December 2016

December...hard to believe a whole year has flown by again. 

 The Christmas Cactus my aunt gave me bloomed all month and was such a lovely bright spot in the kitchen!

 Levi is really good at Mancala and he REALLY likes beating his parents.

 Each of the boys played a piece at their piano recital.

 They each did a nice job - it's fun to see their confidence in piano grow.

 It's also Biddy Basketball season for the boys. They are on different teams, so there are two games to see on Saturday mornings and two practices each week. Thankfully, it's a low-key, short season and soon enough it'll come to an end. This is Levi's first year and he seems to be having fun playing point guard for his team. Noah's team is fun to watch, their biggest struggle is getting the ball to bounce into the hoop! :-)

 Levi brought this home for me. My cheek color is especially amazing.

 It's always fun to decorate the house for Christmas. It gets dark outside so early and the weather is blustery, warm lights are always my favorite.

 This kid, when he decides to, can be very helpful! He bundled up one cold, dark night to come outside with me and chore the chickens - it's always more fun to chore with someone else than being out there by yourself.

 We had a Christmas party with the young adult group from church - the perfect occasion for a Christmas cake (thanks Costco!)!

 We've had a bit of snow, not enough to sled or anything but at least some.

 Levi celebrated his birthday in school before they got out for Christmas break. I joined him for lunch and hung out until it was time to share his birthday treats. One of the many fun activities in PE that day was cup stacking.

 Eventually it was time for his classroom celebration. Mr. Wiens does such a nice job of making the birthday kid feel special. He sat up on the "throne" and told everyone about his birthday wishes and plans.

 They gave him a book about all the things they like about him and then Levi lead the class in dancing!

 This birthday kid wanted Christmas tree donuts again this year, they were yummy!

The Christmas program was a slightly bigger event for our family this year because as a 5th grader, Noah was in the band and played a solo. Each 5th grader plays a solo and it's always a treat to hear how much they've learned in just a few short months. Noah is behind his music stand in this photo playing his drum solo. :-)

 Noah had a reading part too. All the kids did a great job and it was fun concert!

 As always, the boys had lots of stuff in their classrooms to show us. :-)

 Noah actually smiled for me when I wanted to take his picture!

 That is so rare these days!

 After school let out for Christmas break the boys got fresh haircuts.

 And then it was time to relax and enjoy some screen time while mom and dad got ready for our road trip to Illinois for Christmas!

 Nine hours in the car goes by pretty fast when the boys are occupied reading or watching movies. When they start messing with each other and fighting......well, you know....

 It was so good to be in Illinois again! It'd been a year since our last visit there, which seems like too long.

 Levi was eager to help grandma with cookies,

 and to help with cousin Ezra!

 It was good to see Ben's grandparent's again too!!

 Look at those handsome cousins!

 Christmas Eve was spent at the Mennonite Church of Normal.

 That's a long row of Schrags!

 Ezra takes his eating very seriously.

 Christmas!

 Masks from Peru,

 playing his new game Battleship,

 showing off their new hats from Peru,

 and hanging out with great grandma!

 Plus a plate full of DELICIOUS food!!

 The Schrag siblings were always setting the BEST examples for our children. lol

 Seriously, this little guy was such a peach!

 For Levi's birthday, Sara and Josh took him to WalMart and let him spend $30 on whatever he wanted, this is what he bought. Yes, that is a poop emoji pillow and a French fries pillow.

 The family photo that we pieced together in just minutes! The angle is poor, but the smiles are genuine and we managed to pull everyone together in record time!

 The boys spent a lot of time on screens,

 while we spent a lot of time on puzzles.

 And oh the food! So much good food!!

 Little Sticky Paws was caught in the kitchen taking a spoonful of rice and dribbling beans on it!

 And then it was his birthday! Nine years old, how is that possible?!

 We drove south from Bloomington/Normal to St. Louis to go to the City Museum.

 At first the boys were both a little overwhelmed. Levi didn't remember our previous visit and there were so many people inside it was hard to know which way to go first!

 Eventually, we just started climbing and sliding and pulling our way through!

 This guy put on an entertaining one-man show for us.

 Can you see Noah and Levi in the ball pit?

 Snack time!

 And more climbing and sliding. The 5 story slide didn't go well for Levi. He got twisted around and kinda scraped his leg. Noah and Ben did the 10 story slide! The 5 story one was nearly too much for me...I'm such a wimp.

 Back at the hotel he ate as much nacho cheese as he wanted,

 they hung out watching movie,

 and we got cookies for a final birthday treat!

 Back to Kansas for more Christmas fun! The Epp gathering was at my aunt's and the sisters played us a piano duet!

 My uncle showed us his made from scratch miniature train set, everything in these photos was made by hand except for the train tracks and human figures!

 Haiti was a big part of Christmas break because Ben and I worked on a power point presentation about our trip to Haiti, our family donated money to support MCC work in Haiti, and then on New Year's Day in church we gave our presentation.

The rest of the birthday and Christmas photos will come in January....because we didn't have our final Christmas celebration until Jan. 1!