Christmas Day!

Very early Christmas morning (well 6:00, but it felt early),we let the kids upstairs to find out if Santa delivered gifts at Grandma Steffen's.  Of course, he did. There were lots of smiles and excited children!

Alex with all his goodies. You'll notice the foam sword, Santa brought 9 swords this year so even Lukey and Julia were armed.

Max with all his gifts from Santa.

Timmy playing with his Jake and the Neverland Pirate set Santa left for him.

Timmy and Parker playing with the new train set Parker got that morning.

Grandma Steffen patiently listening to Max and Oliver talk about Skylanders, a new video game both boys got that morning.

Oliver showing me his new Skylanders in his new Skylanders pajamas.

All mesmerized by, you guessed it, Max playing Skylanders.

Kara, Sophia and Grandma looking on, as we make cookies with Sophia's new baking kit. She can make tiny cookies and cakes in the microwave and decorate them with frosting and fondant.

The finished product.  They spell Sophia.

Henry and Oliver each building one of their lego sets. (No the coffee isn't Henry's :) ).

Luke ready for battle!

Later that day we went to my Dad's and his wife Cheryl's to celebrate.  Above is Henry, Joni holding Zac, Nick, Cheryl and my dad helping get someone's toy out of the box. We all had lunch together, and the kids had a lot of fun playing together with all their new toys.

Kale and Max working on lego sets.

Henry playing with his new play dough truck.

Timmy and Brady building with legos.

Alex also building with legos.

Every year at least one kid gets pulled in this wagon, probably faster than we should let them, but they have fun. Here's Lukey getting his turn compliments of Timmy.

Zac found Grandma and Grandpa Leymaster's push toy.

Sophia and Brady drawing and coloring together, while Nick looks on.

Later in the day Cheryl's daughters came over so all the cousins could get together, and the adults could catch up.  On the floor is Hunter, Sophia, Addison holding the newest cousin (Jodi's first) Camden, and Brady.  On the couch Alex holding Luke, Timmy, Caden,Kale, Henry, Max holding Zac.

Same group with funny faces!

 

 

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, cousins George and Eleanor came to Grandma's so we got to spend the morning with them (Joe and Renee had to work, so we didn't see them).  We went to church that night, came back to Grandma's and opened a few gifts. The kids got their gifts from us, and each other. They also exchanged gifts with their cousins Oliver, Parker, and Julia.  And of course everyone needed to tucked into bed so Santa could come.

Max holding Eleanor

Sophia reading a book to George and Timmy.

Christmas Day 3

Monday, Dec. 23 we visited my grandparents, my dad's parents, at their home.  My grandpa always makes balloon animals, mostly dogs for the kids and they love it.  Lukey was caring around balloons and as I was trying to discourage Lukey from chewing on them, my grandpa thought it would be funny if one popped in Luke's mouth .  And a balloon did pop, but Lukey survived and we all had a great visit.

There they are my grandma, Ruthanne and grandpa, Homer surviving and enjoying our crew.

Christmas Day 2

The next day we were in Dunkerton, celebrating another birthday. This time it was Parker's and he turned 3!  He had a sledding party - that was COLD! complete with hot chocolate and a Thomas the train cake.

Birthday boy and his dad (Parker and Eric) ready to go!

Braden and Henry getting a push down the hill from Grandpa/Uncle Bob.

George on his sled.

Madison took Lukey down the hill, it was too cold for him to stay out very long.

Sara giving Oliver a push.

There goes Alex!

Max's turn.

 

Sophia headed back up the hill for another go at it!

Timmy snuggling Aunt Wendy, it was so cold!

Everyone watching the birthday boy get ready to blow out his candles.

Blowing out the candles!

Christmas Day 1

This year we left New York for Iowa on Dec. 20.  Randy picked the kids up from school, then came home and the rest of us excitedly piled in the van to start our Christmas vacation.  The weather was suppose to get nasty and icy, but we were fortunate and the roads stayed clear with a little fog.  We arrived at Nick and Joni's on the 21st, Kale's Birthday!  We went McDonald's to eat, play and celebrate.

Brady, Sophia, and Timmy watching Kale open a birthday card and presents.

Seven years old today!

Zac and Sophia just playing together.

Zac and Lukey playing with lids and bowls.

At one point in the day Randy grabbed Brady and started blowing on his belly, he of course laughed and laughed.  After Randy stopped, Brady came over, "Will you do that again, Uncle Randy?"  He of course, did.

Max and Kale, reading - yeah right, on electronics.

Same with Alex.