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!