The Falk Family Blog

We had such a fun night with Dan and Kari at the Christmas Ranch. The ground was snow covered, the walkways were icy, the air was crisp and cold, Christmas music played continuously, and we were surrounded by 350,000 Christmas lights.

I set aside most of my day to prepare for our Christmas cookie decorating. It’s a lot of work, but the boys really do look forward to it each year. They are my all time favorite cookie. I grew up making these with my mom and when our boys are older I would like them to remember making them with me and their daddy.

Our school district has used two snow days before Christmas break! At this rate, the boys will have make-up days in June.

But, for now, they are enjoying the time off playing in the snow. And, most likely, we’ll have a white Christmas!

Our annual progressive dinner with the cul-de-sac was a great success!  Everyone was feeling the Christmas spirit after a cold, snowy day.

We woke up on Saturday morning to a beautiful view of snowflakes softly falling from the sky. With no place to go, we opened the blinds, made pancakes, and enjoyed a warm, cozy morning. It wasn’t long though, before the boys kept asking if they could go out and play. I know we didn’t have much snow, but they didn’t mind.

We had a great time at Josie’s 3rd birthday party! They had three different inflatables set up in the backyard.

This was Lincoln’s first time going to the Home Depot workshop.

Unfortunately, we chose to take pictures on a very hot and humid evening.  The girl taking our pictures had issues with her lens fogging up from being in the A/C and then outside in the humidity.  Some turned out fine, most didn’t.  Oh well.

The boys swimming skills have come a long way this summer.  Ethan passed the long swimming test at the YMCA on his very first try and now has permission to use the diving boards and swim in the deep water.  Isaac came close to passing, but got tired and couldn’t make it to the end.  Luckily, the pool in Dan and Kari’s neighborhood does not require you to pass a test in order the use the diving board!  This was Isaac’s first jump off a diving board.

I decided it would be a good thing for the boys to play at the lake for an afternoon. After convincing Warren that it was a good idea, I packed everything up and we headed out.  Not knowing what to expect since we had never been to this beach, we learned that the bottom of the beach is very rocky and painful to walk on, an overcast sky and a poor application of sun screen will not protect Warren’s delicate skin from harmful rays, and the boys do not know how to eat snacks without eating sand at the same time.  We played for nearly two hours and then the sky opened up and a big storm came in.  Everything got soaked before we had a chance to get to the car.  Oh well, Warren was happy we had an excuse to leave. :)

The reunion was held in Pigeon Forge, TN again this year. I believe there were nearly 70 of us in attendance!

It was sweet listening to Warren’s Grandfather (90+ years old) tell the story of how he came to love Warren’s grandmother (she passed away about 10 years ago).  Something about his old, sweet voice made it special.

Our cul-de-sac got together for our annual July 4th cook-out.

Visiting my sister and her brand new husband in North Carolina was tons of fun! Their neighborhood pool was calling our name as soon as we reached Lisa’s house. Swimming was a great way to release some bottled-up energy after nearly 8 hours on the road.

While driving around the 3 1/2 mile trail at Lazy 5 we experienced domestic and exotic animals including giraffes, buffalo, zebras, cattle, sheep, and many others. We opened the hatch to the van and folded the back seat down. It was perfect! We bought a couple containers of food for the hungry animals. Some even tried to join us in the van (after all, that’s where the food was!)

Nathan and Elise spent an evening in town and we enjoyed a cookout at Dan and Kari’s followed by swimming at their neighborhood pool.

We are back from our annual summer trip to Western NY.  On this particular weekend there was a wedding for a close family friend of Warren’s family. We were able to see my family and also Warren’s family.  A highlight for me was driving around the old places we spent our childhood and showing them to our boys.

It’s always nice to stop in and visit with Pastor and Mrs. Mohl. We were planning to go out on the Lake in the boat, but NY weather changed our plans. Instead, Pastor Mohl and Warren took Ethan and Isaac fishing while Mrs. Mohl, Lincoln, and I stayed nice and warm in the house.

My friend Amber and I took the kids to the zoo on a beautiful summer day.