Monday, January 04, 2016

Christmas with the Snyders

On the 26th we had two Christmas parties...one for my dad's side of the family for breakfast, and then another one for my mom's side of the family for lunch. In between we did our own Christmas with my family...so it was a busy day! :)

Dan and Kara

Titus, Dan, Kara, Damaris, and Jessica



My parents :)

Jessica got to play "Santa" this year :)


We made these snowmen for both our mom's this year...I thought they turned out so cute!

Even Titus was all tired out :)

Titus...I think that coat is too big for you ;)

My mom has been wanting to see the lights at Fifth Third ballpark in Grand Rapids, so we finally were able to do that, too!  It was kind of hard to get pictures, but I was able to get a few...



Huge tunnel we drove through


I caught this just right so you could see the fish being pulled out of the water!


Dan had to go back to Indiana, but Kara and Jessica were able to stay a couple days, which was nice since we don't get to spend a lot of time with them since they live out of state.  We spent Monday hanging out and all of us girls went shopping together and spent the day doing things, which was fun. My dad, Stephen, and Titus did their own thing, too, and it sounded like they had a good time as well :)

Then on Tuesday morning we made a gingerbread house with Jessica, ate lunch, and then packed up to head to Shipshewana to shop, eat at the Blue Gate restaurant, and meet up with Dan so Kara and Jessica could go home.




Yep, it collapsed...but it was fun making it :) :)

This was in one of the quilt shops in Shipshewana...this mural is all made out of tiny pieces that have been quilted together.  CRAZY!

They were getting ready for an ice festival the coming weekend, so we were able to see some of their ice sculptures.  Here area few pictures of ones we saw:

 Jessica's overseas experience as an exchange student means moving to another host family in January.  She loved staying with Kara and Dan and fit right into our family as well!  We will miss her, but are glad we had the opportunity to get to know her!!



We even got to see the process of how they make the ice sculptures!  This guy was using a saw to shape the turtle, which just seems crazy to me!

All shaped and ready to be finished!

Using a blow torch to make the ice really shine and look pretty

Done!

Another guy was working on an Eskimo that people could get their pictures taken inside and needed someone to try it out...Titus thought it was cool that he was picked to test it :)

This was in the Blue Gate restaurant and I just thought it was really cool!

The kids on the way back to my parents house only to get back in our car and head the rest of the way to our house :)  They did really well, though!!

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