New Years Eve 2015

The last day of 2015 was a beautiful, clear, cold day.  We took the girls to the park to get some fresh air and sunshine.  They loved riding their bikes, playing on the playground and playing basketball.

 The girls also enjoyed playing with their new Christmas presents and wearing their new clothes.  Both theirs and Bekah's!

 We ended the evening with our annual holiday gathering with the Glubrechts and Wagners.  The girls always have fun playing at Bekah's house!  And Jodi always has fun signs ready to go.  Thanks to the cold weather we'll be heading out to find snow bright and early in the morning!

Bowling!

 We've had a very low-key break this year - but we're trying to do a few local activities to keep things interesting.  We met friends on Monday to go bowling - we had the entire bowling alley to ourselves for most of the morning.  Clara kept with it for most of the time - although she let Annie & Allison bowl for her a few times.

 Annie bowled on her own (without the ramp) the whole time!

 Trying to steer her ball - I love that her shoes kinda match her outfit!

 Look at that form!

Four fun girls!  So thankful we have friends to make activities even more enjoyable!

Curtis Christmas 2015

 The Curtis Family Christmas was at our house this year - after we spent the morning sledding.  Heidi and Lauren are two peas in a pod.  They love each other and playing together, it is really fun to watch them together.  I love Heidi's expression in the picture below.

 Nana & Papa gave Heidi her very own cleaning set.  She's been a cleaning maniac ever since.  we have to confiscate it sometimes as it is getting to be a bit much!

 And Allison loves her new cape and Beavers cheerleading pom-poms.

Natalie had shared some cupcakes with us the night before - so we put a candle in them and sang 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus.  Heidi and Lauren loved it!

Papa managed to get a picture of the whole family!

Holiday Sledding

 We were up bright and early the day after Christmas to go sledding with the cousins.  Due to some recent storms we knew there would be plenty of snow in our local recreation area.  These two were very excited to go - Heidi changed her hat and glasses at least 10 times before we left!

 We started out driving all the way to the top - the road and views were beautiful.  We didn't stay long, though, the roads are not maintained and there were many, many people headed up, not really prepared for the conditions and getting stuck in the parking lot and we didn't want to get blocked in.  So we headed down to the lower sledding area - which was protected from the wind - another advantage!

 All 6 of the kiddos on the Curtis side of the family were there - but most of my pictures are of Heidi and Lauren as they stayed on the 'little' hill where I was.

 Notice how Heidi's death grip is blocking Lauren's face entirely :)

It was a perfect day for sledding - not too hot, not too cold, just a bit of sunshine and plenty of snow and an almost empty sledding hill (most people don't know you just need to walk up the trail a little bit to the best sledding and sled on a tiny, bumpy hill by the parking lot).  And the best part was, the kids were totally worn out for the family party in the evening!