Christmas in Michigan

Grandpa and his youngest granddaughters. Can you imagine family reunions in a couple of years? Will we ever again have peace and quiet?

The "train" is ready to descend the sledding hill.

Hmmm. Maybe the "maximum occupancy: 1 child" label was correct. Sami doesn't seem to mind the fact that she is almost falling out, but Danielle is not amused.

Audrey, on the other hand, should be happy since she gets the whole sled to herself . . .Maybe it has something to do with the fact that no one is pulling her, the wind is blowing in her face, and she is dressed like a boy.

Clearly, she was not happy.

No, Audrey is not picking Lauren's nose. It just looks that way.

Cousin Sarah taught Annika and Lauren lots of fun imaginary games. I loved this note she wrote. Seems like a good jingle for a song.

All the cousins. . . with only 1 crying!

We went to a minor league hockey game on New Years Eve. We ended up parking quite a ways from the arena. At first we were disappointed with how far away we were, but we soon realized it was a great walk through downtown G.R on a happenin' night. We almost felt hip again. . .Hmm, let me rephrase that. We almost felt hip (I shouldn't have implied that we were hip in the past).

Grandma french-braided the girls hair. This brought back lots of memories for me. Every game day, Mom would braid my hair.

Lauren loved clappin' and dancin' with Aunt Cathy at the hockey game.

As most of you know Annika LOVES food. Here she is making sure the popcorn won't be gone before she wants more.

Grandpa was kind enough to share his snowshoes with Annika. She lasted about 5 minutes before she realized it was hard work.

These 3 (the babies, that is) were in utero a year ago. Little did we know they would be born 5 days apart.

The Spricks treated us to a fun night at the "critter barn." The girls were excited about the bunnies and cats, but not so excited about the live nativity scene.

You would not believe how long it took to figure out who sits where. . .can you say too many variables?

Who needs a bathtub when you have a utility sink?

Big sister Lauren showing off her muscles.

An icicle garden. Remarkably, nobody fell on top of it.

A year ago both Annika and Lauren panicked and refused to go on the ice. This year Annika loved it and didn't want to leave. She even skated by herself for a little while.

Lauren, on the other hand, gripped our hands as tight as possible and lasted 2 trips around the ice.

Not sure if she likes it, but she's definitely cute.

With all the adults (potential babysitters!) around Karl and I were able to get out skiing for a couple hours. Here we are by the Grand River.

New chairs for Audrey and Sami.

The cousins love attacking Uncle Jay.

The giant has fallen!

Grandpa took Annika and Lauren on a sled ride. This is the way Lauren came back. Apparently they went through the woods and were attacked by "cockleboogers."

The cousins loved playing "king of the mountain" on the snow banks. Here, Annika is king.

Here, she is not.

Are these all for me??!!

JoAnn Tobak was our angel when Annika was going through her procedures up in Minnesota. She happened to be in Michigan as well so we met her and her husband for lunch.

Nothing says "had a great time in the snow" more than smiles and rosy cheeks.