Christmas and New Year

His first bubble bath
Bathtime with cousins: Sophia, Oliver, & Danielle
Sophia and Oliver on Oliver's new couch from Aunt Kathy & Uncle Dale
Our family picture at the Steffen Christmas
Henry and Oliver playing on Christmas morning
Henry on Christmas morning
Oliver excited about his new toys on Christmas morning
Checking out his new phone- Christmas morning
On Christmas Eve, we went to the fire station with some cousins and aunts and uncles. Oliver liked driving the fire trucks and ambulance.
The ball popper Oliver got at Grandma & Grandpa Shook's house. All of the kid's played with it that day.
Oliver with his stocking at the Shook Christmas
Oliver and cousins on the Shook side- (left to right) Tanner, Savannah, Kaydence, Oliver, Sierra, Alexis, & Braden

The day after we got in, we went to Heritage Farms with Grandma Shook, Aunt Amy, Uncle Mark, and cousins: Sierra, Savannah, Kaydence, Caitlyn, and Dimitri. We rode in a horse-drawn sleigh back to a cabin in the woods. In the cabin, we had cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. We also saw Santa Claus. After we were done there, we rode the sleigh back and went inside a big barn. They had lots of animals that the kids could pet and a rocking horse to ride. Outside, they had horses and ponies that the kids could ride. Oliver enjoyed his pony ride. It was a fun and cold day!
On the pony ride
Petting the goat
Riding on the rocking horse
Our family in front of our horse-drawn sleigh
The cabin in the woods we went to
Oliver playing out in the snow
Walking in the snow
Oliver sitting (very briefly) with Santa Claus
On the sleigh ride trying to stay warm
Our family on the sleigh ride
The horses and sleighs
We celebrated Christmas just the three of us before heading to Iowa. Oliver thought climbing on the boxes was just as good as opening them.
Grandpa and Grandma Steffen with Oliver, Braydon, Sophia, and Henry.
The three little boys in their matching Christmas clothes from Grandma & Grandpa Steffen. Oh the memories that brings back! :)
Oliver got a much needed haircut upon his Oliver tractor. It worked for a few minutes to keep him entertained, then we did the lock and hold.
As you can see, the front was getting pretty long. Thanks Aunt Donna for the haircut.

We were very blessed and lucky to be able to spend a little over two weeks back in Iowa with our family and friends. It was cold and there was a lot of snow, but it was wonderful to be with everyone. We did spend some unexpected time in the hospital with my dad, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer while we were back. We were glad to be there to help out and support both him and my mom during that tough time. Please keep him and my family in your thoughts and prayers and visit http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cletussteffen to see updates on him.

I wasn't very good about taking pictures while we were back, but we did many fun things. We celebrated 5 different Christmases. We went out to dinner numerous times with extended family. We went to see Santa Claus with cousins. We went out to dinner for my mom's birthday with a group of 30 people. We celebrated New Year's Eve at my parents' house with lots of food and fun.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and that your 2010 has started off well.