Happy Birthday Daddy Ryan!!!

Cheers to Ryan Bates Flessner for a most extraordinary year! He got his PhD, moved his family to Indianapolis, started his first job as a professor, welcomed a new little girl into his life, and supported everyone with 100% of his energy all year long. We are all SO LUCKY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY RYAN!!!

Our very own Four Christmases

Yes, that's right, we celebrated Four Christmases this year! We could have had our own movie - and possibly even recruited Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn to co-star...quite frankly, we could have used the extra hands during all the traveling! Below are our posts - I didn't post a single entry in December. I'm such a SLACKER! But, hopefully the posts below will show you why! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday (if you celebrated anything, of course) and new year and wish all an incredible 2009!

Christmas in Troy

After we left Columbus, we drove to Troy, Ohio. Ryan's parents only live about an hour away, so that was really convenient! We got there late, but opened presents the next day. Ryan's sister, Jill, and her family came over. They loved playing with the kids - especially Haley. She's 10 now (we can't believe that!) and was a HUGE helper. I could use a Haley around every day. She runs and grabs things for you, washes off the pacifier, plays with the kids - it's awesome!





Both of the kids got toys they loved. In this shot of Adelyn, she's hugging her new Eric Carle cards tight!



And Abel got his first matchbox cars. He carried all of them everywhere with him. He stacks them all up under his chin and carries them. He's still carrying them (all of them) around everywhere at home!



At the end of our trip, we went to this old historical home in Troy to see a gingerbread house display. The houses were cool, but the home was even cooler. It had this beautiful sunroom and we took some really good photos. Here's one of Mimi and Bobby with the kids!

Christmas in Columbus

Every year, we work really hard to get my dad's side of the family together. We come from all over - Indy, Columbus, Minneapolis, Colorado ----and years before that we were coming from even more places. We have all grown up together and this gathering is really special to all of us. Three of us have kids very close in age, and I'm hoping they'll know each other they same way I know my cousins. This year, we got in from Santa Fe at about 1 in the morning, and turned around the next morning to get there. We were tired, but really excited -- and the day was great!

Sweet Adelyn Lee was again, a rock star. She just kind of hung out all day long, met her newest cousin, Gabe, bonded with Harper (Harper LOVED Adelyn), and wore some more new Christmas clothes!





Abel, meanwhile, bonded with everyone. He played with Nancy and Maury (my aunt and uncle), helped with the trash, and played with his new puzzles with Hannah.





And here's a shot of the next generation - it was a long day and hard to get everyone to sit still, but I thought we made a really good attempt!

Christmas in Santa Fe

We were lucky enough to be able to go out to Santa Fe this Christmas to celebrate with my mom and dad. It is the most beautiful, magical place. We were two days delayed getting out there due to the horrible weather all over the country, but luckily, our delay was in Indy so we were able to stay in our own beds! The biggest bummer of that all was the fact that we couldn't tack two days on at the end of the trip!

Traveling with two little kids and everything required for them is a huge pain in the you know what. However, this was our second time in about a month and we seemed to have it all under control. Getting through security takes FOREVER. Thank goodness the new Indy airport has a family lane! Abel was INSISTENT on carrying his own bag - which made the walking and getting through security that much longer, but he was awfully cute!




Once we got out there, Abel was all into helping out and having everybody participate in everything. He helped take out the trash, helped himself to a huge bowl of guacamole (made right in front of us!), he wanted to brush teeth with everyone, and he and my mom baked cookies together. Abel really couldn't get enough of togetherness!






The first night we were there, it snowed 12 inches. Santa Fe has the most beautiful snowfalls.


These are a couple of shots right outside the house. The house is surrounded by the mountains and the view is amazing.




On Christmas Eve, the tradition in the area is to light faralijtas (I really have no idea how to spell that!) outside. You are supposed to line your house with them and Santa will find your house with help of them. Lots of people have plastic ones. Mom and Dad found a school that was pre-making them (sand, candles, in paper bags) for a fundraiser. We bought 3 dozen and we all lit some. It was so pretty. Abel LOVED them. He ran up and down the front of the house and did EVERYTHING he could to not touch them!



Adelyn was a rock star. She was such an easy baby to travel with, went everywhere with us, ate her own food, and just chilled out. She had a great time opening her presents on Christmas morning. I swear she actually understood what she was doing! She got some really cute clothes for Christmas and had a great time modeling them with her daddy!





So much excitement made it very hard for Abel to settle down to pose for a picture. But, we managed to snap a couple of him and Adelyn and a quick shot of the family - of course, Adelyn was super distracted by his antics! These pictures were taken on Christmas Day.

Christmas in Chicago

We try to take a trip to Chicago every year to have brunch at the Drake, visit with my sister and her family, see all the lights and have fun shopping. This was Abel's third trip! So here are some pictures to highlight the trip.

A shot of Abel doing scales with Henry and Hannah - they are all three in gymnastics class!



Here's a cute shot of Adelyn and I in our brunch clothes. We found a new party dress for her - so cute- and on super sale at The Gap! Gotta love those super sales!



Here are some shots with Santa. He came walking around while we were brunching at The Drake and had presents for all the kids. We took some pictures - Abel was not so sure about Santa, but Adelyn warmed right up to him. She even grabbed at his beard - which made him VERY nervous. Abel agreed to get in on a photo when we all agreed to take one!




Then, we finished off the weekend with our obligatory picture in front of Christmas tree at The Drake. The tree is gorgeous every year (should be, it's always the same tree!) and it's fun to have a new picture every year. I thought all the pictures turned out really well!