Finally got some more time to finish editing all the pictures from 2016 so here are a few Christmas pictures.
We went up north to Ted’s parents house where we were busy with a few cooking projects. 
I can’t say that any of the cookies would have won a decorating contest but the kids had fun playing with the frosting and since it was at Doris’s house, I didn’t feel stressed about the mess afterwards that needed to be cleaned up. There was enough adults around to help the kids and with the clean up. 
We didn’t stay inside all the time. It was really cold but we still sent the kids outside to burn off some of the energy from all of the Christmas desserts they ate. 
I probably took over 100 pictures of the kids sledding because I was practicing panning on my camera. There was a lot of pictures that I had to get rid of and in the end, Photoshop was more of my friend then the camera but the kids were happy with their pictures. Even if their tongues were hanging out while they sled. 
March 2014-apparently a warm winter as they have rain boots on and no hats. 
March 2015-I was experimenting with editing pictures, trying to blur the background. I am glad I have gotten a lot better at this in the last 2 years.
Dec 2016-so I missed a winter in there. A little bummed but it is what it is. 
Hope you have enjoyed going down memory lane with me. 
P.S. Jenna is always in the purple owl hat (she has picked the same hat out 3 different times at the store) with a purple coat. Quinn always has a pink coat. Ryan…well…Ryan is unpredictable. Good old Luke has the same hat on in all of the pictures (got it from the neighbors and refuses to wear a different hat for the last 5 years) and the same coat in 3 of the 4 pictures (apparently I bought it on the big side).
Looking at these final pictures, I am reminded on how goofy kids can be, one in particular even if it has been a very long emotional week with that one. 
However, family photo shoots are a different story. They tend to stress me out, I struggle with poses, getting everyone to act natural, getting more than one person in focus. It might take me a few years but maybe eventually I will be happy with my group shot pictures. 
On their actual birthday we had a small celebration just with family. The girls got their own cake and came up with the design ideas. They were very proud of their cakes. It was simple and small which works for us. When it came time for their interview, they were very excited to answer the questions and to read their previous interviews so I hope you enjoy them as much as they did. 
Jenna’s interview.
What’s the hardest thing in your life right now? Doing cartwheels….like Quinn. I can’t do that.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? To work.
Quinn’s Interview:
What’s the hardest thing in your life right now? Nothing. I can’t think of nothing. I really can’t.
What do you not like? Lions. That really hurt my ears. I have to do like this (covering her hers) as a walk past. I’m too scared.
Using some leftover car spray paint, Luke set to work coloring the bottles. They were a little streaky but for his first time spray painting, not too bad. Then with some cardboard we had in the recyclable bin, a few old play necklaces and some used tissue paper we made a jet pack. 
For the past 6 months they have gotten a lot of use out of it so I would say it was a pretty good re-purposed project.
School started back in August which is when I did the usual first day of school interview but I didn’t get to taking their school pictures until a few weeks ago. Now that I have their pictures I can actually put together this post.
What grade are you going into? You know that….4th (while slapping his leg at me and rolling his eyes at me)
What grade are you going into? 1st
What grade are you going into? Kindergarten
What grade are you going into? Hartley Elementary Kindergarten
One night during VBS, our boys had their end of the season baseball game. Luke definitely had better games. He was a little frustrated with himself but that’s life in sports. We told him to continue to practice and he would get better and not to compare himself to others so in the end I think it was ok. Ryan on the other hand did pretty good but he is always out practicing and when he can’t find anyone to practice with him, he plays catch with himself. 
As soon as we finished with baseball and VBS we headed off to a wedding where we camped out with all the other Yoder family, around 9-10 RVs on a small piece of land on a lake in Wisconsin. It was a lot of fun. The kids got to play in the lake before we headed out. We managed to get Ryan on a tube but he didn’t last long. Ryan does not do well with water in his face. He wanted to get back to dry land as soon as possible and pouted most of the time in the boat. The others had a blast on the water. 
Once we got the little girls off the tubes we let Luke play a little harder with Ted and his cousin Brooke, who is close to Luke’s age. They had fun and flipped a couple of times but they were still pretty mild compared to some of the Yoder cousins who went after.
We then headed farther north along the north shore of Lake Superior. We hiked and explored. 
At one river we were able to jump off cliffs which was a first for our kids. Luke went all out. After Ted checked the bottom to make sure it was safe, Luke was in the water before I could even get my camera out. He started out small but by the end was going off the big jump. 
Jenna and Quinn jumped off the littler jumps a few times. We even got Ryan to jump once. He said that was enough and then went to play downstream where it was a bit more calm. 
We hiked to Devils Kettle. It is a river that splits into 2. One continues down the rocky riverbed but the other one disappears into a hole, the kettle. The kids had fun throwing rocks and other things into the hole. They loved coming up with ideas about where the water went but sadly to say for everyone, it will continue to remain a mystery. 
I would love to say the trip was peaceful and fun but that was not the case. We struggled and fought through some on going issues. It didn’t end well. But at least we made some memories….. good and bad. School actually started the last week of August. I have the school interviews done but I am waiting to take school pictures hopefully this weekend to post them together. 
To China and Back Again 