Wow! It's been a fun and fast few weeks! We left for Kirksville on Dec 14th for Levi to do a week of clinicals and for us to spend time with his family. The clinical went great, he was able to run a case from start to finish on the last day, and said the intubation went very well. He really likes the group he will be doing clinicals with, and enjoyed seeing people at the hospital who he worked with or knew years before when he worked as a physical therapy assistant. We also were able to spend lots of time with David, Deann, (Levi's brother and sister in law)and family as we spent the first part of the week staying at their house! It was great fun, and the boys enjoyed playing and spending time with cousins Amanda, Meghan, Kaitlyn, and Ryan. The last part of the week we moved over to Levi's parents house to stay with them which was also a very nice time. On Thursday of that week the Lebron family reunion started, which was great as we were able to see all of Levi's uncles and their families, as well as his Grandparents from Tucson, AZ. We all enjoyed lots of fellowship, meals, a special night of learning square dancing, and fun playing with cousins.
On Saturday afternoon Dec 23 we packed the car and headed for Kansas City to see my family. What normally would be no more than a 3 hour trip turned into 4 hours with all of the snow and wind we hit half way through the trip. I drove the first half until my knuckles were white and hands were cramping while driving 35 mph...not my kind of fun! Levi took over and got us into KC. We enjoyed the evening with my parents and Greg and Alexis (my brother and sister in law). BTW, Greg and Alexis found out that Friday that they are having a baby boy! We are all very excited for them! The next night we all went down to Crown Center, Union Station, and the Plaza to see the lights. It was a nice night and the boys really enjoyed the lights and milk shakes at Winsteads. On Christmas Eve the Ballew family Christmas was at Mom and Dad's house. We had 46 family members there this year, it's always a fun night for all. Christmas day turned out to be nice too, however not typical. We spent the most of the day in the ER with Mom for chest pain and high blood pressure. She was able to come home by late afternoon and we opened gifts with the boys and had dinner with the family. She saw a Cardiologist the next day, is having tests done, and is on blood pressure meds. We were so thankful she did not have a heart attack. I was SO glad we were there too, as I would have worried my head off if I had been in SD when she had to go to the ER. Also while we were home my Aunt Becky was put in the hospital ICU with lots of health issues, mainly bleeding issues, and she is in much need of a liver transplant. Please keep her and her family in your prayers. She is at KU Med right now getting evaluated for the transplant.
While in KC we were also able to visit some friends, but not all. With only being in town a week, our time was limited and obviously you can see some unexpected events came up too. On Wednesday we visited our friend Amy who I have been friends with since 9th grade. She just finished remodeling a house she bought so we went to her house to see the finished product and visit a little bit. Her house is absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed seeing her and visiting with her and Kevin before they left town for a ski trip! (doesn't that sound like so much fun!) Later in the week we were able to spend time with Jen and Nate, went on a date without kiddo's! Yeah! (everyone needs a little time like that) We went to dinner and a movie. The next night we got the kids together, Marcus was SO excited to see Payton and Cade. What sweeties! They had grown so much too! It was a wonderful time of visiting and hanging out with them! I also was able to have lunch with my friend Sara one afternoon. It was great to catch up and enjoy time together. Saturday we spent time with Ryan, Jennifer, Emma, and Abby. The girls are so sweet and the boys have a lot of fun with them too! We enjoyed visiting and watching some football. We are so thankful to God for great friends and family who are ALWAYS an encouragement, and stand by us through thick and thin.
On Sunday we packed the car (which was no small feat) with all the things we brought PLUS several Christmas gifts of larger size...for example a children's kitchen set, and three keyboards, several larger cars and trucks! It was funny when I looked to the back of the car, it was so packed full that I could only see the top of Marcus head! I'd yell back at him and he'd say, "I OK Mom"!
One more thing...Marcus is always saying such cute and funny things that my Mom is always telling me to write these down. Well, since I'm a blogger I'm just going to add them to my blog periodically. Here is the first...
We really feel it's so important to teach our boys the true meaning of Christmas. Every day we would kind of talk to Marcus and tell him about baby Jesus being born in a manger, and give him the details he can understand. I was talking to Marcus one day while in KC and asked him if he knew why we celebrated Christmas, and he said "yes...Jesus was born"...I said yes that's right. He quickly added, "yeah, He's across the street in the neighbor's yard!" Apparently the day before Levi was pointing out the manger scene across the street and using that as his "visual". Ha ha!
Here are some various pic's we took on our trip. This week we are enjoying time here at home in SD, Levi's parents came up on New Years Eve and are staying the week. It has been a wonderful time of watching bowl games, ringing in the new year, and hanging out as a family. Happy New Year!
Our family
