Cabin Christmas - Day 5

On December 30th....we woke up to tons of new snow!!! 

My favorite thing about the snow is when the trees are covered with it. So pretty! 

That is a giant icicle hanging from the roofline!!! 

 

All over the vehicles were totally covered in snow! 

So gorgeous!!

Of course a few of the kids had to go out and play in it! 

Everything this day was just leftovers. We needed to eat up as much as we could! 

The girls with a little help from us Moms ended up putting the finishing touches on the Moose Lodge! 

After that it was running around getting suitcases packed, toys picked up, furniture moved back to where it originally was. Some laundry needed to be started, the frig needed to be cleaned out, garbages needed to be emptied, vehicles needed to be loaded and rooms needed to be double and triple checked to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. 

Once we were all finished we still had about an hour until check out time. I really felt God tugging on my heart that He wanted us to pray so I asked everyone if they were okay with that and they were. 

We all sat in that lovely living room where so many memories were made and we prayed together. Heartfelt beautiful prayers that still bring tears to my eyes. It was really a perfect ending to a dream trip! 

After prayer Christina had everyone come hug me for making this dream possible. It was just a dream planted in my heart and every part of it exceeded my expectations. It was all wonderful! I remember telling everyone why I wanted to do this trip now and why I felt so passionately about it. The main reason was these sweet kids. Next year Owen will 16 years old. He'll be driving and he'll most likely have a job. That alone will change everything. These types of trips will be harder to take because of work or maybe even friends will get in the way. Before long these kids will be dating and instead of it being our core family we'll have to share them with other people. I feel like the timing of this trip was perfect for those reason. I wanted it to be our core family! This trip was only made possible because the other 3 families said yes! The cabin was not cheap by any means, but the memories made there were priceless and I would do it all again. 

My motto new is...Spend the money...Go on the trip...Make the memories! 

Pulling away from our home away from home for 5 days was so sad! 

Crest Lodge was amazing!

Cabin Christmas - Day 4

On December 29th, I woke up early and came downstairs to sit by the light of the tree. Zeke woke up early too so we snuggled together. 

After breakfast which was pancakes & sausage links made by Ga-Ga & Pa it was time for some fun in the snow. 

Thankfully Christina went out with the kids or we wouldn't even have pictures! 

These kids had so much fun! 

We even found these butt sleds that you sit on and hold the handle between your legs, lift your feet and away you go. Those were interesting! 

Owen preferred our red sled the best though. Caleb must have just made a pretty good run...he looks excited!

Sweet Kuch Kids! 

The sledding crew! 

Time for Bill to go down....oh no! No worries no one was harmed while sledding! 

Hours of entertainment! 

Time to come in, warm up and eat lunch. We had leftovers for lunch that day!

From Ga-Ga & Pa, Caleb had gotten these Warhammer characters you can build and paint. Caleb was so sweet to let Zeke help him. He was so patient in regards to explaining everything and just sharing his gift with him. 

Too soon it was time for Papa & Ruth to head home. We decided to go ahead and get family pictures in front of the tree. 

Even though we didn't have Pa's tripod I was determined to get a full group shot. I ended up stacking things on the table behind the couch and opening Ella's canvases she got just enough so I could slip my phone in-between them and it would hold my phone in place. It worked! 

I love each and everyone of these lovely people! 

That afternoon it started snowing! 

It was so pretty sitting at the dining room table watching it snow! 

Early in the day the girls had been able to find some rocks. They washed them off and let them dry. Ella had been given some paint pens from a lady at church so they were going to paint rocks with them. 

A lot of crafting going on! 

I was able to finish my diamond painting I was working on. The girls didn't quite finish theirs on the trip so they packed their up to work on at home. 

These gorgeous huge windows were beautiful to look out and enjoy the snow from inside! 

Since Papa was gone the fire building fell to Michael! 

If I had my way I would have a fire all day every day during the entire winter season! I love the fire! 

We got the Kuch family a couple new card games...Skull Island and Cover your Assets. We were playing Cover your Assets here. It's a fun easy game to play. The kids really enjoyed it.

For dinner that night Michael and I made a new recipe called Taco Pasta. It was so yummy! 

This day was much more chill than the other days! It was funny the whole time we were there I wouldn't let anyone talk about leaving or when we were going home. Whenever someone would say something like that I'd say....what are you talking about this is our house...we live here! I wanted to live in that fantasy until the very last minute!

Cabin Christmas - Day 3

The morning of December 28th, it was our turn to make breakfast. I decided I wanted to make Cinnamon Rolls. At first I thought I might make homemade ones, but then I decided to not stress myself out. I did use a recipe that I found online to elevate the normal canned Cinnamon Rolls to the next level and they were YUMMY!!! We also made pork sausage patties from our pig that we purchased a couple years ago! 

See that plug in station just under the bar where the white cord is. That also had a plug in for your phone. Miss Ruth would plug in her phone and she was able to play instrumental Christmas music through the entire house. There were even volume controls all around so we could lower the volume in a specific place if we wanted to be able to talk more. It was so festive to have music playing during the trip! 

Thanking the Lord for His many many blessings! 

After breakfast it was time to go back outside for some fun in the snow! For the kids not me!

We did have lots of snow on the ground, but we also had rain falling at times. Then later it would snow more. 

The house rules stated that they had a fireplace and we could use it, but we had to bring our own wood. Their insurance company wouldn't allow them to supply wood for guest. Papa & Miss Ruth had quite a bit of wood leftover from their camping trips and now they have a propane firepit so they weren't going to be using it so they brought it all with them. 

Unfortunately Papa forgot an Ax or a hatchet so he had to make do with just using a knife to shave off some kindling. He made it work though! 

Sledding fun! 

Playing with Pokémon cards and Michael's trying to figure out a game the Kuch's bought us. 

I had bought Christmas diamond paintings for me and the girls. It was fun just getting to sit with them, visit and work on a craft! 

Owen and Caleb playing the game Michael was figuring out. These two boys spent most of them time upstairs playing games together! 

Lunch on this day was provided by Miss Ruth. She made the kitchen look like a bakery shop. It wasn't just yummy for your tummy it was yummy for your eyes as well. So pretty! 

Why do sandwiches always taste better when someone else makes them or provides all the fixings!! 

So thankful for Miss Ruth! 

One of the gifts that Miss Ruth got the girls were these fun clips she saw on a FB ad. She ordered them months ago and wasn't even sure if they were going to show up, but they finally did. They are so cool! Ella always loves it when Miss Ruth plays with her hair and does different styles. 

The girls even got to work on Miss Ruth's hair too! They tried to use the clips in Anna's hair, but her hair is just a bit too short for them. 

Papa & Ruth also got the kids this Moose Lodge gingerbread cabin. The boys weren't interested in putting it together so the girls did it instead. Quite a few of the pieces were broken, but that's what frosting is for.

 They were able to the fix the pieces and build and decorate it a bit. They didn't finish it completely until later on in the trip though. 

Poor Ga-Ga she had planned to make cookies with the kids as her activity with them, but she ended up coming down with a cold. She still was able to hang out in the main area with us and paint on her tablet, but she also needed to rest a bit. We had PLENTY of dessert so the cookies weren't missed. We did all lay hands on her and pray for her health. Thankfully as far as I know no one else got sick even though we were all together. 

Michael played a game with the kids while I sat there and worked on my diamond painting some more! 

For Papa's fun activity with the kids he brought materials to build a game. 

There were challenges and issues that arose, but they worked through them. Which I mean what a great real life experience right! How many project do you work on that go completely smooth...not many! 

I never got a picture of the completed project, but it's one of those games where you have the metal circle and it's attached to a string and you have to swing it and see if you can get it stuck on the hook. It was fun! 

My kids love the game Telestrations, but you really do need 8 people to play to make it the most fun. It's definitely a stressful game to me since there are so many moving parts. 

We almost weren't able to play at all since the dry eraser markers were dried out, but then I remembered we brought another game that has markers and those ones worked. Even though it was stressful it ended up being tons of fun. 

For dinner that night the Kuch family made Cowboy Sundaes...that's Pulled Pork, beans and coleslaw. I used left over Hawaiian Rolls and make Pork Sliders. So yummy! 

To finish the day off Papa brought out his guitar! 

We all sat around in the living room and shouted out hymns to sing! 

We had to use our phones to find the lyrics. 

Most of the songs the kids had never heard before! 

It was a beautiful time of sitting by the fire and praising the Lord!

So thankful to Papa and his gift of music!