European Reunion

Our friends moved to Amsterdam 8 months ago and the girls have been counting down the days until they would see their friends again during Christmas break. 

We surprised Evy at school - Clara came along with me to the 5th-grade Holidays Around the World presentations. 

We were able to meet up for some jump time.

Charlie and her friends had a sleepover with Grace! 

I hosted the 5th graders at our house for a reunion sleepover. Sundae bar!

At 10:00 I gathered up all of the electronics. 

These nuts were still awake at 3 a.m. At 4 a.m. I had to go downstairs and stay there until they fell asleep. I guess they were too excited to sleep. In this picture, they are all wearing the "European" hairdo that Clara introduced them too. Not really a European style just something silly they came up with. 

A boy and his quiver

Will received a bow and some arrows for Christmas. He was having a hard time keeping track of his arrows and there was nowhere to store the extras while he shot. So Papa Jake rigged up this quiver for Will. Hilarious hearing a 5-year-old ask "Where's my quiver?" 

Christmas in Cedar Rapids

We spent the night in Cedar Rapids to celebrate Christmas with Scott's side of the family. 

Opening presents. 

HydroFlask!

Kate is good at selfies!

Aunt Julie reading to Will.

Grammy and Aunt Diane.

Lobster! Yum! A great meal every year. 

Christmas at home

Lots of loot in that stocking!

Santa brought Charlie long carrots and a peeler. Seems a little odd but she asked for it!

Clothes!

Santa brought the kids a PS4. Their main gift from Mom and Dad was this couch for the newly formed "kids club." 

It was 60 degrees on Christmas Day so Evy and I took Bo for a walk. 

'Twas the Night before Christmas and everyone was EXCITED!

Christmas in Keo

Hilarious saran wrap game where the kids got to unroll the saran wrap and try to get money and candy out while the next kid quickly rolled the dice. When doubles were rolled the saran wrap ball was passed to the next person. 

Fun shooting the BB gun.

Evy Basketball

Evy's been with the Lady Bears for 3.5 years. As the team has recruited new players and started to focus on being regionally competitive it was no longer a good fit. Evy played with the team through December. They won their 5th-grade league and had some good tournament wins. She will miss the friends she made on this team!!

Quick (Snowy) Trip to Kansas City

We left for Kansas City on Saturday morning with the intention of going to the Broncos vs Chiefs game on Sunday. However, when we woke up Sunday morning Kansas City was under a winter storm warning for the next two days! Freezing rain and snow made us decide to scrap the football game and head straight back home. Horrible driving conditions and a 6-hour trip. So thankful we made it home in one piece. 

We found Coralbell

Our police department has such a fun Facebook page. They hid the city elf somewhere in town and then gave clues to her location. We decided to play along. On Tuesday night we drove around for an hour looking for her with no luck and then they gave a really good clue on Wednesday morning. Will and I found her after preschool. When we returned her to the police station Will chose a $20 HuHot gift card as our prize! 

Our Artist

Evy loves sketching these figures. I love this sketch that she did of our family. This fall she entered a contest for area 5th and 6th graders to design the holiday card for a local credit union. I was so proud of the effort she put into her drawing and I'm so annoyed that I forgot to take a picture of it! It was a red cardinal in an evergreen tree in front of the credit union corporate headquarters. She didn't end up winning which I think is just crazy! :-) 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We enjoyed the day in Marion with Scott's family and didn't do much else over the long weekend. 

The Master Rigger

We call Will the hoarder. He wants to keep everything - every sticker, every card, every piece of paper. He has been known to drag cardboard out of the recycling bin and construct some random item using 3 rolls of tape in the process. And don't even think about throwing his creation away! His room would be stacked to the ceiling with cardboard creations if we didn't sneak things out to the trash occasionally. 

The Year It Snowed on Halloween

Charlie kicked Halloween week off at dance class. Her class wore their costumes and performed a special Halloween dance for the parents. 

It snowed 5 inches overnight and until about 10 a.m. on October 31. What?!?

Will and his classmates performed two songs for parents. Here, Will is one of 5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate. 

After Will's school parade and performance, we sped over to the girl's school for their costume parade. 

Didn't get the best shot of Evy and her friend Laela. 

After school, the kids had the great idea of shoveling a path through the grass so kids wouldn't have to walk through the snow to get to our front door for trick or treat. 

Evy was a Pink Lady and she picked out a T-bird costume for Bo. It was too small and he hated it. 

Pink Lady.

Thanos in his snow boots. 

Uma's snow boots just happen to match her costume perfectly.

It was about 35 degrees at 5:30 when we met up with a crew to go trick or treating.

L to R Claire, Georgie, Charlie, Julia, Josie and Elsie. 

Charlie, Will, Grandma Joan and I made it until 6:30 before we were frozen and went back to the house. The kids took a brief break and then went back out with Papa Jake and Scott. They were determined to get the full-size candy bars from our neighbor!

This is the first year Evy and her friends were given the freedom to trick or treat on their own. I may have tracked her on her Gizmo watch multiple times. 

L to R: Eliza, Sophia, Sophie, Elsie, Kathryn, Lila, Addie and Evy

The girls made their way back to our house around 7:00. It was dark and freezing and everyone was done. They all managed to get tons of candy!