I really need to try to get back to blogging...
We just returned from a trip to Ohio and Iowa to see both sides of the family for Christmas!
We even survived it.
We had 2 vans, 9 kids, 1 dog, good attitudes and a renegade stomach virus.
The kids were actually great in the cars and I do not have one complaint about their behavior. The weather was great--no snowy roads. There weren't even any traffic jams!
We were at my parents' for the first leg of the trip since they are on the way to Jeff's parents. We spent two days with them, including Christmas eve, and then got up on Christmas day to drive to Iowa.
Grandma passes out the presents! All of my siblings and their kids were there most of the day and then we went to Christmas eve service at my parents' church.
Skype allowed Ryan and Dani to see some of the festivities.
We can't WAIT to open our presents!!
We spent two days there and were able to see all of Jeff's siblings--some of whom I hadn't seen in several years. It was so fun to see everyone! One of my friends who has a daughter the same age as Ryan, also paid a visit which was such a treat!
Cousins are fun!
I'm pretty sure this photo doesn't need an explanation. Aren't they cute?!
Playing "Memory." You do not want to challenge Chloe to a game of this. She is amazing at it.
We did have two kids come down with the stomach flu but thankfully the rest of us did not succumb.
I had the brilliant idea to leave most of our luggage at my parents and only take a portion of our stuff to Jeff's parents. It would decrease the amount of schlepping that needed to be done.
Right?
Well....theoretically.
It did decrease the amount but it caused a great deal of confusion later on.
When we got back to my parents' we had a barfing child in the car (thankfully, into a bowl).
This caused our parental brains to misfire.
We rested there a day and then Jeff began loading up all our junk...suitcases, backpacks, presents, and all manner of paraphernalia. (Remember, some of our stuff was still packed in the car, since we didn't have to bring it in from our Iowa leg of the trip. This is important to the story because it caused us not to remember what we had started out with.) Still...the amount of stuff clogged up a large area in my parents house.
So much so that we didn't notice that something was missing.
At all.
A rather large something.
(Yes, I did do a walk-thru to check for missing items but this particular something was tucked out of sight)
We had an uneventful drive home and unpacked the cars.
Still didn't notice anything missing.
(Oh...except for my computer cord which my mom had already taken to UPS.)
Time to get ready for bed and I wanted something out of my suitcase.
Except it didn't seem to be upstairs.
Or downstairs.
Or in the car.
But it was in Ohio.
ACK!
My entire suitcase is in Ohio and I am not. Most of my winter clothes were in it so I have very little to wear until my poor mother packs it up and makes the trek back to UPS with the large box.
The good news is that we did not leave any of our children in Ohio.
Despite our latest mishap, we had a wonderful trip and loved being able to see our families. What a blessing!!
