Weekend Wrap-Up

 LOVE having my whole crew together for the weekend! 

We started off Wednesday night with dinner out- (Kent was parking the car when I snapped this photo.) We had a lovely time at Olive Garden- typically dinners out are NOT Kase's favorite thing and very difficult for him to sit still for a long time but he did great and at the very end of the meal when we were paying, Kael offered to take him outside for a little walk. I was so proud of him and really appreciated him offering. We drove around a little bit looking at Christmas lights then came home for a fun family night playing old school video games on our three TVs downstairs! 

Thursday morning Kent went to the gym and I went for a run like usual then Kylee woke up and said she didn't feel well but she rallied and we headed to Keith and Cindy's for Thanksgiving! 

The cousins are always so happy to see each other.

The redheads!

Krue loves how strong Kael is.

Kase was the sweetest big cousin all day. He loved hanging with the littles.

The girls.  Kyle and Julia let us know they are expecting a baby girl in May so pretty soon we will have another girl in these photos! 

Crazy cousins.

The whole squad!

Kase and Krue were especially close all day.  He reminds me so much of Kase at that age!

We had a lovely evening just playing games- Perudo has been a favorite this break. One of Kase's friends came over and ended up staying the night so they had fun playing FortNite.

Friday poor Kylee was still feeling miserable so Kent took her to Urgent Care.  It wasn't strep (yay!) but they couldn't give her any meds (boo). Kase had a workout and I tidied up the house because Kael's girlfriend was coming over to meet and hang out with the fam! She is just so sweet and we had the nicest day getting to know her.  I had smoked ribs and made some tailgate snacks so we watched the Hawkeye game and later played some games on the Wii.  Emma was a good sport and joined right in! Garrett had come over too and a little later his brother Gavin came over then Kase and Gavin went to a friend's birthday party. Keith and Cindy stopped by (and brought the cutest Christmas jammies for the kids!) and Kase came home then left again for a hockey game with friends. 

The rest of us went out for dinner (Kent, Laura, Kael, Kylee and Garrett- Emma had to go home) then got ice cream and drove around looking at Christmas lights. So fun! Kael's high school best friend came over and they sat in the hot tub.  Kylee had an early night since she still wasn't feeling well. 

This buddy in his cute Christmas jammies slept until 10:00 AM Saturday morning!

We loaded up and headed towards Clear Lake to spend the day with my parents.  We met them at the most delicious Italian restaurant- everyone loved it!

Then we had a great time walking around uptown through some cute little shops.  It was flurrying a little and everything was so festive- it felt like we were in a Hallmark movie!

We stopped to grab coffees then headed back to their condo.

Boys played around outside for a bit- it's so peaceful and quiet there.

Kase had fun working on the puzzle!

We also played some board games- Grandma beat Kael at the end to be the Perudo winner! 

It was such a nice day spending time with them- their place looked so nice decorated for winter. We headed home late afternoon and thought we might drive through snow coming home but we didn't hit too much. Had a nice lazy family night here playing games and watching a movie.

Sunday morning Kylee was up early and went for a run. Then we were all five home, awake and healthy to go to church together! So that was really nice.  After church we did a few thing around the house, Kylee went to the gym then got her nails done with a friend.  Kase went to the ISU/Iowa wrestling match and Kael packed up and headed back to school.  It was just so nice having him home! It was a great weekend!