December-- before Christmas

December proves to be a busy month most years. This year was no exception. Singing concerts, band concerts, a Ward party, along with our usual busyness makes for a busy month. It is all good stuff and so enjoyable to see the kids do their best at something. I will cover Christmas and our trip to Las Vegas in other posts. Here are some highlights for the month:

Here is Ben performing with his 1st grade class. Sorry about the quality of picture. I forgot the camera, so we only had Greg's I-phone. Ben is second row down, second from the left.

Usually Jake really enjoys being dragged along to everyone's events. It is cool to have big brothers and sisters. He particularly enjoyed this song at Ben's concert. They asked everyone to take out their keys and shake them like Jingle Bells.

Our wonderful Home Teacher and his wife gave us a homemade gingerbread kit to decorate. The kids did great working on it together. They also gave us the yummiest cheese ball on the planet. Thanks!

Here is Ben with Santa at the ward party. Every year before this one he has been terrified of Santa.

Here is Jacob with Santa. It is pretty funny because Santa is not a big deal at our house. We don't talk about him much and all he brings us is our stocking stuff. Yet every kid knows about him.

It seemed like the kids had a million friends over all month long. I have really enjoyed getting to know some of them better. This is a picture of some goop Lizzy and her friend made one day. Fun to make, not so fun to clean up.

Here is Anna's first band concert. She has REALLY enjoyed playing the flute this year. She is getting quite good at it.

A distant shot at the band concert in the elementary gym.

Here is Jacob dressed as one of the three wise men for his Christmas program at preschool. His best buddy is next to him.

Jacob at preschool again.

One day the girls decided to "do" Jacob and Ben's hair.

I know we already posted video of this, but this is Adam performing with friends at the Waukee Idol competition. December is crazy!

Ebbert Reunion--Saying goodbye and the drive home

Saturday morning we all got up and got on the road (or the plane). Here is the only pictures we took of all of us together. Really it's not even everyone. My dad and his wife Nancy are already gone. It is always so fun to be together. My kids think I am much more light hearted and fun when I am with my siblings. I suppose they are right. It is almost like going back in time a little bit when we are together. It's also wonderful to see how they have all grown and what great families they have. Thanks for a fun time everyone. Can't wait for the next one!

The whole gang minus Dad and Nancy.

Does your family have to do this every photo shoot?

On the way home we took a little detour through Joplin, MO. It was absolutely unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it. The devastation was so wide spread. There had already been a lot of clean up done, but it is still heart breaking. The pictures don't even come close to doing it justice.

If I am not mistaken this is where one of our churches used to stand in Joplin. It is completely gone now. It is not on the news anymore, but so many people will be dealing with this for years to come.

Ebbert Reunion Days 4 and 5

The Thursday of our Reunion was Thanksgiving day. I cannot remember the last time we were all together for Thanksgiving, maybe not since before we were little kids and our parents weren't divorced yet. It probably won't happen again for a very long time. Everyone shared the load of cooking. I think things turned out really good and it was fun to see what the other families have as must haves at their Thanksgiving. We played lots of games. The kids played outside. We rested. The boys all went to play football in the morning. It was a good day. Sadly, not one of us took a picture that day:(

Friday was our last day before going home. We decided to have the cousins buy a gift for one other cousin. The siblings draw names every year. We thought it would be fun to have everyone open their gifts when we were together instead of waiting for Christmas. Sarah even set up the tree the night before so the gifts could be wrapped and under the tree for the next morning. Everybody was happy. Then we went to the Elementary school to play some frisbee and just enjoy being outside. That night we had movie night with all the junk food. When the kids were in bed it was our last glorious night of games. Did I mention that our family loves to play games? It was a great low key day to end our fun reunion.

Jacob opening his cousin gift.

Lizzy opening her cousin gift.

Anna very happy with her cousin gift.

Ben opening his.

Adam getting some new BYU gear.

Dad and Nancy happy with their new Kindle.

I couldn't resist throwing in a cute picture of Elijah holding his new gift from Anna.

Ebbert Reunion Day 3

Day 3 of the Excellent Ebbert Reunion was spent in the car. Sounds boring, huh? Nope! I think it was the favorite day for most of the kids. We drove a little ways outside Fort Worth to a drive thru Safari Park. We wanted to maximize how many people got to be by an open window so we opened the Suburban hatch and had four kids back there: Ben, Lawson, Lizzy and Jacob. Adam and April had the middle row, with Greg and I up front. Anna went with Grandma and Grandpa and her cousin Alia. Both my brothers had some in their cars too. We had food we could throw out to the animals. The brave ones tried to get the animals to eat out of their hands. Todd's car suffered a swift hoofing from a Zebra and an ostrich attacked ours. I really don't like Ostriches. They scare me. Luckily all people got out unscathed. A big thanks to Todd and Deanna. Their car was behind ours so they took lots of pictures of the kids in the back. The kids seriously LOVED this day.

Sometimes the animals would just stick their head right into your window. This is not even the best picture to depict that. They got really close.

When Jake wasn't in the back he would hang out up front with me.

Adam trying to feed the Zebras.

I love this picture because of Lizzy's face in the back of the suburban as the Zebra was sticking his head in.

The crew managed to have a great time even when there were no animals right there. Ben, Lawson, Lizzy, and Jacob.

Look at Ben's face in this one. There were several times when Ben and Jacob would bolt over the back seat as an animal got too close for comfort. Lawson had no fear. Lizzy was somewhere in between.

Oops! Over the seat, a little too close!

Adam again.

Here you can see how the animals get their heads right in there. Also notice how the kids all climb over the seats to get as close as possible.

The giraffes were a favorite of everyone. Here is the giraffe enjoying a piece of Shane's car. He was in front of us.

Lizzy feeding the giraffe.

Jacob feeding the giraffe.

Another great pic from Todd and Deanna.

Here are all the cousins at the end of a long day in the car still with smiles on their faces. Grandpa bought them all a little something at the gift shop.

Here's a funny one. What a great group of kids. It is so fun to get together.

Adam's Reunion Past Time

Adam is the oldest grandchild on my side of the family. He doesn't have cousins his age so sometimes he has to look for things to do by himself or with the grownups, or else play with the littler kids. He spent a lot of time at our reunion playing games with the grown ups, but he also spent a lot of time messing around with the I-pad. Below are some of our favorite pictures that Adam took. They are pretty silly.

Adam

Grandpa

Jacob

Grandma

Ben

Uncle Shane and baby Elijah

Tammy

Greg

Anna

Baby Elijah

Sadie

Lizzy

Adam