Christmas at Natalie's 2014!

This year we celebrated a little after Christmas, on December 28th!

Natalie had her house decorated beautifully (as usual) with an enormous tree!

The table was set with all her Christmas Tree Spode, and the live tree gave off a smell of tradition and home.

This was baby Jack's first Christmas!  He really loved opening presents!

His tiny fists were ripping at the paper as mom helped!

This child is so happy!  He smiled the entire day!

The feast was perfect and the presents were opened.  Dad stopped by to bring gifts and chat as well.

Mom called before dinner and we all got to talk to her.

Natalie had of course baked 20 different types of cookies!  No one was going home hungry!

We also took the time to celebrate Greg's birthday with a cake handmade by Natalie!  So sweet!

After a long day of family fun, it was time to go home!

What a great day watching Jack enjoy his first Christmas traditions!

Great twin night!

Winterland Light Show in Danville!

This week we wanted to do something in the Christmas spirit, so we decided to take a drive through Danville's beautiful Winterland Light Show!

Taking in the festive sights is always better with pizza!
So, we picked up a pie to go and enjoyed the wonderful sights
and dinner all from the comforts of our own vehicle!!!

Danville's lights reminded us SO much of how the Newton County Fairgrounds used to look!
We got quite nostalgic thinking back on how slowly mom would drive the car and play special carols for us all the way through... so of course we had to do the same!
 

 

 They really had some great and creative displays which were fun too!
 

 

We both agreed the light tunnels were the MOST fun part of all to drive through!

The magic of these lights is difficult to capture on camera, but we tried!

 

This super fun 30 foot tree changed colors and pulsed varying synchronized beats to the music too! 

Although it was raining, we didn't care!  White Christmas or no these lights are amazing!

 

 

We must have circled through at least 3 times!   

The lights were just so captivating from all angles, we had to be sure we were getting them all!

 

Then we drove around the town square which was equally as magical!

This was a wonderful night for reminiscing and treasuring a fun Christmas pastime.

 

Yuletide Celebration at the Symphony 2014

 The City is SO BEAUTIFUL this time of year!

The Circle of Lights is absolutely stunning!

 

It was so cold tonight walking to the theater from dinner at Buca, but the scenery was all worth it!

 

 

We had read there would be a LIVE reindeer outside the theater, and could not wait to check it out!

Reindeer are so much smaller than you think!  We were shocked to learn this female was full grown!

We were able to pet the little one, who seemed great with people...

unless you touch her ears...

which feel like a cow ear by the way! (shouldn't have done it, but couldn't resist!)

 

MET A REAL REINDEER!!!

 

 

The tree they had on display was enormous!  And completely decked out in red and gold...

so of course we LOVED it!

 

 

We sat up in the balcony seats in a completely PACKED house!

This show was so incredibly popular!  And once it started we could see exactly why!

The music and singing was so great, costumes were sparkly and festive,

lighting was fantastic, characters were spot on!

This show was SO good!

 

  

 

The Santa seen here was probably a favorite moment, although the men's version of

Frozen was the ultimate crowd favorite!

A new and captivating twist on an overly popular song caught everyone off guard!

I was incredibly pleased by their creativity!

 

We enjoyed mulled cider too, which was a great option at the drink station!

They also had Christmas sugar cookies which caught our eye!

 

 

We realized we never got a birthday wish this year!!!!

Our 30th birthday wishes went out over these sugar cookies into the universe!

Hopefully they will be answered, but regardless the cookies were delicious! 

 

IRISH 30!

We decided to have our Irish 30 Birthday at one of the best pubs in all of Indiana!

We just love the decor and all the authenticity about this pub on Mass Ave!
We stopped in a bit early for some Irish dinner before the rest of the guests arrived.


Our double shamrock symbol was on everything!



Including the coozie favors we gave away!

Since many of our guests had never been here before, we made suggestion drink menus!

Ashley arranged for our "favorite" celtic band to play at the restaurant!

Highland Reign did not disappoint!

They had everyone in the room up and interacting!

We had several large tables in front of the band!
Everyone had a front row seat for all the Irish Roving they could handle!

We made special signage for the occasion!

Ashley customized their chalkboard with our picture and some Irish embellishment!

What a perfect addition to the decorations!

Even the owner, Jerry O'Bryan, came out to give us free birthday whiskey shots 

(and to take one with us)!

We wore matching green dresses with different tartan scarves!

It was so great to see everyone who came out to celebrate with us!

After the band was leaving, we had cake and everyone said their goodbyes!

Our Irish eyes were smiling and our hearts were full of love and the knowledge that we can make it through anything - 

as long as we do it together (even turning 30)!

What an amazing twin night!

Annual Sister Christmas Shopping Day 2014

The annual Sister Christmas Shopping Day is perhaps one of the best traditions we have started!
Every year, just after Thanksgiving, we head to the north side of Indy to get most of our strategizing and buying accomplished for the holiday season!

We always meet at Paradise Bakery first for breakfast and gift strategies!
Of course this usually turns into three hours of talking, coffee drinking, and coupon trading!



Then we head over to the Castleton Square mall for shopping at a few of our favorite gift-buying spots!



Our first stop is always the iconic Macy's!  We love to get mom's jewelry gifts here!
We also checked out some new makeup for Natalie's sensitive skin and a professional purse for Ashley's new job!



This was Jack's first time on the shopping trip!  He loved watching all the people!
He was very well behaved (as always!) and dressed for the Christmas season!

After we tuckered out Jack, we finished up our shopping at the mall and headed to Buca for a birthday dinner!

It was so great to celebrate our birthday with Natalie and Jack!

There were plenty of leftovers and our shopping lists were all but checked off!

What a great twin day! 

Thanksgiving at Emily's 2014!

This year we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving a little bit early because grandma was in town!

Grandma was still at Wellbrooke for rehab, so we took the opportunity to have everyone over to Emily's for a feast!

The table was set with pumpkins and turkeys!  Mom sent many a decoration!

Also, Emily got to use her new wedding china!

The family gathered around the great table and baby Jack was excited for his first Thanksgiving!

Baby Jack and great-grandma had some nice one-on-one time!

Jack loved his turkey bib!  What a cutie!

Everything tasted wonderful, from Greg's turkey on the Green Egg to Emily's pumpkin pie!

Some people even had to take a power nap! LOL!

It was so great to have the family together for Thanksgiving!

Everyone enjoyed the time together and the classic tastes of our Thanksgiving recipes!

Baby Jack was adorable in his First Thanksgiving onesie, and we cannot wait for next year when he can actually taste the food!

Great twin day!

Cabaret Poe

It was the night before Halloween and the Schwindlers and Marshalls were out in Historic Irvington for a frighteningly good time!

First we had dinner at The Legend Classic Irvington Cafe!
They usually have a rotating seasonal menu of drinks and fare to entice your palate and this fall was no different!
The pumpkin gnocchi was fantastic!

 

After dinner, we walked across the street to the Irvington Lodge for a haunting rendition of Cabaret Poe!
We have loved Edgar Allen Poe and his creepy writing for years, and what better way to enjoy Poe than with song!

The three-person show is a must see in the fall!  The funny, yet eerie look at death is an enjoyable night on the town!



What a perfect night for some fall fun!  We all dressed in our black and gothic fashions to enjoy such a creepy night before Halloween!

Spooktacular twin night!