One down two to go.....

Valynn got her ears pierced today as part of her Christmas present. She didn't flinch at all when they pierced it, she did very well. After some shopping we went out to eat and then came home. It's snowing again today, probably another couple of inches. We're enjoying it and it helps when it's the mid 20's or warmer with little wind. Yesterday we didn't get Kyleigh down for her nap in time that she decided to fall asleep on her own under the desk.

We've been enjoying the time at home this week, but we haven't accomplished everything we set out to do over break. We had the Johnson's over for supper last night but didn't get together with anyone else that we had planned. Tomorrow morning we're headed to Indiana to ring in the New Year with Rick, Cindy, and gang.

We wish everyone a Happy New Year....stay safe.

Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas in Illinois and are thankful that we weren't traveling this year in the Christmas Blizzard.

Christmas Eve we lounged around most of the day, watched the Polar Express, and did some prep work for supper. We had a snack of smoked salmon and shrimp before going to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at St. Timothy. After a beautiful service we came home and had a candlelight meal of oyster stew, cornish game hens, and rice pilaf on our China (the kids didn't break any). Followed by dessert of Norwegian goodies. Kyra very impatiently waited to open her gifts. Kyleigh could care less about opening gifts, she just wanted to play with everyone else's or sit on the boxes. We all got spoiled this year with gifts.

Christmas Day we opened gifts from Santa and then spent a lazy morning playing with all our new toys. No one got dressed until it was time to go to the Padilla's for our Christmas Day meals. We had a great meal and a great visit and then came home and lounged some more.

Today it's back to the grindstone. I'm going to tackle one of the kids' room and Mark is going to start staining doors. He has finished staining and varnishing all the trim work.

Have a great weekend.

Sledding

The kids went sledding before Christmas with the neighbor kids. We only had one bloody nose, Mason, he hit a tree. We got close to 2" of rain which melted all the snow. Today we woke up to over 2" of snow and we could possibly get 2 more inches. The kids will be back outside playing again today I'm sure.

Update

Kyra's culture came back negative so we are going to take the wait and see approach. If she continues complaining we'll take her back in.

Mason has an endoscopy scheduled for January 6th. He will be checked for H. Pylori, celiac disease, acid reflux, and food allergy, along with a couple of other things. The doctor said 12 out of 13 times he finds something, the other 1 time it's a pain that is unexplained.

Valynn is at a sleep over tonight. It's a bittersweet one as Allie is moving the end of January so it'll be her last one at Allie's. Kyleigh is busy being Kyleigh and having fun with her new "trick", turning the TV on and off.

Mark has been home in the afternoons all week. Kids and I are enjoying him being home. Work is going good and we see and end in sight for the semester. We are ready for Christmas, the kids can't wait to open their gifts (I'm excited about mine as well).

We wish every one a Merry Christmas!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

I was hoping to get pictures posted sooner but it was a crazy week.

Tuesday Valynn and Mason had their school Christmas program. Kyra and Kyleigh got to stay home with the babysitter. They did great and the program was wonderful. Mason got to sit with us during the program, while Valynn sat in the stands.

Wednesday was Kyra's Christmas program. We've been going to the preschool for five years now and it's been almost the same every year. Kyra did a wonderful job and only showed the audience her underwear once. Mason came with me to Kyra's program while Mark took Valynn to CCD and had Kyleigh.

Thursday was crazy as I dealt with a work related problem most of the day and then ended up spending an extra hour at the school dealing with the issue. My dryer also quit drying so I hauled three loads of laundry across the street to dry. I broke my ricer when trying to make the lefse as well (that is a picture of Kyra helping me mix the lefse). We took the kids to the Festival of Lights and once again it was wonderful. Kyleigh screeched the whole time in delight. After was walked along the light at the riverfront we went to Steak and Shake for shakes and french fries.

Friday I took Kyra back to the doctor because I didn't think her UTI was cleared up, the infection was mostly cleared up but there were some other issues with her sample so I have to call later today to get the results and decided what our next step will be. I was home for 15 minutes before the sitter came and I headed to work. After working for an hour I stopped by the school to finish discussing the issue which was finally cleared up and then headed over to Valynn's classroom for her Christmas party. Mark took half a day off of work and helped in Mason's classroom. When we got home from the parties I started rolling and frying lefse. Valynn helped me fry while Mark and Mason worked on the dryer. After the lefse was done I did flatbrod.

Saturday after a breakfast of buttermilk pancakes I made krumkake (the previous batch was already gone), and buttermilk donuts. I then cleaned house while Mark fixed the dishwasher. I got my rice pilaf done for supper and started Christmas cards until our company arrived. Brad and Chantel came over for supper and we watched the Johnson kids, that makes four adults and 11 kids. We had a great visit, the kids played nicely, and we watched the Christmas Story.

Sunday we went to church, did some grocery shopping, and then I went with Tonya to a local winery to pick up a bottle of wine for her parents. This week Mason has a follow up with the GI so I will keep you posted.

Sunday School Christmas Program

We are definitely getting into the Christmas spirit in the Rinkel household. We enjoyed having the neighbor girl with us all week. We didn't get the snow that was expected here so no snow days for the kids but we did get the house decorated and on Friday and Saturday Mark finished putting up the lights outside. The kids helped me make Rosettes and Krumkake and managed not to eat it all. Saturday night Mark had his work Christmas party at a local dinner theater. This morning the kids had their Sunday School Christmas program. Valynn was an angel, Mason a shepherd, and Kyra a sheep, they did a great job. Kyra fell asleep Saturday afternoon around 4:00 on our way home from Christmas program practice, she slept until 4:00 Sunday morning and then took a nap at 9:00 Sunday morning. I think she was a little tired. This afternoon we had the babysitter come back so Mark and I could finish our Christmas shopping for the kids and each other. Our wallets are now lighter but we are done with our shopping.

This week the kids have Christmas programs on Tuesday and Wednesday and their classroom parties. I'm supposed to work everyday. Tomorrow I'm meeting someone from back home that now lives down here. The kids are done with school for Christmas break on Friday. Have a great week all!

wedding (101 photos), by Chantel Rinkel

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