Christmas 2024- our family.

Thankful for a great Christmas! So grateful for the most important celebration- God sending His Son!

We had lots of sickness in our house the week before Christmas, but thankful to have gotten it all out before Christmas! Kley and Norah had a 24 hour bug, and poor Lucy was sick all week with pneumonia. She was such a trooper!

Norah and Ellory had their last dance class before break where the parents got to come watch a sneak peek of what they've been learning for the last few minutes of class. They are doing great!

We made and decorated come cookies for our neighbors!

We did our family Christmas before we headed to Des Moines. They opened some little things in their stockings first! They are growing up so much!

Flip flops for our big surprise- we are going to Florida in February! Bring on the ocean- can't wait!

 

Christmas piano recital and church Christmas program 2024.

We had a big day for the girls of both their piano recital and the Christmas program at church! They all did great! It was a big day for everyone because Kley played guitar for the program and I helped lead the program too, so we were all involved! I'm thankful we were all able to go to these things, because the girls were recovering from sickness, so unfortunately my parents/grandparents weren't able to make it because of that, but Kley's parents and grandma were able to be there so that was great!

I didn't get many pictures because I was up front leading the actions, but you can see all three of their faces if you look closely! Norah got to read a Bible verse for the program too and did great!

All three played very well at their piano recital also- way to go girls!

I got to join for Lucy and be her right hand because she couldn't play that part because of her broken collar bone.

Thankful for Mrs. Heidi and how great she is with the girls- what a wonderful teacher!

Thankful for the fun Christmas activities and traditions, and most of all for God sending His Son for us!

Christmas light tour 2024.

We had our annual Christmas light tour date and loved it- one of our favorite annual traditions! We went out for supper beforehand and went to our favorite house in a neighboring town to walk through their lights. We were recovering from some sickness and just getting over an ice storm, so I'm glad we were able to make it! It wasn't that cold out either, which made it extra nice to walk through.

I told them to pick out whatever they wanted to take their picture by- here are their three choices! :)

Thankful for fun family outings and treasuring time with our girls as they are growing up!

Pioneer Village Christmas Wonderland and Christmas light parade 2024.

I just love Christmas traditions! We have been going to Pioneer Village Christmas Wonderland in a neighboring town for years and I look forward to it every Christmas! Love of fun Christmas decor and decorated trees. Hope you are finding some fun traditions too! Loved this Merry Christmas inflatable.

We have been taking a picture by these Elsa and Olaf inflatables since 2019. They adored it so much when they were younger and it was a highlight- I think Norah is over this tradition, ha. :) 

Below is 2019. Oh so cute. So many good things about each stage!

We were able to go on the first night of this event this year, which means we also got to go to the lighted Christmas parade beforehand- love it! It was also about 40, which is much warmer than many other years, so it was great weather! Unfortunately Kley had to miss because he had a prior commitment to play guitar at an event, but we had a fun girls time.

Enjoying some Bob's for supper during the parade!

Thankful for a fun night! (Also, see Lucy's right coat sleeve just dangling? She still in her sling from her broken collar bone over Thanksgiving, so her arm is inside her coat. Poor girl, but she's handling it so well and being so brave!) We also got to host our life group Christmas party that morning too and played minute to win it games and all the kids loved it!

Earlier this week, we also got to go to the Christmas party at the place my grandparent's live in our neighboring town. Norah and Ellory enjoyed getting hair tinsel (Lucy didn't want to), Lucy and Ellory enjoyed Plinko (Norah didn't want to), and everyone enjoyed Grinch punch and decorating a cookie! My grandpa couldn't walk around in such a big crowd, but we saw him in their room, and my grandma came down for the activities. So glad we can live close to them! We get to live very close to Kley's grandma too- so special!

Gingerbread houses 2024.

Over Thanksgiving break, we decorated gingerbread houses with De Jongs! It was fun to do it with cousins Will and Gerrit and always a favorite Christmas tradition! The last couple years we have done it over Thanksgiving, which is a fun start to the Christmas season! Love seeing their creativity each year.

Fun that Kley's grandma could be there too!

Thanksgiving 2024.

What a great Thanksgiving- much to be thankful for! We spent the weekend in Des Moines with my side. We got to go out for pizza with Stephanie (my close friend growing up) and her family. It was fun to catch up again!

A major bummer of Thanksgiving was Lucy taking a tumble during a cousin match of monkey in the middle/keep away the ball and broke her right collar bone. She has been such a trooper and so brave! Praying for quick healing!

Cousin table for supper.

Love all eating together! We didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving meal since we weren't together on Thursday, but we had steak!

We got to see both my brother and sister that live in Des Moines, which was great! My sister, Karlie, who lives in Minneapolis, wasn't there because she had to work the weekend and her husband's family came there to visit them, but we will all be together for Christmas.

We were home with the De Jongs/Guthmillers on Thanksgiving day and had a wonderful day together!

It was good to see Will and Gerrit again and was so happy to get some good family pictures!

Cousin time is fun time!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thankful for the hope we have in Jesus!

Lucy and Ellory's 2nd grade school music concert 2024.

Lucy and Ellory had their 2nd grade music concert at school! It was the day after Veteran's day, so it was a "Celebrate America" theme with lots of patriotic songs. It was neat and they both did a great job!

It was special that grandpa and grandma got to come! They were on their way to Rapid City to visit my grandma, so they stayed the night with us on the way and got to see the concert! Papa, Amma, and Great Grandma De Jong (Kley's parents and grandma) also got to come too. How wonderful to have so many that love on and support our girls!

Fun to watch! They both did a wonderful job!

They sang some songs and did a couple dances too. Thankful for the USA! And our girls!