Beyer family Christmas 2016

We made the decision mid-November I believe (yay us :) to have our Beyer family Christmas, Monday, 12/26 - on the twins' 6th birthday! The week before was not an easy one.. Riley was hospitalized with salmonella (so scary) and up until the 24th, we weren't sure if he was going to be home for Christmas... we had so many reasons to be thankful and not take for the granted that the best present of all is the gift of being together. I'm so glad that we all were.

The kids ate around 2:30pm? But who's keeping track of time, right?? :)

Had to pry these 2 away from their game ;)

And Jim still in pain... but again, so glad we were all together in the same house. And though I'm not sure he was looking forward to ELEVEN kids ran-sacking his house ;) at the end of the day, I'm pretty sure he was really glad that we all did.

Uh yah... where did these big kids come from?

birthday-girl with big bro Owen :)

It was during this meal that I thought... wow... what's it going to be like when they are 11 big-kids... like teenagers?!? holy smokes it's going to be tight ;)

The dad's ... enjoying time with their daughter's dolls ;)

more games

Before round 1 of opening presents

Awesome group of kids right here :)

And I had to throw this in here! Google pics helped me discover that 4-years ago to the date (1/4/13) we were at Harper's Ferry for our cabin Christmas with the Beyer's!

 We were up to our ears in diapers, bottles, footy-pajamas... they were so. little. For the full account of the Christmas, click here, here, here and finally HERE :)

And back to the present... 2016 - Linds got a Polaroid camera! She was thrilled :D

Owen said something to the fact, "Evan you told me they didn't make these!" It was hilarious :) he was in Love!

Love LeaAnn's mermaid tail!! She's still sleeping with it every night!

 Clothes for the 11-yr old ;)

the picture taker ;)

And a super cute scavenger hunt for all the kids!

They had to answer clues to find their present and money :)

Lydia ADORES her horse!!

Love, love, love... I have plans for this picture! ❤

They were using his poker set!

And then Jeanette had a really cute game for the kids... it was toys and candy wrapped up in saran wrap and they had to roll doubles before the ball of goodies could be passed on :) Stressed me out a little bit, but they loved it!

And then it was time for the birthday twins to open their presents up!

This was a big 'IF'!! I did not get permission from Jill - but Lauren and I made the executive decision that Miles would love it :)

And he did! I got a text from Jill last week that she didn't think it would ever happen, but Miles crawled in bed for snuggles and had Bear AND Freckles with him!

 And then we gave the OTHER birthday girl her present from the kids! Jeanette turned 70 on Christmas day and we had all the kids write/draw on 8-1/2x11 sheets of paper, why they loved Grammy ❤

Super special and precious to watch her read through it with all the kids around :)

I took this group picture

And as I was setting up the timer for this picture, Jim joined us!

 Bingo was played... and at the last minute, when we were loading up to leave, Jim came back upstairs, and we gave him his presents :)

And then when trying to take a family picture, they kept trying to 'touch' Jim... so their family picture turned into this :)

And of course on this one, Jeanette's eyes were closed... but that's OK! :) We got it taken ;)

Jody, Brent and kids came to our house to free up some space at Jim & Jeanette's and we went back the next morning to have lunch and sing to the twins! I had failed to get this picture the day before... love it ❤

 And this... melt. my. heart. I'm sure if I looked hard enough, I could find a similar one with the older 6... another time ;)

Happy 6th birthday Miles & Sydney!

 The 'dudes' found some awesome dress up clothes in Grammy's attic ;)
Super fun Christmas... so glad we were able to all be together! ❤❤

Christmas in Ohio

Thursday, 12/29/16

We finally left for Ohio at 7:20am that morning! It was later than everyone wanted... but the driver really needed to not feel rushed, and it was super nice to have Wednesday to just 're-coop' from Christmas at the Beyer's, do laundry and pack :)
THIS picture was actually a couple hours out from Mimi & Pap's, we were in Indiana and had stopped at rest stop. The girls had been napping on and off the whole trip... exhausted pretty much from late nights and a lot of Christmas! So I just kept driving!
And with that comes a whole lot of thinking time... and it happened to be Mom and Dad's 43rd wedding anniversary... so while we stopped, I collected my thoughts to post on FB ❤

Here was the post with these pictures:
I was reminiscing while driving 550-miles to Ohio by myself with these 4👭👭 beauties behind me thinking, "who does this??"

The girls & I have been doing this for 5-yrs... LeaAnn was a baby, Lydia a toddler, Lauren/Linds, 5 & 6.
And then thought of my parents, and realized they had instilled in me these independent & stubborn tendencies I have 😘 they taught me to be independent enough to drive truck/trailer & back it up so I could go to horse shows by myself, drive tractor/bailer for work, a work ethic to take me places & belief I could do whatever I put my mind to... even wings to fly away & leave Ohio.

And then I realized that today was a very special day, their 43rd wedding anniversary. ❤️ Bonnie Bockel Koontz

I'm so grateful these four girls behind me will also grow up to be independent women ... and can only hope they will look at Chris & I, like I look at the both of you now.

You withstood tragedy, loss & so much change at such a young age, so early in marriage ... and you made it. Your marriage continues to be about selfless giving & love. Your example gives me strength and encourages me to love and forgive more.
Thank you for instilling those values in me, and in turn I hope I can do the same for these 4 amazing young ladies someday.

So congratulations & cheers to many, many more Mom & Dad!! 🍻can't wait to see you soon!! ❤️🎉💕

Love, love, love both of these pictures ❤❤❤

And we finally arrived! 8-hrs & 40-minutes I believe! We ate dinner, and then let the kids open their presents :)

Mom & Dad got the kids these adorable suede shirts with fringe on them

HUGE hit!

Matched Kaya!

And pots and pans to cook at their tee-pee!! Talk about some excited kids!!

Their tribe pictures :) WITH the adorable tee-pees that Pap made the kids! He took some of the actual fabric that came from the tee-pee by the creek, hot-glued sticks together and put a little light in it... SO adorable and sweet ❤ And I know it was from Pap, but I'm pretty sure that Mimi had a hand in making it happen as well ;)

Mom sent me this picture of the tee-pees in the making ❤❤

the finished product! though truly, the picture doesn't do it justice :)

On Friday, 12/29 Mimi took all the kids to the movie Muana ... girls in their matching shirts from Aunt Ashley!

How in the world they have gotten this big... I have no idea. I think Lindsay looks just like Mimi in these pictures!!!

And Diane & Jenn came to see me!! Diane had flown in from Germany and she picked up Jenn on the way down! It was such an awesome visit... and 3-1/2 hrs was definitely too short... I truly hope to fly to Germany in the next couple of years to see Diane!!

On New Year's Eve day, we went back to the Dayton outdoor ice arena! The sun was out at the beginning and it was really nice outside!

ALL the kids have gotten so much better at skating! It's incredible how quickly they can pick something up...

Love these pictures you took, Mom! ❤

Hot chocolate break

And Pap let them get funnel cakes :) It really is the cutest set-up for outdoor ice skating...

And then that night... well first I had to beat Lauren at Goblet 😂😂

and we snuggled on the couch and watched Ghostbusters of all things ;)

And THEN we went to Tara's to watch the pathetic OSU game... but still had fun! And as you can see, LeaAnn was elated to have a friend who ALSO had a piggy blanket!

On New Year's Day we went shopping... all 6 cousins, Mimi, myself and Ashley. We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, which was super yummy! HOWEVER, I just looked up nutritional content ... aaannd... looks like wings are going to have to go on the 'out' list for awhile for me! 😉

And then that night we busted out the Swedish chocolate that Diane brought for the girls! Soo good!

Wonderful trip... very relaxing, the weather was great... just wish, as always, I could squeeze the states together.  It was hard to come back to Iowa this time. I'm hoping a new house will help ease that for next year ;) I wrote it in my FB post... about having the courage to leave Ohio, and there are many, many days that I still wonder why. My 4 girls are reason enough... I just hope that all 4 of you girls read this blog someday... and take my experience into consideration, before spreading your own wings and leaving me in Iowa ;)
Love you Mimi & Pap! Thank you for everything!!