Christmas in Iowa

Our  visit with Grandma Josephine

Cook Cousins

Uncle Trevor and Bryker

Fake Smiles

Silly Boys

Girls in the matching nightgowns Grandma Becki had made.

The shirt that Kaylee bought for me with her own money and decorated for me.

Trace's new blanket I made him.

Kianna with her new Daddy Doll. Look closely and you may recognize someone.

Girls with the photo books I made them.

Kianna with her new wall art of The Fruits of the Spirit.

Trace had a Star Wars Christmas. Daddy was pretty excited!!!

Aunt Stacie and Rylan

Girls with Grandma Carie

Trace and Mommy

Stacie, Mom and I

Kaylee and Aliyah

We traveled back to Iowa Dec 21-29th. As usual our trip was full of fun times. 

Our highlights include:

• Spending time with The Wenzel's in Illinois. Sally and I even had some girl time in their new sauna.  
• Running out of gas on our drive from Illinois to Iowa. We always get gas by The Wenzels' house and this time we totally forgot! The red light went unnoticed until our car slowly came to a halt along the interstate. A nice police officer came to our rescue and an hour later we were on our way again. That was a BIG oops!
• Getting our new dog, Snuggles.
• Visiting Grandma Gaskill: She was recently placed in hospice care after several falls and a diagnosis of leukemia. The kids and I had the opportunity to sing her some Christmas carols. She must have enjoyed our singing because she requested "Silent Night" twice. These are memories I will cherish!
• Kaylee losing her front tooth on Christmas Eve. She specifically waited until Christmas Eve to let Daddy pull it out because she wanted the Tooth Fairy to run into Santa Clause. How cute is that!
• Christmas Eve with Grandma Becki, Grandpa Bob and The Langfald's- Aunt Sam and Grandma Becki came up with some fun games for the kids to play that night. They even got prizes!
• Meeting our new niece, Rylan, for the first time on Christmas Day.
• Trace's almost slumber party at Bryker's house- The boys are only 10 months apart and each time they are together they seem to enjoy each other's company more and more. They had a blast together, but the slumber party was cut short due to lack of slumbering...
• Chloe's Slumber Party- The girls were invited to their friend, Chloe's birthday party. The party happened to be at a hotel with swimming included. They both had a great time. With all of our kids at slumber parties, Trevor and I had a date night. Whoo hoo!!!
• Iowa Men's Basketball Game with The Kruid's. We had a great time catching up with our friends who we hadn't seen in many years. They are an amazing couple and it was really fun spending time with them. Unfortunately, the Hawks didn't pull off a "W", but it was a good game regardless. 
• Spending time with our other dear friends and family. It is always good being back "home".

Kianna's LCS Christmas Program

Kianna's class combined with the other two pre-K classes to do a Christmas Program. Kianna was ecstatic to be Mary. In fact, she somehow wiggled herself into that role. Kianna had originally wanted to be Mary, but was assigned to be the head angel who had three lines to memorize. She told her teacher on Monday she was afraid she would forget her lines and wanted to be Mary instead. Her friend, Callie, who was supposed to be Mary said she would be the head angel and wallah Kianna was Mary. Never under estimate the powers of manipulation that start so young. Regardless of how she became Mary, she proudly held baby Jesus. We even watched the movie "The Nativity Story" in preparation for her big role.

Here are the videos of Kianna's Christmas Program. They are cute, but a little lengthy. I had to break it into two parts for that reason.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Trace's Christmas Program

I told Trace to open his eyes and this is what I got.

Trace and I had a Christmas Party at our bible study this morning. I knew the kids were going to do a few songs, but I had no idea how cute their performance would be. In fact, I left our video camera at home and am SO bummed. The kids sang a few songs and Trace was the kid right in the front row singing at the top of his lungs and doing all the motions. He was super into it and did an awesome job! He even clapped for himself on multiple occasions. Great job Trace!

Trace and his class threw Jesus a birthday party complete with birthday hats, crafts, and birthday cake. Trace made an angel ornament for his craft, which if you look closely you will see his angel is made out of his foot. How precious!

Church Christmas Program 2011

The girls both had speaking parts in their Christmas Program at church. They did a great job. I think Kianna was the youngest one up there. Here is the video of them speaking:

Christmas Lights at the Toledo Zoo

This is what Trace looks like when he pouts.

The garland is really shed snake skins. I took this in honor of my step-dad, John, who LOVES reptiles.

We've heard lots of people talk about how beautiful the Toledo Zoo is decorated at Christmas time, so we decided to check it out this year. It was a cold night, so we were bundled up good. We didn't see many animals, but the lights were worth the trip. Some of the lights were even synchronized to music.

Kaylee's LCS Christmas Program

Kaylee and her class did a great job at their Christmas Program. Kaylee actually had a solo which you can view on the video below. I just figured out how to post videos. Yeah for me!

I also added links for you to see Kaylee as the narrator under my Thanksgiving Chapel entry and for you to hear Kianna saying the Fruits of the Spirit under the October posting. I don't want you dear people missing out on any special events now that we live in Michigan. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving in Bloomington

Hiking

Can you find the salamander?

Dirty hands

Aunt Traci's salamander

Bonfire smoking us out

More salamanders

More salamanders

Bumper Boats

We traveled to Bloomington, Indiana to visit Trevor's Uncle Todd, Aunt Traci, and cousins: Broderick and Brittany for Thanksgiving. We left on Wednesday and returned home on Saturday morning. We had nice weather, great company, yummy food, and a fantastic time. They are all wonderful with our kids and even had some special activities planned for them. Some of the highlights of our trip include:

• Visiting with our family. 
• Hiking in the woods while hunting for salamanders. 
• Eating s'mores at our bonfire. 
• Playing tag with the paddle boats.
• Playing frisbee golf and corn hole.
• Making and decorating sugar cookies with Uncle Todd. 
• Eating our yummy Thanksgiving dinner.
• Seeing Woody in Downtown Bloomington at the annual Christmas Lighting Ceremony.  

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I want to take a moment to reflect on a few of the things I am thankful for this year:

• Good health- I think I often take this for granted but recently was reminded of the fragility of the human body. I am so thankful for my healthy family.
• Laughter- I need to take more time to enjoy the simple things of life and laugh more.
• Forgiveness- God's grace, patience, and love are amazing. I strive to be more like Him although I fail frequently... 
• The ability to learn from our mistakes.
• The warmth and safety of our home.
• Freedom to worship as I choose.
• Trevor- He is a wonderful husband, a dedicated father, an excellent provider, and a man of integrity. I love him dearly.
• Kaylee- She is such a sweet, innocent little girl who is everyone's friend.
• Kianna- She loves to be silly and sing songs, which makes me smile.
• Trace- He gives the best hugs and has begun telling me "I love you this much" as he spreads his arms out wide. How precious is my little guy!
• Friends and Family- We have wonderful people in our lives who love us and support us. We are blessed!