Tenley's 3rd Birthday

Our little girl Tenley is growing up way too fast. The first weekend of February we celebrated her 3rd birthday. So hard to believe! It's been an amazing 3 years watching her grow and develop her own little person with such a big personality. Tenley to say the least inherited some stubbornness along with being very particular about things such as no tags in clothes, wearing the shoes she wants to wear, having the right place mat/plate,etc at dinner, picking out her own clothes and much much more. She always seems to know exactly what and how she wants things and we wouldn't have her any other way. Tenley we love you to the moon and back and MORE!

We first celebrated Tenley's big day with a family party and then the following day had a Princess & Pirate party with some friends and that evening went out to dinner as a family and took the kids bowling. Tenley had an awesome weekend celebration and had fun spending time with family and friends.

Bowling fun

 Happy 3rd birthday Tenley

 Princess & Pirates Party

 Tenley's birthday surprise

Nixon's Baptism

This past weekend we had Nixon baptized at the Lutheran Church of Hope. We all attended service and then the baptism to follow. Hope does an amazing job with their services and we are very blessed to have had all of our kids baptized there. Following the baptism we enjoyed lunch at our house with all of our family who was able to attend. Unfortunately Chance and his family weren't to attend, yet the exciting thing is that I am an aunt again as they had a baby boy, Bennett, on Friday, January 10th. We are so very excited to meet him and to have another boy in the family.

Nixon ready for the big day

Nixon with his sponsor Aunt Chantel. Chance is the other sponsor.

 Such a serious look

Christmas & Bernie's Bday

The second weekend of December we made our annual visit to Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa, have dinner and let the kids check out all the cool stuff. The kids were a little hesitant to see Santa but as long as mom was near everything was okay.



We attended Christmas Eve service at Hope in West Des Moines on Christmas Eve and then returned home to enjoy a relaxing night with the kids. We started a tradition last year where they each get to open their special gift from dad and mom along with receiving new pajamas and a family game to play. Hudson got a bow shooter toy, Paisley a Karaoke machine, Tenley an art easel and Nixon a rocker toy. All items were a hit!

Christmas Eve

 New Pajamas

 Tenleys new art easel

 Paisley loves her singing

 Hudson's new toy...we will see how many things get broken in the house

 Nixon's special gift for when he gets bigger of course

 

 

Christmas morning we woke to see what Santa had delivered along with some additional gifts from dad and mom. The kids were super excited and loves discovering all the gifts.

 

Kids on Christmas morning





 

 

Following a crazy morning with the kids we loaded up and headed back to Glidden for Christmas with the Wenck side. My parents hosted dinner and we all enjoyed family time as it was nice to see everyone especially since we don't get together as often as we would like due to us all living different places.

 

Wenck great grandkids with Grandma minus Rosie who was napping.

 Wenck girls minus Rosie

 All the Wenck grandkids. 8 kids ages 9 years to 6 weeks

 Our family

 Cody, Jill and Kids

 Chance, Allison & Rosie and baby on way end of January

 Mom, Dad and us kids

 In-laws



 

We drove back Christmas night as Bernie had work the following day which was Bernie's birthday. The kids and I were able to meet Bernie for lunch at Biagiis to celebrate. That night we had a family dinner, sang Happy Birthday and opened gifts. Bernie's wish came true and he got a Keurig for his bday!

                                            Happy Birthday to the best Daddy and Husband







 

The last weekend of December we went to the Quad Cities to celebrate with the Heidgerkens. We enjoyed a great Christmas with everyone and were also able to attend the Carstens Christmas the same weekend. 

                                                    Hudson and Charlotte exchanging gifts





 Tenley and cousin Akora

 Grandma wit her gift for her flower garden from the kids

 Grandma and Nixon with Nixon's new snow globe

 Mommy and Tenley

 

We had a fantastic holiday and we bless to be able to spend it with all of our family. Thank you to everyone who helped make it so special. Now onto a new year!





Nixon 1 Month Old

December 6 Nixon turned 1 month old. He is loved to pieces that's for sure.

The rest of November

Following Nixon's birth we laid low and enjoyed our time together as a family before the holidays kicked in full gear.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we headed back to Glidden to introduce Nixon to my Grandma Wenck, see my parents, and attend my Grandpa and Grandma Hunts Thanksgiving dinner before they headed to Texas for the winter. It was a quick trip back but so glad my grandparents were able to meet their great grandson and that we were able to see family.

Great Grandma Wenck

 Great Grandma Hunt minus my grandpa as I didn't get a photo of both of them together. 

The night before Thanksgiving we took the kids to Disney on Ice which they loved. Tenley was glued to the front of her seat and didn't move or make a sound the whole show. It was a fun outing with the kids we have tried to make an annual thing.

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with the Heidgerkens as we headed there Thanksgiving morning. We had a great lunch and spent the day relaxing and hanging out with everyone. That night we did send Bernie into town to Walmart for some Black Friday shopping and did the rest online. The following day we spent the morning hanging out before heading back to DSM. On the way back we stopped and did some shopping in Williamsburg at the outlet and then also stopped in Grinnell to see my brother Chance and his family's new house the recently moved into. We had supper with them before making the rest of the trip back home.

That Saturday we had one more fun thing planned for the kids and that was to go to go to Boone for Santa's Express. We of course first had dinner at Hickory Park before we went. The kids dressed up in their pajamas and we hopped on the train for a fun ride, Christmas carols, hot cocoa, cookies and a visit from Santa. It was a fun activity to do with the kids and of course always fun to see Santa.

That sums up our exciting month of November!