Christmas Vacation and Beyond!

Saturday was our last day at Randy's mom's house. We went to Saturday night Mass, ate dinner with some of Randy's family, and left for Tipton, (IA).  Randy's sister, Karen, lives in Tipton which is about 1 1/2 -2 hours closer to home than Randy's mom's house.  We left early Sunday morning with high hopes of getting home maybe as early as 9pm, but right away we had terrible roads. We ended up driving 45mph from Tipton, IA to about 100 miles into Ohio where it started to rain. It was a LONG drive. Once we were driving in rain, we did the math and we still wouldn't get home until about 3 am.  So we decided to stop and spend the night at Sara and Eric's (in Kent, OH) and drive the rest of the way Monday. So Randy got an extra day off work, and Max and Sophia an extra day off school.  Alex had rode home with Aunt Kathy for the fun of it and though she was driving that day she pushed on home.  (Never mind the she had started the day before in bad roads, at night, and ended up with a flat tire.  She had AAA and she and Alex got a hotel, and new tire the next day.)  The kicker was, the next day we hit snow again, making our 6 hour drive, 7 1/2.  It was good to be home! 

Timmy and George ready to go.

Randy's gag gift to Eric for completing his doctorate.  Complete with a elbow patches, hat and pipe.

Now at home enjoying Christmas gifts here.

Kara reading new stories to Henry and Timmy.

Alex, Max and Sophia using Sophia's new spirograph.

Jake (from the cartoon Jake and the Neverland pirates) fighting Lukey.

Luke taking a turn dressing up as Jake.

Making pretzel bites with her Easy Bake Oven.

Day 14 - Friday

Friday, our overall health as a family and extended family took a turn for the better. My dad came over to Margaret's for a visit in the morning. Then Sara, Kathy, Audrey, Margaret, Sophia and I took lunch to Donna at her work, and then a quick little shopping trip.

After that Madison and her boyfriend, Jacob, took Sophia to Frozen, after a big bunch of us climbed on the trucks at the Dunkerton Fire Station.

Sophia was the only one brave enough to put on a hat.

Henry, Oliver, Audrey, Randy, Dale and Sophia carefully studying the town map.

Timmy and Parker - to the rescue!

Henry taking a turn driving. The kids did climb all over the trucks, not just sit in the driver seats, but that was the only place they were slow enough to get a picture.

Lukey wants his turn, too.

Day 10-13 Dooms days!

Monday through Thursday were, well, the low point in the vacation. We had sick, sick kids.  Between Sara's family and ours (who were all staying together at Randy's mom's) there were at least 3 trips to Urgent Care and many patients taken, I think 9.  I won't remember it all right but Luke had RSV and two ear infections. Sophia had a stomach bug, and Timmy had the flu.  Eric,Sara, Oliver and Julia had a variety of illness. Even Margaret got sick.  Which left us all dispersing medicine, delivering toast and holding crying children -ALOT!! But we did survive and by the end all were well. 

Day 9 - Amy's baby shower

On Sunday, Dec. 29 there was girls only, baby shower for Amy (Heathman).  Randy's niece, daughter to Coco and Chris.  Sophia and I had a nice time visiting, playing a game and watch her open tons of presents, and Sophia played with her cousin.

Day 8 - Dec. 28

The Steffen Christmas
Here are Randy's siblings and their families.(Starting with the oldest, Kenny.  And as a side note I've decided to skip trying to explain how each person is related to us. For example Mason is Randy's oldest brother's son-in-law.  Way too complicated for a blog! :) )
 

Bob, all the way to the left in the back is not actually in this family. :) It starts with Brenda in the orange, Kenny, Laura, Mason, and Kayla holding Eli.  Boyfriend to Leeann (sorry don't know his name), Leeann, Baily and Jonathan. 

Kevin's family.   Abby, missing her husband Matt, Jeanette, Kevin, and Jill holding Liam.  Zach's girlfriend, Zach holding Ethan.

Karen's family.  Mark, Maggie, her boyfriend, Scott, and Karen, missing their daughter Kelsey.

Dan's family.  On the couch Leah holding Marshal, Cora, Wanda. Marcus in the UNI shirt, behind him is Jessica, Chris, Danielle, Mandy, Dan and I think Gage (maybe Kain, sorry I can't tell them apart very well.). They're missing Alicia, Corey, Kain or Gage, Casey and Carrie. 

Donna's family. Donna, Heidi, and Steve.

Dale and his family.  Audrey and Dale missing their daughter Madison.

Bob and his family.  Bob, Wendy, Lisa, her boyfriend, and Eric.  Terry, Braydon, and Jacob.

Coco's family. Cody, Kelli, Coco, and Chris. Amy in front pregnant with their first little bean and Kelli's horse slippers on either side of the baby.

Kathy's family. Kathy and Dale. Missing all their family Samantha, Michelle, Christopher and Jason.

Our crew.  Alex, Timmy, Kara holding Henry, Max with a stuffed bear on his shoulder, Sophia and Randy wrestling Lucas.

Joe and his family.  Joe holding George, Renee holding Eleanor.

Sara's family.  They are missing their son Parker (he's napping) so have gained some extras.  The extras include Marshal and Danielle. Then Sara holding Oliver, and Eric holding Julia..  With our kids Timmy and Sophia holding Lucas.

Margaret with some of her great grand kids.

Every year the Christmas story from the Bible is read before we open gifts, this year Randy got the honors.

Kenny holding grandson Eli and Randy holding Lukey. The two little boys are only months apart.  There were tons of gifts to be opened, cards to be played, good food to be eaten and lots of good conversation- a fun time for all.

Day 6 & 7 - (the 26th and 27th)

 The morning after Christmas we loaded up and went to Marion. That's where we celebrated with my mom's side of the family.  Our first celebration was with my Grandpa's brother and his family. (No pics.)

The next my Grandma, my Uncle Pat, my cousin Sara,my cousin Emily,and her family- Matt, and Mikey, Nick (my brother) and Joni and the 8 of us celebrated.  Here is a quilt Joni's mom made for my grandma out of my aunt's clothes.

Merry Christmas, Emily and Mikey!

Here's Lucas sporting Zac's pj's that Randy was sure were pink.  (They're grey)

Max and Kale building with legos.

On the day of our Christmas celebration, my grandpa isn't able to leaving his care facility, so we took turns going to visit him.  Here's our crew ; Sophia, Kara, holding Luke, Max, my grandma, my grandpa, Alex holding a very cooperative Timmy and Henry.  He seemed happy to see all of us, and we were happy to see him.

Leaving them where they fell for the night.

The night owls.  Nick, Joni, Randy, Sarah and I stayed up way too late discussing the finer points of life. :)

Alex also finally gave up.