Holiday Letter 2015

Holiday Letter 2015

December 14, 2015

We’ve combined some of our favorite things throughout 2015 into this year’s holiday letter.

For those who want a quick read, our 2015 is pretty well summarized in the “unfiltered parent” auto-generated holiday letter below.

First Quarter

We started 2015 with a trip to Sesame Street Live, which was one of the first family outings we had with Blake and Leslie where we felt like rock star parents since they had such a great time. We were also settling into the new house in Edina as a family. Drew’s mom Sally is living with us right now as Drew's father and her husband Keith of 43 years, passed away unexpectedly in October 2014. Sally began to settle in with us and she experienced her first full Minnesota winter! She also began making friends in Edina and enjoying spending more time with her grandbabies, son, and daughter-in-law who all love her very much!

In February Blake and Leslie turned 2, and we celebrated by attending The Okie Dokie Brothers concert in Minneapolis that evening, which was so much fun!

The Okie Dokie Brothers

Second Quarter

The Hensels left Minnesota for the snow covered state of Colorado in April, making a long overdue visit to Krista’s best friend Kate Pratt and husband Ryan Banagale in Colorado Springs, and had a blast. Blake and Leslie had fun playing with Felix and Theo, and we learned during this trip that Blake is not afraid of heights. He was the first of the gang to make it to the top of the play structure at Monkey Bizness and he had so much fun.

 We also fed Giraffes at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, walked/hiked Garden of the Gods, played on as many playgrounds as we could find, and all of this with majestic views of Pikes Peak in the background.

Garden of the Gods

Blake and Leslie’s favorite outing was the trip to the Arcade and quarter rides in Manitou Springs. The number of rides not only blew our minds as first-timers, but it was severe overload for Blake and Leslie as they bounced from ride to ride trying to decide which they would ride first, then next.

In May, Drew and Krista enjoyed a date night at the Allina Hospice Foundation Gala at the Raddison Blu hotel at Mall of America with good friends. Krista was co-MC at this year's gala and continues to be actively involved as a board member.

Allina Hospice Foundation Gala

In June we took a family week-long vacation to the Brainerd Lakes region of Minnesota, and enjoyed biking the Paul Bunyan Trail, visiting every Dairy Queen and playground along a 30 mile stretch of the trail. Each day we went biking we averaged 35 miles, which included some significant elevation due to plenty of hills between the resort we were at and where we would get on the Paul Bunyan Trail in Peaquot Lakes, MN.

Third Quarter

We traveled for 4^th of July to be with the Brinlys in Friendswood and all enjoyed the parade this year. It was great spending time with friends and family while back in the Houston area, and being able to watch the Friendswood Fireworks display from the comfort of the Brinly’s driveway.

In August, we took a trip to the Minnesota Arboretum to see the Lego sculptures that were on display, and we went to the “Great Minnesota Get Together”, the Minnesota State Fair.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Everyone loves the Minnesota State Fair, and some go a few times during the "12 days of fun" the fair is held each year. We spent a half day this year and went early before the fair became too crowded, and yet a half day seemed to be all we needed with two-year old twins.

In September, we experienced our first Edina High School Football games and Homecoming Parade, which is a lot of fun as we are very close to EHS Football Stadium. Go Hornets!!  Blake and Leslie also started soccer with Soccer Shots in Edina, where they learned to control the ball, kick over cones marking the soccer field boundary, and generally kick the ball in the direction they intended to and sometimes even in the goal.

Coach Tony with Soccer Shots

Fourth Quarter

October kicked off with a trip to Red Wing with Grandma Sally, and a new playset for Blake and Leslie for the backyard. We still can't believe they already were outgrowing their Little Tikes Swingset that Drew assembled in early 2014, and made the move to Edina.

Grandma Sally in Red Wing for Fall Fest

Halloween trick-or-treating was a huge hit this year! Blake dressed as a dragon (friendly dragon), while Leslie was a princess. Both the dragon and princess were really into trick-or-treating and dragged their giant sock monkey from door-to-door on Halloween too.

November included a Frozen party with Queen Elsa at the Edina Community Center, and a Thanksgiving trip to the Brinlys in Friendswood, where Blake and Leslie were able to play on playgrounds in the 70/80 degree weather each day and with their cousin Jacob, who shares their birthday and will turn nine this coming February when Blake and Leslie turn 3. Blake and Leslie both helped mom and dad with leaf raking this Fall, as we found we have many leaves at the new house to rake along with the bigger yard.

Drew also led the Stewardship team at our church during October and November to help the church to raise its budget by 15%, which was no small undertaking. In addition, Drew's now 6 years of supporting and volunteering with Urban Homeworks included his hosting and filling two tables at their annual Perpetuate the Hope luncheon in Downtown Minneapolis at The Depot, and helping Urban Homeworks secure an additional grant from a family foundation that will also be matched.

So far in December we’ve had multiple Santa visits, and at the time of writing our annual holiday letter we are 12 days away from Christmas Day.

The Brinlys are joining us in Minnesota for Christmas, and they are arriving when we’ve had a string of 40-60 degree days for over a week and a little rain. I’m still dreaming of a white Christmas…let it snow!

Gingerbread House Decoration

Family Holiday Photo with The Brinlys in Friendswood, TX

We are incredibly blessed to have had such a wonderful year with our family, and taking several trips that we will remember for many years to come. In 2016 we are looking forward to a big family reunion in the early summer, and exploring new and old places together for the first time with our children.

May each of your holidays be filled with love, peace, and joy, and have a blessed 2016!

The Hensels
Drew, Krista, Blake, and Leslie

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