Sweet times

One highlight of this Christmas season was having my brother Dave come visit.

He brought some bread that he had made.  Sooooo delicious!  It did not last long!

Dave is five years older than me.  Doug, who passed away several years ago, is 2 years older than I am.

The only year we went to school together was when I was in 1st grade.  Here we are getting ready to board the train to go to Miyakonojo, 3 hours away where our school and dormitory were.  

Beyond that we were in different schools and even different cities and countries!

You've heard it say "It's a small world."  As Dave was talking with our son-in-law, Jason mentioned that his folks have a summer house at Council Grove Lake.  Dave said his neighbors also have a house there.  A few texts revealed that these couples know each other well and serve on a board together!

I took the teen girls with me shopping one day

and a stop for coffee at Norms for good coffee.

We'd been having having trouble with our Ring ever since I'd gotten a new phone.  To the rescue - our son Josh!

We appreciated all the help the kids were to us!

Staci and I went for a walk with Reggie.

Josh and Staci had to leave early to attend her aunt's funeral.  

But they left their kids behind so they could have more cousin time.  

(I found these pictures on my phone)

Here are a few photos of these two who are the same age.

Our plan is to take each of our grandchildren on some sort of trip to help them grow closer to God.  3 down, 4 to go. They wanted to go together so we took them to Romania with us this past May.

They've been taking photos together for many years!

It was soon time for all of the family to leave, except for Mindy and her children.  Jason was going on a trip to Mexico and so she and the babies would spend a few extra days with us.  Yay!

Doing high-fives with the cousins that last night.

Tenley woke up to a note on the fridge from her cousin, Claire, who had left early in the morning to return to Wisconsin.

Fun and games

 We sure like to have fun when our family is all together!  

This is our version of Telestrations.  Everyone gets a stack of papers - the same number as the number of players.  Everyone writes down a phrase of their choosing on page 1.  Phrases like "Eli breaks a window," "The winter solstice," or "Sophie got married and had a child."  Whatever you want.  At Christmas, you could even have people use titles of Christmas songs.

After everyone writes down their phrase, you pass the whole stack and everyone has to draw a picture of that phrase before them.  The whole stack is passed and those people have to write a phrase of what picture they see.  It goes around the circle until it gets back to start.  It is similar to the old fashioned telephone game, except on paper, not whispering in the ear.

Example:  "You're dead wrong" followed by a picture, "I took the road less traveled by - and it got me killed".  And so on.

Sardines is a fun game that is played like hide n seek - only in reverse.  One person hides, and everyone else searches for the hidden person. Whenever a person finds the hidden person, they quietly join them in their hiding spot. Soon, the hidden group starts to look like a bunch of sardines!

Newton-opoly - like Monopoly except like our town.  Does your town have its own monopoly version?

Playdough - you're never too old.

Guess Who game

Coloring, while watching "The Star of Bethlehem"

and crafts

Gingerbread House making

We had an award ceremony with each person commended for their job well done!

Belly laugh

Bubbles

(Thanks to our friend Janelle!)

The teens and Uncle Adam did hide n seek in the woods

Found you!

A presentation by the older grandchildren:  Basically, making fun of the family. 

In Hannah's presentation, she said Papa was a "drug runner".  Nana a photographer for the National Geography, Jason and Mindy are the Illuminati, Tenley and Kaia are really twins, Staci isn't really a blond, Josh is Rich Mullins, Emeri is rich, Eli really did break a window at school, Adam really does love Kobi, Jill did not make the National Honor Society because she is a delinquant, Sophia will never graduate and Claire is a famous You-Tuber.

Sophia had pictures to describe us.

Emeri had a presentation on who would live the longest in an accopolypse.  Ali died first. And she outlives all of us, of course!

Blind Karaoke -  you sing but are not supposed to see the words.  If you don't know it, make it up!

Kara - Japanese word for "empty"

Oke - short for "orchestra"

Photo Roulette - 

you all scatter and try to hide but if someone snaps your photo, you're out.

Even if it is just a part of your head!

Our favorite is Murder in the Dark, a hide n seek in the dark.  If the It finds you and "kills" you, you have to fall down and wait for someone to come across you and hollar "Murder in the Dark!!"  Then you try to solve who the murderer is.  We managed to do a few rounds of this fun game while the little ones were taking a bath.  

Thanks to the family members who shared photos of our fun time together!