Ringing in the New Year in Alberta!

Happy New Year! We are back in Seattle after our time in Alberta! We flew out the morning of the 31st and got to Calgary around lunchtime. Had a nice day with family and a nice dinner together, got an ice cream cake to celebrate our big boy Adam turning 16:-D. I was happy he could be surrounded by extended family on his birthday once again, one of the perks of a New Year's Eve birthday!

Lynsey wanted to watch the Stranger Things finale so after Mike and Annie left, we watched it together - nice way to wrap up the series. We had some Prosecco to ring in the New Year. How can it be 2026 already!

On Thursday we went to Three Hills for the day to hang out with my family. Had a lovely day catching up with the Three Hills gang, even got to see a new baby! No pictures for some reason, but we got to see Jana's new baby, only 3 days old. So precious! Friday was a pretty relaxed day, did some shopping for our farmer sausage etc and then the adults went to a restaurant for dinner while the kids had pizza and a movie back at Mark and Frances' place. It was a really fun night out! The food was really good, would totally eat at that place again (Big Fish & Open Range, strange name but great restaurant!). Saturday we mostly hung out at Mark and Frances', Brian and I stepped out for a few hours to meet Bobbi and Jer for coffee. Stella came for dinner so we got to see her for a bit which is always nice. Sunday we went to the airport around 11 for our flight home. Mark and Frances drove Lynsey to Edmonton which was so nice of them, so glad we got to have her home for those few weeks! Looking forward to the next school break in February!

The last few days have been about trying to get back into the swing of things, took the tree down yesterday. Already feels like Christmas was so long ago, how is that possible?? My volleyball team did pretty well at the tournament on Sunday without me which was so great to see! Had some close games, won one of them. Looking forward to debriefing with them at practice tonight.

Christmas Magic at the Kroekers!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Another Christmas has come at gone at the Kroeker house, and it's been a lovely relaxing week. Always so good to have Lynsey home and all three kids together, we've spent a lot of time together. On Christmas Eve we got our rib roast ready (well Brian did) and we went to Bellevue for the 4pm Christmas Eve service at church. Even got a fun celeb sighting as Justin Bieber and his wife were there:-D. Went home and ate our delicious roast dinner and did stockings and siblings/parents gifts. Adam loves all the rituals associated with Christmas but he never gets super excited for the actual gifts, he did like some of the sensory things Lynsey and Nathan got him which was fun. 

Christmas morning was a lot of fun, lots of wins this year as the kids seemed to really like their gifts:-). Adam didn't want to sit in his new rocking chair for the garage room but we are hoping that one day he will sit in it and decide he likes it:-/. On Boxing Day we went to the mall, which was busier than expected - not like Boxing Day in Canada but definitely happening! Brian got some new jeans, Lynsey and Nathan got some clothes, got a pretzel. It was a fun family outing. Other than that we have been very lazy hanging out at home. 

Wednesday morning we are off to Calgary! Looking forward to some extended family time!

 

Christmas Break is here!

It's December 21st and Christmas is just a few days away, can't believe we are here! I have taken practically no pictures the last three weeks, I guess I'll make up for it over Christmas! December has been busy as always, volleyball for me and basketball for Brian and Nathan. I finished up the Christmas shopping without too much stress, everything is wrapped and ready to go. We went to a holiday party and the Mancino's last Saturday which was fun! It was nice to catch up with some people I haven't talked to for a while, people I knew more when I was still volunteering at Horace Mann. I'm glad we went and were social for once haha. Adam did great, he found a quiet room with his tablet and listened to music. 

We picked Lynsey up from the airport on Friday night, so nice to have her home again! Some drama with the Civic again when she tried to start it and go to work this morning, we thought it was a worn fan belt at first but it seems to have sorted itself out after pulling into the garage?? I think we just need to drive it a bit more often so it's not sitting there seizing up from not being driven for weeks on end. We watched the first part of season 5 of Stranger Things together which was fun, Lynsey had of course already watched it but she was more than happy to rewatch it with us :-D. It's nice to have the whole family together again! Looking forward to lots of family time coming up in the next few weeks!