Fall & Winter 2025 / 2026

Quietly, Summer has closed its door and Fall has arrived. 

Will started another school year at Black Hawk College. He enjoyed the quiet summer of no school, just work.  Kaitee continues to work full time at APK with the infants and Maddie has been busy working 2 jobs - Hobby Lobby and Missions Intern at Edgewood Baptist. 

We were privileged to witness many beautiful Fall colors! Matt & I took a few day trips to enjoy the scenery. 

Burlington, Iowa (along Great River Road South)...

Decorah, IA (Great River Road North)...

Maddie & Micah enjoyed some pumpkin carving, attended a wedding and had a few day trips to local parks for hiking. Maddie had foot surgery in September so she was in a boot (and knee scooter) until the first part of December. It didn't slow her down though!

Kaitee's been busy too! She headed out of town with friends a few times (Wisconsin Dells & Chicago area) and has been to a few local musicals with Maddie (Cinderella and Sound of Music).

Matt surprised her with tickets to Wheel of Fortune Live! when the show stopped in Davenport. She loved seeing the set in person and spinning the wheel.

In December, she and Will took the train into Chicago to see Phantom of the Opera on stage. While downtown, they enjoyed the Christmas lights and decorations. It was an amazing (and very cold!!!) day for both of them! 

Matt & I also spent a day in the Chicagoland area - shopping at IKEA and eating deep dish pizza at Lou's. Doesn't get much better than that, ha!

A bucket list item for many people - including us - is to witness the Northern Lights. We drove out of town in 2024 to see them (in Wisconsin...out in the country). This time, we were able to see the color with our naked eyes, in our back yard, which is in the city! It was AMAZING!

We spent some time with Alex's family - watching Malachi play football and attending a band concert for Will & Jacob (Jacob did a wonderful job conducting too!). 

Kaitee & I did some thrift shopping one evening and enjoyed dinner at a Classic Pizza Hut. Brought back a lot of great memories!

Matt & I have been busy going through my dad's genealogy boxes - lots of pictures, paperwork and letters. It has been daunting but very interesting to see the things that dad tracked down over the years (without the help of the internet!). I just wish I could sit and chat with him about these things. Dementia is a thief. 

This box is one of 4 that we brought home and are in the process of scanning in to the computer.

I hung out with Dad one afternoon while Mom had an appointment. We grabbed lunch and when I took our picture, he was amazed that he could see us on the phone!

Thanksgiving week was a wonderful time of family hangouts! Teri, Steve & Judah came home for a few days (cut short due to the promise of a major snowstorm). We enjoyed a dinner out - just us girls, shopping & lunch with Dad (finding his gifts to Mom for Christmas) and of course a wonderful Thanksgiving Day (parade, dog show, games, laughter, food & fellowship). 

Thanksgiving weekend, we finished decorating the house for Christmas and gave the kids their ornaments. 

The Larson family ornament has all of their family names, including their fur babies.

Maddie's ornament is a square dancing couple. Ultimately, we wanted a line dancing ornament but that was hard to find! She attended a few line dancing nights with the college ministry group...and met Micah!

Will (and Matt) jumped out of a plane this summer! 

Kaitee has become a frequent railer (is that a word?!?) through Amtrak this year. She has taken the train to Chicago multiple times as well as to Cleveland & Boston for her first solo vacation. This ornament is actually one piece of 3. 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new monogram stockings for the family!

This is the first year of putting the tree in a different corner. It will take some getting used to, but I like it there!

We also took our annual family picture.

We packed a lot of activities into the month between Thanksgiving & Christmas!

My birthday is right in the middle of the chaos of the season. The kids surprised me at 12:01 am (we were all awake and home, which is a small miracle!) with song & gifts.

I asked for some Hallmark ornaments (thank you Ebay!) and Matt surprised me with a personal message (Cameo) from Pat Hughes (Hall of Famer, Radio play-by-play announcer for the Cubs). 

A few of my other new/favorite ornaments for the year.

Matt & I were joined by the Rheas for my birthday dinner. We ate at Central Standard, a local restaurant that goes above and beyond with their Christmas decorations! It was a wonderful evening!

December is always a fun month - full of Christmas activities. We were able to do most of our traditional outings, but the kids weren't able to join us for all of them - the joys of working retail.

East Peoria - 

It was just Matt, Kaitee and me for this trip. We had fun at Bass Pro Shop, ate lunch, hit some Goodwills and then drove through the Festival of Lights.

Platteville/Dubuque - 

Maddie, Micah & Kaitee joined us for an afternoon of shopping, climbing the (icy!) stairs along the Platteville "M", eating deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno and ending our night in Dubuque (Reflections in the Park).

Kewanee - Windmont Park

Will & Kaitee joined us for this trip. We started our night at Paxton's Corner Coop for a sweet treat.

The weather from Thanksgiving to Christmas was pretty brutal - we got a lot of snow and then warm temps...then frigid cold temps. This lead to ice dams on the roof and lots of heavy ice in the gutters. Matt & I spent many hours up on the ladder, clearing out the ice. NOT A FAN! 

Here we are, on the ladder (above the pergola) melting the ice in the gutters.

Kaitee & I headed out to Mom & Dad's one afternoon to help Dad wrap Mom's Christmas gifts and make sure that they were under the tree for Christmas Morning.

I also enjoyed putting together a few Christmas puzzles this year - I put this Christmas Vacation puzzle together while watching the movie (that was fun!). I also found an advent puzzle (a box a day) that was festive and enjoyable to do while I watched Christmas shows.

Time to hand out the Christmas treat boxes!

Just after Christmas (see this post for our Christmas Eve & Christmas Day celebrations), Matt & I headed to the Rockford/Chicago area for the weekend. We enjoyed some shopping, wonderful food and Christmas lights. We stopped in Romeoville to see their outside light display - it was impressive!

And as quickly as the Christmas Season came, it was gone! Time to pack up the ornaments, put away the tree, bring in all of the outside lights. Time to welcome 2026 and say goodbye to 2025 - another wonderful year, with many memories to cherish for years to come.

Time to celebrate the Twins - they turned 20 in January. We are officially done with teenagers! 

I forgot the candles! Will found a gif of a burning candle and placed it by the cake while we sang.

Matt & I made a last minute decision to purchase tickets to the Iowa/Ohio State Women's Basketball game a few weeks ago. It was wonderful to finally see them in person! And they won (and we enjoyed a Carver Cone)!

Even though the calendar just turned to February, I'm calling an end to Winter, haha! We've had enough of the snow and very cold, cold weather. We are ready for sunshine and warmer temps. No more wind chill! Longer Days and open windows (one can dream!).

Now, it is time to start planning some road trip vacations for these warmer, longer days!