Celebrating the Holidays (12-11)

Holidays 2011! Everybody was home in Bismarck, including all 4 of us kids and all 7 grandkids, plus 2 on the way (Jazz and Rowan). It was a houseful to say the least, the kind of delirious family craziness that only the holidays can create.

Malaya and Ama bonded pretty hard...

Mom rallied most of the time,even though she was very sick with her mystery illness, which turned out to be diagnosed later as a bunch of stuff, including Lime Disease, Epstein Barr virus, and Bartonella. Anyway, she said the commotion and constant activity actually made her feel better.

Here are the Batman twins (Malaya and Indra) and Satori. Cousins ranged in age from 10 (Cook will always be the oldest:) to 10 months (Lyric and Demira tied for youngest, but wouldn't hold the title long). Here is Cook in his brand new bathrobe...

A family meal...we didn't even come close to fitting around the table this year! It was so wonderful to have everybody together. It doesn't happen often, and as it gets more difficult, we all just have to try that much harder to make it happen because family is so important! Yay family!

Kid Photo Shoot (12-11)

Imagination Playground (12-11)

One cold day over the holiday break in Bismarck, we took all the kids to the imagination playground, which is located inside of a racquetball court in the World War Memorial building. Mom and Dad's house was busting at the seams with house guests, and this was the perfect way to let all the little cousins run off some energy.

Even Lyric and Demira tried to play, although the foam pieces were a little big for them:)