Christmas 2021

 We were so excited to have everyone home for a few days over Christmas!  Anna was terribly homesick and couldn't wait to finish her finals and hop on that plane for home. She did run in Dordt's indoor track season opener the week before finals and did super well.  She faithfully ran over break and is looking forward to the rest of the indoor and the outdoor season.

Anna received this gingerbread camper as a white elephant gift, and I think she said she put it together as a study break during finals week.  She truly was looking forward to Christmas!

As we eagerly awaited Christmas, we had a few Christmas activities to finish out the year.  The Tuesday morning Bible study again had their Christmas tea which was put on hold last year due to COVID.

We again hosted a Christmas cookie and crafts morning at the church for any kids/parents who wanted to have fun and fellowship.  Russ made his apple cider and Lydia and Seth put together a fun Christmas playlist for us to enjoy while we worked.

After Anna came home she went right to work planning an organ recital. She was asked to join fellow Dordt organists on an organ tour in the Netherlands this coming May. So, other than just for musical enjoyment this recital served two additional purposes: to see how much she has accomplished and grown as an organist and to allow people to donate to her trip.

The kids are all home!  They all joined us at the Nampa Rollerdrome for the CURC youth group's Christmas party. Except for a few blisters we all had so much fun!

Yes, that is Russ playing limbo😲

Last year we made lots of fun memories in Garden Valley with cars getting stuck, snow, etc.  This year Seth helped us make more fun memories by touching some buttons on our home security system causing the alarm to go off. Here are the boys trying to figure out how to turn it off or disconnect it until we can reset the system.

At Kona Grill eating out as a family.

We all played our string instruments (two cellos, two violins, and a viola) for the Christmas Eve service.   Playing with all the kids (other than Anna who has a good thing going with the organ) was so much fun and made all those lessons worth it!

After the Christmas Eve service, the kids were waiting for Russ and me and decided to have some picture fun.

Christmas break also consisted of lots of puzzles, games, food, and fellowship.

These two, the man and his cat, were inseparable for the week he was home.

Someone gave us a gift that required dry ice.  It truly was a double gift as Seth had a few hours of entertainment with the dry ice alone.

An entire evening was spent building the Christmas Village.

I think Seth was having fun?😕

Finders/Seekers mystery in Ireland

    

The 2000 piece puzzle. I admire Anna, Lydia, and Nicolas' dedication to this very difficult picture (the flowers😩!)

Putting their minds together to help Seth make lavender ice cream. They did a great job; it was truly delicious!

Lydia officially signed to run track at Dordt next year. We thought it would be fun to take a picture of her with family members that ran track at Dordt (or currently running, in Anna's case). 

And the parent picture...