We’re home!

Well, we traveled well over one thousand miles in the last six days and now we’re home. 

We went to Kansas to be with my family for Christmas this year, but on the way, we made a quick stop in Iowa (what?)  I know, Iowa isn’t on the way to Kansas, but we had a VERY good reason for going.  Matt’s brother and his wife recently adopted a baby boy.  They live in Los Angeles, but they were in IL for Christmas, so we HAD to go see him (um, I mean them). 

His name is Seth and he’s almost three months old now and he is such a sweet baby!  Our boys loved making him smile and taking turns holding him.  I had a hard time sharing him and could hardly hand him over when it was time for us to leave again.   

And THAT is why there are no pictures of him to put on this blog.  I was so excited to get my hands on him that I left my camera in the van and then, once I did have my hands on him, I couldn’t give him up, and I didn’t ever send Matt out to get the camera.  So silly!  But, my sister-in-law took plenty of pictures on her camera, so she’ll send them when she gets home.  In the meantime, if you’d like to see our adorable, sweet, precious nephew, you can check out their blog which is full of pictures.

http://knr-adopt.blogspot.com/

We left Iowa and traveled on to Kansas where we spent the next few days with my dad and his new wife, her kids and my brother and his family.  It was our first Christmas with our “new family” and it was very nice.   I enjoyed getting to know them all better and I am so thankful that my dad now has someone so wonderful to spend the rest of his life with. 

While we were there I was able to go through some of my mom’s things to see what I would like to bring home with me.  I brought back her everyday dishes that I have always loved, some of her cast iron cookware and a variety of other kitchen things.  I’m so happy to have these precious memories of her in my kitchen.

We had a loud and crazy time opening gifts on Christmas morning with seven kids ages 10 and under!  Here’s a few shots of our kids.  (I really did not do a good job of preserving our memories this year…I’ll treasure them all in my heart)

Hope you and your families all had a blessed time together!