Christmas Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa

We celebrated Christmas early with Grandma and Grandpa!  So thankful for the time we got to spend with them!

Building Gingerbread Houses with Grandma

Grandma bought a gingerbread house kit for the kids to put together.  It was lots of fun (maybe as much for me as for the kids)!

Grandma Barbara and I helped the kids get started.

Ellie's finished product!

Ike's masterpiece!

Joey's work of art!

Fun at the Climbing Park

Andy's parents discovered this fun climbing park near the Arkansas River.  The kids had just as much fun (if not more) than the last time we went! 

Fun with Grandpa Glenn

The kids got to have rides on Grandpa's John Deere.  

 

 

 Then Joey got to make an extra special "pirate ship" with Grandpa after seeing it in the Cub Scouts book that Grandpa gave him.  Great memories!

Putting up the Christmas Tree

Duck Calling Festival!

The day after Thanksgiving was the Duck Calling Festival in Stuttgart.  Grandpa gave Joey and Ellie duck callers so the kids could have lessons on how to use them (Ike remembered to bring his with), and we were off to the festival.  Fun times!

Family!

Branson

This year we somehow talked Andy's parents into meeting us in Branson before we headed down to their home in Arkansas.  What fun!  We stayed in a very kid friendly place, checked out a couple of shows, checked out Historic Downtown, and just enjoyed being together.  I never thought that I'd go there (honestly I thought it was just a place for old people), but had a lot of fun and will definitely go back if I have the chance!

Cookies with Grandma

Making turkey cookies with Grandma!

Day trip to the cabin.

The entire Kvenild family together!!

The whole crazy bunch of us!

Grandma's 90th!

We were blessed to be back in the States to celebrate my beautiful grandmother's 90th birthday with her and so much of her family!  She is such a blessing to all of us, a true prayer warrior!  We love you Grandma!

Grandma with two of her kids (her other kids have already gone to their Heavenly home).

All of her great grandchildren sang "Jesus Loves Me" to her.  It was too cute!  Notice the youngest had some help from her dad.

Our family with Grandma and my parents.

Washington

Our first stop in the US was the beautiful state of Washington where we visited a few churches and met up with lots of friends from seminary days.  The best part was that Grandma Barbara was in Washington at the time so we got to spend all 3 days with her!

The trees were BEAUTIFUL!  So many colors!

Our view of the Puget Sound from the home we stayed in.

The kids with Grandma.  Check out the beautiful red leaves in the background!

Heading Home!!

November 1st we left our house to begin our trip back to the States.  We spent that night in a hotel because of our early flight, so to get the excitement out of the kids so they'd actually sleep, we headed over to the flight museum next door.  What fun!

There were lots of planes outside the museum.

And lots of planes inside to "test out"!

Even Ellie had a good time!

Most importantly it worked!  They slept great and we got up extra early, but refreshed and ready for the long flight to Seattle (well, as ready as you can be for a long flight)!

I Love My Kids!

I'm not going to lie, my kids can drive me bonkers.  They're not perfect, but then again neither am I (I'm pretty far from it)!  I sure do love them, though!  They bring joy to every day!  Yesterday was "one of those days".  I had low expectations when we left the house and expected lots of grumbling.  Instead I was surprised to have happy kids who actually wanted their pictures taken!  We had so much fun despite our colds!  I was reminded again of the wonderful gift the Lord gave me when He gave them to me!

Day in the Sun

We got out and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and pleasant temps today despite the 5 of us battling colds.  It was GREAT!  Seriously, sunshine is GREAT medicine!  My kids were surprisingly willing to have their pictures taken, probably due to the fun walls/"windows"!  We hadn't brought our good camera, but made due with my old one, and the pictures didn't turn out too bad!

Ike found a spot to "rest".

So of course we had "monkey see, monkey do"!

Elle found a vase to pose in!

We had some happy kids when they found rocks to climb on!

Ike even worked on his photography skills and snapped a pic of Mom and Dad.

It was a beautiful day for a walk around the lake and the perfect medicine for our colds!

Moon Festival

One of the big holidays here is Mid Autumn Festival, otherwise known as Moon Festival.  It's pretty fun to walk up and down the streets and talk to all the people grilling in front of their homes!  We celebrated like almost everyone else by grilling.  Yum!  

Ocarina Lessons

Isaak and Noelle started taking Ocarina lessons at school last week.  Practice time is noisy, but it's fun to watch them play!

Push-up Fun!!

First Day of School!

Back to school time!!  Joey is now in Kindergarten, Ellie started 1st grade, and Isaak started 3rd grade!  Joey is now the only one in Chinese Kindergarten, and Ike and Elle are now at the same school.  Next year they could possibly all be in the same school (which would be nice)!