December 2017

December 2017 (plus January 1)

It's time for the Christmas Season!!!!!!

Hooray!!!!!

Looking at pictures from last Christmas

is getting me all excited for this 

coming one.

Ok, I'll focus now.

On the first day of December,

the traditions began!

With our advent calendars:

AND it was nice enough outside

for Ellory to ride her bike:

Look at these cute church-going kids:

Ellory's hair was a little wild...

On this particular Sunday,

we had to wait for Tyler to have a meeting after church.

The kids were super patient

and thought it was cool to play in the 

"way back" of the car:

Here are a few of the funny things

the kids said:

 

That last one was especially hilarious.

At school, Kale's library teacher

showed them a website where they

could learn how to Code.

Anyone surprised that Kale loved it?

The really cool thing is that she

emailed the parents how we could

access it at home.

So we got it going and Kale showed us how it worked:

Ellory started showing an interest in

how to play Candyland according to the actual rules:

Sometimes, when we would go to Wal-Mart,

I would get her popcorn chicken at the start

so she would be more cooperative

during our visit:

We went to watch an indoor track meet

that Iowa State was hosting.

It's not the most entertaining thing in the world

for littles, but they

really liked watching the high jump.

We left the track meet early

to go to our Ward's Christmas Party.

They had cookie decorating:

And Santa!

Ellory said she wanted to talk to Santa,

but she didn't want to sit

on his lap.

I don't blame you girlfriend.

That night,

they both really wanted me to take

pictures of them in their pajamas:

One day we went to the mall

and they got to ride on 

the cheap little carousel thing:

Kale asked if one day after school he could

have his friend, Rose, over to watch

the movie Elf.

Rose has a little sister Ellory's age named Ruby,

so we invited her too:

And there was popcorn:

Nana came to visit!!

And I taught her how to make Cakeballs.

She took the kids home with her,

and Pop-Pop read them a story:

Tyler and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary!

We went to dinner at a fancy place,

and just had a fun night out together.

No pictures were taken.

Oops.

But my new friend, Andra, stopped by

with sparkling cider and glasses,

and it just made me smile

that she would think of us like that:

Ellory fell asleep in the car.

I carried her inside and would 

normally have laid her down on the couch,

but this time, I just wanted

to hold her close.

It was looking more and more

likely that another baby was not in my future,

and so I just wanted to hold on to these 

moments with her as long as possible:

Dain came home for Christmas break,

and Mom took us to see Mannheim Steamroller in concert!

 I thought it was really really fun

and I'm so glad we did it!

Dain was being a little turd because

he missed his girl,

but we had fun with him anyway.

Nana had the kids help her make

the famous sugar cookies:

And we delivered cookies

and caroled to a few ladies.

Full car!

Poor Dain, always the rejected child:

One of the ladies we visited was 

Alma Roberts.

I love her so much,

and I'm so grateful I got to visit 

with her this last time:

Tyler and I went to see 

The Last Jedi.

It's a bit of a controversial topic.

Let's just say,

not one of our best date nights.

It happens sometimes.

Playin in the playroom!

So for this Christmas what we did was this:

we spent most of the week

before Christmas at my parents house.

Then, we went back to Ames on the Eve of Christmas Eve

because I needed to play the piano 

at church on Christmas Eve.

And then, after church, we went back to my parents house!

But here, back at our house,

on the Eve of Christmas Eve,

we watched Babes In Toyland:

We woke up to snow the next morning!

Kale helped Tyler shovel our driveway:

Before going to church,

we decided to open our presents

from Tyler's side of the family:

Grandma Pam gives the grandkids

their own ornament every year.

This year, Ellory got a pink octopus:

And Kale got a Sea Turtle:

My friend Amy Marsh made the kids

ornaments again and mailed them to us:

Isn't this little Nativity so sweet??

And the Raffs sent us this

really great ornament of our family:

They are ready for church:

Look! I did her hair again!

We made it to Nana and Pop-Pop's house,

so it was time to get real festive.

Leaving out cookies for Santa

and carrots for the reindeer

on the same plates I used when I was a kid:

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

Kale and Ellory wanted to sleep in the same

bed that night.

 

And we stayed up to watch

A Christmas Story.

Classic!

Oh, and of course we kept up the tradition

of Christmas Eve Pajamas!

On Christmas morning,

Kale woke up ready to go,

but Ellory wasn't quite ready...

But eventually she got there.

You should have seen her face when she saw

what Santa had brought her!!

And Kale was so excited to see 

this GIANT lego set:

Santa brought the whole family

a PS4.

Kale is the one who asked for video games,

but Santa thought it was better

not to give that gift to a 6-year-old,

and instead give it to his whole family.

Win-Win.

Ellory was tired pretty quickly..

And Kale was in heaven

After a yummy breakfast,

we opened the presents under the tree.

Kale was sooo excited to give Tyler

the game cribbage.

It was really cute.

The Flash!!

Nana finally has her own

pepper spray and taser gun.

Watch out bad guys! 

And sleds from Uncle Jake!

Back to the video games...

And playing with her fun new kitchen stuff:

Ellory got the game Guess Who,

and she really liked it!

Time to wind down with a fire

and a movie

And that was Christmas!

It was a wonderful time with family,

and I'm glad we got to spend it together.

Then, a few days later,

we loaded up and headed to Colorado Springs

to visit Kyle and Heather and Charlotte and new baby Emma!

Of course the weather was crappy

in Iowa when we left.

Getting passed Des Moines was a little scary.

This is an accident that happened right in front of us:

But we made it to Ogallala 

and stopped for the night.

I shared a bed with Ellory.

She is not fun to share a bed with:

And then we got up and made it the 

rest of the way there.

Charlotte and Ellory played on the stairs

for a bit:

Look at that sweet face:

Me and Dad and Charlotte and Ellory

decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood:

And then Ellory and Charlotte discovered

this incredible game called,

"pick up the rocks and give them to Pop-Pop"

Ellory said she was getting cold,

so Pop-Pop gave her his sweater...

Grilling by headlamp light,

I love it:

Kyle and Heather gave Ellory 

a puzzle for Christmas,

which she wasted no time

in putting together:

And Charlotte really liked her Uncle Tyler:

And warmed up to her Uncle Dain:

And here is baby Emma!!

She was so precious.

And so tiny!

Uncle Kyle let Kale play on his Xbox.

Nice move Kyle.

And we walked with the kids

to a nearby park for a bit 

because, wiggles.

Pop-Pop and Emma:

We got a game from Shane and Realyn

for Christmas called Qwixx.

We loved it so much we brought it with us:

That night we went to a place 

to get some pizza.

It was a really cool place,

but it was LOUD and CROWDED

and probably not where Ellory or Charlotte or Emma wanted to be.

But the pizza was yummy!

We went to Colorado to see Kyle and his family,

but also because we wanted to be

there for Emma's baby blessing.

Sunday came, and off to church we went.

Heather got Ellory and Charlotte matching

dresses that they wore.

But we were silly and didn't

get a picture of them together!

But I snagged this one:

He's such a sweet daddy:

My turn to hold her!!

And then it was time to go back home.

Kale and Ellory really are the best

little travelers we could ask for.

Phew! We made it through all of 2017.

Happy New Year!