Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas in Indiana

After visiting my brother and his family in Chicago, we drove the short distance to Joel's family in Indiana.  We were pleased to see that they had snow too--so the kids got lots of good playtime outside!!

 





We had our traditional fondue supper before opening gifts that night.


 
 
 
 
The next day, we split up into guys and girls--the girls went shopping and out for lunch while the guys watched the kids--and then that evening, the guys went out.  That's always a lot of fun!  (And you can't be after-Christmas Target sales!)

Saturday we took the kids to a bounce and wore them out completely!  Although, we came home and they did go sledding again!

We left Sunday morning at 3:30 and were home by 3 in the afternoon!  It was a great trip!  Joel and I commented that it couldn't have gone better (well, except that Brahm was a bit fussy and clingy!)  But Oliver and Lily did fantastic, Brahm slept much better than our trips this summer, and in his defense, he IS getting 3 teeth in!!!  :-)

Aliens and the Bean

Here are two more fun pics from our Christmas trip to Chicago:

The first is one of our family pictures that was taken on that FREEZING day that we all (14 of us!) ventured downtown.  



Next up?  Aliens.  Pretty cute stuff, huh??  (And good blackmail pictures for the future!)

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas in Kansas City and Chicago

We were excited to be able to travel again for Christmas--and since my brother and his wife JUST had their 4th baby, we got to go up to Chicago for my family's Christmas.  

We started by staying with my sister in Kansas City.  The kids loved camping out with her on the floor and watching movies, we visited Union Station (VERY cool trains!) and Legoland.  The kids LOVED it!!! 

 Joel and I even snuck in a date to Denny's! (We were hoping some really cool coffee shop would be open, but just couldn't find one!)

Then we left for Chicago to stay with my brother.  Actually, the awesome thing is, since my brother and his wife are in seminary housing (an apartment with 2 bedrooms and 4 kids) it worked out that we got our own apartment to borrow for two nights--which worked out really well!

We ventured out downtown on the El for some family pictures and fun.  

 Oliver and Addilyn loved the train!  

Lily and Grandpa J. bonded.  They're tight, yo.

And thankfully Brahm slept on the way home.  After screaming for the first 20 minutes of the adventure, we were glad to have him resting.

 Then, we had our party that night--Erin made a delicious meal, and then we opened gifts.  It was a wonderful time!!!!
 

 (My new nephew, Albert.  He was a week old and was eleven pounds at birth!  And such a cutie!!!)



 Aunt Courtney is one person that Brahm will tolerate--he even LIKES her!  :-)



 
 The pajama picture!!  All 7 of them now:  2 girls, 5 boys.  Wow.
Oh, and the highlight was quite possibly these funny blow-up alien heads that my Canadian cousin sent the kids!  They were HILARIOUS!!!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas 2012

Christmas Break started out with snow--HOORAY!!  The kids loved it, and were outside by 7:20am.  Lily couldn't stay out so long--she gets cold fast.  But Oliver--he was outside much of the day.  

They also had fun playing together:  legos, crafts, helping me with cookies, even Santa showed up!  And Lily's answer to the question, "What do you want for Christmas?"  "An ipad."  EVERYTIME.  Thankfully, she was happy with the non-ipad gifts she DID receive!

We had our family Christmas at home with my parents on Saturday before we left for Chicago and Indiana.  We had so much fun: a fancy dinner, the kids quoted a portion of Luke 2 they had learned, and then we opened gifts!









 
Afterwards, Oliver was able to make a microphone stand with some PVC building pieces he got, which was a perfect opportunity to sing Christmas carols with the guitar, and Lily on the mic. 

The next day, we took off for Courtney's place in KC!