So far, moving back to Indiana has been what I imagined — which is good! We are getting familiar with our surroundings but already, it’s been great to see my family several times. My sister Lindsey lives in Indianapolis, about 25 minutes from me, so I have seen her and the kiddos several times already!

Their house is right on the pathway of the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon so…being the marathon runners & lovers that we all are — it was obvious they would set up a water station, blast some tunes and hand out PBR as well. Amazingly, we gave away ALL the beer to half-marathoners at mile 9 pretty quickly!

It was so nice to be able to just get up and drive over to her house like that. I’ve been able to help with the kids a bit and and I’m just SO happy to see their little faces regularly now. One of my biggest problems with living in DC was that these guys would grow up without knowing me. It was always so hard watching holidays and birthdays from afar — FaceTime just wasn’t cutting it!

On Sunday, it was more family time — Gunner’s 2nd birthday party! I was so excited to be able to make it.

While Rick is like a professional kid — he entertains them endlessly — I am the Aunt that just likes to be there and involved. I’m not that great at “playing” — though I suspect I will become much better at it very soon! There’s just something about being an Aunt — you really love those kids like they are your own. They are all so different and awesome in their own ways. Man I’m lucky to have so much great family in my life!

Here’s with my Mom and my Dad:

My other sister, Shelby, and my parents live an hour away in Bloomington but that seems SO MUCH closer than the 10 hours away I’m used to. Plus, my extended family (many of them) live there too so it will be so great to see everyone more often.

Outside of family time, we did a lot of shopping. Babies R’ Us has not seen the last of us! We keep thinking of things we need. I’m sure we are going overboard but it’s hard predicting what you do and don’t need, even when you ask experienced people. Currently, I still need to buy a rocking chair, a sound machine and a bassinet. We were going to use the napper in the Pack n’ Play but I’m sorry, that thing does NOT look that safe. I know newborns don’t roll over but I just need something more secure looking!

So that was my very exciting weekend. Think I need to do a formal family intro post so you know who all these crazy characters are! Perhaps soon 🙂