Sports, Sports, Sports!

We have become one busy sporting family! We have 3 kids in Baseball, 3 in soccer and 1 in Track and Field. and yes, you guessed it, Gabriel is in all 3! Someday we may have a garage again to store all of the sporing goods, but for now we are left with tripping all over bats, balls, mitts, cleats, shin guards and not to mention all thse stinky uniforms! Not that I am complaining. It is really fun watching the kids excel and see the excitement in their faces when they get a hit or a goal. Even though it it is really hard standing on the side and watching the nervousness when they are up to bat, and all eyes are on them! You can breathe easy dad, because the kids seem to take after Ryan in the athletic department because they are all pretty good, and they have all actually hit the ball! As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Gabriel was "the oriole of the week" and here it is:

A Sad Goodbye...

I am sorry to say that Ryan's Grandma Marge "graduated" into Heaven last week. She was an incredibly godly woman who was an inspiration to everyone who knew her. She fought a very courageous battle with cancer. Even though she was really Ryan's grandma I was blessed enough to know her since I was 16, so she has had a large impact on me. I think she will be most remembered by the love she had for everyone. She was rarely seen not holding a baby or talking to one of her many grandchildren. She had more patience than us mom's had! I spent many hours with Grandma just talking and getting her opinions on all sorts of things. I know I am not the only one who can say that! Her sweet smile will be missed but I can't help but smile when I think of her in heaven with Jesus. We love you Grandma.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!



We had a wonderful Christmas season this year. As much as we do miss the snow, the weather is very nice here in Doha in December. Maybe we will take the kids to visit snow next Christmas, Jonathan is the only one who remembers what snow is like. The kids love to hear stories of me and my siblings sledding off the roof of the house when we would have "snow days."
Anyways.. We pulled the tree out of the closet (sad, huh?) early this year, day before Thanksgiving. The kids loved looking at all of their ornaments, and we were able to reminice a little bit ;)



When we got home from holiday, we had some friends over to make gingerbread cookies. It was my first time making them and we think they ended up being very yummy! Gabriel and Lukas were very dedicated and cut out most every cookie! Jonathan, Annelise and Hava joined in for the decorating! We are able to get yummy American Christmas candy here, but we pay dearly for it. About 8.00 USD per bag!









Gabriel and Lukas cutting out the cookies...






Decorating the cookies Yummy!!


A couple days before Christmas, the lights on our tree stopped working. Since you can't have Christmas morning without lights on the tree, we took all the ribbon and lights off and put new light on. I didn't put the ribbon back on, but the tree was nice anyways.

The kids woke up early on Christmas, but we made them eat breakfast before they opened their gifts. (My brothers and sisters and I would have NEVER let this happen at our house!) The kids had a great time watching dad (AKA Santa)pass out the gifts. My parents woud have been so proud, the kids passed the trash bag around and took their own turns! (with the exception of Aliyah!) We had some friends over for a big Turkey dinner that night.

Merry Christmas!

Over the rest of the break we took the kids to the zoo, and had a game night at our house. The kids have enjoyed the nice weather and have been playing outside with their friends. They go back to school on Tuesday. I will be sending out our Christmas newsletters as soon as the stamps arrive here, hopefully this week. We love you all!