Going to catch up.... I promise

Ok, so I've been falling behind on keeping up with Eli's blog. :(

We've had SO MUCH happening these last few weeks, it's been CRAZY around the Tigulis' House!! So my plan is the next few days to FINALLY get caught up.

Bear with me....

Nico's 30th Family Birthday Party

Nico turns 30th on Dec 12th. We had his family birthday party this weekend. I let him pick the menu, so we had tacos, cheese dip, beans and rice... he loved it. I also let him pick dessert. He chose "white brownie" or what is really called carmel chew bars. Even though the weather was HORRIBLE, we appreciate all who came over to celebrate with us. A good time was had by all!!

Seeing Santa

On Saturday, Grandma and PawPaw took Eli and Keenan to Breakfast with Santa. They had face painting, balloons, pictures with Dora, Sponge Bob and of course Santa. We all wondered how Eli would do with Santa. Here's how he did...

We LOVE this picture and will show it to him when he's older and put it in his scrapbook when he graduates from High School. Nico says he got his fear of Santa genetically... Nico was scared of Santa too. :)

Here also are some GREAT pictures of the boys and Grandma and PawPaw. LOVE THEM!!

More Swimming

We only have 1 more swimming lesson left. Eli really seems to be enjoying himself. We love the fact that there are only 3 other kids in there with us. This day was lifejacket day. They told us most kids Eli's age HATE the lifejacket, but he didn't do to bad.

While Eli won't be swimming laps when we get done with the class, he really is getting used to the water. Even in the bathtub now he'll put his chin, nose and eyes in the water. Then he claps... it's great!!

Christms Card Picture

All of the Brother and Sister-in-Laws came over last Saturday night for the 1st Annual Thanksgiving Weekend Movie Night. The plan was to make homemade pizza's and watch movies. Well the pizza part was true, but no movies... too many good football games on. A good time was had by all... especially Nico!! :)

We also had ulterior motives for everyone to come over... needed someone to take a picture of the 3 of us for our Christmas Card. After Eli got up from his nap, we got everyone dressed and all set for the picture. Sahsha took it for us and she did a GREAT job considering the 3 of us... Nico and I "arguing" how to take the picture (sitting or standing) and Eli's nose running like a faucet and wanting to get down and walk around. So I'm going to keep the one we chose a secret until you all see it on the Christmas card, but I will show you some of the bloopers. Enjoy!!

Black Friday

It is a tradition that my mom and I ALWAYS go out on Black Friday and get most of our Christmas shopping done. We even went last year when I was like 8 months pregnant. This year we hit Meijers at 5:00 AM and shopped until about 4:30 PM. So this was a Daddy and Eli day. They had a good time. Here's what Nico dressed him in... surprise, surprise. I'm surprised it wasn't an All-Star DJ shirt. :)

Nico usually avoids Black Friday... unless there's an OUTSTANDING computer deal. So how surprised was I when he told me he wanted to go to Guitar Center. I reminded him he'd have Eli and he said he was going to meet Molly and Hunsche there. I was impressed the boys were going to do it (There was a GREAT deal on lights for the DJ business. :) I said make sure you take a picture. I have to have a picture of Eli's first Black Friday outing. So here they are:

Nico forgot to take the stroller and it was PACKED in there, so he held Eli for about an hr while waiting to be helped... needless to say the next day he woke up with a sore bicep. :) The price we pay for good Black Friday deals!!

Hendricks' Thanksgiving

We went to the Hendricks' on Thanksgiving Day. Eli was pretty excited for it... it was all food he could eat. He went to town on the turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and roll. But his ABSOLUTE favorite was Uncle Kenny's sweet potatoes. YUM YUM!! We found this shirt for the festivities.

Notre Dame Jersey

Coach Potter (family friend and he coaches football with Nico) knows that Nico is a HUGE Notre Dame Football fan. So when Eli was born, he drove up to South Bend and got Eli this jersey. Little did he know then that they were going to be horrible this year... but Eli still wears it proudly. It helped that when he wore it they beat Duke 28-7.

We took some pictures for Coach Potter. Who knows... maybe someday Eli could be playing for Notre Dame... let's hope he's not #7, then he'd probably be a quarterback and boy would that make mom and dad nervous!!

Tigulis Thanksgiving

Since everyone was home last weekend, we had the Tigulis' Thanksgiving then. It was nice to all be together and there was TONS of awesome food. Eli loved Uncle Andy's mashed potatoes.

It's always nice to all get together to remind us that we have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!

Eli and his Aunts and Uncles:

Eli and his Baba & Dedo

Eli and his Great Baba, Aunt, and Cousin:

Party Time

Last Saturday, the Ankenbruck family invited all of their friends from college and their families to their house for a kid friendly party. Of course, Nico had to deck Eli out in All-Star DJ gear.

We laughed how the parties have changed over the last few years.... from beer to baby toys!! :) And this Fischer Price House was a GREAT one... it's now on Eli's Christmas list. He loved it!!

It was nice to see all the kids. Not everyone was able to come, but those that did had a GREAT time!! This is Luke Davis and his dad Brad. He was born in the same day Eli was.

This is Johnny Ankenbruck reading with his mommy. He did a great job of sharing his toys that day. Here he is giving Eli a night kiss

The Tigulis Family...

Swimming Lessons

Monday was Eli's 1st swimming lessons. At the NACS natatorium they offer all types of classes. This one is for infants and toddlers. We go to the 5:15 class and there are only 3 others in the class with us... and one of them is Ava!! She's a pro... we kept telling Eli to watch her.

He did GREAT!! He didn't cry at all, but he was a popsicle by the end of the class... that water was cold, even for me. I think he had a good time and he'll just keep getting better every time!!

Colts vs Patriots Game

This Sunday was the much anticipated Colts vs Patriots football game. We invited the Hunsche family over for some game watching, pizza eating, and toy playing fun. It was nice for both Eli and Molly to be awake.

When we normally do Monday Night Football, the kids are asleep. So they enjoyed playing around each other... they still don't get that playing together concept. All in all it was a GREAT night minus the Colts loss and Mike beating Nico at Fantasy Football. :)

Halloween

On Halloween, we had a nice family night.

Together, Nico, Eli and I sat on the front porch and gave candy to the trick-o-treaters. He had a good time watching all the kids in their costume. He also enjoyed chewing on the candy wrappers !! But eventually it was bed time. Here he is in his Halloween pj's.

I can't even imagine how much fun next year will be when he's old enough to actually trick-o-treat himself!!

Halloween at the Zoo

We went on Monday, October 29th to Halloween at the Zoo. We went with my mom and dad, Uncle Kenny and Aunt Amanda and Cora and Keenan.

We expected that Eli would be awake for only a bit and sleep for the rest of the night. But he surprised us!! He stayed awake the ENTIRE time... there was too many fun things to see. He was nice and toasty in his bee costume and looked adorable!! Can't wait until Halloween!!