Ottumwa Lights!

On Saturday, December, while Steve was away at a few cattle sales,

the girls and I went to Mahaska Drug and drove through the Ottumwa Lights! 

 

GEMS Christmas Party

On Wednesday, December 7 we had our GEMS Christmas party.

We eat supper with our generation GEMS, exchange gifts

and sing songs with dessert to follow.

This year I decided to celebrate our class by taking them to

Smokey Row for a fun treat! We had a blast!

Aubrey's generation GEM, Sue

As soon as we got to Smokey Row we saw SANTA - we had to take a pic!

Waiting on their orders...

Photo ops in the Alley and also downtown on the Square! 

We then came back and did a "favorite things" gift exchange. Each person brought one of their favorite items for each girl under $2. It was really fun!

Sadly we had two girls out, due to influenza and covid. 

 

Oskaloosa Christmas Parade

On Saturday, December 3, it was a very cold evening for a parade.

We ordered Breadeaux Pizza and ate in the car

and stay parked there and walk over to the Square.

We stood in front of the Eagles and there we met a 21-year old

autistic girl named Kimberly. She talked through the entire

parade and it was quite the experience of showing patience and kindness.

She may have called me "Jane" all night :)

 

Christmas Lights + Disney on Ice

Oskaloosa has a tradition of turning on their Christmas lights 

the last Saturday in November.

It really feels like a Hallmark movie with the horse-drawn wagon rides,

hot chocolate, Santa and reindeer. Too fun!

It was COLD! Avery and I made it since Aubrey was 

at a basketball tournament. 

A stop at Smokey Row for hot chocolate and a a browse through the Book Vault! 

Our 6th grade GEMS class had praise team for church.

"Mrs. Claus preparing us all hot chocolates!"

This year we left Steve at home to work and the girls and I did 

Black Friday shopping in Des Moines for the day!

Photo op in Valley West Mall

Disney on Ice - we made it! After a very stressful parking situation! Yikes!

They did two big performances - first Frozen and then Encacto. They were great! 

We thought Sven was pretty fun!

Photo op at the Altoona Outlets

gift wrapping

it's time for stocking stuffers (and watching Christmas movies)