Christmas Eve

 We had a full two weeks off for Christmas break...and it's been a perfect balance of fun and rest. 

Annaliese started it off with a sleepover/birthday party at her best friends house. She came home tired and happy Saturday morning!! 

We spent all of Christmas Eve doing our own family gifts. We opened them slowly and spent lots of time playing with each thing. We got a new gaming system (that we are actually going to return for a different set-up,) a portable pickleball net, legos, and new games! 

Playing pickleball!

We fit in a brisk walk because it was such a lovely day!

Lydia made this wreath for me! She and a few of her friends from school planned the craft and got together to make them!

We went to the Christmas Eve service at church in the evening. Grandma, Grandpa, Thane, Kim, and the boys all joined us. It was a great service and Annaliese was part of the Christmas band!

We ended the day with a FaceTime call with Grandpa, Grandma and Mama Joan in California!

December

 Wow...here we are at the end of the month already, with 2025 just a few hours away. While December wasn't filled with quite as many Christmas activities as I was hoping, we still filled our free time with all sorts of fun things.

Decorating the tree

Showing off this year's ornament!

Kyle went to a lighted boat parade when he was in Spokane.

This huge tree fell across our room, but didn't do any damage!

Dress up day st school

Elementary school Christmas concert...they did a great job!!

Making granola (G-Momma's recipe!)

That was all within the first 3 weeks of December! Kyle went to Spokane for a few days for a work meeting. Basketball finished up, so we enjoyed having a little more time each day, and I started working a consistent schedule. 

Christmas break was filled with so many fun activities that it deserves a post of its own!

We have a teenager in the house!

Hard to believe, but Annaliese is 13! She is growing into such a lovely young lady. She is an excellent student, works hard, and likes to do things well. Her teachers always have wonderful things to say about her and tell me that 'it's a joy to have her in class.' 

I can count on her to get things done when she's asked (unless she's in the middle of a good book) and we often leave her in charge for short periods of time. 

Annaliese loves basketball and soccer and has improved at both sports over the past year. She spends her free time reading, building legos, and playing the piano. She likes spending time at Auntie Kim's house, where she and Elias like baking and playing soccer together! Most of the time, she's pretty easy-going and generally, a happy person to be around! 

She has two close friends, Esme and Emma, and they have such a great time whenever they are together. 

For her birthday, we had Esme and Emma spend the night. Kyle took them all to The Eureka Room, a local escape room. They made it out with less than a minute to spare!

They filled the rest of their time with hide-and-seek in the dark, Twister, 'keep the balloon off the floor with your head' and other silly games. There was so much laughter!

Favorite Teacher: Auntie Kim or Mr. Kaemingk

Favorite Subject: Math

Sports: Basketball and Soccer

Instruments: Piano and Saxophone

Shoe Size: 8.5 

Favorite Dinner: Hamburgers

Favorite Restaurant: Infusion Cuisine

Favorite Bible Verse: Joshua 1:9

Favorite Color: Turquoise

Favorite Pastime: Reading (fantasy books)

Kyle was teaching all the girls how to use these power tools!

And just for fun, here's a few pictures from 13 years ago...