A Capitol Christmas

For my family's fouth installment of Christmas we packed it up and headed for the Capitol city, Washington DC! It was a big weekend filled with several firsts, enjoy -

Ready to rock, on the road

Full House.

Our First meeting with Ellen

Elle is SO sweet, soft and snuggly!

When we got there Thursday night we had dinner and opened gifts before the kids went to bed - it was fun and they were very excited!

Sam and his tool kit - he fixed the whole house before the weekend was over! :)

Rita and Grace with new hair bows!

Marv, Linds, Sam and Grace - cheese!

Andrea opening her measuring cup dolls - great find!

Sam and Dad - Sam loved his new sock monkey!

Friday all the Verwys Girls headed out for a little Target, Chik-Fil-A and the mall. Grace wanted to get her ears pierced when everyone was there, I thought she'd chicken out, but she did so great!

Before with mom

Getting ready, holding Claire the Bear

The Big moment!

After - mom and baby girl were overwhelmed!

Looking the mirror for the first time

When a girl gets her ears pierced who to bring but a grandma, a mom, two aunts, two sisters, and boat load of moral support! :)

Ta Da! Posing after

Rita and Linds all ready to go Saturday morning

Family pictures around the tree

I see, I see!

Rita was rockin' her new pink Cowgirl boots!

Sam! He was playing a game in which the junk yard dog lunges forward - couldnt have been better timing! :)

Two babies?

Iranian lunch - right before the power went out, DR style!

We promised the girls we'd take them swimming at our hotel, we finally got there Saturday night and then they stayed over too! Oh what fun!

Me and the bathing beauties!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tres Christmas'

Ornaments and Evergreens with packages as yet unseen all wrapped in paper colored bright, reflecting candles in the night with carolers and mistletoe and stockings all hung in a row on fireplaces glowing red with children safely sent to bed! - TSO

This year we had Christmas with the Verwys family, Christmas in Chicago and Christmas at home - all in 2 days! What a fantastic whirlwind of excitement! Enjoy the photos -

Grandpa opening his Chubs

Jim and Vicki - Christmas cheer

Grandma and her new sweater

We drove to Chicago Christmas afternoon and picked Marvin and Lindsay up at the airport, then headed to Michigan Ave to the Conrad Hilton Hotel - absolutely stunning!

The Grand Foyer

A life size gingerbread house, real gingerbread and candy - it smelled so good!

Taxi Cab!

In front of the hotel

Garretts! A Chicago must-have!

We drove home in the afternoon of the 26th and had Christmas at home in the evening.

The tree and all our gifts

Marv and Linds

Mom and the most perfect find ever! A matching bowl for her antique china!

Dad checking out the new garment bag

Merry Christmas from Puff! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season, I was reminded again and again how absolutely blessed I am with family, friends and a Savior who came as an infant for me.

Tomorrow, or really today, we're off to Washington DC to meet Ellen and round out the season with more Christmas!

It has just come to my attention

I never gave a shout out to my new niece on my blog! The other day I posted that I'm going to DC to 'SEE ELLEN' - Ellen is my daring new niece and we're going to visit her this week! :) Check out her mother's blog for pictures!

Coming soon: Christmas weekend photos!

Only one creature stirring

I'm the only one awake right now, even the cat is sleeping on the bed! but I thought I'd take a minute to write about what's going on for Christmas this year.

Already Been:

Department Meeting - very fun, great food!

Annual Meeting - see above post, super awesome!

Angel Tree - 45 gifts, what a blessing to be a part of

Prism Concert - beautiful, cant wait for next year!

Wrapping Gifts - I'm getting better every year :)

Lamb dinner - saw a Christmas Carole <-- CREEPY!

Yet to Come:

Visit Aunt Lois and Uncle Howard - they're absolutely fantastic, cant wait!

Christmas Eve Candlelight service - my favorite service of the year

Christmas at Grams - a tradition, I'm gonna eat me some rolls! haha

SEE MARV AND LINDS - It's like my two best friends coming home, YAY!

Grand Lux Cafe - Yum.

Christmas at home - one of my favorite memories of the last few years

Koning Family Christmas - great friends and a mouse sleepover!

Dinner and a movie with Dana - A cousin pick-me-up! :)

Trip to DC on 31st - SEE ELLEN!

That is a stacked lineup and I cant wait! Bring on the fun!

And all this celebration to remember what our blessed Savior did for us those many years ago.

Hallelujah - What a Savior!

A Great Company

Lately things have been great on the work front. The Annual Meeting was this past weekend - Carnival theme! So fun! There was a complete indoor carnival set up in the DeVos Place. I rode everything except Tilt-a-Whirl and the upside down roller coaster; I even did bumper cars for the first time! I didnt get and Elephant Ear or corn dog, but they sure smelled great! :) Here's some photos, enjoy -

The Ferris Wheel!

Took this from the top of the Ferris Wheel - I rode the Cliff Hanger later, it was SO great!

Some of the rides - so great!

AMY! Glad we ran into her at the end of the night!

Mr Dizzy - Jeff

Amy, Jeff and I practically closed this ride down for the night!

Like I said work has been great this week too. I work for a fantastic company and with fantastic people and I'm so proud to say that we were able to place 45 gifts under the Angel Tree this year because of the generosity of my department!

Karla and Amy matching Angel Tree tags and gifts

Karla was so excited to buy electronic Hampsters and virtual pets for 12 year old girls!

Tonight I'm having a sleepover with Marta and Eliza! They're eating popcorn and playing with Hoppy VanderHare :)

Happy Wednesday to all!

92 years and counting...

December 5 was grandpa's 92nd birthday, we had a little family party for him Sunday night here's a few photos, enjoy -

Smile! Almost cake time! :)

6 mismatched candles, so happy

Almost got them all in one shot - impressive really

Gifts! Mostly candies and mixed nuts, yum! He wanted to hurry through the gifts so he could get to his cake and ice cream - some things never change :)

Reading his cards

Nobody opens a gift quite like Grandpa Marv.


I asked him when he got his knife, he couldnt remember, but he said a long time ago, I think when he was a kid. More guys should carry pocket knives.

We took Puff over to visit tonight, they love her. They baby talk to her and let her jump on the kitchen table and laugh when she hops on the counters, 'Oh look Marv, she's on the workboard!' I think she might go on a little vacation there over New Years.

Check out Kari's blog for a weekend recap!

Happy Monday All!

1st Snow!

It's snowing and sticking! the sticking part makes it count as real snow. No pictures, sorry. My life has been a little boring lately, winning a Poinsettia at the Christmas party I planned was probably the highlight of the week...what a life. Although tonight was Ladies Missionary fellowship, it's so inspiring! They talk about living in Africa, raising kids, not having electricity...holy smokes! Talk about the bold and the beautiful!

Headed to Indy tomorrow for bridesmaid dress shopping, should be a good time, hopefully pictures to follow!

Have a great weekend, Happy December!