My Joy

12/31/24-1/01/25

We all stayed up for the countdown!

Watching the ball drop in time square and all prepared with sparkling grape juice to toast in the new year!

01/01/25 continued. . .

Dad made us waffles for breakfast.

So good and even better with strawberries!

Our newest family tradition (a few years now) is for each of us to pick something we will all do today to ring in the new year. Rachel chose going to the movies to see “Moana 2”:

We were excited!

Great Movie!

Now for Lizzy’s choice:

We were very excited for Taco Bell too:

Then we stopped at Dad’s choice:

We were excited for Dad’s menchies frozen yogurt too!

Mom chose a family soccer match:

It was a beautiful day:

We didn’t want to leave Luna completely out of all the fun:

12/30/24

Tennis!

Mom and Dad against us!

Now Lizzy and Rachel on one court and Mom and Dad on the other.

Everyone did there best and there were no real winners or loosers.

12/27/24

Beautiful sunset!

We love car rides listening to music, watching movies, and relaxing!

12/27/24

Home sweet home!

Luna was smiling so big!

Miss Kitty came to see us too:

We missed you too Luna!

Santa Came!

Luna’s Stocking first!

Then Bunya:

Back to Luna!

Luna got a new collar:

And Luna got a treat puzzle too!

She is figuring it out already!

Time for our stockings:

Lots of beauty supplies and a plethora of other things!

They were packed full!:

Pickle flavored gummy candy!?

Dad’s turn:

Mom too:

She got lots of new nail polish!

Now for the main gifts. We start with the reason for the holiday by opening our Jesus gift box:

Now we will exchange our gifts:

Mom got us Scrub Daddy’s (we have asked for them whenever we stay at an Airbnb that has them):

Aunt Anea made a beautiful ornament for us!

A gift from Lizzy to Rachel:

A gift from Rachel to Lizzy:

From Lizzy to Mom:

From Lizzy and Rachel to Dad!

A movie, “Perks of Being A Wallflower”, for Rachel:

Seaweed for Lizzy!

From Rachel to Mom:

A beautiful tapestry!

More candy from us to Dad:

Rachel got a poster:

Lizzy and Rachel got a bag of beauty supplies from Mom:

Rachel got a hair cutting set:

Dad had some gifts for Mom:

Another fitness ball for the gym.

Dad got a big gift:

Very big baking sheets!

And a small one too:

Dad and Mom gave Rachel an art set:

Mom and Dad gave Lizzy a power station for college:

Mom got “I Love Lucy”:

Dad some more music:

Good things come in small packages!

Lots of $Money$:

Modern Family for Dad:

Mom got a massage table:

We had a Very Merry Christmas!

12/25/24

We went to Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce’s house. A tradition we have here is to have a shrimp appetizer:

Grandma Joyce made dinner and we set the table:

After dinner we had a little dance party:

Dinner is ready!

Nina dog is such a good girl!

Time for gifts and of course we have to start with Nina!

Rachel made some handmade cards for Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce:

Gifts for Grandpa and Grandma too:

Grandpa and Grandma gave us gifts for our pets:

Dad’s turn:

They gave Lizzy some things for college:

Treat bags (Nina is really wanted some treats herself)!

Dad got a CD too:

Pretty lamp for Lizzy!

Rachel got some beauty supplies:

Dad got a movie too:

More things for Lizzy going off to college:

Rachel got a poster!

Dad’s treat bag:

Lizzy’s treat bag:

Ear buds for Rachel:

Lizzy and Nina enjoying the day!

Then we watched the Wizard Of Oz:

That was a wonderful Christmas Day!

12/24/24

There is still snow on the ground and we got more last night:

Our Airbnb is right on the Erie Canal!

Snowball Fight!!

Break for a snow angel!

And visiting with the ducks:

Dad came out and restarted the snowball fight!

It was quite a battle!

After an epic snow-ball fight we went to Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce’s house.

We built Grandma Joyce a snowman:

Grandma Joyce loves snowmen!

And had another snow ball fight!

Then we went inside and played Monopoly!

Lizzy was stressing out:

Rachel calm and cool because she is very good at this game!

Another fun day!

12/23/24

Today we went ice-skating!

We all started off hugging the wall:

Dad was struggling to stay upright:

Rachel was doing well pretty quickly:

Lizzy and Dad were still holding on!

After several falls, and landing on a random guy, Dad was happy to get out of the rink!

Rachel was getting better by the minute:

Lizzy was on her way as well:

Although there were no pictures of Mom skating she hugged the wall at first and then was able to go around without holding on but close to the wall. We had a great time (well, perhaps not so much for Dad).

Next we drove to Stanley NY to visit Aunt Alice and Uncle Ted (Trapper). Uncle Ted was Mom’s mother’s brother.

We shared a small gift with them and they shared some yummy cookies with us:

Mom shared some of her Italian Pizzelle cookies with them too:

We had a nice visit there and then we went to Canandaigua, NY to visit our cousins (Mom’s side of the family):

We brought a present for Gabe (Eric’s son and Aunt Gail and Uncle Chuck’s grandson):

It was a space puzzle:

We brought gifts for the new little ones in the family:

He loved his little push duck:

The littlest baby too:

We had a very nice day visiting family today!

12/22/24

We made it to Grandpa Ed and Grandma Joyce’s house! Time to decorate Grandma Joyce’s cookies:

The competition was fierce this year!

We also celebrated Dad and Lizzy’s Birthdays!

Birthday cards first:

Classical music Cd’s:

Such a sweet card for a sweet Lizzy!

A Shark Tracking Bracelet!!

Beautiful Earrings:

Happy Birthday Dad and Lizzy!

12/19/24

Road trip!

Following another tradition Mom got us window clings!:

This year Mom found some with lights. Lizzy was sure having a good time:

Rachel managed hers quite well:

12/20/24

Mom also got us some surprises for the next driving day:

Nap time!

Snowing in Pennsylvania:

This year we decided to go through Ohio and stop at the Kirkland, Ohio Temple!

The visitors center had a nativity display!

We also went on a tour in the Kirkland Temple:

Beautiful!:

While we were inside it snowed! Of course we had a snowball fight!:

The snow was sticking!

12/21/24

We got to NY and stopped at The Eternal Flame Trail for a little hike!

It was cold and there was a snow covered ground!

Our first winter wonderland hike:

A small waterfall:

We hiked next to the river and we even had to cross it!

The main waterfall was ahead but it was not easy to get to:

Sullivan and Lizzy set off to see if there was a way to get closer:

They had to cross the stream again.

Mom and Rachel decided to watch from a distance:

The flame was no longer lit and to relight it you would have to swim in the frigid water. So that was a no:

Don’t fall!

It was a bit treacherous:

They made it back and we headed back up the trail:

There was a lot of snowball fighting going on the entire hike!

Lizzy got one to the head:

Rachel used stick swords to fend off the snowball attacks:

Man down!

Watch out Rachel!

That was the longest snowball fight ever! Great hike too (although the flame was out it was still pretty cool):

Our next stop…

It was incredibly cold:

Have you ever been this cold?

That was a short stop because it truly was too cold!

Mom gave us another treat in the car:

That was an action-packed Beck family adventure!

12/17/24

Lizzy’s friends Fiona and Finn stopped by to bring Lizzy a birthday present:

12/15/24

We saw the Araque family at church today and we exchanged gifts. We weren’t able to open them until we got home from church because they didn’t stay at church for the second hour.

We also exchanged gifts with the Tanners at church and brought it home to open:

Chocolates!

A gift for Lizzy’s birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Beck came too:

She was gifted a personalized bookmark:

They wrote her a nice personalized card:

Gave her a jade lion:

And beautiful a handmade runner with her name embroidered on it!

While we were on Lizzy’s Birthday, Lily Tanner gave Lizzy a beautiful jewelry box for her birthday!

By the way, Lizzy wanted Taco Bell on her actual birthday so we got her that too. Happy Birthday Lizzy!