Grandparents . . .

We always appreciate the time we spend with our parents and siblings, since most of them are out of state.  The kids had a blast playing with aunts and uncles and grandparents.  Gideon enjoyed the wrestling, cars, and throwing of balls.  Briella enjoyed the sitting on various laps, playing dress up, and extra books being read to her.

 The best gift opening this year was not any of the kids, it was my Mom  . . . when she saw we (as in the siblings) got her and Dad a Kindle Fire and a few books for their trip to Alaska in August.  priceless.

 Briella loves to visit Great Grandma Miersma and play with all her dolls.  While Grandma was holding Asher and Gideon was playing on the floor, Asher started giggling--it was so cute!

 Evidently our kids were the most excited to help Great Grandma VM open her gifts.  She didn't seem to mind ;)


I have to include this one because I'm sure Brynn wants to see how it turned out:

 Here is our section of the VM party crowd.  It was a fun party, even though I am sure we maxed out the capacity in that place.
Later in the night, Asher was cracking up while Great Grandma was holding him.  So fun to see him enjoying his big happy family :)

Our trip to Iowa also included seeing Stephan's parents and sister, but we missed getting pictures of them.  We had a wonderful time in Iowa, including our first ever Chili Bash at Casey's Bakery (highly recommended!!), the typical stop at the candy store, and lots of food, games, and books at G & G Buys' house!

Advent Calendar

Last year,  I used several Christmas cards and holiday ads to make an Advent Calendar for our family (you can see it in the background of the first picture).  This year I printed out cards with activities for each day and added a few suckers to a few pockets.  It was so much fun!  The kids loved taking turns to find out what the paper said we could do, and it was great to have many opportunities to talk about what Christmas really about.  
Several days we made Christmas treats to share with others . . . lots of fun!!   One day we puts some treats in a container on our trash can for the trash guy.  We kept the blinds up and I stayed in the kitchen frequently checking outside to see if he was coming or if we missed him, etc.  Finally we had finished lunch and still not trash man :(  the kids were getting ready for naps when I saw him turn onto our street!  I yelled for them to come to the big window and they quickly came as he slowed down and reached out his door for the treats.  Gideon was jumping up and down at the long awaited event.  The trash man looked up and we waved vigorously as he smiled his thanks so us.  It was so fun to share some Christmas joy with the trash guy.

 One morning we opened gifts . . . also very exciting!

 

Some of our other activities were singing Christmas songs together, memorizing a Christmas verse, looking at Christmas lights, finding a bright star at night (on the way to Iowa was the perfect time for this one!), and making pictures and cards for grandparents and friends.
Because we left to visit my parents on the 16th, we kind of finished early and missed some of our plans.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed our special activities and I am looking forward to next year (maybe we'll have snow and get to go sledding?!?!?).

200th post

Note: There are no giveaways at this blog . . . even when I hit post #200 . . . so sorry if you were holding out for a freebie. 


It is hard to believe our little guy is 4months old already and I haven't finished posting these 3 month pics!!  Life has been a little hectic with holiday baking, holiday travels, and holiday clean up!
I enjoy trying to capture cute pictures of my kids . . . but it doesn't always go as slick as I would like.  Stephan was home helping with this photo shoot, thankfully, especially when it got a little spitty . . . see below (warning: do not scroll down if you are eating or are about to eat!)

 Nice, huh?!?  These last three shots were taken one right after the other . . . 
1-a little spit--wipe it up 
2-big spit--try a new position
3 smile with your tongue out!


Of course, our other 'helpers' wanted to get in on the action . . .

20 hour Chicago trip

 Thursday night Stephan was talking to his dad . . . and asked if we'd be interested in coming to Chicago Friday to hang out with them.  They had meetings on Saturday, but would be arriving at 2:30 on Friday.  Stephan had the day off, so we decided to go for it.  
We met them at Vito and Nick's a major dive with delicious, unique pizza.  We tried the Italian shredded beef in the video.
Next we headed to Chick fil A for the best shakes EVER!  Peppermint chocolate chip--YUM!  Believe it or not we found a way to eat two shakes in our 20 hour stay :)
Grandpa and Grandma had lots of fun holding Asher and getting him to smile.  Briella and Gideon thought the pool was awesome.

 

Briella and Gideon got to open presents from G & G --so exciting!!

 

 Gideon was thrilled with his new truck, a car carrier, and a hot wheels track that attaches to the wall--his dad thinks it's very cool, too.
Miss Briella was SO happy to see her princess things and thinks her cute rug is cozy, too.

 It was fun to take a little trip and the kids LOVED it!!  I know Chicago has more to offer than pizza and shakes, but the family time was worth the trip!