Holiday Letter 2014

2014 Holiday Blog

We hope each of you have had a wonderful and blessed year, and enjoy our recap of another memorable year for the Hensels. Here is the “Cliffs Notes” version of our memorable experiences throughout 2014. 

First Quarter

While we actively choose to live in Minnesota, every January we question our sanity. People have told us “embrace the winter.” This year we tried to with our kids- Blake was okay with it, Leslie had no interest in the snow. However, they were both thrilled with their First Birthday party in February – they loved all of the attention and their first experience with cake was a riot! We also introduced them to the zoo and almost a year later they are awesome at making various animal sounds.

Second Quarter

We had two major highlights to the spring
• Getting a toddler swing set and outdoor play equipment (we relish summers outdoors in this part of the country)
• Making our first trip to Kentucky for a family reunion. It was an awesome time with family- we even walked the bridge across the Ohio river into Indiana so the kiddos have now been in four states (Minnesota, Texas, Kentucky, Indiana)

Third Quarter

We made the most out of the Minnesota summer with trips to several of the 10,000 lakes and enjoying all the festivities that come with summers here including church picnics. We also had a major milestone to celebrate- we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with our first (and so far only) night where we were both away from the kids- we had an amazing evening out in downtown Minneapolis.

Labor Day Weekend trip to Gull Lake with our friends the Schelins

Fourth Quarter

In October we unexpectedly lost Drew’s dad Keith. We were so blessed to have him get to know Blake and Leslie and to have some fantastic pictures and memories of him helping us when they were newborns and celebrating their first birthday. Blake and Leslie began to understand the idea that Halloween meant getting to dress up and get candy. We recently moved as well, so the holiday season is truly a chaotic celebration.
PS:  Sorry for the tardy Christmas cards this year, moving in December is not advised- the cards got stuck somewhere between the old house and the new house for a couple of weeks. Oh and if you were one of the honored ones to get a scribbled on address label you now possess a Leslie original art piece. :)



Three Generations of Hensel men
Keith (64), Drew (36), and Blake (1)
February 2014

Keith and Blake (9 months), August 2013

Our new home as of Dec. 2014

Even Blake & Leslie got into the packing and moving frenzy!

Holiday Letter 2013

Annual Holiday Post- 2013

Q1
Mmm, hard to remember much, but the first part of the year was anxious anticipation for our babies to be born. We were prepared for birth any time after the first of the year, but they decided mommy’s belly was quite a warm and cozy place to be with a cold winter in full swing. By mid-February the doctors decided it was time to give those babies an eviction notice, so after a smooth pregnancy, but lengthy labor we finally got to kiss Blake and Leslie for the first time on February 13th. And Krista got the best birthday present ever by bringing them home on the 16th. We can truly say those first few months were a blur- endless diapers, feedings and snuggles. Only one thing can get Texas grandparents (both sets) to make a trip to snow-packed Minnesota and that is new grandbabies!

Q2
More adjustments for our new family of four as Krista returned to work on May 1st- and believe it or not it snowed! Blake and Leslie are in a daycare we love and have been thriving with great teachers and other kids to play with during the weekdays. I think at some point in Q2 we met our health insurance deductible- between delivering two babies and then the routine colds we saw the pediatrician quite a bit. Once it finally warmed up we had a great Saturday morning routine of walking up to the neighborhood bagel shop, where we discovered it becomes a stroller parking lot. We had a lot of fun meeting other families in the area with kids about the same age and we could commiserate over sleepless nights and early mornings over bagels and coffee.

Q3
We welcomed our friends the Lynch family for the Fourth of July holiday. We had a great time introducing them to Blake and Leslie and showing them around Minneapolis. We unsuccessfully attempted to get their preschool son to translate the baby babble during their visit. I suppose its due to the twins making up their own language. However, the girls and twins made it out shopping to the mall, while the boys with Evan made it to Target Field to see the Twins vs. Yankees on the 4th. Drew also got to escape up to Cafe Maude for a Guy's Night Out the day Chris and Evan arrived, and all of the adults made it out of the house for Drew and Krista's first date night since February on the 5th. We did miss seeing and setting off fireworks on the 4th as bedtime is a bit early these days. In August, we welcomed both the Brinly and Hensel families to Minnesota for Blake and Leslie’s baptism. It was Uncle Scott, Aunt Melissa, and Cousin Jacob's first trip to Minnesota and the weather was perfect for their stay. Both sets of grandparents were relieved to see there was no snow on the ground and shocked at how big Blake and Leslie were getting. They also enjoyed feeding them baby food in high chairs and playing.

Q4
Halloween fun included a Fall Festival at the twins daycare where everyone commented on how cute Blake and Leslie were in their baby animal costumes. Blake was a baby elephant and Leslie a mouse. Blake was fully mobile at this time so watching the baby elephant crawl brought a ton of joy to all of the parents and daycare teachers. We also toured neighbors on Halloween night with our peas in a pod, held by the Jolly Green Giant. Again, everyone loved having the twins pay a visit. Blake and Leslie made their first plane trip. We spent Thanksgiving week in Houston with the Brinlys and the Hensels drove down from Dallas. We had so much fun together! And we had a casual party for Houston area friends to meet Blake and Leslie in person. We feel like frozen popsicles already and are making plans to stay active and get out of the house throughout the winter- swim lessons scheduled to start after New Years and a list of indoor kid activities. Boy has our world changed this year! Oh, and not to be forgotten Libby dog seems to be adapting too. She loves dinner time and has discovered she loves being under the highchairs, just in case anyone wants to share. This year has been such a huge blessing for so many reasons. Wonderful time with family, friends, and the birth of our much prayed for children, who have filled so many with love, laughter, and joy this year. We can't wait to see what happens in 2014!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The Hensels Drew, Krista, Blake, Leslie, and Libby

Holiday Letter 2012

2012 in Review

This year we are too excited to go through a chronological review of the year, since we are expecting twins!!!!

We found out in July that we would be adding to our family and we are overjoyed! By Christmas Day we will be 31 weeks into our pregnancy, and are thankful that there have not been any issues or complications. All indications are that we will have both a little boy and a little girl. Libby hasn’t quite figured out that life is going to change, and we’re pretty certain we haven’t either. I don’t think that you can ever be completely prepared to be parents, but we are attempting to prepare as much as possible in the time available in the hope/fantasy that we’ll be able to retain our sanity once the twins arrive. We expect the twins to arrive around February 8th, and we anticipate along with their arrival we will more fully understand what our friends who are parents have been telling us these past six months about how little control we will have as parents.

With such big news it’s hard to believe there is anything else to highlight from 2012, but here are a few:

-We did sneak in some travel this year, realizing it will be quite some time before we will be able to manage more than a couple hours of travel once the twins arrive. We made it to Northern Minnesota and went hiking in March, Texas for Memorial Day Weekend in May, Oklahoma City twice, Chicago in July, and enjoyed a weeklong Babymoon in Sedona, Arizona, in November.

Northern MN Spring Hiking

Drew and nephew Jacob enjoy a frozen yogurt in TX

 Fall Colors Drive in Southern MN

Drew and his dad get ready for the OU football game

 Arizona- Meteorite Crater Visit

Sedona Airport View

-We’ve also enjoying hosting friends and family this year! Krista’s cousin Kerry and her family visited us en route to their summer vacation at a lakehouse in Northern Minnesota. Drew’s parents visited us over the Thanksgiving holiday and Krista’s parents will be arriving shortly for a Christmas visit.

 Thanksgiving dinner at home with the Hensels

Butterball to butterball!

 

We promise that next year’s update will be chocked full of more excitement. In the meantime, we hope that you and your family are filled with joy throughout the Christmas holiday and the coming year!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Drew & Krista

2011 Holiday Letter

Well, it has been a very busy year and we are keeping this year's letter really brief (since December is just as busy).

January: Drew did an awesome job at his first marathon- Phoenix Rock 'n Roll


February: Visit to Kauai with Krista's parents- a week's escape from Minnesota's winter




March: I think we mentally blocked this long winter month!



April: Kellogg Alumni weekend was a blast catching up with a ton of friends in Evanston- can it really have been 5 years already?


May: We began to thaw out and life got really busy- including the Allina Hospice Benefit.



June: Summer kept us busy. Drew transitioned to a new job, he's now working for Wells Fargo here in Minneapolis. In between his last day at Deloitte and his new job starting we spent a few days in Dallas with the Hensels. Later in the month, we had a great weekend in Paducah, Kentucky celebrating Krista's cousin Bryan's wedding to Lexie.



July: The house project for the year this year was rebuilding our backyard deck. Drew also rehabbed the basketball goal on the garage.


August: We flew to Virginia for Krista's cousin Steven's wedding to Whitney. We had a great time at the wedding and enjoyed getting to see a new part of the country.


September: We waited a bit too late in the season, but we got our annual camping trip in- it was a bit chilly- in the 30s overnight. We were one of two tents in the campground.



October: Drew ran the monster dash as a sock monkey this year!


November: Mom and Dad Brinly joined us in Minnesota for Thanksgiving. We had a warm front, but they still claimed to be freezing. :)



December: We are getting ready to welcome the Hensels to Minneapolis for a White Christmas celebration. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!