Reilly's + Waffles= Christmas

This Christmas Eve we had a great time with everyone of the Reilly's gathering at Mark and Brenn's house.  It was really special that we were able to get all of us together in one place for celebration and a picture.  The traditional waffles were cooked up and the calendar exchange took place.  I love looking at our family photo because I think it's so beautiful that a family gets so large just out of two people's love.  I can't believe that just the 10 of us used to go on vacations together and now we are doubled in size!  Family is truly one of life's greatest blessings. 

Reilly Family 2009

Weewa and Papaw with their 6 grandkids

Jennifer, Nathanael (9), Brent, and Noah(7) Nims

(they had a more serious one, but I favored the funny faces)

Sophia(3), Jeff, Anna, and Jensen(10 mo) Reilly

John, Brenn, Christine, and Mark Forcum

Uncle John and Aunt Christine with "their little people"

I love it when we get a picture of the girls. 

Who do you think looks most like mom?

Do I really need to say anything?

Bonding

(The first official bonding was 10 years ago in CA.

remember Grandma?)

I've been a blogging fool tonight. Look down further. I posted an additional 2 new post below this one.

Christmas Eve at Weewa and Papaw's

Today started off with a yummy spaghetti lunch.  Then we moved on to presents. Of course, the kids had a great time.  It's the been three years since my mom and dad had Christmas with all of their kids together.  3 years and 3 more grandchildren added.  Needless to say we had a wonderful time.

Is Jensen not soooo adorable?

After present time my parents emptied their giant money jug.  I guess it hadn't been emptied for many years.  So we all had alot of fun sorting all the change into piles and then putting the coins into the counter.  Nathanael LOVES money.  He had a lot of fun running the coin through the counter.  So much that I think he actually forgot about his presents and the goodies that were all around!

Christmas time is here

We had a busy pre-Christmas weekend.  We celebrated with Grandpa John on Sunday.  Then we did the Kissel Christmas at Aunt Kelly's that evening.  I just love it when we get to spend so much time with family.  Too bad everyone doesn't live right here anymore. 

Lillian got a kitchen

Sadie had the treat to lick Uncle Jake's head for 10 minutes

Josiah's watching his dvd player with Grandma Alma.  He loves the princess video that came with it.

We went to see Santa at the apartments last Friday.  Josiah told him he wanted a "chick truck" from the movie Cars.  Lillian wanted nothing to do with him.  I must add a note that Santa was on his bluetooth for part of the time that he was holding Jojo.

The Nims are in town!  Here is Jojo, Nathanael, and Noah. Josiah loves being with his big boy cousins.

The Jones's 4th Annual Christmas Party was on Saturday night.  Always a good time.  Yes, we laughed that we looked like we were taking a prom picture. Jess and Dustin are the couple on the front right.

Sweater Party

On Saturday night we were invited up to a Christmas Sweater Party. We had a fun time with our friends and yummy food at Ambrosia.  I think I ate a whole utter full of goat cheese souffle. 

Notice Grant's pinky ring and the extra flair Becca brought incase someone needed more. I won the best sweater award.  I think the extra jewelry I was wearing gave me a competive edge. 

Carla (little David's mom) and Becca (hostess). 

  Becca and Luke were hostess exempt from the contest.  Becca did a fabulous job on their vest. She had an awesome snowman on her back.  

Bob placed 2nd with this classic vest.  His prize, lighted antlers.

Here's a shot of Luke's Christmas tree.  She really went all out. 

Oh Christmas tree, how lovely is your...box

They had a blast playing in the big box.  We only had a few minor injuries occur amongst the cardboard and staples.  Lillian just wanted to keep climbing in and out of it. It was really cute to watch them. Josiah was bummed when I took it out to daddy's garage.

Bowling

We had a fun time with uncle Jake and Emily at the bowling alley last week.  It was Josiah's first time bowling.  He had a good time and stayed in the game until the 7th frame. Then he headed into the arcade.  We all took our turns with him and tried teaching him different ways to get it down the lane.

Sadie made herself comfy sitting on Jojo's lap.                                    

Lillian chowing down on a green bean at the Kopper Kettle.

Lillian's 1 year photos!

We had a fabulous time taking pictures with Amanda.  She once again captured Lillian in all her cuteness.  We went to the world's cutest cupcake shop, The Flying Cupcake.  Then we head back to her in-laws house to get a few more in.  Lillian was in a decent mood.  We should've taken a few at the cupcake shop before digging into the cupcake.  Then once we were at the house you will see her "don't tell me no face" in two of the shots.  I love them.  Amanda is so talented and I love, love, love getting our lives captured by her.  I can't wait to look at the pictures years down the road. 

Thank you Amanda!!!

To view Lillian's whole gallery you'll have to go to Amanda's website.  They are all so cute.  Feel free to comment on here what your favorites are and maybe give a shout out to Amanda :) 

http://www.amandaelpersphotography.com/

clients --> password: lillian

BTW I think I adjusted the settings so that anyone can leave comments even without an account. Because I love getting comments :)

Fun on the Farm

On one of the last really nice days we went up to a dairy farm.  They had a farmer's market that we had fun walking around.  Then we walked down to look at the cows and chickens.  Josiah was definately the most entertained by the cows pooping. 

Josiah's reaction to the bull

Lillian didn't mind so much even though it's head was bigger than her.

Josiah sat on the bale of hay eating an apple, watching the tractor.

Go Horse!!!

Colts, Colts, Colts!!!

I'm glad that we finally had a Colts family picture taken! We were very blue.  Josiah liked that we were wearing our "go colts" clothes. 

Here is a view of our season ticket seats.  They are first level, 15 rows up.  We've been happy with them.  Just sometimes it's hard to see the other end of the field.

 

We went to our normal tailgating lot before 4 (game didn't start until 8:30) and it was already full.  We had a good time tailgating with our friends.

The game was awesome!!!  For those of you who live under a rock or just don't follow football, I'll fill you in.  We played the New England Patriots yesterday.  Big Deal?  YES!  They are Indy's main rival. We were down (losing) and came back the last 4 minutes.  The energy in the stadium was insane.  It was so loud.  The excitement poured out into the streets afterwards also.  Best game I have ever been to.  So fun.  Go Colts!

What a beautiful site! (the scoreboard)

Muddy

We went to the dirt bike track to play on the jumps. Josiah loves to put his pretend helmet on and run all over. On our way back to the house we came across this big irresistible mud puddle. It was so slippery they would fall just standing up. Grant said this is his favorite picture of them together. They are serious in all of these pictures because of the garbage truck.