Robotics, Cooking, Gearing Up for Florida

 Not a lot happened between Christmas Break and our trip to Florida in February. But we did a couple things! Dave had a school dance, my mom came to visit and Dave and Ike had several robotics competitions. 

First up we had a pretty decent snow so the boys and I busted out the sleds and snowboards and checked out the big hill by our house. 

Dave ready for his dance!

Ike driving at one of his robotics competitions.

Both boys had a competition on the last weekend of January so my mom came up to watch them. 

Mom took them golfing, I can't remember what was exciting about this picture but I'm guessing Dave hit a really good shot?

Dave treated us to homemade mac and cheese and smash burgers one weekend.  And then made up some stir fry another day!

Forced the kids to paint Easter eggs with me. They turned out so cute!

Remainder of Christmas Break

The rest of Christmas Break we nursed our sickly members back to health, then had the Smith boys up for some fun before going to Evansville a little later than previously planned!

First up is Ike's room re-arrangement. While the kids were gone with my mom, we moved his room around to make it a little more functional.

The boys all entertained themselves by playing video games and outside whenever they could. Oh and lots of Uno Attack of course. 

Ike and Zach being weirdos eating their kiwi with the skin on. 

Neighborhood trip to the pool. 

We are seriously so blessed with this indoor pool!

Breakfast at 50 East. We hit all the campus highlights.

One last picture before they headed home. 

 

Dave got a new ball marker for Christmas from my cousin Gil. 

Dinner one night at Dad's. 

A bunch of family got together at a golf simulator in Evansville. They had a blast (I went shopping instead).

Making smash burgers at Grandpa Charlie's. 

And that wraps it up! Definitely a weird Christmas break but we ended up having a lot of fun despite the illneses!

Christmas 2023

We had a very eventful holiday season this year. Mostly because half of the family ended up getting Covid which altered a lot of our plans!

To start with we were given tickets to the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra's Christmas concert at the Honeywell. We had such a nice night with the boys and Josh's parents. They put on an excellent show. 

The next weekend we had Bowyer Christmas at Josh's sister's which I've previously posted about. Then Christmas came and my mom was up to celebrate with us. 

After Christmas my mom took the boys to Columbus and then Louisville to do a ton of fun stuff. The zoo, overnight at a hotel, Top Golf. Unfortunately we found out we'd been exposed to Covid and then Dave started feeling kinda junky. The kids were supposed to go to Evansville from Louisville and then us meet them there. Instead, mom drove the boys back and we hunkered down for a week. 

Somehow only Dave and Josh ended up getting sick which was good and they didn't feel too awful. It was rough to have to cancel plans but we ended up making it work pretty well!

 

Bowyer Smith Christmas 2023

For Bowyer Christmas this year we all met in Indy and stayed with the Smith clan for the weekend. Upon check-in we had Brooklyn telling us our assigned rooms, she's so cute!

Everybody got there pretty late in the evening so we had dinner then hung out. 

Dave and the fruit basket, he was strangely pumped about this.

Singing carols before opening up presents.

We hung out and took a walk around their neighborhood, then it was time for gingerbread decorating. We all struggled then Josh, Barry, and Chad judged.

 

After this Josh and I headed home because he was on call and the kids spent the night again then went to church and made their way back on Sunday. Great visit, we always love getting together!