Christmas at the Cabin

We started off the Christmas celebrations with the Reder crew at Big Sky cabin in Brown County, IN.  It's really fun to have everyone under the same roof, enjoying big meals together, playing games and having adventures around town.  We pick 1 day to exchange gifts and have a holiday meal, and the rest of the time is spent doing whatever sounds fun!  Here are some pictures from our visit...

December 2014

The month of December was all about enjoying the Christmas season!  Gavin's Kindergarten class put on a play of the Nativity; Gavin was an amazing shepherd!  We were so proud of him and his great singing efforts as they sang Christmas songs for the audience.  Cassie's class had fun getting in the spirit as well - her teacher sent out this great class picture as they posed with their classroom tree.

We also enjoyed a Breakfast with Santa event on a Saturday morning at the kids' school where they got to play games, make crafts, enjoy a breakfast buffet and of course meet with Santa (although Tyler would have none of that part!).  I had volunteered to lead this event for the kids' school, so it took up a large chunk of my spare time throughout the fall months.  It was very fun and rewarding to see all the kids enjoying it and getting into the Christmas spirit!

The day after, I unfortunately came down with a respiratory virus that stuck with me for a good 3 weeks, so right up to the Christmas holiday.  It was not an ideal time to be so sick, especially with Erik traveling each week for work.  (Christmas cards - teacher gifts - wrapping gifts - oh my!)  Some days were truly comical as I tried to drag myself out of bed and function; I remember one evening when I finally succumbed and dragged all 3 kids and myself over to my doctor's office to beg for any prescription they would offer me  - we were like our own traveling show of crazy as we made our way through the halls of that office.  Somehow we held it together and only through the magic of Christmas did we get everything done in time.  But - magical it was, as Christmas break finally did arrive and we were off to start our Christmas travels and celebrations!  More on all the fun in the next post!

Wally, our elf, made his annual appearance for the month of December, moving each night to another sneaky spot!

Thanksgiving 2014

Cassie's turkey

We loved seeing our family for the Thanksgiving holiday, as always.  We began at Grammy and Grandpa Brown's house on Thanksgiving Day.  We visited and chatted by warm by the fire, which is always so pretty and relaxing, and the cousins had so much fun playing together!

 Next up was the Harding's house!  We missed Grandma and Grandpa Reder and the Burkholders, who could not make it this year, but loved having round 2 with the Harding family.  It was so mild outside that we were able to take a nice walk around the block after dinner.  The kids loved seeing the houses that already had their Christmas lights up!

 As always, we are so thankful for our family and are so excited for the holiday season!

Fall Photos at Gillson Park

A neighbor very kindly dropped off a gift card for a photo session that she could not put to use; we decided to give it a try and have some fall family pictures taken!  I'm so glad we did - it was a beautiful fall day and we ended up using a few of the pictures on our Christmas card.  These are some of our favorites!

Fall Activities - Keeping Busy!

We kept ourselves busy this fall.  Here are some highlights of what we were up to!

Building Star Wars Legos! 

Erik taking in a Bears game with his buds

We got together with 4 other couples to compete in our school's trivia night, which requires a creative theme!  Can't say we scored very well (tough questions!), but we had a blast and rocked our costumes.  Ha ha.

Cassidy took a Young Rembrants drawing class and created some wonderful artwork 

Gavin loved playing soccer this fall 

We do our best to get to church each Sunday...usually Tyler ends up running around in the vestibule, but on this particular Sunday he looked amazingly angelic (not the norm!).

Gavin had fun with t-ball 

Cassidy's class lead the all-school Mass, with readings and songs

We spent a day at the Shedd Aquarium, one of our very favorite places!

This seal got CLOSE!  So neat.

It wouldn't be fall without some fun in the leaf piles!

We even got a little snow in November

Tyler enjoying bathtime...he's in a phase where all toys have to line up on the ledge, they are not allowed in!