Christmas Fun

Brecon sings his heart out at the Winter Concert. He did such a great job! Watch the family video for the entire show.

 

 

I thought it was pretty cute that these three wore matching purple shirts to go bowling. They played a pretty good game, but Grandpa was the winning with the highest score.

One of the fun gifts we got this year was a rock tumbler and our very own geodes. It was freezing cold, but Cael had been begging everyday to do this activity. The time finally arrived and they each took a turn cracking them open. It was quite the ordeal, but with many heavy strikes with the hammer, those geodes opened up and we found sparkly treasure inside.

 

Of course we had to make sugar cookies with Grandma to make  Christmas complete. Brielle was a great helper when all the boys were gone to a birthday party. The matching aprons was a perfect gift and looked so cute!

 One of the things I really wanted to do during the break was taken the kids swimming. The prices on some of the indoor waterparks was enough to make me cringe, so I opted for a Holiday Inn Express with a pool. It was a fun adventure, the pool was perfect, and fun memories were made. My favorite was after getting everyone settled down for the night and it was all quiet, Brielle pipes up "I smell stinky butt!" Everyone started to laugh, especially Grandpa Hoopes. We swam after breakfast the next morning and didn't leave until it was time to check-out... most of us had wet hair on the drive home.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Africa pictures from Ben

A week long training for volunteers and other people who will be taking care of the medical facilities to treat Ebola patients

Ben has been able to send us a few pictures from his latest Army deployment to Liberia. He has tried to keep busy helping the soliders who are feeling sick, but most of the day "just goes by" he says. I have to laugh because I am talking to him on the phone during the day more than when he is here at home. This humanitarian mission is also less worrisome and he is able to talk about what is going on, where he is going, and other topics. While he was in Afghanistan, our conversations were very one-sided and I never knew when he was going to call. Lately Ben has been able to call everyday, one or two times.

Some of the cool bugs and creatures in the area. Ben talks about the lizards that are everywhere... long and fast climbing up the training area walls.

At the week long training, Ben talked about how they finally got some food, instead of eating MREs for three meals a day. I know it can get pretty old eating that same thing, so he was excited and enjoy something that was brought in.


His first delicious dinner in a very long time.