Week with the Hendricks Family

The week after Christmas, Luke and his family came to Iowa for Christmas and New Year's. This time with dad going with Chemo and all, they decided to stay with us. It really worked out perfect because Micayla was gone for about 4 days so Brandon used her room and Luke, Steph, Leah and Lane had the basement all to themselves. They called it their own apartment. LOL It's nice having the extra space and I don't think Brandon minded a bit. Until maybe the one time we told him he couldn't go down to get a different hat or a different pair of shoes because Lane was sleeping. He got over it!

They got in late Friday night, the 28th. It was so awesome to see them, I say this all the time, but I sure wish they lived closer!

Saturday was the Hendricks Christmas, see previous post. After the party, we were all pretty much pooped and just came home. We thought about going up to mom and dad's but dad was tired and we all were so we came home, had a few drinks, played a few games and hit the sack.

Sunday, we hung out at the house for a while, then headed up to mom and dad's. It seems like forever ago so I don't remember what we did each day.

Here's Luke loving on the two boys, Lane and Cooper are going to be the best of buds!

 

Luke and Stephs' rental was a Ford Expedition so we put the base of Cooper's car seat right in the middle of Lane and Leah and the 3 of them shared the 2nd room in the vehicle, which meant when we all wanted to ride together we had to climb in through the back but it was so worth it, we only had to drive one car around.

This was actually taken coming home from Grandma and Grandpa's. I know this because of the hat Cooper is wearing, we couldn't find his so he got to borrow Grandma's. LOL

Monday was New Year's Eve, we all met down at the Moose Lodge for a few snacks and to give dad his birthday present. We got dad a jacket, I can't even explain it, but it's an honor jacket, you can only get one of these if you have been an officer of the Moose, Dad was the Governor the past 2 years so he deserved this jacket. 

We are so happy we got him this, he seemed very proud to put that jacket on.

 

After he had the jacket on we decided to sing happy birthday to him and Leah got on the microphone and sung to Grandpoo, it was the sweetest thing!

Jan and Scotty out-did themselves, they even had a birthday cake for Dad. His birthday is on New Year's Day.

After the Moose, we came home and got ready for dinner. Mom and Dad got Steak and Lobster and the rest of us all brought up something to eat. It was all so good!

The table nicely decorated.

We were the only ones to stayed up to watch the ball drop. We were actually waiting for Lane to wake up from his nap. That boy knows how to nap, he didn't want to leave to Grammy and Grandpoo's house. I think he took a 5 hour nap. We finally woke him up to go home around 12:30.

New Year's Day we woke up and got ready to head back to Mom and Dad's for New Year's and dad's birthday. We also celebrated our Christmas a few hours before everyone came over for Dad's birthday. All I can say is we are ALL spoiled! It was such a special Christmas and it was extra special with Luke and Steph and the kids here with us.

 

Cooper and I got a snoozer in before the birthday party began. And unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the party. oops!

Oh wait, we got one of Gavin and Cooper.

The party was a hit, lots of people stopping by to see dad. It's always a fun time, mom has an open house with lots of food.

The next day, I took the day off and Tom headed back to work. Me, Steph, Mom and Erica took all the kids to The Mississippi River Museum we had lots of fun. The big kids loved it!

After the museum we headed to one of Steph's all time favorite restaurant. The Mining Company.

The next day I had to go back to work and Cooper stayed home with Luke and them, they had a blast. Mom and dad came up with The Channel Inn chicken, another Steph favorite. Then the next day they went home. I'm writing this about 2 weeks later and I can't remember what else went on but I know I sure do miss them!

Hendricks Christmas 2012

This year we were in charge of all the decorations for the Hendricks Christmas. Dad has four sisters and this year it was our turn and we were kind of excited about it, at least I was. With everything going on with dad, his sisters asked if they could do it but I think it was good that we did it, it takes our mind off things and who doesn't love to decorate. Me!!! Just kidding, I have the best sisters-in-laws who always have the best ideas so I just help out as much as I can.

Christmas was on the 29th of December and it was perfect because Luke and his family came home to spend some time with us over the holidays. Almost all the cousins were home except 2. I think there is 17 of us or maybe 19, I can't remember. Anyway, Kristi, Tom and myself went to decorate the Thursday before the party so we weren't rushing around the day of trying to get everything looking nice. It was at the same place as always, over in East Dubuque at St. Mary's School cafeteria.

We're all ready for everyone to show up. I think we had a total of 70 people this year! Mom made roast beef and gravy and Pioneer Woman's mushrooms, it was all so good.

The food table

The snack and dessert tables, we had to add an extra one because we ran out of room.

Dad sitting in Santa's chair. Everyone thought he looked like Grandpa Louie there!

Speaking of, Grandma and Grandpa always make it to the party. That sounds creepy but my aunt keeps this, it's a silhouette of Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks! 

The table's were covered in butcher paper and we put crayons around so people could draw or doodle on them. This is the only picture I got. These were drawn by Allie's kids, Miles, Grant and Glo.

And the party's begun.

This is one of my favorite pictures, dad kissing Cooper's head, so sweet!

Leah and Olivia singing and waiting for Santa to come.

Dave playing the guitar and Nancy helping with the music. This is always a family tradition, singing Christmas carols before Santa comes. I swear every year it brings tears to my eyes, it's so special and this year I have a son so it made it that more special.

Lane wasn't to sure of Santa and after this picture, my phone died and so did Tom's.

Santa of course was good to all the kiddos, he brought Cooper some bath toys, which he absolutely loves!

The party was a success and we're already looking forward to next year.

Christmas 2012 - Part 3 (Christmas Day)

Christmas day, Cooper woke up to some new toys that Santa brought. He thought they were the best things. He looked at them and was like "hmm, I've never seen these before" it was so cute!

Cooper got a V-Tech 3-n-1 Smart Wheels. The legs can flip around and it can be used as a rocker, or the wheels for a bike. Cooper loves when Brandon wheels him around the house. And the steering wheel, he won't let it go, it's so funny! I didn't think he'd be able to sit on it that good but he really does. He can't quite touch the ground yet but he's getting there.

 

His other toy was a Leap Frog table with lots of different activities to play with. He loved pushing it around the room. I thought it was going to be a little bigger but actually it's perfect.

 Once the others got up, we made some coffee (in our new Kerruig) then went to town on all our other presents. I didn't get many any pictures of that, but the kids all got exactly what they wanted. We had one special gift waiting for Cooper from Luke, Steph, Leah and Lane, Cooper couldn't wait to open it so we got the OK from them to open it. We were planning on waiting but Steph insisted we open it. It was a Pottery Barn Chair with is name on it. It's the cutest thing and Cooper loves it! It fits him perfectly!

This little Elf was pooped after opening all his presents. This outfit came from Grandma Pat, she picked it out and then that night, Grandma Linda said she seen the cutest outfit in JCPenney's catalog. I guessed what it was and it was the same thing. They were going to go out and buy it for Cooper. LOL

After we got cleaned up, we headed up to Mom and Dad's.

Cooper enjoying his first candy cane with Aunt Kristi.

Mom and Dad's Christmas tree. I think it's the most beautiful tree I've ever seen. Her and dad went to pick it out together. It's been a long time since they've had a real tree.

All the adults play the White Elephant game, it was so much fun last year that we thought we'd do it again. As always we had a blast. Tom ended up with bowls from Crate and Barrel and some knife spreaders and I ended up with Scarf, earrings and a bottle of wine. Tom knew I wanted the bowls so he stole them from me so they couldn't get stolen again. It was so worth it, thanks Honey!

Christmas 2012 - Part 2 (Christmas Eve)

I am so far behind! There has just been so much going on lately, but I finally said, "OK, Rachael, you need to get this done" so here I am Saturday night, watching football and blogging.

So Christmas Eve night, is always at our house with Tom's side of the family. We love hosting, it's always a great excuse to clean your house plus you don't have to pack up and go anywhere, we're already home!

Cooper got a special outfit from Grandma Pat, it was an elf outfit. She bought it right before Tom and Linda were going to buy it, it's the cutest outfit ever and I sure wish he could have worn it more than 2 days.

Big sister checking out his outfit. There is a hat to go with it but he just wouldn't keep it on.

Grandma and Cooper waiting for the party to start.

Just a few pictures of our house decorations.

And the party started! Everyone brought something snacky and of course, everything was good. We made the famous ham and swiss sandwiches that everyone loves and as always, they were a big hit.

We played the 'white elephant' game, it's always so much fun. I ended up with a gift certificate to Texas Roadhouse and Tom ended with the gift we bought, a new skillet. We want a new one for the camper it was a perfect opportunity, we almost lost it, but thankfully Tom had a high number he got to steal it. 

After all the presents were opened, Cooper got a few toys, some bath toys, a toy phone and a few other things, we played the dice game, left, right, center. I don't think we won, I can't really remember but I know we had lots of fun, it was loud and it was tough to get Cooper to sleep but he was fine. The only thing missing that night was mom and dad. Dad wasn't feeling good so they stayed home.

We cleaned up and got everything ready for Christmas morning!