My days. My nights. My life. Lived well.

Well, I only had comments from 7 people on my blog. But when I was checking the FirstBook blog comments at the point where there were 554 comments, I was definitely responsible for 56 of the comments and possibly more who may not have linked their sites and only put first names.

I decided to do the donation piggyback on my own site a little later than when I had originally posted just the First Book Disney link on several sites. So, keeping with the spirit of Christmas giving, I gave $2.50 for every comment I was responsible for on the First Book blog. Then I secured funds from an anonymous donor that just about matched my donation and ended up being able to donate enough for First Book to get 200 books!

It was a really nice way to give to others during the holiday season. I am sad that more people didn’t find out about the promotion since Disney was willing to give up to 250,000 books and the final count was 705 comments. But, I do know that I did my part and was responsible for at least 8% of those comments getting posted with lots of help from others who spread the word on after I told them.

Thanks to everyone who left a comment and/or spread the word! I think this effort was the best part of my Christmas.

I finally got Harry’s slideshow done after a long day here which has been totally weird.  Unauthorized people buying stuff on Rob’s credit card? Check. Power outage? Check. Battery backup for my computer failing? Seriously world, what are you trying to tell me today?  

You’ll see in the slideshow that I am totally obsessed with baby feet. I think they are the absolute cutest things in the entire world. Also, Harry has the most awesome big eyes. When he was awake, he just kind of looked at me like, “Who the heck are you and what the heck is that thing in front of your face?” But he really didn’t cry much- except when it was diaper change time. He cried the whole time and turned red, but once the diaper was on, Ryan got him calmed down pretty easy. He is a super good and pretty easy baby, although I am sure a lot of that is due to how calm and confident Ryan and Kim are as parents.

Anyway, I mentioned before that Harry has a super-expressive face and he looks serious and like he has work to do, so I thought that the Otis Gibbs song, “I Wanna Change It” was a fitting soundtrack.  Plus, Otis runs in our circle, so it’s kinda personal.  Anyway, thanks for the patience Ryan & Kim; I hope you enjoy the pictures! 

I totally had to do a self-portrait with me and Harry in homage to one of my favorite lifestyle photographers Amber Holritz.  Trying to do it with the D3 is pretty hard though.  That thing is a beast! I look totally grody though because it was a sunny day and I had the space heater going to keep him warm when he was naked, so I was kind of sweaty by the end.

We didn’t know this would be the first wedding we’d be attending this year until about a month ago.  We could not be happier that Rob’s grandma found Dean after his Grandpa Bill passed away.  Dean is a warm an wonderful man and they are really happy together. Look how giddy Rob’s grandma looks in the pictures. And of course I got some cute pics of the little girls in the family- 2 month old Elizabeth and 27 month old Emma.

We went for dinner at a buffet afterwards and Emma got down to business with the ice cream. Kathie just loves being grandma and Lizzie stares at her intently. Rob got to feed her and she held his finger with quite a bit of strength. Then Auntie K got to hold Lizzie and burp her. On the way out of the Sirloin Stockade, we found the best crane game prize ever.  Just what every kid wants- Harry Truman! They also had a janky Itchy and Scratchy toy and buried in the corner was another president- Ulysses S Grant. Then we got home and Nico was sleeping on the pueblo. 

So, this holiday season has been a whirlwind! But it has probably been one of my more favorite years on record. Not so much for the loot- although it was pretty sweet- but for the general cheer and the getting to hang out with our friends and family.The Friday before Christmas we ended up at our friends Steve and Jamie’s house. It was an impromptu party organized over the internet during the day. It was good to be surrounded by good friends.Then on Saturday we met Jeff and Carrie at The BAR at the Broad Ripple Steakhouse for a couple martinis. It was good to see them, and we can’t wait to go to their wedding in L.A. this fall!Sunday, we headed up to South Bend to my parents’ house. The day of Christmas Eve I was woken by a wonderful phone call- Joe (my best man) and Carisse got engaged in Paris! I knew it was coming, but it was still exciting knowing she had the ring. Congrats, you two! Then Rob and I picked up pies, switched my car, ate at Bob Evans, and wrapped a few last-minute gifts. Then we trekked to Angola for Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. The kids were super cute and the Swedish potato sausage was tasty. Dylan got a toy piano and he played and sang us some songs. After we got back to South Bend, we went to Zoë’s and hung out with her family after catching the tail-end of their mostly annual Christmas Eve party. Rob and I ended up wth the largest gift- a giant cartoon made from a couple photos from our wedding rehearsal. There was only one place to hang it when Jimmy brought it down to us (it wouldn’t fit in my Subaru Outback) this weekend- our entryway! Then it was off to Greenfield on Christmas morning where again the gifts were lovely and the company was good. Rob gave me a Nelson spindle clock at his parents’ house and his mom made both of us stockings, which can all be seen in this picture:Then on the 27th it was practically a Warren Central HS reunion when we met up with Rob’s friends Lyle and Catherine, who coordinated a get together at the Broad Ripple Brewpub. Good friends were in abundance as we hung out with Carly and Kevin, Amanda and Neal, Matt and Pooyan, and too many other cool people to list.Anyway, I’m still pretty beat, but I have managed to be fairly productive since the festivities died down. And I feel another big burst of energy coming this week; the New Year can be super energizing!As always, there are more pictures over at my Flickr page. I post a lot of stuff over there and never refernce it here, so you should think about bookmarking my Flickr page or adding me as a contact if you have a Flickr account.

My cousin Cassie and her husband DJ just had some gorgeous pictures taken with their newest addition, Hunter. Hunter is about 5 or 6 weeks in these pictures. The little girl with them in the grass is DJ’s daughter Reese. So cute! And what a great photographer (although she had good subjects to work with)!

Cassie and DJ and Hunter

Photo © Kimberly Jewell Photography