Weekend Wrap-Up

Christmas 2017 was just so great.  There is nothing better than spending time with my favorite people.  Here's how we've spent the last week!

Last Wednesday, with very short notice, Kylee and Kase decided to do the Winter RUNderland Fun Run.  (Kael was at church youth group).  It was cold but a super fun course lit up with Christmas lights and Santa even led the race!

Kase lined up with the big kids!

Running so fast it's blurry! Ha! And my cell phone wasn't working great in the cold. 

Hot cocoa at the finish line!

Kylee and Kase both won their age divisions and came home with some awesome Santa medals! Kylee set a PR for her mile at 6:21 and Kase ran it in 8:30! They were so very happy.

Kase warmed up in his cute Santa jammies then was dying to open a gift from his teacher. He loved his new book!

Thursday I had lunch at school with Kase and Kylee and went to their class parties. The excitement at school that day was so awesome.  So much joy and I love seeing the kids with their friends!

Meanwhile, Kent and the other Ankeny Edward Jones FA's were spreading holiday cheer to those in need!

Friday morning Kylee had some friends over to bake cookies. The girls had a great time! 

Later that afternoon she went ice skating with a friend.  I love these pictures her friend's mom sent!

Friday night we went to Collins for Dunshee Christmas.  We are a loud, fun, crazy bunch. And then all the great-grandkids opened up laser tag guns and we got even louder. It was a great night!

Saturday was Patterson Christmas. We had the best day spending time with family.  Cindy greeted us all with new funny t-shirts as we walked in the door!

Presents were stacked high!

Kylee's slippers were a hit!

Kase cuddled up to Uncle Kyle and Aunt Julia.

And later Kyle showed the rest of the Patterson men how to clear a room, Army-style. We spent the rest of the day playing pinball, doing a fun exchange game, playing cards and eating all our favorite foods.  Late afternoon Kylee started not feeling great, so we headed home.

Kylee woke up feeling better, thankfully! We spent Christmas Eve celebrating at home- just our family.  It was so nice.

Kids requested coffee cake for breakfast. 

Then we opened gifts! Kids were really appreciative of everything and I think the most fun they had was giving their gifts to each other.

Kylee loves to give.  Besides this DVD she got for Kent, she gave both Kent and me 58 drawings, cards and stories she had been working on since October! She also handmade some really cute ornaments. 

The kids had been SO excited to wake up that morning and see snow! After opening a few presents we had to go out and play!

Fox and Geese! This is something Grandpa Terry does every year on the first snowfall! So we wanted to continue the tradition.

I think Kase was trying to catch a snowflake here.

And, of course, family football in the snow.

We saw some friends at the park and the kids had fun zooming down the snowy slides!

Back inside for hot cocoa and then more presents.

These mugs were my favorite!

Both my parents and Keith and Cindy stopped by during the day to see us and have the kids show all their gifts.  Later we went to church.  It was such a special service and I was so proud to have all the kids in "big church" with us and seeing their faces lit up with candlelight is something that always means so much to me.  Even Kase did a great job holding his candle still!

We picked up pizza on the way home, then had our traditional chocolate fondue for dessert!

It was so nice to have the whole day to spend at home together!