Pictures from Papa & Nana's Visit

Parent's visit and an accident

My parents came into town on Wednesday evening of last week. We have had a wonderful visit with them. It has been such a joy to spend time together. Watching them with the boys is so fun. Rylan was giggling as we got close to the airport and has been loving on his papa and nana since they got here. Carsten took about a day to warm up to them. He sort of just stared at them with a look that said, "who are you and why are you in my house?" He got over that and has now been loving on them as well!

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas. We had a big breakfast in the morning, then opened gifts and had a nice dinner with all the fixings! We had a pumpkin pie cake like thing that I made for dessert. It was delicious! Then we played a few rounds of Carcassonne which my parents got us for Christmas!

Today we left in the morning for our Sunday group. It was snowing pretty good when we left, so Jeff was taking extra precautions on the road. On the way (about 1/2 mile from our house) we began to slide down a hill and were unable to stop. We were only going about 5-10 mph thankfully. We hit the rear left side of another car which sent it tumbling down into a ravine. As soon as our car stopped Jeff and I ran to the other car. My parents stayed in our car with the boys. We were all okay and unharmed in our car. When we got to the other car it was on its side. I opened the door and unbuckled the woman's seatbelt and helped her climb out of the car. Her husband was still in the car and complaining of chest pain. My mom called the paramedics and they were on the scene within about 10 minutes. Around an hour later they finally got the man out of the car. He was alert and talking the whole time and it appears that he will be fine. He did go to the hospital in the ambulance and they told us he was going to be okay.

We have our Father to thank because this could have been a lot worse. It really shook us up, especially Jeff who felt very responsible. Everyone including the police reassured him that he did everything he could and these things just happen sometimes. They blamed it completely on the road conditions. Think of Frank & Marianne (the couple we hit) and our family as we deal with the aftermath of this accident. Jeff is renting a car tomorrow to take my parents back to the airport. Think of them as they drive in what is supposed to be not the best weather conditions.

Free rides for Carsten

Rylan pushing brother around the house!

I'm not sure if Carsten liked it or not!!

A family gave us this sled for Carsten it is awesome!

We have plenty of snow to play in!

The ornament burglar

Being a naughty boy and climbing under the tree

Getting stuck under the tree

All worth it to chew on an ornament

Yummy!

A cookie story

Last night I made cookies. Yes, we do on occasion make cookies and no, they were not vegan! Anyway I was making cookies while Jeff was putting Rylan to bed. I went up to say goodnight to Rylan after having taken a bite of cookie dough. When I gave Ry a kiss he says to me, "I smell somefing in you mough mommy, what you eating?" I was just laughing during this little monologue of his when he continued on by saying, "Can I have a cookie?" I never even told him it was cookie dough, but the boy has a sniffer like a hound! He can smell anything on our breath, especially if it is of the sweet nature! He really makes us laugh!!

Christmas Decorating

Rylan being a goofy boy!

Rylan loves listening to Great Grandma Burns read him this story!

It has her voice recorded into it. He thinks it is great!

Carsten wearing a Mickey Santa hat!

We finally got the chance to decorate for Christmas this weekend! Rylan was so excited. He was giggling as we opened up the Christmas tub. Carsten was in bed, so it was a good time for us to spend with Rylan. We even made some cookies to make it an extra special event! We had music from the Nutcracker on in the background and it was a really joyous evening!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for everyone who follows our family happenings. Thank you for your support of our family. It means so much to know you are thinking of us on a regular basis. We are so grateful to have family and friends like you. We wish we could be there to celebrate Thanksgiving with you in the states, but our potluck dinner with the other students and staff here will have to suffice! We hope you all enjoy time together with your families today!