End of December and Most of January

 Miss Jen took Hannah and Gwen out to celebrate their baptisms this fall.

We talked about having people over for New Year's Eve, but decided to take advantage of the snowy weather and go skiing instead (then watch some football and go to bed at a reasonable time). 

The Oysters came and joined us! (Jackson not pictured, but he was there.)

Hannah and McKinley

Each kid took a turn making dinner over break. Micah's chicken shawarma was delicious!

We got to play with Kensleigh one day.

Our annual small group Christmas party was missing several people due to germs and schedules. And the only picture I took was of my buttercream charcuterie board. 

Scott left the party early to fly to Florida. Our church's college ministry does a retreat, and they asked Scott to come teach. 

A nearby town had a "coffee walk", so I bribed the teenagers to hang out with me.

Lots of basketball games...

Last weekend was my annual suite retreat. We went back to the finger lakes in New York, and stayed in a lovely place. As usual, we had an absolutely wonderful time. 

Coach Becking

 Our community lost a very special man right after Christmas to an unexpected and sudden death. Josh Becking has been one of Matthew's football coaches since second grade. He also coaches basketball (not Matthew's team, but both teams practice together) and baseball. Basically, if you're a sixth grade boy in Tallmadge who plays a sport, you knew Josh. He was incredibly positive and intentional with the boys. He was selfless with his time and energy and was a man of great character. We are so grateful for the time we had with him and the influence he was in Matthew's life. 

The boys are wearing his name on their sleeve for every game.

Christmas

Eesh, it's been almost a month since Christmas, and I still haven't posted? That's bad, even for me!

Hannah's adorable gingerbread house

Meghan and I twinning on the Sunday before Christmas

We did our family presents the Tuesday before Christmas (we squeezed it in between basketball practice and work, while construction workers were going in and out of our basement). Hannah knew that her gift was her letterman jacket, and that it wouldn't be done by Christmas morning. Lucky for us, they finished it early, and we got to surprise her!

Gramme came over to spend time with us that evening. The next morning, Christmas Eve, we drove to Indiana to meet up with all of the Gurleys. 

Christmas Eve church

Nana made matching stockings for everyone! Obviously, we needed to see if they were big enough to fit a small child. They were. 

all the cousins

Height order does not equal age order. Ages from left to right: 9, 12, 16, 15, 13, 15, 13, 17.

Abby is talented at many crafts, including knitting and crocheting. She made an adorable Donald Duck for Papa (who is famous for his Donald Duck impression). 

And she made an incredible advent calendar for Nana, where each day is a different nativity character. 

Nana had a unique Christmas puzzle for all of us who enjoy puzzling, and a special lego set for all the grandkids to work on together.