Christmas Day

We had a busy Christmas morning.  I even set the alarm so we could get an early start to our day.  After presents, we went to Christmas mass.  Then we packed up and headed to Ottumwa for lunch.  Thank goodness the roads were good for all of our traveling these past two days.

Checking out what is in the stockings.

Once we arrived in Ottumwa, we went straight to my grandparents farm to celebrate.  Everyone looks forward to gathering together there.  My grandparents like to host even though they are 91 and 92 years old.  CRAZY!!!!  

 Then we headed to my mom's house. 

Photo taken by Ruthie

Another picture taken by Ruthie

A silly picture of my brother's family.  Ruth wanted to be in their picture too:-)

This year all of the kids have really grown in height and look so much older. 

Christmas Eve in Omaha

Clare hangin out with her cousin, John.

Playing Spot It.  Clare got this game in her stocking last year, and I thought to bring it to Omaha.  Dan absolutely loved playing it.

Gramma loves to get a picture with grandkids.

A new Under Armour shirt

Ruth's gift from Gramma was a doctor kit.  This was a hit.

Trying to teach the older kids how to play Eucher.

Here I am with my sister in law, Raye, and Mary

Phil with his mom and brother, Dan

Letters to Santa

Basketball

Andrew has been playing basketball this season.  To be honest, basketball isn't one of his favorite sports and has opted not to play it the last couple of years.  But this year a team asked Andrew to join and play in a few tournaments and league games.   All of these boys he has known for a few years due to playing on the same football or baseball team.  All are great kids. 

This weekend, the Heat, had a tournament.  They played 3 games and made it to the championship game and won. 

Andrew is the first boy on the left in the back row. 

First Snow

The girls couldn't wait to go out in the snow after church.  I brought up their snow pants from the basement, hoping Ruth's would still fit.  Luckily they did but not by much.  Once they were all bundled up, out they went.  Ruth didn't last very long, too cold and wet too.  The snow was perfect for snowballs since it was a wet, heavy snowfall.  This is about all we got.  It melted later in the day.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Ottumwa this year.  My mom hosts it every year but we don't always make it home.  My brother's family came too.   The next day, we visited my grandparents, which we just saw the previous day but we met my cousin Michelle and family out at the Farm.  The kids had fun getting together with their cousins and we'll all be together at the Farm for Christmas.

So sweet!!

My cousin Michelle and I with my grandpa. 

A Little Late

Andrew's 12th birthday was Nov. 11th.  We celebrated with going to Buffalo Wild Wings, his choice.  Then it was time for presents and cake.  In less than a year, there will be another teenager in the house.

Catching Up

These days it is hard to get a picture of Andrew without him playing in a sport.  One weekend, we actually hung out together more than usual to work on a project for school.  Anyway, Phil and I have noticed how much taller Andrew is getting.  He use to be about a head shorter than Olivia.  Well, Olivia is a little taller than me but I wanted to see how close he is to me with my height.  Olivia took the picture and as you can tell, he is catching up with me. 

Social Studies project

Happy Halloween

Grandma Ann came up over the weekend and brought the kids a goodie bag FULL of Halloween treat for the kids.

Clare wanted to be a pirate this year for Halloween.  Of course I had a pirate costume for her to wear when she was younger but never wore it.  So we bought a new one.  Since I had a mini-pirate costume at hand, I thought Ruth could use it.  Ruth could have been a princess with all of her dress-up clothes and she is a girly girl.  BUT she quickly agreed to be the same as her sister. 

Clare's friend went Trick-or-Treating with us.

Football Isn't Over Yet

Just when the fall sports started to wind down, we received news that Andrew was 1 of 26 boys selected to play on the Johnston Youth Tournament Team.  This is a first for the organization.  This past week Andrew had 4 days of practice for their first tournament in Ankeny.  The first game against Ankeny went well but it was a struggle to move the ball.  Andrew scored a touchdown on a field kick return, running about 50 yards in the play.  The final score was 20-6... Dragons win!!!

Then today, the Dragons played the Lincoln Rails.  Another tough opponent but was able to pull off another win.  Final score 17-6. 

The next tournament will be this coming weekend.

Andrew position is running back.

#12 is Andrew

Came in first place out of 4 teams.

Proud for how his team played in the games this weekend.

Color Run

On Sat. I participated in the Color Run downtown Des Moines.  I was inspired by my good friend Amber when she did this event in Kansas City this past summer.  I found out it was coming to DM in the fall and thought it would be a ton of fun.  And it was a BLAST, despite the 40 degree temps.  It was chilly walking up to the start and then again walking back to our car.  Otherwise, I didn't notice the coldness.  Maybe waiting with the other 27, 000 people and the excitement kept me warm. 

Here we are before, all clean and lots of white.

Heading downtown

Ready to start the FUN!!!

The finish line and splatted with LOTS of color.

After shot

My sister-in-law and I