Christmas at Matt and Gail's

We went to Matt and Gail's house in the afternoon on Christmas. Gail made all the women really cool scrubbers and washclothes! Oh, and a pad of paper! Grandma got more socks! We are making sure her toes are warm here in MI!!!

Anna got dress up clothes and a princess wand!

We had a wonderful dinner of tri-tip made by Matt and then played some games. We brought Abbey's Pictionary man which turned out to be super fun! We passed it around the table and everyone had a turn to try and draw the word or phrase using the little man, a circle or a box. My favorite was Jon's drawing of "texting" which he watched Kelly do all night!

Even Anna had a turn, she drew "Clifford"

Merry Christmas to all!!

Christmas!!!

The girls woke us up around 7:30 ready for Christmas!!Abbey got a new camera...

Jenny got a Nintendo DS

and Kelly got a new phone with unlimited text...she hasn't put it down since she got it...new rules to follow shortly!

We LOVED having Grandma Gronseth here to celebrate with us!! She is surviving the cold and snow using long underwear and wool socks. She got new fuzzy socks to help, too. (Maybe she'll have a cold day in AZ where she can wear them!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Christmas Eve service

Kelly performed with a Jr. High group of girls at our church's Christmas Eve Service Not great pictures but they did a great job! They performed Angels we have heard on high

And here's a short video of it. You can really hear Kelly in the base line. We decided they really needed her or they would have been all woodwinds. Great job, Kelly!!

Kelly's a TEENAGER!

Christmas Eve Kelly turned 13...can you believe it? I'm still in shock! She got breakfast in bed, and some presents...like a Hollister sweatshirt...And an iHome for her Ipod she bought earlier this year.She celebrated with lunch out to Applebee's, and then the neighbors and some friends came over for cheesecake to celebrate!

Happy 13th birthday, Kelly!!! I can't believe I have a teen...I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. Boy, does that sound old!

Celebrate!

We went up to Big Rapids on the Sat before Christmas to celebrate Dave's sister, Lisa's graduation from Ferris with a Nursing degree. Yea Lisa!!!! She did it in 3 years...with a crazy schedule this year of interning or in school over 40 hours a week!Then we went over to their house to celebrate Feenstra Christmas (without Dave's brother's fmaily who were all sick!). Abbey got a cool glow board!Jenny got a Dutch doll, the outfit was handmade by Grandma Feenstra! She loves it!Kelly got "the biggest Nerf gun" Grandma could find. The neighbors better watch out!I'm not sure who had more fun with it...it broke into two pieces so there were two guns, Grandpa took one and Dave took the other...whose gift was this for????

Kelly's band concert

Kelly's band concert was last night. They did a great job! They played Winchester March, Jingle Bell Rock, Let it snow, and African Bell Carol. It was very hard to take pictures of her! So here's one shot of her... And here's the band--stage looks just like 2 nights ago when we were watching Abbey and Jenny's program!!

Now we're all done with programs, almost done with shopping, we're just waiting!! We can't wait for Grandma to come and we can't wait to celebrate Jesus' birthday!!! Oh yea, Kelly and Dave's b-days are coming up, too!

Office Party

This is Dave and I all ready to go to his work Christmas party--from the perspective of a 7 year old.This is us from a perspective of an almost 13 year old! We went to the Lansing Country Club and had appetizers and drinks and then a beautiful meal. Then the party ended with some dancing...remember, this is an accounting firm (Dave works in the Software Consulting side of it so they are the most wild of the bunch!) We had a fun time!

Tonight, we're off to hear Kelly's band concert!

Holbrook Christmas Program

Here's Abbey and Jenny all dressed up for their school Christmas Program.This is part of the group on stage. You can see Abbey on the left in a black shirt and black headband and Jenny on the way Right in a red dress in the middle.
They sang lots of great songs and had motions to them.

Abbey played the xylophones--or whatever they are called...she did a great job.

The 5th grade class also plays a few songs using their recorders.

It was a fun night and only the beginning of our week. Dave's work party is tonight and Kelly's band concert is on Thurs!

Orange you glad...Kelly got a new room?!

This is Kelly's new room...new paint and new carpet. We got the room ready before Thanksgiving and started painting on Friday. Dave and our neighbor Rod did a great job. We also got new carpet in the room and it looks great! Dave was a little tired and sore. His knees were really sore from using the knee kicker to put the carpet in.

Kelly is in the room now. She has a bed and dresser in there and we're looking for a desk. She picked Orange because she wants a Hawaiian room. She has been fascinated with Hawaii for a few years now and hope to become a teacher and teach in Hawaii when she gets her degree...I keep encouraging her so I'm not sure if it's still her dream or mine!!! (We would HAVE to go visit her...possibly two-three times a year, right???)

More pictures when we have more of the room put together.