Happy Winter

I am preparing for Christmas this week, I am exhusted and just want to take a nap. But as the holidays are getting closer I am trying to remind myself of all the wonderful people in my life. Most importantly my family. We are so blessed to have family all around us and are very excited for visiting family to arrive next week. We will miss those who are not able to be here this week, but I have a feeling they are all enjoying the family they will be with this year.
I thought I would just share a few pictures of the kids enjoying the great winter that we have had so far and decorating the tree!

Brecken all geared up to shred!

Playing in the snow!

Miss Leighton hanging out inside.

So this was one from Indiana, but I couldn't resist putting it in! I love this one.

Brecken putting on the star.

Cheezy!

He pulled the heavy hanger on himself just a few moments later.

Making a mess while mom and dad set up the tree!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Road Trip

I wasn't sure we would survive 8 hours in the car with all the kids, this sounded like pure torture to me. I am not a fan of long car trips. But the kids did awesome! They were all really good and slept most of the way there:) We left at 2 am everyone just went back to sleep including me and Crist drove the whole way. (except for the one hour I drove so I can say I helped)

Stuck in traffic in Chicago

Woot woot! Only 1.5 hours left!!

 All smiles at 8 am we are almost there... Mishawaka here we come!

Such a sweet moment. Autumn is holding Leighton's hand.

Little did I know the beauty that would be just around the bend....Gary, Indiana. I think on a cloudy morning in November that Gary may be one of the most depressing places to drive through. But, it may have been the the lack of sleep that made this place seem worse than it is but all I remember is power plant, a dump and a porta-john storage place. So I decided to drift off until we reached South Bend, finally 9 hours later we made it!!

Aunt Terri and Uncle Tom were our hosts for the weekend, great food, family and friends from around the world for Thanksgiving.

The kids hanging on the stairs watching Autumn play her DS oh so exciting:) Thanksgiving was fun and I got to do a lot of cooking, and this is the only picture I took all day. The kids had fun and we did to, note to self take out the camera earlier! 

 The day after Thanksgiving we went on a tour of Notre Dame. My Uncle is a professor at the University. He was a great tour guide, now only if it wasn't 30 degrees.

My cousin really liked having the babies around, as long as they weren't crying...or tearing up his room.

The nanotechnology area.

Uncle Tom showing us the lab where he works. I must say Notre Dame has a very impressive chemistry department.

This is the Basilica it was absolutely beautiful.

The Grotto

 Autumn and Brecken really enjoyed the Grotto. They got to light a candle and pray for someone. We prayed for Grandpa. He had surgery today.

 We also got to visit Shipshewana a Amish community where we shopped and took the kids on a buggy ride. The kids loved the buggy ride...and so did mom:)

All ready to go!

We had a great time in Indiana! Thanks Terri, Tom and Isaac for being wonderful hosts and for showing us all around your town!