Home for the Holidays: Kasparek Christmas

We were so happy to be a part of our first Kasparek Family Christmas at Uncle Joel & Aunt Nancy's house on Sunday afternoon!

Babi and Bailey

Lori, me, and Jen

Casey, Chris, and Tim

Rose and her sons 

Butch, Mike, Mark, and Joel 

Mark found a bunch of old childhood videos and made a DVD we all got to enjoy at Christmas.  The reactions and laughs were the highlight of the day!

Screen shot of Butch practicing kicking off in the backyard during the fall of 1968

The flower girls from our wedding have grown up!

Maddie, me, Chris, and Macy

Family picture

Grandma Rose with her oldest and youngest grandchildren, Chris & Grace

All the great grandchildren: Calvin, Holden, Bailey, Emma, Rosie, Lily, Cole, and Camden 

Silly Kasparek cousins

Grandma's heart was overflowing with joy surrounded by all her grandchildren and great grandchildren 

Santa, Mrs. Claus, a reindeer, and some elves came to visit us

Uncle Joel & Aunt Nancy with Santa

Uncle Joel loved giving Camden a hard time. When he was getting his picture taken with Santa, he asked Camden to hold on to his beer.  Afterwards, he yelled, "Santa! Camden's drinking a beer!!!" :)

Grandma Rose and Camden

Photo op with Santa's reindeer

Love my sisters-in-laws!

Just Dance-offs

Emma and Tim battle

Tim and Macy battle

Maddie and Chris battle

2 Euchre games going on

I think Chris irritated Uncle Joel

The Chris laugh :)

Home for the Holidays: Iowa City Part 1

Here we go...FINALLY!!!  After over 2 weeks in Iowa, then getting back to Italy and jumping back into school, it is about time I begin updating this blog! 

As many of you faithful readers know, we thought it was high time the kids celebrated their first Christmas in Iowa. We took a few extra days off school to get a jumpstart on our vacation.  After a long travel day on December 17, we were so happy to be in the great state!

Here are the Kasparek cousins reunited at last

On Friday we walked around the Old Capitol area in Iowa City.  I wanted to recreate Camden's infamous picture from July of 2011 when he was oh-so-excited to see the Old Capitol (one of my all time favorite pictures of him!)

    

Here's Miss Emma near the capitol

What a great sign!

Friday evening was Cole's preschool holiday concert.  Bailey was so excited to see her big brother up on stage

An adorable performance

Uncle Tim gave Camden a few tips on riding a bike and he took off!
Cole can proudly say that both of his older cousins learned to ride on his bike!

Cole's 5th birthday party

Emma with Grandma Rose & Babi

Bailey and Emma are ready for some cake!

Making a wish

The Kasparek brothers compare hairlines... 

Emma and her HUGE Grandma Rosie Bar

Story time with Uncle Chris

Soccer End-of-Season Tournament

The 2014 Youth Sports Season has come to an end. After 2 weeks off because of the Thanksgiving holiday and the monsoon rain we've had lately, it was nice to get back on the field for one last day of games.

Hawkeye Nation proud!

 Camden and the Tigfernos warming up

 Camden assisting Coach Paul on the sidelines

 Going for the block

 Nice corner kick

Emma played goalie the entire tournament and did a great job!

Coach Kasparek gives an intense pep talk

Emma's loud voice comes in very handy as goalie.  When she decides to go get the ball, she yells, "KEEPER!" and falls on that ball!

 Hawkeyes on 3...

1, 2, 3, HAWKEYES!

Best buddies and teammates

Deck the Halls: 2014 Edition

Here are some highlights of last Saturday's fun. We set up our Christmas tree and pulled out all our ornaments.  The kids especially loved getting their ornaments out of boxes and hanging them on the tree.

 Emma's annual Santa's Little Helper picture

 Baby's First Christmas ornaments

 Ta-Da!

Saturday evening, the Zimmermanns and Mel came over for dinner and some Friends Scene It

 Cheers with Mel and Sherri

The guys enthralled with the football game

Herky cuddles with Ron :)