Christmas re-cap, anyone?

Aaron, dad, and Joel playing Battle of the Sexes.

Grandma K being a reindeer for Sasha.

Aaron is fascinated with the snow...Sasha is fascinated with Aaron. Works nicely!

Christmas Eve dinner

Aaron's brother Jordan, nephew Carlitos, mom, and sister Claire.

LENGUA! (cow tongue, in case you didn't know)

Story: our school sends student tutors to a local elementary school twice a week. The elementary school is just down the road, and we have a school van that carries 7 kids plus a driver, so that works out nicely...most of the time. Picture this. It is Tuesday at 3:10pm. It is pouring rain, and it is 40 degrees outside. For most of you midwesterners, this is no big deal. The rain would naturally get washed down the storm drains, and life would go on as usual. Not so in southern California. Tuesday, 3:11pm. Myself and the kiddies pile in the school van. I sit in the driver's seat, already a little soaked from the rain. I reach under the seat to adjust it so I can actually reach the pedals. There is no lever to be found. It is nearing 3:15 and we need to go...so I scootch up on the seat, tell the kids to hold on, and proceed in the downpour. After 45 minutes or so of tutoring, we trek back to the van. I had parked it across the street from the elementary school. Remember there are no storm drains to be found in southern California. What we come upon is a river of RUSHING water on the street right where we need to cross to our van. We bite the bullet, my feet and bottom of my dress pants are soaking, and I put the key in the door. It does not unlock. I try again. It does not unlock. I try the other side. It does not unlock. Frantically, I ask one of the students to try, and she gets it (of course). Once again we pile in the van, smelling a bit like wet dogs, and trek back to school...me sitting way up on the seat so I can reach the gas pedal. Needless to say, I took a bubble bath when I got home later that evening.

Now on with the real excitement. I finally put my Christmas vacay pictures on my computer! I will attempt to put them in this post with captions so you can re-live my 2 weeks of fun with me. But before we go any further, you should know that my sister turned 30 today! I had all these great ideas of sending 30 of her favorite candies in a package, or writing a list of 30 reasons she's wonderful...and then all of a sudden I woke up this morning and it was Feb 10 (her b-day) and I had not done anything! A belated card will have to do. Thankfully Nate knows how to treat a girl right for her 30th. I love you Heidi...even if you don't get the card until next week...!

And the Christmas re-cap:

*Attending How the Grinch Stole Christmas with Aaron in Hollywood - super fun.

*Seeing Christmas lights at a historic hotel downtown Riverside - cool.

*Christmas Eve in my house alone - a little sad, but I knew fun times were ahead...

*Christmas Eve service at church - awesome

*Christmas Eve at Aaron's house = FUN and CRAZY!! We ate tamales, lengua, played a million rounds of CandyLand, Crazy 8's, and Go Fish with Aaron's nephews, laughed a lot as I listened to Aaron, his brothers, and his dad quote movie line after movie line, opened gifts until midnight with the fam, slept on the couch (nothing like a slumber party on Christmas Eve, right?)

*Christmas day at Aaron's house = FUN and CRAZY!! Right when I opened my eyes, I saw two of Aaron's adorable nephews standing on the stairs looking down at me saying "Merry Christmas, Allison!" Priceless. Aaron worked in the morning, but when he got back home he had an espresso truffle for me, so I was pretty happy. :) That evening the whole fam was over and we ate lots of yummy food. Then we loaded up my car and headed back to my house because we were off to Michigan in the early morning!

Spending time in Michigan was absolutely wonderful. Aaron noticed a change in me right away - it was like I was more comfortable, at home, and at peace when we were there. Hanging out at H&N's house with the girlies was a blast, and a Kleinsasser vacation would be incomplete without yummy baked goods, dance parties, singing at the top of our lungs, and playing lots of games.

After a few days at H&N's house we headed to Holland, where we rented a house for a few days with the whole fam. The house was beautiful...overlooking a lake (Aaron had never seen a frozen lake, touched real snow, made a snow angel, or seen snow fall!)

You know what? I am just going to post a bunch of pictures and you'll get the idea, okay?