Beyer family Christmas 2013

At Harper's Ferry again :) Thursday, January 2nd through Sunday, January 5th, 2014.... whew! I'm behind!

As you can see, the kids had an AMAZING time!

Last year we were concerned with swim diapers and even not letting the 'littles' see that the big kids were in the hot-tub. This year, it was the MAIN event for them!

brotherly/sisterly love :D

adore Blake's smile :)

And I have to say that this was the star on top of the tree for LeaAnn... not only did she get a new swimsuit for Christmas, she got to WEAR it for swimming in the hot-tub!

That night wrestling with uncle Brent...

and playing with toys we brought... Christmas presents did not come until the next day.

Huge hit, for the young and old ;)

Friday morning... situating the helmet situation :) That morning Chris left and went Prairie Du Chien to work for a few hours... which wasn't a huge deal, but it was for me... trying to get the littles outside, drag them up the hill for sledding... which they did! All the kids did... snowmobiles were not in action until Brent & Jody got back from town. And actually I was down 2 kids for most of the morning, as Lauren & Lindsay spent a majority of the time in Barb & Grammy's cabin.

And I did not take my camera out for sledding... and I should have, but there is only SO MUCH one can do, right?! This was after sledding with hot chocolate, notice LeaAnn's attire?

how cute is this?

So we did give the kids' rides on the sleds, littles took naps and this was later on pool :)

and right BEFORE, the mom's & dad's went on an adult snowmobile ride to Harper's Ferry! :D

Compliments of Grammy & Aunt Barb :) we all doubled up which was interesting for the climbing that has to be done to get to Harper's... but it worked!

That evening...

Syd lovin' on monkey-baby :)

Another trip in the hot tub... THANK YOU Aunt Jody :) (look how old LeaAnn looks!!! ahhhhhhhhh! HOW did that happen?!?)

After dinner... it was time for presents!

We went youngest to oldest... and LeaAnn got this super cool magnet toy from Grammy :)

Owen a telescope

Miles and his dog-guitar

Lydia and her fur-real kitty named Penny (or Kenny, depending on the time of day ;)

Blake got ... drawing a blank. He wanted this toy all Christmas!

Pretty neat :)

And then it was Papa Jim & Grammy's turn!

LeaAnn also got this really cool marble run.

And I am so sad I did not get a picture of Aunt Barb! Not sure how that happened... love Blake's face here :)

A new toboggan! :D

girls and their guns :)

family picture time... had to act fast!

But he looked! And even smiled ;)

Proud of you Grandpa Jim!

Jim's idea to put all the kids on the toboggan...

and it worked, for the most part :)

Here is ALL the kids in the picture

This is minus Syd ;)

That night after all the kids were in bed we started to finish our game of Shanghi (which I've never played, but super fun!) and out came Jim's 'surprise' Christmas gift... Love Jody's face here :)

Jody made up an official 'Iowa State University' letter informing Jim that his children had purchased him a brick that would be put up on the Alumni wall in the stadium...

He was being SO gracious about it :) trying to act appreciative... and then when he opened up the 'sample' of what it would look like, he discovered...

it was a wrapped Hershey bar!

Oh it was hilarious... :) way to go Jod! And this was all by Friday night!

Saturday, 1/4/14
Hot tub time again!

Not many pictures of the day... clearly. The toboggan went down the big hill several times (still feeling guilty about not getting out there to capture it), snowmobile rides were had, Grammy & Barb went cross-country skiing, and new toys were played with.  And we ended with Jumbalaya and... picture perfect Bloody's made by our expertise maker, Aunt Jill! ;) Too pretty not to take a picture of. Though note the wilted celery? I left all groceries outside while packing (a mere -15degrees, and it froze! who would have thought)

Everyone agreed, perfection :) Cheers to another great Beyer Family Christmas!