Cousins and Pajamas

For Christmas, my parents got all the grandchildren a new pair of pajamas. The boys got dinosaurs and the girls got penguins. Poor Jonah was not in the best mood for pictures, but I think it's funny to watch the progression of his meltdown. Unfortunately, I should have taken the pictures much closer. Oh well. Live and learn. I guess I can always crop them closer.

Hannah, Ayden, Violet, Jonah, Matthew, Daniel 

and Katherine with Grandma Pingel

Probably the best one

Grandma Pingel with Matthew, Daniel and Katherine

Hannah

Matthew

Ayden and Matthew

Grandma Pingel, Matthew and Ayden

Katherine

Christmas morning

We awoke Christmas morning to the first snow in weeks. Jaclyn was excited to have a little bit of snow since she rarely gets it in North Carolina (though this year, she's gotten more snow than us.) Jaclyn and Jacob were both staying at our house, so they got to watch my kids open presents. Luckily their kids are young enough not to care that they didn't have any. I kept asking Matthew what he wanted for Christmas, and he would reply, "a train with wagons." Luckily, that's what I had bought him a month earlier, so that made me happy. And he absolutely adored his Lego train. Right now, it's actually sitting on his headboard of his bunk bed. Our other big gifts this year were a new tent, sleeping bags for the kids and new camping pads from Mark's parents. After getting rained on at Yellowstone, we realized we needed a new tent. I don't know how much camping we'll do this year, but I'll at least have to make Mark take Matthew and Hannah. Or maybe even camp in the backyard.

Jaclyn, Violet, Serene, Jonah and Matthew

Our Christmas tree

We awoke to snow

Violet

Jonah and Matthew

Matthew, Hannah and I

Waiting patiently

Sleeping bag from Grandma and Grandpa Robison

It's a big one. (a new tent)

Santa brought me a train!

Hannah

Hannah and Violet

Hannah's drawing toy

The Lights on Temple Square

A few days before Christmas, we decided to drive down to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square. We were having a really mild winter, so it was cold, but not nearly as cold as most years. We met up at City Creek Mall and then walked over to Temple Square. The kids had lots of fun seeing the lights, but were a bit iffy about all the crowds and being out in the cold. It was a nice evening over all.

Watching the trains at City Creek Mall

Mark and Hannah

Jacob and Violet

Jacob, Violet, Steve and Jaclyn

Katherine and Ayden

The Pingel Family

Jonah, Steve and Jaclyn

Serene, Jacob and Violet

The Robisons

Jess and Daniel

Jaclyn

Jaclyn and I

Jaclyn, Mom and I

Benjamin and Violet

Jess, Daniel and Benjamin

Ayden, Melissa and Katherine

Mom and Jonah

Mom

Violet and Katherine

Steve with Jonah

Matthew, Mark and Hannah

Salt Lake Temple

Matthew

Jaclyn, Jonah and Steve

Jaclyn and Steve

Bowling

I wanted to take the kids bowling on my birthday, but Hannah had croup so we were stuck in quarantine. Since Jaclyn was out and about visiting people, we decided to have Mom come bowling with us the Saturday before Christmas. Matthew loved bowling. He was so fascinated, and had such fun rolling his ball down at 1 mph. Hannah was not so excited about bowling. Her shoes were way too big, to start with. Eventually, we got one of those tracks to roll a ball down. Matthew used the track a few times, but preferred to do it himself.  Hannah slowly warmed up to bowling. At first you had to carry her over and force her hand to push the bowl. By the end, she would walk over, help carry her ball to the track, and then push it by herself with two hands while smiling. Mark and I did well. I did surprisingly well my first game, and even managed to get a strike at the very end. Mark hit several strikes his second game, but the bumpers kept messing him up since they slightly impede at the front of the lane. Poor Mom was not happy that the shoes did not let you slide at all like they should, so she took a nasty spill, and her game was thrown a bit off. Overall, it was a fun family outing.