Happy Birthday LeeAnn

Today is my Mother-in-law's 52nd birthday. We are having Jason's family over for dinner tonight to celebrate. Happy Birthday LeeAnn! We hope you have a great day and can't wait to see you all tonight!

ELECTRICITY

On Friday night before we went to O'Charley's to eat we stopped by our house to get more clothes so we could stay at my Grandpa Shetler's house. We figured at this point that we would never get electricity. Little did we know. To our surprise when we pulled in the driveway our front porch light was on. We both were so excited. I felt like some one had handed me a million dollars. I never wanted to leave my warm electrical powered house again. Christian was even excited. He hadn't in been in the house for almost 3 days. He ran all over the place. Even though we really wanted to stay home we still went to eat at O'Charley's with everyone. Neither one of us felt like cooking anything.James smiling for the camera.
Mom and Dad trying to decide what they wanted.

Christian eating a lemon. He likes to eat the rhine and everything.

James eating a lemon.

Still No Power

Friday morning we got up after not sleeping at all through the night. Christian was running a slight fever and didn't feel well. Jason and I headed into work. We stopped by the house just in case we had power. No such luck. my patience was running very thin. Jason dropped me off at work and then went on in to his work. I was actually fairly busy considering all the ice and snow. I think people were ready to get out of their houses. Jason came and got me after work and took me back over to my parents house. They still had no power either. Life was definitely rough. Christian and I played and took a little nap until Jason came to get us after work. We all decided to head to O'Charley's for dinner.

Hanging Out @ Mom & Dad's

On Thursday morning we got up and went to our house to see if we had electricity. It took us almost an hour to get from Alisann's house to ours on highway 41. Normally it takes us 15 - 20 minutes. Traffic was moving so slow because the roads were still bad. Once we got to our house we were very disappointed to find out that we still had no power. Jason dropped Christian and I off at my parents house and He went on in to work. Christian and I hung out most of the day at my parents house even though they were still running on generators. Jason got off work early and took us to Chilli's for lunch so we could get out of the house. I hated not having my vehicle. It was stuck in our garage that we could not ope or get into without power. After lunch I ran into work to see how things were holding up there and to return some phone calls from my clients. We then headed back to our house to get more clothes so we could stay the night at mom and dad's. I desperately needed a long hot shower so we went back over to Alisann and Justin's to shower and lay Christian down for a short nap. We were all so tired of running all over the place. I was about to go insane. Once we left Alisann's we met my Mom and Dad at Los Bravos for some dinner.Christian eating some chips.
After dinner we went back to my parents and got our pajamas on and stayed warm by the fire.

Christian started not feeling well and all he wanted to do was cuddle on the couch with his Mommy. I didn't mind one bit.

Look how sweet!

Slumber Party @ Alisann & Justin's House

Wednesday night after Maggie's birthday party we still were without electricity. We stopped by the house to pick up clean clothes and headed over to Alisann and Justin's house to spend the night. We rented the movie Righteous Kill. Alsiann and I fell asleep in it and Jason and Justin both thought it was kind of stupid also. We were all pretty worn out from the day so none of us had any problems going to bed. Thank you guys so much for letting us stay at your house. We really appreciate everything you guys have done for us.James snuggling with his Mommy.
Jason relaxed in the recliner making himself at home!

James loves his Mommy so much. Look how happy he is!

Maggie's Birthday Party

Wednesday night after we all got cleaned up from sled riding, we headed over to my sister Becky's house for Maggie's birthday party. They were supposed to do it last weekend but everybody ended up getting sick. Since most everybody was without power they thought it would be nice to have a good hot meal for everyone. It worked out great! We were so glad to have a nice home cooked meal and get to hang out with everyone.Christian playing with a noodle.
Singing Happy Birthday to Maggie.

Maggie blowing out her candles.

Maggie opening the present that Uncle Jason, Christian, James, Aunt Alisann, Uncle Justin and I got her.

We got her a talking Dora backpack. Maggie loves anything Dora.

James playing with his Grandma.

Going Sled Riding

Wednesday after we ate lunch and Christian woke up from his nap we all decided to go sled riding out at Justin and Alisann's house. Christian had never been before and it had been years since Jason or I had been. We all had so much fun going down the hills on the inter tube and the sled. I can't wait to go again. I really wish we could have taken the boys over to the Evansville Country Club. I think they are still to little and the hills are to big. Maybe next year.Here I am carrying the sled up the hill.
Justin riding in the back of Jason's truck to the top of the hill.

James and I going down the hill together.

James was having so much fun.

James playing with a kick ball.

Jason and Justin going down on the inter tube together.

Alisann heading down by herself with a good push from Travis.

Justin dragging the big inter tube up the hill while carrying James.

Here comes the Elpers family!

Jason, Christian, and I taking a break after lots of sledding.

Hanging Out @ Alisann & Justin's House

My sister had power so we headed straight to her house after we left Mom and Dad's. Alisann and I hung out and played with James while Christian took a nap and Jason and Justin went to the grocery to get stuff for lunch. It wasn't to long after we were there that we got a phone call from Travis saying he was freezing because his house was only 54 degrees and wanted to come over also. Jason and Justin made cheeseburgers and Alisann and I made homemade salsa for lunch. It was exactly what we all needed. The guys eating their lunch.

Getting Out Of The House

Wednesday morning after we all got bundled up and Jason cleared off some of our driveway we were on our way to my parents house who had trees down and also had no power. The roads were terrible and they called a level two state of emergency.Christian all bundled up in his snowsuit.
He was in such a good mood. He kept smiling all the way to his Grandma and Grandpa's house. He probably thought we were crazy for bundling him up so much.

Look at all the snow and ice on the branches.

This is going down my parents driveway. By the time we got there Dad had cleared away most of the trees and branches so we could get through. We didn't stay long. There house was freezing also. They were just getting the generators going and a fire started in the fireplace.

Look At All That Snow

After lots of tossing and turning Tuesday night Christian finally fell asleep. I think it was somewhere around 5:00 a.m. Jason and I woke up at around 7:00 a.m. to find close to 8 inches of snow on the ground. We couldn't believe it. Our house was freezing when we woke up also.Christian sleeping so soundly in the morning.
He slept with his feet dug into Jason and his head dug into my neck. I think he was very comfortable. We were not.

It didn't take long for Christian to wake up after us. He didn't know what to think of all the snow. We both just kept staring out the window in our freezing house.

It didn't take us all long to bundle up and get out of the house. This is Christian in his snowsuit bib overalls that I purchased from Baby Gap that Jason thought was absolutely ridiculous for me to spend the money on. My argument was he will look so cute in them. His argument was that we hardly ever get very much snow to even need them. Looks like I won both of those arguments this time. Jason even was excited when he saw how adorable he looked in them.

Here Comes The Winter Storm

Tuesday night after Christian went to bed Jason and I rented the movie Death Race. We both thought it was awesome. It had tons of action and a really good twist at the end. I highly recommend seeing this movie, especially if you don't mind a little violence. After the movie we watched one of our favorite shows called Nip/Tuck. This season has definitely been really weird. I'm starting to loose a little interest in it. This is the 6th season for it. By 11:00 p.m. it started to ice really bad outside. It didn't take long before our power went completely out. I was so worried about Christian. His room gets cold even with an extra space heater going. I had to go in and get him. I was so afraid he would freeze to death. I just knew I would get no sleep if I didn't bring him in bed with us. Little did I know I would get no sleep no matter what I did.Here is the front yard Tuesday night. It was covered in a sheet of ice probably a couple of inches thick. I had never seen anything like it.
Once I got Christian up he did not want to go back to bed. We all were a little anxious with the power going out.

Christian snuggled up to his Daddy with his puppy dog and watched him get on the Internet with his Blackberry.

Shutting The Door On Daddy

On Tuesday night I was in the office getting on the computer and Christian comes running in. He hates when I'm in the office and he's not. When Jason tried to follow he went and shut the door so Jason couldn't come in. Then he turned around and looked at me with a big smile on his face like 'look Mommy at what I did! I shut Daddy out!' Well this soon became his little game. Here he is opening the door looking for Jason and Jason had tricked him and ran around the corner to hide from him.
Christian laughing because Jason jumped out and surprised him.

Christian shutting the door on Jason.

Christian opening the door to tease Jason.

Christian's First Black Eye

On Saturday before we were leaving to go to the surprise party, Christian slipped on the hard wood floor and hit the door jam in the kitchen. It was so awful! he cried one of those cries that is silent at first and then he started wailing. I just hate when he gets hurt and cries. it breaks my heart. By the time we got to the party it was swollen up pretty good. Now it's kind of a purplish green color. This picture makes it hard to tell because the lighting wasn't right.

Christian's New Thing

Christian has a new thing that he does. He has become such a big boy. After we change his diaper he gets to throw his diaper away all by himself. He loves doing this. We'll say "go throw your diaper away". He will get the biggest smile on his face and go run to the trash can to throw it away. Then we will cheer for him and he gets all excited. It is so cute!Christian walking to the trash can with his diaper.
Sometimes he misses the can.

here he is giving it a second try.

What a good little boy!

Sunday Dinner

Yesterday morning we got up and went to church. After church we went over to my parents house to lay Christian down for a nap so we could go see the movie Gran Torino. The movie was good, but I expected more action since it was a Clint Eastwood movie. I felt like it dragged on a little bit. It was still nice to get out and watch a movie together. After the movie we went to the grocery to get stuff for dinner and Jason realized that he left his wallet in the movie theater. That was a big stress. He called the place right away and eventually the were able to find it. What a relief! My little brother had a basketball game down the street from our house so after the game they all came over for some dinner with us. Jason made spaghetti, and garlic bread and I made steamed broccoli, cesar salad and cheesecake. I was really excited to see that my Grandpa Shetler came with them also. He loves Jason's cooking! Christian with his Grandma playing.
All the Toms..... Tom Jr., Tom III, & Tom Sr.