Just Us

On the morning of December 26 - Jeremy and I woke the kids up and had our own family Christmas...thus the picture of the kids in front of the tree in their pj's looking a bit tired.


Our celebration was quick -as the cousins arrived with grandpa just as we were opening gifts -guess it was good we got the kids up anyway!

Sydney and Shaylee each got a camera and a pottery jewelry jar that Ihad purchased back in France about a year ago (to hold their earings).



Shelby got some Mega Blocks


Silas and Shane each got a bow. Silas especially loves to go outside and shoot his arrows about the yard!

Merry Christmas kids - anyone ready for some breakfast?????

Christmas with the Extended Van Essen Family

On Christmas Day the extended Van Essen family got together at Dad and Fay's. We had a wonderful time - just hanging out, catching up, playing games, and of course eating food. At one point in the afternoon all the great-grands were nicely sitting on couches watching Cars 2 - now that is hard to believe! But I have a picture to prove it!

I love these extended family gatherings - I love family! Now only if I had gotten a picture or two of the afternoon football game played in the backyard. With no snow this year, and unseasonable warm temps, playing backyard football (in Minnesota) on Christmas Day was a reality.

I do have a picture or two of some of the indoor activities. Dad and Fay's basement worked great for hosting a lot of people.

Grandma Great with one of her newest Great-Grandchildren...she has 34 if I'm counting correctly! We love you Grandma Great! You made all this family time possible -by being the mother, grandmother, and great grandma of all these wonderful people! We LOVE you!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Game 3

Game 3 - Consisted of getting dressed in appropriate winter attire (hat, gloves, and scarf) for each team member. Then one team member had to get on the sled while the other team member had to push, or pull, drag or shove the sled across the room, around a canister and back again...and then of course ringing the bell! This was the most fun game yet!
















Getting on the gear was suppose to be the easy part.....














Go! Go! Go!

Hey, which direction are you going Kraig?? You look like you are standing still. While Brad and Sydney slide into the finish line...



Who is this....not Kraig again....I think it is Danielle pushing...Shelby??? So hard to tell with these hats?








Go! Go! Go!


I think Shane is the heaviest kid....maybe you should have used the rope and pulled him instead














And were finished! I can't stop laughing just looking back on these photos! Guess maybe you had to be there!!! But in case there is no snow outside (which is true for us this winter - so far)...maybe you ought to try sledding inside the house - great fun! Now to tally up the scores....

Game 2

Game 2 - Consisted of attempting to blow up a balloon....which wasn't your ordinary balloon....it was more like a whoopie-cushion (see Santa balloon on right). Once you had the balloon blown up you had to hand it off to your partner and they had to knock down a stack of boxes with it. After two attempts and two broken balloons by team Sawyer and Jer - Uncle Kyle called a time-out and changed the rules. No more attempting to knock over the boxes with the balloon - you just had to knock them over on your own (kick them over or something...)



Attempting to blow up those crazy balloons.....

I don't have any other photos of this game....which is too bad - because it was hillarious watching the attempts at blowing up those silly balloons.

So....a sneak peak at game 3 - which includes a green sled......

Let the Games Begin!!!!

My youngest brother Kyle is amazing...he is great at coming up with fun and crazy ideas for our family Christmas every year. This year he created a series of games we called: The Bleeker Christmas Olympics.

Game 1 - Consisted of throwing Christmas ball ornaments into a Santa hat....one person was throwing the balls, the other had to catch them in the hat. We were paired up into kid/adult teams. Grandpa held the stop-watch, and kept time. Grandma was the referee, to make sure no cheating was going on. Uncle Kyle was the ultimate score-keeper. After your team finished the task...you had to ring a bell to have the timer stop. Shelby liked to ring the bell!!! Oh the excitement and laughter...and this is only Game 1....more to come!

Tossing..... And catching.....

More tossing..... And catching.....

Not alwasys such clear photos...but everyone was moving so quickly - or I was just laughing too hard that it wasn't easy taking photos.

Here was my Olympic partner - sweet Kyriana!

Christmas Eve with the Bleeker's

Is that Santa??? Or one of his elves??? Or is that Grandpa B?!?!

HO! HO! HO! Merry Christmas!!!! All the grandkids pile on his lap...telling him what they want for Christmas.

This is what I want for Christmas....spending time together with the family....

And eating a little PRIME RIB.....yum, yum, yummy!

My mom and dad's tree - I quick snuck a picture before all the grandkids entered the living room and started opening their presents....

The kids opening some of those presents....

A lot more giving and opening was going on....I didn't actually have the camera at this point....and so we don't have very many photos....but believe me....we all got presents even if they aren't pictured here.

Opening Gifts

Grandpa Van Essen handing out presents....

What do you have there Shelby??? How do you get it open?? Notice the girls in the background opening their gifts....that's the only photos I have of them (oops).

Shane and Silas with big gifts in bags....what could they be???

A remote control car! What fun!

Two little peas in a pod.....this was about the closest these two cousins got to playing with eachother this year.....but as with their other cousins they'll be best buds before long.

Shortly afer this Jer and I left the family celebration due to not feeling well....at least it was a quick bug and we both felt better by morning. Not sure the rest of the family was very excited about us giving them the flu for Christmas.....