The Lindvall Family

The Lindvall Family
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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Snow!!

We've only had a few days this month where we've been able to play in the snow and the kids loved it!  Emery kept telling us she was going to hit 'Bubba' with a snowball.

Our Christmas 2016

The kids were so excited for Christmas this year.  On Christmas Eve, we read The Night Before Christmas and set out cookies for Santa & food for the reindeer.  

The kids slept until around 7:00-7:15 on Christmas morning (if it weren't for Elli, I'm pretty sure everyone would have slept past 8 that morning).  Scott read the Christmas story in the Bible and then we all took turns opening gifts....Emery isn't that great at waiting to open gifts.
 I was trying to get a picture of the kids in front of the tree and Emery just couldn't keep her hands off of Connor.

Emery is always giving him a smooch whenever she gets a chance!
Merry Christmas!!

Connor's Christmas Program

Connor had a Christmas program on Sunday, December 11th.  He did a great job singing and doing motions to the songs.  I was so excited to see his program because he kept telling us that everything was a secret and he couldn't tell us what songs he was singing.  Great job, buddy....you did awesome!!

 Connor was dressed up like a candle at the beginning of the program!


Christmas 2016

In addition to our Christmas, we also celebrated with my grandparents & aunt, Scott's family, my family, and Scott's extended family.

We celebrated with my grandparents the Saturday before Christmas.

On December 23rd, we went to Scott's parents house to celebrated with them.  We stayed the night at their house and opened gifts on Christmas Eve morning.  Unfortunately, Elli had the stomach flu and got sick in the middle of the night (she then spread it to pretty much everyone else).

We went to my parents house on Christmas night and stayed the night to open gifts on the 26th.  My dad and Emery ended up getting sick during the night.  Luckily, they both pulled it together and the kids were able to open up gifts before lunch.

Today, we celebrated with Scott's extended family.

And yes, that's six Christmas celebrations including ours!  We had 2 other ones (3 if you count our annual Ohio friends party) that we weren't able to attend this year.

Santa

We saw Santa 4 different times this Christmas season!  Emery did great with him and was always so proud of herself for sitting on his lap!  She would tell him that she wanted a 'nemo niney' for Christmas!  He, of course, delivered and brought her a nemo niney for Christmas.  Elli and Connor both asked for smart watches!

While the kids were at AWANA, we took Emery to see Santa at the library.  She also was able to see a reindeer.
 This Santa was so great with the kids!
 We took the kids to Reynolds to see Santa and Mrs. Claus....
 We went to Sullivans to see Santa and ride the train.  This was so much fun and the kids loved the train!
 We went to Culver's one night for dinner with Nana and Papa Lindvall and ran into Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Yuletide Christmas Celebration

My parents got us all tickets to see the Yuletide Christmas Celebration this year.



The kids enjoyed being downtown.  We got to see the big Christmas tree, we saw the program and grabbed dinner after the show!

Ohio

We went to Ohio the weekend before Thanksgiving this year.  We left on Friday, right after Elli got out of school and traveled over to see friends that evening.  We were able to hang out with 2 sets of friends and then grabbed brunch with 3 other families on Saturday morning!  It was such a short time with our Columbus crew, but so much fun!  I have a feeling that we'll be heading over there this winter....we've been missing our Columbus people!

After brunch, we went to the 'Red Hotel Slide' and celebrated Thanksgiving/Christmas with the Brauchler side of the family.  The kids had a blast and loved playing with their 2nd cousins.  Emery had never met any of her 2nd cousins and it had been years since Connor and Elli last saw them.





 The Great-Grandkids and Grace & Adison...
 The whole Brauchler Family....
 The original 5...
 The grandkids....
When you only see each other every 5 or so years.....you take a lot of pictures :)

Thanksgiving 2016

Connor kept telling me that he made 'shirts' in his class to wear at his Thanksgiving feast!  This is what they made and I think it's the cutest Turkey outfit!



 This is the best picture I could get of the 3 of them together this year on Thanksgiving!
 This kiddo smiled so well for me, though!
Happy VERY belated Thanksgiving!!

Big Kids

Each kid hit a big milestone this fall.....

Connor learned to tie his shoes!  He came home from school with a 'practice' shoe and was motivated to learn to tie.  It took him a few weeks, but he eventually became a pro! Below isn't a picture of him tying his shoes, but it's of him doing his favorite subject....Math!
Elli got her ears pierced at the end of October!  She had been asking to do this for a few years.  She was so excited and so nervous!  She watched her cousin, Kensley, get hers pierced first.  She cried a bit before they pierced them, but was all smiles when they were done!
We potty trained Emery at the beginning of November.  Out of all three kids, she has probably been the easiest!  She was definitely ready!  Since using the potty, she's had only a handful of accidents.  She has also been waking up dry from her nap and in the morning!  A few weeks ago, we bought a pack of diapers and it could possibly be the last pack we will need to buy!!
They are growing up way too fast!!

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Maui- Day 4

We spent all of Day 4 on the Road to Hana.  We left around 5 am and didn't get back until around 6:15/6:30 at night.  It was a long day, but worth it.  We enjoyed all of the different stops that we made.  The drive got a little rough when we made it past the town of Hana.

Some highlights from the Road to Hana:

The Three Bears Waterfalls
We went to the Wai'anapanapa State Park and went to the Black Sand Beach.




Below is a picture of the Twin Falls, one of our first stops on the road to Hana.






















 One of our first stops on the road to Hana

Our last stop on the road to Hana was Waimoku Falls.  It was a 2 mile walk each way and worth it.  When we got 1.5 miles in, the trail was closed.  We decided to go past the closed sign to see the falls.


Waimoku Falls and the Seven Sacred Pools (we couldn't swim in the Seven Sacred Pools....they were closed)