The day after Christmas 2018, the Traveling Shenks hit the road for a trip out to Dallas to celebrate the New Year with our dear friends, the C Family. We always love an excuse to visit with them!
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| Shenk Family in the car, road trip ready. Ellie’s hand is in James so she’s represented as well. |
After waiting somewhat patiently, I was finally able to give Kerri the quilt I had spent years trying to finish. I quilted the entire thing by hand, so it took quite a bit longer. Plus, I have kids. Thankfully, the woman who has 4 daughters and waaaaaaaaay less free time than me understands and seemed very happy with it.
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| Kerri’s quilt (front) |
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| Kerri’s quilt (back) |
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| See? She looks happy! |
Loving those four smaller C Family girls the way I do, I decided to try my hand at making dresses for them again. Last time, there were only three of them, and I went with the same dress fabric, but different colored trim. This time, I was able to find the same fabric print in four different colors! I was really thrilled with how they came out and the girls seemed excited as well.
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| Love these beautiful girls! |
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| Evie was so happy to have her “baby Ellie” come to play and loved to hug her. |
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| Sweet James wanted in on those Evie hugs, too. |
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| James shows off his mad chef skills cooking up some eggs for the gang. |
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| Ellie gets up close and personal with Aunt Kerri. |
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In the midst of a major laundry room DIY project, Uncle Chris
happily takes a time out to brush Evie’s hair. |
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| It wouldn’t be a party without a conga line! |
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| All six kids watching a movie together… makes my heart so happy! (Mads has already claimed the new quilt.) |
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| This adorable little stinker is trying to take a spin in a car made for dolls. 😍 |
New Year’s Eve included sparklers outside with friends next door and a fun (early) countdown for the kids thanks to Netflix.
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| Evie discovers the love of fire sticks that we all share. Welcome to the club, kiddo! |
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| Little Miss Independent Ellie wanted to hold her own sparkler, thank you very much. |
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| Ringing in 2019 with these two is pretty freaking awesome. |
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| This guy really lights my fire. |
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| I just adore these two knuckleheads, even if they refuse to simply smile for pictures. |
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| This was their NYE countdown jump. So fun! |
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| Ellie enjoying some time with Uncle Chris. She’s a big fan. |
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| Chris times two working on the laundry room remodel. Who needs HGTV with these two outside? |
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| Ellie and Evie all wrapped up in animal towels after the world’s cutest bath together. 💕 |
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| We were lucky enough to get an evening out sans kids and it was SO FUN! Looks like we clean up alright. |
On the drive home, we overnighted in Mobile, Alabama and made time to visit the
USS Alabama. It was such a neat experience getting to explore inside the ship and learn so much about how life works on a battleship such as that.
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| Family selfie outside the USS Alabama. |
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| Chris and James explore the deck. |
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| Like father like son, his eyes lit up when he saw that machine shop. |
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| Taking turns steering. Those big wheels are no joke. |
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| Humor can be found in the unlikeliest of places. |
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| Freed from the baby carrier at last, she was eager to explore on her own. |
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| Momma and Ellie enjoying the sunshine. 💗 |
