New Year's at My Folks

These are the first pictures of my dad and Thea Belle together that have turned out...Hooray!

 

 

This is the second time during our Christmas week that the kids were able to go to one of these fun blow-up jumper places. At the Johannsens, Nancy's friend Annette Dane dropped by to give all the boys (including cousin Max) a pass to the jumper place in Des Moines. So we spent Tuesday morning having fun there. And then we drove to my folks Wednesday afternoon and went to the jumper place in Dubuque on Thursday morning with their cousin Clark. It was a birthday party for Dietrich -- My mom brought cupcakes to celebrate after eating lunch there. I think these places must be like the Pump It Up place in the Twin Cities but it was a first for my kids and me. Thank you!

The boys and their cousin Clark watching a movie together

 

Christmas celebrated on New Year's Eve Morning

Thea Belle & her cousin Felicity in the matching dresses my mom made for them.

My mom wonders why there aren't more pictures of Dietrich with Thea -- well, for one, he always makes a face like this. Secondly, for some unknown reason, he almost always ends up making her cry. I am not sure what to do about it. Anyway, here's an attempt to get a photo of them together.

Clark and Lincoln taking a bath together

New Year's Eve was fun -- All of us with Jon and Robyn and their friend Tiffany watched the entire season of a show called Sing-Off where a capella singing groups compete for a cash and record-deal prize. It was a neat program -- especially with no commercials and the judging comments skipped. Though we were surprised to find Ben Folds as one of the season's judges. Hm. Anyway. Brad and I also liked that the contestant groups all seemed kind to each other and genuinely cheering each other on. My dad made his awesome strawberry-lemon icies for everybody and then to end the year we listened to some of our favorite music from this year's music finds.