Christmas Eve + Christmas Day + the extended stay!

On Christmas Eve day we were off to Grandma Lori's!  We spend the afternoon hanging out together and enjoying the smells of Christmas!  Grandma was busy cooking a big yummy meal for all of us! 

Ethan was getting his snuggles with Reese in while I was getting cleaned up (and cleaning up all of our clothes that got trashed in the travel fiasco!)  Ethan is such an awesome helper!

It's been a tradition every year to get all dressed up for dinner, then off to church!

I wuv you weesie!

Family photo time!  I love getting all dressed on Christmas Eve and scoring a decent family photo makes it all that much better! 

Drew and Grandma after church... waiting patiently!  Church is always a gamble - never know how these kiddos are going to do.  This year was better than last  - they were all pretty good.  Luke had a minor break down at the end with the candles, but other than that they probably scored about an A-!



Back to Grandmas to open presents!  The girft opening was such a whirl wind... I think I got like 2 pictures of gift opening because it was just INSANE!  Lots of fun had by all!

New bath towels across the board!

Grandma held Reese while she was sporting her new ISU slippers from the Webers!  

  

Close up on the slippers - so cute and they fit perfect!!

 

 Grandma and her special little people - it's hard to get them all standing or sitting still after opening gifts  - they all had WAY too much to do!

Hi mom - here I am.  Been pretty busy tonight!

....Karaoke machine was a HIT! 

 

Time for grandma to have a drink!  The signature drink of the night was the "Jack Frost" -- fun!

 Now time to jump into the tee-pee -- the fun was showing no signs of stopping.....

 

And the last hurrah was one more round of karaokee by Drew and Luke (we were nearing 11pm at this point)

 

Look what mommy found!  Wait, is that Reese???  Oh no, it's roll-polly mommy as a baby!

 

 SHOTS of OJ across the board!

 Merry Christmas!  Look at this little cutie on her first Christmas morning!

 Off to Great Grandma Butchers for a special celebration with her!  She always makes such a delicious meal and it's so fun gathering around the table at her house.  We love her so much!

 Story time with Aunt Renea!

 Oh boy, Grandpa Butcher is here!  I love this guy!

 Ra-Ra of course had to have her snuggles from her little princess!

 Quite the trio......

 Ra-Ra got her down for nap!

I can't get enough of these beautiful pictures with Great Grandma and the little ones.  They are such lifelong keepers.

 On Saturday we jumped in the car and made a trip to Cherokee to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Hammer.  Grandma is doing okay - and grandpa is taking great care of her.

We were supposed to go home on Sunday, so back out to dads for a night then off to the airport.  But plans changed on the way to Omaha!  Our flight was delayed, ultimately canceld and we turned around and headed back to Holstien!  It was crazy.  We weren't sure how long we would be there because Southwest couldn't get us back on a flight for 5 days!  We ended up booking on another airline out of Des Moines and getting home in 3 days... but wozers this was a crazy trip! 

But the great part was that Wendy and her boys suprised us back at mom's and stuck out the storm with us!  It was awesome -- I couldn't think of better company to be snowed in with or a better place to be stranded.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family :-) 

Frank let Drew tag along to go out and feed the doggie!

Then Grandma Lori and all the little boys went out to brave the cold and snow... AND have some fun! 

Daddy went too..... lookin' good!

 Love these three!!!!!!   

These two are just TOO MUCH!  

  

CHEERS!  Time for some hot chocolate!

Later on is was time for some cheesecake with Grandma! 
 


During the big storm we also got a visit from Kelli Meyer and Katie Clausen - so much fun catching up with these gals!

 Lukey was loving the extra cuddles he got with Reesie!  I think he wants a baby sister........

 More love from Grandma Lori! 

 Can't forget about Drew! 

 Oh wait - Cousin Kelby is back for more Reese snuggles too!

 Had to do the side-by-side!

 On our last night before we finally flew back (for real this time) we stayed back out at dad's house.  It was a blast and the little guys got together one last time.  Also - Uncle Ben sent a text late that night that a baby calf was about to be born!  We had to go down in the morning to check it out before we hit the road.

Heading home... ready to be back, but sad to say good bye to everyone.

Big boy Drew was such a good helper in the airport!

 We had such a great time!  Christmas 2015 was one that will surely go down in the books!