Christmas 2015

We are well into 2016, and it has been a great start! I don't know how many readers I still have, but I do want to continue to document these memories as this is our scrapbook! So here are a few memories from Christmas 2015. This Christmas break was two weeks of travel. We decided to brave the Canadian winter, as it had been seven years since we had been there for Christmas. The last time we were there it was 40 below for seven days! It left a permanent scar on our memories so it took a while to get up the courage to head back. We were so glad we went though. It was so good to see extended family especially Kevins two Omas. We made lots of memories in the snow and the indoor water park and we survived quite nicely.

These two pictures are flipped around. This was the first year I really did not have to do much to the tree. I decided to just keep it the way the kids decorated, even if all the preschool ornaments didn't end up in the back corner. 😳It is always good to reminisce about when the kids were small. We had to get the requisite family picture in front of the Christmas tree, with the promise of a goofy picture of course. Kiddo pictures are getting a little easier these days but it is still amazing how challenging it is to stand there nice and smile!

Making Christmas cookies was always one of my favorite memories of Christmas when I was little. I decided to fully tackle that this year with everybody again. It had been a few years. We had a great time and ate a lot of frosting!

Ethan read the Luke 2 story for us before we opened our presents. We did this a few nights before we left for Canada.

Our flight left mid morning from San Francisco. Instead of dealing with traffic we decided to spend the night in a hotel the night before. It was such a great way to start off our trip. The kids loved their time in their first "fancy" hotel. We made sure it had an indoor swimming pool. They also ended up having a free happy hour which was a nice surprise!

Then we made it to the frozen White North! I was so thankful to my sister-in-law who managed to track down virtually all our snow gear. I just had to bring a couple things. The snow up there was really dry and fluffy, so it wasn't good for snowballs or snowman, but we also didn't come into the house soaking wet. It all just brushed off of us. Well it wasn't 40 below, it was still pretty chilly. I think the warmest it got was 9°! The kids were rock stars though and ended up playing outside for an hour or two at a time. They learned early on that it doesn't work to go in and out of the house as much as they do at home! I told my sister-in-law that all cold-weather moms get an extra jewel in their crown since it is so much work putting on and off snow gear!

One bummer, was that Kevin's Oma fell about a week before we came up. She had to stay in the hospital as she had a broken hip. We were all able to visit her one afternoon for an hour or so. And then Brooklyn and Ethan went back with Kevin's mom to see her again. We would have loved to spend more time with her, but we were thankful for the few minutes we did have.

We celebrated with the Bodewitz side on Christmas Day. We went out to Ron and Rose's house. They were great hosts and the kids had a great time meeting everybody. Kevin and I enjoyed catching up and chatting with family we haven't seen in way too long!

We needed a new and updated family picture. The last one has Makena as a baby and Kayla is not around yet.

We got some sledding in as well. There were a few hills around Kevin's parents house that worked perfect. Daddy and Uncle Ryan even got his quad out so the kids didn't have to walk up the hill. Talk about spoiled sledding! This was definitely a highlight for the kids.

All the grandkids! This was the last minute before Ryan and Jessica left for the night. Makena was not impressed with having to take this picture! The kids sure love to being able to play with their cousins. We wish we could do it more often.

The teepee the kids and Kevin built in the forest. And a last minute picture with Opa and Oma at the airport. How is this the only picture we have with them?

And two more sledding pictures. So fun!

After two days home to do laundry and recover a little bit, we headed to Pebble Beach. We overlapped one night with Kara and her family and then were there with my parents. We enjoyed lots of beach time and a quick trip to the aquarium and just a lot of relaxing.

We got to head out for dinner one night on our own and the kids had pizza with my parents. It was nice to get away for a couple hours.

Sunday night we headed to the bag piper, which you know by now is a favorite of ours. One of the things I love about going there is sitting with other people and meeting people from all over our state and sometimes around the country. I love that our kids get a chance to talk with other adults and practice their manners and eye contact with new people. Brooklyn walked confidently around Spanish Bay wrapped in her blanket. So sweet!

We wrapped up our break with some ice skating back at home. We made lots of

memories and had a lot of fun. The kids were troopers with all the traveling but needed a few days to detox from all the extra attention.

And now the blossoms are on the trees and spring is in the air!!