Christmas & Birthday Celebrations and a Trip to Kansas City

 

Here are some pictures and narrative from our celebrations over the holidays. The picture above is from our trip to Kansas City to see Levi and Alanna.

Here are pictures from Grace's 7th birthday.

These are some activities from the girls school. They had a holiday celebration also a Christmas Concert.

These is from our Christmas celebration on Christmas Morning.

These pics are from our trip to Kansas City. We celebrated Christmas and Levi and Grace's birthday too.

Aprons that Alanna made for the girls.

Lots of park time since the weather was good there.

Emma loves giving gifts! Many times it is regifting of stuff that is her sisters ;-)

Dirt pudding for Grace's second celebration at Levi and Alannas.

Unfortunately, this trip didn't end so well. We broke down on the way back and we are still in the process of trying to get our van fixed. Please pray for this as it looks like we need a new motor and it is in Columbia, MO. So that makes it more complicated.

Thanksgiving, Jake's Visit and Family Stuff

We were so grateful to have our older kids home recently. Levi and Alanna were with us for five sweet days, and Jake was here for almost two weeks. What a gift it was to have the house full again—for meals around the table, late-night conversations, and those simple moments you don’t realize you miss until they’re back.

Being far from our kids is one of the hardest parts of this new season of life. Jennifer and I were talking about it just last night. In some ways, this chapter feels lighter—living in the U.S. again brings many comforts we didn’t always have before. But in other ways, it’s more challenging, especially with our kids spread out and beginning their own lives far from home.

All of that makes the time we do get with them even more meaningful. We’re deeply grateful for every visit, every hug, and every day we get to share with our adult children. 

Here are some pictures from these times together:

Welcoming Crew

Thanksgiving

Decorating for Christmas

Pacers game with the boys.

Quick trip up to Indiana Dunes to hike in the snow.

Christmas with Jake

Lots of game time with Jake and boys

Christmas and January Fun

 We had a great time with our family over the holidays. Levi and Alanna were here for about 10 days and Jacob came for 2 weeks. Below are a lot of pics and not necesarily in order but I will try and give a few details about some of the pics.

Emma wanted "big ole snuggle bug hugs" from her bubbies.

Not sure how they did this pic but I like it. Girls always wanted to play with Levi and Jake!

Birthday lunch for Levi on December 31st.

Christmas with Ben's side of the family.

Aunt Brandi got a new basketball goal for the kids for Christmas. 

Christmas Morning Fun

More snuggles with bubby

Lukester opening some presents

More pics from Ben's side of the family Christmas

Celebration at Jennifer's side of the family celebration

More pics from Levi's bday. 22 already!

It was a fun following Notre Dame football with the boys all the way to the Championship game this year.

Fun in the snow.

Sledding. They love all things unicorn and this was a hit too.

Fun times with the family over the last month or so.