We celebrated the twins' birthday this past week! I can't believe that they are officially teenagers now!
As has been the case all winter, there was a snow storm predicted for the same day(s) we would be celebrating with family and friends. We decided to continue with our plans for the family get together since the snow wasn't predicted to start until later that evening. It worked out well! We ate pizza, cake & ice cream and had time to sit and talk with everyone before bundling up against the weather.
As Will started to open his present from Grammy & Grandad, he quickly realized a big mistake. He had received Maddie's Lego set...and Maddie received Will's set!
More presents to open...
Maddie loves to use beach balls in the basement to practice her serving and hitting. Safe to say, it drives the rest of the family absolutely batty! Here she is, showing off a present of Emoji beach balls (because all her other beach balls keep popping)!
People ask Will, "what do you do with your Lego sets once they are built?". While he will take them apart and rebuild occasionally, this is more to his liking. He will set up battles around the house (usually on the basement floor...the whole floor!). It's pretty impressive!
The next day (their actual birthday), we headed to Comedy Sportz - a local improv joint.
Maddie & Will were both celebrated!
The team captains were told to go find someone from the audience who looked like them. Will got picked by this captain.
Will then got called on stage to be a part of the game - "Dinner at Will's" where the team had to act out what a dinner at Will's would look like. Will was only allowed to agree or disagree as the members acted out things. Very funny - lots of great laughs.
We ended our night with a stop at Whitey's to conclude our celebration! It was a very fun night filled with laughter and friends.
Happy 13th Maddie & Will. We pray that your 13th year is an amazing one, full of wonderful, fun memories for both of you.
Christmas has come and gone once again. Thanksgiving comes around and we start our "To Do Before Christmas" List...it seems like we have so much time to accomplish all of our "to dos". Unfortunately, the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas tend to go faster as the time goes by!
We love to drive around and look at Christmas lights - aside from the local lights, we take a few quick trips to see light displays within an hour or two.
This year, we drove to Kewanee to walk through Windmont Park - but we first stopped in Annawan at the Corner Coop for some fun photo ops (lots of Christmas Vacation Props) and a yummy treat!
We stopped for dinner and then headed out of Kewanee - stopping to drive through one of the Kewanee city parks along the way. We needed a distraction for 4 kids who weren't getting along...and I found it (it was a pure God moment!). I stopped on the side of the road and told Will to run out and play on the slide a few times. Kaitee saw the tire swing and immediately ran out to swing - with the other 3 quickly joining her. Within a few minutes, everyone was laughing and having fun with each other.
A few days later, school was out and the kids were home for 2 weeks. First on the agenda - gingerbread houses! I have absolutely no patience for this so I told the kids that they were on their own. Kaitee was gone for the afternoon but the other three worked on their houses. Maddie ended up with more frosting on her hands than on her house. In the end, Alex & Kaitee's houses were sturdy and complete while the twins' houses were falling apart! They had fun though...and ate lots of sugar (could be the reason the twins' houses fell apart...)
Will's House
Alex's House
Maddie's House
Kaitee's House
A few nights later, we headed to Dubuque to drive through Louis Murphy Park.
Christmas Eve - Church and Secret Santa Exchange between the kids
Will - Alarm clock with noise maker & star projector (from Alex)
Maddie - 2 Nike Headbands (from Kaitee)
We all slept in (around 8:30) Christmas morning! Woke up and opened our gifts...
I received a "I was a Cubs Fan before it was cool" car sticker from Maddie & Alex. Absolutely love it!
Maddie & Alex loved the surprise of Bryant & Rizzo wall clings.
Yoga Mat for Alex. She also received some Ugg Boots and a purse lanyard.
Kaitee is pretty excited to watch all 3 seasons of Supergirl
Dunder Mifflin Shirt and some Lego Sets
Maddie was all volleyball! Miracle Season (book, tshirt & DVD). I had a surprise for her a few weeks ago when we met the coach and author of the book!
Her big surprise was a Fitbit!
Will asked for cash - all of the new Lego sets come out early January. I wanted to get something for him to open, other than money. The second gift was a shock and he was super surprised! It was Sir Meows A Lot (from Dennis Daily YouTuber, Will's favorite)
I received a beautiful gift. Matt and I get each other a gift for Christmas, but it is typically very limited and small. Not a lot of time or energy put into the gift, just something to open on Christmas morning.
This morning, Matt had the kids do a scavenger hunt. At the end of the scavenger hunt was a letter for me.
So, backtrack a few months...remember earlier in the year when I decided to scan and digitize ALL of our pictures? I had piles and piles of pictures that were destined for the garbage. Matt and the kids each took their turn going through the pictures to save out ones that they wanted. After a while, Matt noticed a pattern. He asked for Maddie's help in pulling out pictures with this pattern. This was in May or June.
Over the last few weeks he dwindled down the pictures and started to write clues for the scavenger hunt. He gave Kaitee the first clue, when she found the next clue, it was on the back of a picture of Alex. Alex read the next clue and then located the third clue...on the back of a picture of Will. This went on for 24 clues. Around the 23rd clue, Kaitee says, "hey, do you guys realize that in most of these pictures at least one of us is wearing a Cubs shirt?" (Remember that pattern I mentioned earlier).
The 25th clue was given to me.
I am so touched and blown away by Matt's gift to me. He has saved his birthday money from the past 4 years for this gift.
I look forward to our time in Chicago. We'd already talked about heading to Chicago last year, but ran out of time. We know it will be a bit more pricey than our other Cub games. We plan to stay downtown for a few nights and see the sights...showing the kids things they've never seen...but Matt and I have. And of course, Wrigley.
We made our usual breakfast fare - egg casserole and monkey bread. We then headed over to my parent's house for the Barman Christmas celebration.
The Barman Tree Skirt Singers
Grammy's annual Christmas Pageant - Shepherd Matt wore his grandfather's robe which he received when he traveled to the Middle East, years ago.
Gifts & Stockings to Open
We ending our time with a game of Christmas Pictionary. Ironically, we ended our game (all out of clues) with a tied score. We had fun and lots of laughing!
Matt explains his "Clark Griswald" - plugging in the lights and standing next to Cousin Eddy.
As 2018 comes to a close, we are so thankful for the past year of blessings, health and many great memories. We look forward to 2019 and pray for more of the same.
