Family Blog: January 2013

We have been busy over the past month preparing for the holidays. This week we are back to a "normal" schedule and I thought I'd give an update on our holidays. Christmas was pretty low key this year. We stayed here in Indianola for the first time in 8 years. Zach's dad and Grandparents came to visit us the Sunday before Christmas. We had an enjoyable time watching the boys unwrap their presents and play with everything. Memorable gifts include the wooden rocking horses that Grandpa Leif and Grandpa Don built and the Cars blankets made with love by Grandma Mary before she died. Both boys use those blankets to sleep with now and Isaac specifically asks for the special tag to be at the top. The tag says "made with love by Grandma". Isaac also got his first set of golf clubs and can't wait to try them out with dad this spring!

Christmas Eve we went to our church's Christmas Eve service for the 1st time in our married life. It was a traditional candlelight service which I haven't done since college. We all enjoyed it, especially Caleb who was fascinated by the lit candle at the end. When we got home we made preparations for Santa to come by leaving him some milk and cookies. Then the boys headed off to bed with excitement for the next day.

We opened presents Christmas morning, including the awesome car tracks that Santa brought the boys. Each boy did very well in Christmas presents this year, no shortage of anything! Isaac and Caleb both got figurines from the movie Toy Story and some more cars from the movie Cars 2. We were planning to go out to my parents for lunch but my mom wasn't feeling well so we went to my brothers instead. Christmas day was quiet but enjoyable.

My family got together the weekend after Christmas. The boys had a lot of fun sledding down Grandpa and Grandma's hills. It was freezing outside but they didn't care! Again we were blessed with wonderful presents and no one can complain they didn't get anything. We stayed out at my parents through New Year's Eve so we could watch the Iowa State bowl game. It was on ESPN and we don't have cable. Iowa State did not pull off the win but we had an enjoyable time with my family anyway. We came back home that night and celebrated New Year's early and went to bed.

That pretty much sums up our holiday season. This week we are back in the swing of things with Isaac going back to preschool and Zach working a full week. Here are some pictures from our holidays for you to enjoy!