  They were so fun, as well as really good sports. 

One of the first things we attempted to do was go to the Indianapolis Museum of Art's Winter Solstice celebration.  I got home from work, we had dinner and set off for the IMA.  We had to take two cars, I had Em and Nathan and Kitty with me.  J had the GPS, so I of course got lost, but we finally made it.  Traffic was horrendous, I couldn't find the underground parking, and then Kitty puked all over herself and my coat.  Nice.  So we gave up and tried to get home without even ever finding the parking lot.  I couldn't find the freeway, but headed for downtown, I'm better at navigating downtown.  Unless there is a home Colts game.  Which there was.  By some miracle we made it home so I could spend the evening cleaning up puke.  And watching the Colts lose.  Again.

Christmas at the Zoo went much better. 


So it was cold...but not as cold as it could have been.  It was crowded, but there were so many fun activities and things to see. 

 Emily helped Boo write a letter to Santa.

 Boo took control of the camera for awhile.

 My beautiful blonde girls.

  J ended up taking the girls home and Em, Nathan and I went over to the conservatory to see the poinsettia display.  I loved this gorgeous, massive tree.

Gingerbread houses

Em & Nathan spent a couple of weeks with us at Christmas.  We loved having them and had so much fun while they were here.  We spent one morning building gingerbread houses...we totally went the easy route and used graham crackers and Betty Crocker white frosting.

Creativity concentration.