The First Big SNOW

So as all of you who live in Indiana know...we had our first big snow of the year. It was a few days late for Christmas (which was wet but not white), but it was still welcomed with open arms by our family! Although it makes getting to work a little bit of a bear, we made the best of it and decided to use some new Christmas toys and take Rufus to the dog park to play with his friends. So here's a photo re-cap of our Sunday afternoon.

Matt playing with his new Snow Blower that he got for Christmas! It came just in time & look at what a good job it's doing :)

This picture is hard to see, but I was scraping my car to go to the dog park and Rufus wanted to wait inside. I asked him repeatedly if he wanted to come inside (while we changed) but he insisted on staying out there till we left. So we started the heat and he sat in the car until we went! So funny. He continues to make us laugh on a daily basis.

Playing at the Bark Park. Matt was playing with snow balls and I swear Ru ran up to him and did this on his own. So I grabbed the camera to get this silly shot! He's so fun.

The picture won't turn the right direction, but here he is getting his post-snow wipe down & for some reason he got really crazy. So he jumped up on the couch and snorted and wiggled until he was all dry. Hilarious!

Family Time

My parents had two Christmas parties this weekend and it was really fun but really exhausting. It's always so good to see everyone plus there's so much going on rightnow: All the kids are another year older, my cousin Courtney is pregnant with twins, my cousin Daniel just had back surgery to hopefully fix all the pain he's been in for quite some time, and I'm back to working full time again, thankfully! It appears that 2010 is already promising lots of exciting new things.

Here's a re-cap in photos...oh just for the record, Matt and I came away with some really great/interesting grab bag items. Him: Colts Fleece & Funny Bathroom Reader, Me: Sunrise Cookbook with Oven Mits & my very own Quesadilla maker...which I plan to use tomorrow for friends dinner at our house!!

My cousin Derrick & Jonda's baby, Brady. This is his first Christmas and he was goo-ing and coo-ing all night. He's such a sweet baby!

Proud Aunt Lou with the little man! He got his very first basketball, soccerball and football. It's fun to see little boys since Matt and I are always around little girls.

Tessa being all big and opening presents herself! She had to throw every piece of trash in the trash bag, Mommy's obviously teaching her about cleaning up messes early-on.

Cute family! I figured instead of Matt and I, I'd put up the family with the cute baby :) I thought this picture turned out really really well. I love you guys.

Christmas at the Zoo!

This weekend was filled with family parties and holiday festivities. Although it was really busy, with hardly any down time, Matt and I really enjoyed seeing everyone and getting to spend some quality time with our two favorite nieces! Well, the only two nieces we have! Bella, for those that may not know is Matt's Brother's little girl, and she just turned 3. So, we think Christmas is going to be extra fun this year with an extremely dramatic toddler on our hands. It just keeps getting better and better.

So for our little Cosgrove get together, we went to Christmas at the Zoo followed by dinner at Ambrosias in Broad Ripple, delicious, and then we had the family over for dessert at our place. It was such a fun night, but was a little cold with the snow/rain mix. The animals were a little sleepy so there wasn't much action but it was still fun to see the light, ride the train and get a picture with Santa! Bella wouldn't touch him but she would talk to him, it was pretty adorable.

All the pretty lights made for a great picture. It was a little cold though, but the snow made it actually feel like Christmas time.

Matt and Bella giving me a really big CHEEEESE.

Bella & Johnny all ready to ride the train. She refused to wear her hat, so her hair was freezing and soaking wet. Three year olds are crazy sometimes.

The whole gang ready to ride the train, unfortunately Matt had to take the picture so he isn't in his seat with me yet. It was a little crowded with two long-legged people in a child's train. haha.

The Polar Express

The polar express is now up and running around our house these days! We put together the train that Matt's parents got us as an early Christmas present. It was a family tradition of his growing up as a kid and so they wanted to pass it along to our family for a "lifetime of enjoyment." It may be more like 1 season of enjoyment hoping that the dog doesn't attack it at any given moment.

So, while Matt assembled the train and handled the engineering of the tracks, I made Rufus' stocking so that he can be extra spoiled this year. It's bigger and cuter than ours, but now he's feeling more like an official part of the family.

(I promise I'll quit obsessing over him sometime soon)

Helping Matt put the train together and inspecting it for anything fun to chew!

I love the intensity here...he was so excited to get it all set up and working!

He was unsure of how to feel about the train when it was on, but overall he did really well.

I finished Rufus' stocking just in time for Christmas. I made it extra big to hold lot's of toys...or coal.

All snuggled in for a Christmas nap.

Christmas time is here.

The beginning of the Christmas season has been an exciting time for Matt and I, as we are beginning our own traditions and decorating our own house for the first time. We took the first week of December off from work to decorate, shop and relax a little before the holiday buzz begins.


As far as the decorating is concerned, we both had to compromise for what the end result woud promise....a beautiful little bungalow all bright & snuggly for the holidays! Matt wanted the retro C7 lights on the outside, while I wanted clean/classic white lights inside....Rufus voted for anything fun to chew up. (He chose all the great bows that I put on the presents) Needless to say, the bows aren't very pretty anymore.


Now that the stockings are hung and the presents are wrapped, we've settled in for a nice enjoyable Christmas as a new family. It's been so fun already and I can't wait until the Christmas Eve & morning festivities begin.

I had to take backseat on the way home from Lowes, we we're packed with ladder, tree and lights!

Thankfully the tree wasn't too tall, it was just right!

Matt had too much fun putting up the lights! It was such a pretty day and we had a blast.

This is when I started to get nervous...but he did go skydiving 6 months ago so we figured he would do just fine!

Of course we had to decorate Rufus, too! I promise he loves us.

Beginning a blog...

We have decided to start a blog to keep our friends and family in the loop of what's happening around the our new little bungalow these days. With so many friends that have moved to other states after college, we thought this would be a good way to keep in touch and show what we've been doing. This is coming a little late considering we're celebrating our 5th month of being married this week, but better late than never!