Christmas 2016

We had a wonderful Christmas!  It was filled with family, friends, fun, new toys, shopping, lazy days and an overnight waterpark trip!  We had over a week off of school and Joe had the same amount of time off of work, too. It was a much needed break!

On Christmas Eve, we went to our service at church.  Once again, it was a beautiful service and the message was really good.  While we were at church, Santa visited our house!  The kids were super excited and couldn't wait to get home.  We had Joe's parents and my parents over for snacks and watching the kids open their gifts.  My sister and her family happened to be home already that night, so they came too!

Dressed up and ready for church!

 

Leaving cookies and milk for Santa!

Santa came!  The quiet before the storm!

Opening presents!

She's excited about her new curling wand!

Checking out his new bow!  He wants to bow hunt for deer and turkey next year!

My mom, sister and I exchange a homemade gift every year.  My mom was convinced hers was the best one, so we decided to exchange them on Christmas Eve because we couldn't wait!  My mom's was a good one!  She made us wooden serving trays with the word family on it.  Very nice!  My sister made us homemade candles and I made homemade chapstick. 

On Christmas morning we went over to Joe's parents.  We were fortunate that at some point during the Christmas break, we were able to see all of the family.

Cousins!

Worn out from a busy morning!

That afternoon we headed over to my parents to open gifts and have supper. 

A few days later I found this on my phone:

We had a couple of free days over break so we decided to go to Dubuque and stay overnight at the waterpark.  It was a fun little getaway!  We wanted to go snow skiing, but there wasn't much snow, so we decided to do this instead.  Troy wasn't sure about the waterslides, but once he did it, he wanted to go over and over!

Twinsies!

On New Year's Eve, Adria made us a recipe from her new cookbook she got for Christmas.  Chocolate whoopie pies!  Very yummy!  We were super crazy on New Year's as we stayed home and were in bed by 11!