Birthday Party #2

After returning home from Elkhart, Teri's parents threw a birthday party for Judah at a local bouncehouse joint called Monkey Joe's with his cousins. Two hours of bouncing around went quickly and burnt a lot of energy so we headed over to Happy Joe's (Apparently, there are a lot of guys named Joe starting businesses around here.) for pizza, cake and ice cream. Judah got some fun gifts and had a GREAT time with his Grammy and Grandad, Aunt Becki & Uncle Matt, his cousins and, of course, his awesome Mom and Dad. Thanks Grammy & Grandad!

Judah Turns 5 @ Grandma & Poppy's House

Our little Judah turned 5 on December 30th while we were in Elkhart, IN visiting with Steve's family. We were blessed to spend time with Steve's parents, his sister Lynette and her hubby Dave and Steve's sister Karla and her kids Lily and Jack who were visiting from Hawaii. Judah got some really awesome BIG dinosaurs from Grandma and Poppy and a cool cake with little dinosaurs on it. The big dinosaurs were ready with spoons in mouths to eat that de-lish cake! Judah also got to visit the Elkhart Train Museum with Mom, Dad and Poppy. What a great time we had with Steve's family and Judah had a very special birthday. He even shared some of his cake with his feathered cousin, Claude. :)

German Feast Anyone?

Steve had a hankerin' for German food one day so he and Judah made a German feast complete with HOMEMADE pretzels. Judah was a big help in making the actual pretzels and they turned out totally delicious. Nice work, guys!

Two Awesome Dudes

I already love Steve and Judah TONS but when I see their humble servant hearts in ways like this, without being asked, I just love them all the more. Thanks, Steve, for teaching Judah by example how to be a loving servant to others. I love you guys!

Snowstorm #1

We've been socked with a couple of snowstorms this winter here in eastern Iowa along with really cold temps. The first was over Christmas. Here are some pics of Judah and Steve shoveling the driveway, Steve coming home from an "epic" run in the fresh snow and Judah's trucks buried under a ton of snow on the deck railing.

Teri's Family

Teri's family got together over Thanksgiving and Christmas, which doesn't happen too terribly often. I think we have finally stopped adding grandkids to the mix--there are 11 total with 3 grandogs thrown in to keep things interesting...as if they weren't already. Due to the snowstorm on Christmas Eve, we weren't able to get together with extended family but my brother Dave and his family did manage to make it out to see my Grandma Bev with my Dad.

Christmas 2010 Eve and Morning

Christmas Eve is traditionally spent out at Teri's Aunt & Uncle's house in Rio, IL with her Dad's side of the family. However, this year's snow storm prevented that from happening so we spent Christmas Eve at Teri's parents' house with Teri's immediate family (minus Steve who had to work 3 Christmas Eve services at church). We all had a great time together but ate waaaaaay too much junk--At least Teri did! Before we headed over to Teri's parents', Judah wanted to sprinkle his "reindeer food" on the front lawn so Santa's reindeer would have a snack while Santa made his special delivery to our house. Here's a video of Judah leaving their snack.

Christmas morning is spent opening gifts at our house and enjoying a yummy special breakfast. This year we had cinnamon rolls with orange icing and egg/cheese/prosciutto biscuits with a smear of apricot preserves. YUM-O!!!!

Okay, so I'm a "tad" bit behind in updating (ALREADY!)...Here's Christmas 2010

The Meek family began it's Christmas preparations as we have the last several years...going to cut down our Christmas tree. The last two years have been at a local tree farm. Once home with our tree, we set the mood for an evening of decorating with a semi-junk food feast and lovely Christmas music. It's always a fun and festive day!