Happy New Year

For those of you who don't know me and only know our family through this blog might be wondering if we ever made it back from our trip. Did we survive? Were we sucked away by a twister therefore preventing us from returning to Oz? Did a week in a car with a 2 year old and a 3 year old render me so mentally incapacitated that I am therefore unable to ever blog again?

Kind of. Not really. I'm just slow.

We survived a 16 hour drive to Alabama, a 14 hour drive to West Virginia, and then a 12 hour drive back to Kansas. All in 9 days. Three hotels, two different homes, and lots and lots of advil.

Actually, the kids did amazingly well. We really love family road trips. Good thing, right? We've gotten into our groove and have our road trip songs, games, restaurants, and books. Just give the Websters a map and a Cracker Barrel and we are good to go. It doesn't take much, folks.

We left Christmas Eve evening and drove until midnight to St. Louis. Fortunately there was room for us at the inn. The Drury Inn. Ha! But it really was peaceful driving on Christmas Eve listening to music and just thinking about the meaning of that night.

We spent Christmas morning at the continental breakfast at the Drury Inn. We had to put our children in time out twice and Will got in big trouble with Daddy for crawling under the table. Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

We had lunch at a Waffle House somewhere in Tennessee. Of course? Isn't that how everyone has their lunch on Christmas?
 

And of course we slept. Not even the excitement of it being Christmas Day could overcome the fact that we hadn't gone to sleep in our hotel room until 1 am.

We finally made it to Birmingham around dinner time. Hooray! We were so happy to see our family!

We didn't get to Alabama until that evening so we had a wonderful Christmas dinner with my family and then it was on to presents! My oldest niece read the Christmas story from the Bible and then my youngest niece read Twas the Night Before Christmas from a book she has made herself in Kindergarten. Bennett recited the Christmas story and Will sang Jingle Bells. Everyone was happy. Here is a picture of Will singing. I like how the stack of presents is higher than he is.Oh, and he had to stand on the fireplace to sing. Of course. because he's my kid.

 Precious memories.

 Bennett's favorite present was her Rapunzel dress from her grandparents and then the matching wig and shoes from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jason. Will's was a $4 train that moved in a ball from Walgreens. Go figure. Here they are checking out their favorite toys. I just love this picture.

So we had a wonderful Christmas Day but that night was kind of rough. Will kept us up all night coughing. He had gotten sick before we left Kansas but the doctors had said it was just a viral infection. By Christmas evening we knew it was much worse. So we spent FOUR hours on the 26th at an urgent care facility.

Good thing we went though. The little guy had a double ear infection and pneumonia. Great. Merry Christmas indeed.

While Rob and I were at the doctors office, my sister took her girls and Bennett to go riding through a neighborhood on a one horse open sleigh. Really. I mean how awesome is that? Can you say happiest little girl in the world?

I mean that literally. Happiest.

I am even going to post this shot even though it is so far away because you can see Bennett screaming in delight.

Some more shots from that amazing afternoon. And luckily we made it there in time to ride a few times ourselves. Even sick little Will woke up from his nap in his carseat to see the horses and hop on the final ride.

We spent four days in Alabama. I had the amazing honor of visiting my cousin Elliot while she was receiving her treatment at UAB. I hope that every single person that reads my blog takes the time to visit her caring bridge site and to take the time to pray for her complete healing.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/elliotwilliams

Spending time with Elliot was as wonderful as it always is. I wish you all could meet her. She is the kindest, bravest, most loving, and gentlest person that I know. She is exactly like our Grandmother and I get to be the lucky one God chose to be her cousin. It is a privilege and a blessing. I also got to have breakfast with her sister, my other cousin Erin. Who also happens to be one of my dearest friends. Who also happens to be pretty amazing herself. Who also happens to be 9 months pregnant in this picture. 

She had her beautiful baby girl one week exactly after we had breakfast together. Can I just mention one more time how hard it is to be away from my family?

We loved enjoying the beautiful weather and wanted to take advantage before returning to the cold Kansas winter, so we took the kids to the Montgomery zoo. Which is where Rob and I kind of sort of met. We filmed a funny video for our church and the video was shot at the zoo. It was our first time ever really talking or hanging out. It's also where we had our wedding reception. 'Cause that how Websters roll.

 Recreating our first dance.

 Riding the train where we filmed the video and also where our entire wedding party rode in on for the reception.

We had a great time in Alabama and were able to grab dinner with friends, hang out with our family, and just enjoy being home for Christmas. Here are some beautiful shots of Bennett and Will with their cousins on my side of the family.

We then left Alabama for the next leg of our journey. We headed up North to good 'ole Parkersburg, West Virginia to spend a few days with Rob's side of the family. This was actually such a wonderful treat. We hadn't been with Rob's family for Christmas in years and so we were so happy to see all of them.

The main reason for our trip was to be there to support Rob's Dad, Jim Webster. He was receiving an award for all of his years of service at St. Paul's United Methodist Church. The pastor of the church had contacted Rob and his siblings a few months back to see if it would be possible for us all to be there for the presentation. Of course we all made it happen. It was such a joy to be there and celebrate Jim Webster and all he has meant to the church over the years. What a wonderful man.

Bennett and Will were so happy to see their cousins on the other side of the family. Okay, so maybe Will wasn't so happy in this particular picture, but he was at some point during the day.

We spent New Years Eve swimming, shopping, catching up, and just hanging out as a family.

Bennett chilling with her awesome cousin, Sophie. We sure do love this kid!!

 

Uncle Rob teaching Madeline how to play the guitar. Believe it or not, there's an app for that.

 

Brothers. In case you couldn't tell. Actually Will is sitting with me in my chair as I type this blog post and his comment on looking at this picture is, "Mommy!! They match!!"

 We spent New Years evening at a great Italian restaurant where the kids had the best table in the house.

This may be the worst picture of Bennett ever taken, but I love it because it is of her with her cousin Jameson. They are only 3 1/2 months apart in age and I so wish we lived closer to each other so they could grow up together. Such a cute little guy.

 Hugs and kisses for Aunt Laura.

We took some great family photos but they are being held hostage until Rob can finish them. I'll post those... oh.... in 2014.

And then we finally made it home. Another 12 hour drive, another hotel, and yes, another Cracker Barrel. But it was worth every second to see all of our family. 

I will close with a video montage of the horse rides we took while in Birmingham. It begins with Will yelling for his Uncle Jason to look at the horse. It may just be the cutest thing I have ever seen. Ever. Happy New Year, y'all!

Sights and sounds of Christmas

What a wonderful December. I am curled up in my chair right now watching my children play with their toys. My husband is making reindeer shaped pancakes and I am still basking in the warmth of our church's beautiful candlelight service last night. We will be traveling to see family members in just a few hours, but I wanted to post some pictures of our month. I can honestly say that it is has been such a blessed one and my heart is so full with gratitude for all of our blessings.

 We spent a lot of time this month baking. In addition to the cookies in my previous post we made reindeer cupcakes, candy cane cookies, and haystacks. And we spent all day yesterday making peanut butter balls, dill pretzels, and bread for our neighbors and postman. I love it!

Bennett had her Christmas program at school. I will post video of that later, but here are a few shots of her singing and then with her sweet friends. I'm not going to lie. I cried. I even cried when I saw her name in the program. She's got a rough road ahead of her with her weepy Mom.

And the homeroom Moms in Bennett's class kind of rock. They organized a cookie making party on one day when the kids were out of school for Christmas.

Here are my kids with their best friends after the Advent service at our church. Bennett and Will with Levi, Crosby, Ridley, and Walker.

 We went to see Santa, of course. The kids were great this year and both were so happy to see him.

We spent an evening in the town of Parkville, Missouri. I can't believe that we didn't take our camera, because this is the greatest little town and it looked gorgeous at Christmas. Sigh.... I'll learn next year. Here are some shots from Union Station and the Crown Center. We spent an entire day there a few weeks ago and will definitely do it again next year. Kansas City is so wonderful at Christmas time.

We loved going out to look at lights and we had fun stopping off at Panera Bread for gingerbread men and hot chocolate. That was something new we started this year which I think will become an annual tradition. Our favorite lights this year were at Longview Lake (of course) Candy Card Lane, and the Plaza lights are a must. We hit them all and loved every second.

We also spent a lot of time at home spending time together as a family. Here are Rob and the kids watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. We try to have computer/iphone free evenings where we really watch things with the kids. They love our undivided attention.

Here are a few more shots of life around our house during the Christmas season. The first shot is of Will having his very first taste of hot chocolate.

On Christmas Eve eve we went to the candlelight service at our church. Bennett wanted to come in to "big church" to sing the carols with us. What a sweet little girl.

We looked at more lights afterwards and then it was time to come home and get ready for Santa Claus. We set out the reindeer food. Each had their own bag. I was hoping the reindeer were literate. As it turned out, they were!

Rob read the Christmas story with the kids. We started out reading out of Daddy's Bible, but they both insisted on getting their own. This was the sweetest part of the evening and one I will always cherish.

The kids set out the milk and cookies and then were jumping up and down in excitement.

This morning Bennett ran into our room. I asked her if she knew what happened last night and she started to tear up and she sniffed, "Did Santa not bring me any presents?" So sweet. We informed her that he did and then we went to get up her sleepy brother. The came down the stairs and immediately Bennett ran to the horses and Will flew to the trains. It was a wonderful morning.

Despite all of the lights, cookies, and presents the best part of our Christmas has been teaching the children the real meaning of Christmas. We have had lots of outings, but my favorite was the night we delivered angel tree presents to the homes of children who have fathers in prison. More than buying gifts, I loved watching my kids drop coins in the Salvation Army buckets on their way into the stores. I loved hearing Bennett ask to hear Christmas carols on the radio instead of Frosty. I loved it this morning when we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

I pray each of you has a wonderful Christmas with your family. And I hope each of you know about the best Christmas gift we will ever receive.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

 That is the ultimate gift. Delivered by the king of king who come to the earth in the most humble form imaginable. In the form of a helpless infant. Born to people of no importance. In a place where barn animals sleep. Born to save us from our sins. To give us the gifts of grace, peace, hope, and life. It is almost unthinkable in its scope and value. But I am grateful. So so grateful.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.