Sunday

So...Sunday we all kind of crashed. Aubrey wasn't feeling well, so she and I missed out on seeing Dave, Teneesa and family.

After some clean up, and packing...we just chilled. 

Aubrey wanted to take a picture of me and it was actually in focus....

Mom did some cupping...it looks awful but feels nice.

We Wore Mama Out

She was MIA for a few hours...then I found the mummy...

Henry Turns 3!

Henry turned 3 on December 27th...and we celebrated with the family. I often wish we lived closer to  all of our family...and birthdays are no exception. It's nice to celebrate together. 

Singing Happy Birthday

Love that smile between Daddy and Son.

 Zion and Gabe were unicorns for the party.

A wolverine/robot/whatever pinata was lots of fun for everyone!

Henry starting off the festivities.

Watching the fun

Layla - 3 1/2

Aubrey - nearly 5

Caroline - 1

Israel - 8

Tyler - 10

Gabe - 10

 

Grandma taking her swing

Lynette's turn

Carrie - Hi Ya!

Wayne gives it a kick

The candy scramble

Silly Israel

Time for birthday cupcakes and blowing out candles

Stories in the cabin

Every night, Mom and Dad slept with an assortment of the "big boys" in the cabin. Mom would read to them and Dad told them of his tales of bear hunting in Maine and adventures in Alaska. It was very important to each of the boys to be there as they didn't want to miss any of their story time.

Christmas

We did things a little differently this year...one thing we did differently was to have the cousin gift exchange on Christmas Eve followed by an impromptu dance party. 

For some reason, this is the only picture I took...Wayne with Layla's new Frozen backpack. 

Christmas morning, Tim told the Christmas story to/with the kids...and then led us in a few Christmas carols.

Dad snuggling with the girls.

And now with Henry too

Carrie and Caroline...love her happy little tongue!

Tim very patiently telling the Christmas story...

silly

Guns

Tim's family arrived and brought with them some fun laser guns. They were cracking me up...

Tim taking aim

Naughty

Cutie Patootie Caroline

Can't you sense their joy?

Mom had dressed Aubrey up in my flower girl dress...and she's in on the fun too with one of Henry's many toy guns.

All the boys are having fun now...

And after, I thought it was sweet to see Tim patiently teaching Aubrey about playing guitar...

Bath Time!

Grandma Polly

After an uneventful trip with dry roads and no traffic to speak of, we arrived in Middlebury. 

Ah, back home.

Katrina had kindly invited me to her exercise classes and I was happy to check them out. The first morning, I got to see this pretty sunrise as I headed out. 

Can I just say...she's in great shape and it was lots of fun...and I was sore. So glad I got to go and wish I could go all the time!

Grandma Polly invited us over for the evening meal. She made a fabulous dinner...of course dessert was her famous Yoder Delight.

After dinner were some shenanigans after getting into Grandma's toy drawers.

Grandma Carol in disguise

Googeek in dsiguise

Traveling

I was very thankful to have a last minute option to work an extra 3 1/2 hours on Friday, December 19th instead of having to come in for those hours on Monday, December 22nd. It gave us a couple of extra days to see my family. Considering that we only come home a couple of times a year, these times are very special to me.

I was also happy that we were able to stop in Valparaiso on the way and meet up with Joel, Karen, Evan and Emma. It has been way too long since we've seen one another. After my confusion which caused us to meet up in 2 different restaurants, we did get together and were able to enjoy a nice lunch with their family. :)