Christmas Trip to the USA {Part 2}

After arriving in the US on Thursday, then a short trip to Morton on Friday, we stayed in Moline, at my mom's house, from December 21-26.  It was wonderful to spend so much time with family and enjoy all of our wonderful Christmas traditions.

Grandpa Depoorter came to see all of us.

Nicole, Grandpa, Mom, and me

Grandma gave the grandkids these adorable matching pjs.  They were so excited to be dressed alike.

Blessed!

Time for the grandkids to open most of those presents under the tree.

Every picture of her opening gifts looks like this.  Apparently, at 12 you are supposed to make obnoxious faces for every picture.  She'll really hate these someday.

The boys got some great Hawkeye gear.

Allison got a lot of 1D gifts.  I love Sawyer and Sophie's faces in this picture.  Every time she opened a 1D gift, they would giggle like crazy!

One very happy girl!  Yes, that is a pillowcase.  Grandma is SO good!

A little snooze on Uncle Chris.

All dressed up for Christmas Eve.

My babes are getting too big.

Sweet cousins!

The Bruns family

Our cousin Aubry went to church with us.  She's the "baby" of the cousins.

Me with my sis!

Mom, Mike and the kiddos!

Thomas was asked to light the advent candles at church.  I love that face.  He's a little nervous.

After church, it is always time for Papa's house!  Everyone was singing "Jingle Bells" and waiting patiently for Santa to arrive.

Okay, not everyone was happy to see Santa.  She couldn't run fast enough.

My cousin Renee and her beautiful family.

She's not too happy about Santa either!

Worn out!  I admit I was a little shocked to see him snuggling on his sister.

Cousins…just missing two!

Christmas morning FUN!!!

So excited!

A Minecraft t-shirt!

And 1D perfume!

Later in the day, Mom hosted Christmas dinner at her house.  That was some good roast beast!

Thanks for the amazing dinner, Mom!

The kiddos and Papa

The day after Christmas, we traveled to Hartwick, IA to visit my dad's side of the family.  I love spending time with my cousins, and I just don't get to see them enough.  We enjoyed lunch together and played a rousing game of Liverpool.  Our time playing cards will always be my favorite thing we do together.

iPhone Pics!

Our time in Illinois was cold and snowy!  But, we don't get much of that in Brussels, so it was fun and felt like Christmas.

Santa brought some great gifts this year!

My sweet Papa and I celebrating Christmas together.  Still a devoted ISU fan even though I've been out of college for….a very long time. ;)

And, learning to rainbow loom….it was THE thing to do over Christmas.

We loved our time in Moline, but we had to move on to the next stop.  Stay tuned for our trip to the Chicago suburbs for a Vastine visit.

Until next time,
Wendy