Oh What a Night, Late December back in '08...

What are YOU doing New Year's Eve?


I'm still amazed and awed by my man's agility and strength. All those years of work outs have definitely helped you to remain spry, David Franky.

It gets pretty willllllld at our partays...weird hats, Nerf fights, wrestle time...that was kinda new last year. This is David and Damiano...I think Damiano could take you this year, DFY...he's taller than all of you men!

Tim got to wear the weird hat for a bit and got sloshed on some sparkling cider!! yah Timmy!

Damiano and Will, threatening to shoot the photog.

Ok, so these pix may seem weird to the non-regular Livin' the Good Life visitor.

got any amazing plans for ringing in 2009? or are you just laying low?

We do a mid-way deal...works best for our bustling crew...we usually host a NYE event at our place but we were kinda busting at the seams last year...

We will be hosting same event, at a different locale this year! Come visit us at Horizon Christian Fellowship at Main and 135 in Greenwood...starts at 8 pm.

Hope to see you there!

and see ya next year!

Beware: another camera explosion...Circle of Lights

cute little grizzly holding up a lamp post...Levi thought this was neat.

this is outside of the IPL (Indpls Power and Light) office...I wanted to sit and stare at this amazing tree all night...it's ALL lights...wave it in my face, and I'm a goner...it was so cool! and then they have those cool iridescent things all over as well...whoa, pretty.

a closer look at said cool tree...Mel wants one for our house next year. ha. you're cute, kid.

I like how Mollsy tilted her head when she realized I was taking her picture.

Levi wanted to pose for a lot of pictures this night...he would come up with his own scenes for me to snap away at. I enjoyed walking behind the group with you, Tiny. You are a thoughtful, sweet kid. You are really neat!

we weren't sure what this was...like tire rubber or leather...but cool nonetheless.

outside the Columbia Club, a place for ritzy peeps.

the amazing circle view of Christ Church Episcopalian...the ambience on the circle is so neat!

the top of a building down town. rather eerie as well.

This pic did NOT turn out...these are the remains of the RCA Dome, which was imploded a few weeks ago...and it was rather eerie to be viewing what was left. spooky. Beck, totally Scooby Doo mystery!

this is for you, Scott....and Beck and girls. Let's see if the Colts can get to the Super Bowl this year...happy thoughts. (see below)...I think it's funny, though, how the sign only shows No Right...ha ha....I hope I didn't just jinx them.

Not much to say with these....we went downtown for our annual tour of the Circle of Lights...it was so much fun...and such a fun tradition for our family. some years we have friends with us, some years we don't. this year, we didn't, obviously...and that's ok. Our family is a gaggle of friends on it's own! It's fun to go around the circle, enjoy the festivities, see the carriages, enjoy the sights and sounds and freeze your tukus off! good, clean fun! Molly kept saying, "wooooow"...'twas cute!

Thanks, family, for being such good sports when I stick my cam in your faces. I love you for that. I love you anyways...but these are some way cool memories and I'm blessed to share them with all SIX of you! Thanks, David, for being so agreeable when it comes to our fun family times...you are a cool dude! so glad to walk this life with you!

nuff sap.

g'night...God Bless You. Choose JOY!

Origami, Jeeps, and sad good-byes...

this pic is funny. look closely. Pipe was laying on her toy box, preparing to "give birth". I snapped just in time to see my "great niece" come forth...and Ethan is her Ob/Gyn, apparently? (this was totally decent and we were all in the same room) he just happened to be walking by and she asked him to help her...she is so accurate in this stuff...it crax us all up! Piper, you remind me so much of your mom and I. we did this crazy childbearing stuff ALL THE TIME! you'd think we'd have a few kids of our own by now.

oh, we do. never mind.

get back to your California Dreamin'. but Saturday, it was almost 70 degrees here in Indiana. go figure!

This is Christy, giving Levi a hug good-bye...he liked her but liked to play hard to get with her...she was mesmerizing to him!

this is Becky, getting sucked into the addictive world of Facebook.

Nora bean...this is her standard picture face...love it, kid. you are a cutie bug!

Piper willingly let Levi drive because, of course he's her "husband"...

Origami'n it...she is amazing at it...we were all impressed! is that like a standard thing to know, being Chinese? are you born with it? Christy, are you going to get a Facebook page? that has nothing to do with origami but thougth I'd throw that in here, since it's my blog and all.

It's always hard to say good bye...hate 'em. hellos are grand...maybe kinda awkward at times but always good. Good byes always stink.

We had a really nice time hanging with my kid brother, Andy, and his gal pal (Andy, what are you calling her...girlfriend, sweetie, is there a Chinese phrase we should learn here?), Christy. She is a sweet soul...very tender and affectionate. She was so great with all of our kids and for that, we are quite grateful. Thanks, Christy...just in case you see this! She taught Mel how to do some origami, told us a bit about upcoming Chinese New Year, Jan. 26, 2009...(I love how she says Red Packet...), loved to snuggle up with the middle aged kids (Pipes and Levi)..since Molly and Nora couldn't be bothered to sit that long. We watched one of our fave movies with them... The Village...and she knew right when to scream and scare the poo out of us! Good job, girl! she got Beck, Mom and I Coach hand bags. and the guys got wallets from Coach...whoa...

And the fact that she puts up with my punk brother is, in my book, a pretty cool thing. (love you, Dukey)...she's a tell it like it is kinda girl...It is rather neat to have a different culture introduced into our rather Scottish/Swedish/English (me)/German/Irish/Heinz 57 (David) family...

Ok, I just read thru this and it's all ma-ma foo-foo...but Christy, You are not! You are an awesome girl and we thank the Lord for getting to meet you!

That's that...Andy, you can move back here now. yeah, that's a good idea.

I reckon my camera blowed up on this here blog...

Molly got the Fisher Price Little People Nativity set...so very adorable.

she was so excited. or just weird. I dunno.

I like your Christmas sweater with your pj pants, Levi.

love that early morning expression, David...I think he was sniffing! nice.

Melanie is collecting elephants so her ornament this year was two little ellies.

Christy is an affectionate gal...a wonderful thing about the Chinese culture..we could learn a thing or two from them!

Mollycoddled by Pa, my new fave.

Another new fave, a great pic of my momma with my youngest...

yes, I think David is playing with Molly's little dolly. He was trying to figure out the crinkly noise!

Tom's sweet new Red Wings jacket.

As you can see, Christmas with my family was a crazy busy event as it was at David's family.

My pix seem rather one-sided but truly, when I get Tom's pix and Beck's pix, it will seem a bit more evened out. It was all I could do to get all these...so much fun and activity!

It was a wonderful Christmas...thanks to everyone, Mom, Dad, Tom, Beck, Scott, Andy, Christy, for all the nice and thoughtful presents. We are very grateful to all of you!

Beck, I just noticed that you showed up a bit in your purple sweater but otherwise you and I appear to be MIA!