New Year's Eve

One place that Uncle Aaron always likes to visit when he is in Iowa is breakfast at the Iowa Machine Shed. So Tuesday morning we loaded up and headed over for a hearty farm breakfast.

That night, we were invited to watch an Iowa State basketball game with our good friends the Kibbes and Petersens. We met them for dinner at the Pizza Pit on Welch Ave then headed over Hilton to watch the Cyclones take on Northern Illinois. 

Daniel wasn't so sure about all the noise...

but was fine once he got his clone cone.

The Kibbes made signs for the players.

We ran into Cy on a bathroom break.

Go Cyclones!

Patrick was having a fun night as well. Aren't these kids cute?

Happy New Year's everyone!

Christmas Part 5

Our last Christmas celebration was with the extended side of the family on my mother's side. We started the day with church... 

then lunch over at my Aunt Keri's house. Really it was all of my siblings (and parents) invading her house. One of her sons and his family were there as well so that made us feel better.

Isn't this a cute kids table?

More presents! (My kids are spoiled).

Here is the entire Strutt clan.

Here is an attempt to get the Strutt kids with Grandma and Grandpa Henkes. The kids were not cooperating.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Part 4

We even made time to get together with just the Strutt family siblings. It had been a while (about six months) since we had all been together. 

Of course there were presents.

The three one year olds got their own rocking chairs from Grandma and Grandpa (Patrick was already asleep).

Patrick eventually got to open his presents (and loved them).

Christmas Part 3

On the 26th, we drove up to McGregor to spend some time with the extended family. We spent the whole time hanging out with lots of family. 

There were a few games of tic tac toe

Some card games.

Wrestling with the uncles...

or being pulled around by his legs.

And of course, presents!

Some kids were more patient than others.

Josh and Mariah got to show off their reading skills by playing Santa.

All the great-grandkids got these awesome piggy banks with their names on them. (I'm not sure where the picture of Daniel went).

There was also a lot of coloring. Playing with the cousins is a lot of fun.

Christmas Part 2

After our Christmas Morning, we loaded up the car (that was mostly packed the day before) and took off on our drive to Iowa. The kids are fantastic in the car (probably from all the practice). Even Patrick wash't too fussy.

He even found time to stretch. He sat like this for a while. 

We got to Grandma and Grandpa Strutt's house late but managed to stay up a little while longer to hang out (and run around like crazy). After a good night sleep they put the boys to work right away.

Except Daniel, who spent most of the time there like this. He is obsessed with building forts right now. 

The bigger boys helped make some frosting to decorate Christmas cookies.

I don't have any pictures of the finished product but Daniel really likes sprinkles. You will just have to imagine what his looked like.

After a few days of just the five of us hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, the Allemans drove over from Iowa City to join the fun. It started with Christmas Eve service at the church in West Des Moines. This was the first time in years we have done Christmas Eve there. Joe has never done it there. That tells you how long it had been. It was a good service meant for kids that included an interesting children's time thanks to my kids. Good thing we don't go there very often.

Christmas morning started with a nice breakfast. 

Then it was play time including some iPad time....

and outdoor fun.

Josh loved pulling around the little boys. The little boys loved it too.

Dad got in his daily workout, too.

Josh had a great time with Uncle Brandon.

Building a giant snowman....

...and getting buried in the snow.

There were even stockings at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

El Macho was very excited.

At least they like their Kindles.

These two were adorable. They are only two months apart and play together really well. They spent a good amount of time hanging out on the fireplace hearth and running back and forth to the couch. It was really cute.

Christmas Day also brought more family out when the Vargas' flew in from Texas bringing their cute twin girls.

Lunch at Zombie Burger

It was nice to get to hang out with the family. We don't get together very often, so it's nice to see everyone when we do.