Jack Defintely Made the Nice List!

Well, there is absolutely no doubt about it, the Little Man certainly made the infamous "nice" list this year! Although Jack was not very fond of Santa when he went to sit on his lap, the Big Man in Red certainly did not forget about little Jack! We have so many presents, I do not even know what we are going to do with them all! What a wonderful and generous family (and friends too!) Jack is so lucky to have!

So many presents and so many people (in addition to Santa!) to thank, but I will give it a stab! I would like to document all of the presents Jack received since I hope to publish our blog every year. This way, Jack will have memories of all of the presents he received every year by all of the wonderful people that love him so much!

Santa

• stick pony
• baseball glove and ball
• Cardinals teeshirt
• Cardinals ticket for Father/Son game over 4th of July weekend!
  

Granny and Grandpa- hmmm, where shall I begin!!?!

• wooden toy box
• 2 level garage "Little People" toy
  
• racing car set
• Polo outfit
• new shoes
• winter boots
• winter gloves with clips
• winter hat
  
• more pacis, bath wash, tooth brush and toothpaste (in stocking)
• bath toys and bath boat
• Cars boom box and cd player
• play tent/fort with tunnel
  
• portable dining mat
• Cardinals Mr. Potato Head (Jay's favorite, of course!)
• Cookie Monster remote control
• Winnie the Pooh cell phone

Aunt Katie

• Bee Bop Band Drum Set
• Toy Car

Aunt Julie, Uncle Ben, and Adeline

• Blue (from Blue's Clues, Jack's favorite!) stuffed animal
• Paul Frank pajamas
• vintage Superman shirt
• Christmas book

Aunt Julie's "Godmother" gift/tradition

• cell phone ornament

**Aunt Julie started a wonderful tradition by giving Jack an ornament every year that signifies something he is fond of or reminds her of him from the previous year. This year, Jack received a cell phone ornament....this is very appropriate since he loves cell phones:) What a wonderful tradition to start Aunt Julie!

Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Bill, and Jenna

• snowsuit for Mr. Potato Head
• pajamas

Aunt Mary Beth, Uncle Tim, Timmy, Terry, Brian, and Joey

• "If You Take a Mouse to The Movies" book
• mouse stuffed animal

Aunt Pattie, Uncle Dan, Danny, Meghan, and Kaylee

• puzzle

Mrs. Lundy

• Fridge Farm Leap Frog toy
• 2 Tonka trucks

Shari Knytych

• firefighter book set

Kelley Knytych

• mini truck book on wheels

Thank you all SO MUCH for all of Jack's wonderful gifts! He was such a good boy this year and had such a great Christmas! He LOVES everything...and we are so very grateful! After receiving ALL of these wonderful presents, I am sure that Jack is now thinking perhaps Santa is not such a bad guy afterall...HA!

We cannot wait to celebrate Christmas all over with the Heidemann's next weekend!!!

I love, love, LOVE my new fort/tent/tunnel set!!!!"



"Daddy, look at these racing cars!!! Which color do you think will win!!?!"


I also love, love, LOVE my new VERY OWN remote control!"

Aunt Katie, this car is really neat....let's go for a ride!!!"


"I need a break from all of this present opening....it is wearing me out! I think I will kick it back for a minute on Adlee's rocker!"


Grandpa and his 2 favorite grandchildren on Christmas Day.....

Daddy and his Little Man in their matching pajamas! These 2 boys really look forward to wearing their matching pj's on Christmas!

Our Christmas Eve......"at a glance"

We had a very nice Christmas Eve this year. Jay and Daddy shared an afternoon nap together, followed by church, and then a Christmas party at Uncle Dan and Aunt Pattie's house. All of the night's festivities were followed by a visit from Santa, of course! He certainly would not forget this very precious and GOOD little boy this year!

Here are some shots from throughout Christmas Eve day and night.

Daddy and Jack catching some zzz's in hopes to gain some extra energy to see Santa tonight.....


All ready for church wearing our Christmas best!




Aunt Pattie and Uncle Dan's Christmas party.....




"Oh Aunt Katie, enough with all of the smooches already!!!!"


Baby Adeline with her favorite Aunt!

Another SURPRISE visit from Santa this year....you just never know when he will show up! Thank God Jack is always on his very best behavior!



Aunt Katie with her favorite neice and nephew.....


A beautiful musical end to the evening by singing Christmas carols with the Little Man as our pianist!!!! Hopefully, he will follow in his Daddy's footsteps and play the piano!

BELIEVE

I am sure the magic of Christmas has many different meanings to many different people. To me, the meaning of Christmas, it is all about children, their precious innocence, and their uncanny ability to BELIEVE in all of the Christmas wonders and miracles that make this day so special.

Christmas Eve is undoubtedly, my favorite day of the entire year. Having our sweet baby boy as part of our family is truly life's sweetest blessing!

We wish you and your families a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Envelope of Holiday Cheer!

By now, most people have finally received our annual Christmas card. Although they were extremely time consuming to make this year (they were 5 sided!), I had a blast! Every year I say that I am not going to stress myself out by handmaking them, and every year....well, you know how that story goes!!! It always puts a warm feeling in my heart to send old fashioned, homemade envelopes of holiday cheer!

In case you live in downtown Chicago and still did NOT receive a hard copy of our family's Christmas card this year (gotta love how SLOW the mail is in the big city!), below are the photos that I used in this year's card so you can get the jist of it. Just imagine in your head a chocolate brow shimmer background and lots of gold shimmer snowflakes to accent the pictures!

I also want to say a very heartfelt and special thank you to my mom who helped me spend the COUNTLESS hours to make these cards this year! "What were we thinking!?!?!," right Chick!?! We must have said that about 100 times from Thanksgiving until they were finally put in the mail!! HA!! They certainly would not have gotten done without you! Also, thank you so much to Rich and Jan for helping me cut the 558 photos ( yes, that is NOT a typo, 558!!)! 93 total cards made with 5 photos of the little man and one family photo on each card!!!! ALL of your help greatly assisted in making our beautiful cards!


Merry Christmas to All!!!

"He Sees You When You're Sleeping...."


"He Knows When You're Awake....."


"He Knows If You've Been Bad....."

"Or Good....."


"So, be good for goodness sake!!"

Merry Christmas!!!!

Love,

The Heidemann Family

2 Years and Going Strong!

Two years ago, I said "I do!!!"

Happy 2nd Anniversary to my best friend and love of my life!!!

I love you, Jay!

SURPRISE Visit from Santa!!!!!

On Saturday evening, we had a little family pre-Christmas party at Granny and Grandpa's house. "Uncle" Billy will be going home to MI to spend Christmas with his family this year and did not want to miss our annual Secret Santa gift exchange and more importantly, seeing the babies all decked out in their adorable Christmas attire! Little did we all know that SANTA himself would be making a SURPRISE appearance to the family get together!!!! What a wonderful surprise this was to all!!!

Predictably, Santa was wonderful with the babies.....and I am happy to report that after a while, Jack really warmed up to Santa since the Big Man in Red spent so much time playing with him! Santa also brought with him extremely thoughtful and personalized gifts for EVERYONE at the party, including Ralphie!!

We want to say a very special and heartfelt "thank you" to Aunt Katie and "Uncle" Billy for coordinating this remarkable Christmas surprise!!! Also, keeping a secret with this crowd is close to impossible...so, my hat goes off to you for that as well:)

Here are just SOME of the shots I took from the Christmas party. You may be able to notice from the pictures that I am LOVING my early Christmas present--a new camera flash-- from my WONDERFUL husband. I still have lots of practicing to do, but so far, I am happy with what I see!!!

Family Picture with Santa!!!


"Oh Daddy, I am still not so sure about this guy!!!"


Grandpa Harris and the Little Man truly surprised when Santa made his debut appearance!!


Aunt Katie really proud of herself for keeping this surprise a secret!


Jack watching Santa as he is distributing the many presents that he brought.....the Little Man is anxiously awaiting for his name to be called so he can go claim his presents since he was such a good boy this year!


Santa and "Ms. Claus......"
"The Big Man" himself reading the naughty and nice list.....

My 2 favorite boys who I am most grateful for this Christmas!!

The Schultz's first FAMILY photo with Santa!!


"Daddy" Schultz holding his most cherished present he will ever receive.....

The very, VERY proud and happy Grandfather....


Santa doing a remarkable job with Jack so he can warm up to him.....


"OK Santa, you are not so bad.....plus, you brought me this really cool drum set that I LOVE!!! Let's play!!!"

Jack with his new baby cousin, Adeline. He was being so gentle and we were so proud of him!!




My very, VERY HAPPY and healthy baby boy.....a mother's most wonderful gift there is!