Following our time in Saginaw, our family returned to Holland, MI, just about the time that the rest of the family was starting to arrive for the retirement celebration. Jaden and Cody loved seeing all of their cousins again. Jaden, our little baby lover, was often seen right next to his cousin Nathan.
Both he and Cody took a (brief) turn at holding their little cousin.
Amid the busy-ness of the retirement celebration for Jason's dad, the family still had time to just hang out. We spent some of our days reading...
(We were particularly impressed with Ian's reading abilities, as he read aloud to Amy, Jaden and Cody one day.)
playing games,
wrestling (Cody often sought out Ian for this...),
and playing with cars and trains.
Ryan and Cody thought the spot under the chair made for an ideal parking garage!
Here are a few random cousin shots...
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| Cody, Ryan, Jaden |
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| Jaden and Ryan |
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| Uncle Matt, Nathan, Jaden, Ian |
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| Ian, Jaden, Cody |
The whole family made sure to get some quality time with little Nathan (perhaps because he was the only little boy willing to cuddle for extended periods of time!). Uncle Jason elicited a few laughs from the little guy.
Aunt Amy did a few baby calisthenics with Nathan another day.
Nathan was often up quite later than his brothers and his cousins, so he was able to get in some special time with the ladies. :)
Who wouldn't want to spend time with this handsome little guy?! We love you, little Nathan!
Beth, Matt, and Jason spent an afternoon helping their parents with some of the packing/organizing/cleaning in Dad Schleicher's office.
After 40 years in the ministry, a pastor can sure accumulate a lot. They made some great progress together!
Holland still had quite a bit of snow on the ground during our visit, so we got in on some good outdoor playtime. Cody and Jaden must have been inspired by their Texas cousins' excitement. This day was the first time our boys have EVER willingly worn snow pants!
The boys tried out sledding (though the sled kept on sinking into the snowbanks, so this didn't work too well),
we had quite a few snowball battles (mostly the adults and the kids picking on each other),
and we even built a small snowman.
I don't recall if the snowman toppled over on its own or if he had some help... :)
The Texas Schleichers attempted some downhill sledding one day, too. It was fairly hilarious... the "hill" basically ends at the bottom of the picture, so the entire sled ride was probably less than 2 seconds.
The weather was actually very nice for enjoying some playtime in the snow.
During our visit, Grandpa and Grandma graciously let all their grandsons (and parents) stay at their apartment, while they went to a local hotel. We really appreciated having the extra play space and the conveniences of a home for our kiddos. At the same time, we were able to enjoy a few of the hotel amenities-- like the indoor pool!
Last summer, Cody and Jaden weren't at all excited about anything water-related, so we were curious to see how they'd do in the pool this year. We borrowed a couple of puddle jumpers from a friend who has 2 girls, hence the pink and purple. :) It took a bit of adjustment (i.e. whines and some crying) to get the boys used to the water temperature. After a few minutes of moving around in the water, though, Jaden and Cody started loving it!
Despite wearing the puddle jumpers, neither boy wanted to paddle too much independently. They were happiest when they were launching themselves off the edge of the pool into Mommy and Daddy's arms.
We repeated these off-the-side jumps over and over and over again for our entire pool visit. The boys were so excited!
Here's the whole swimming bunch:
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| Matt, Ian, Kim, Ryan, Amy, Cody, Jason, Jaden |
At the very end of our stay, we spent a morning at a local bouncing gym, Crazy Bounce. This also was a big hit with Jaden and Cody (despite their lack of enthusiasm shown in this pic).
Some of the slides were HUGE, so the adults started off going down with the little ones.
The boys didn't need our help for long. Jaden surprised us by being our daring slider. He whipped down these slides in all kinds of crazy positions!
Cody was a bit more traditional in his sliding but still seemed to have just as much fun.
Crazy Bounce also had bouncing balls...
...and competitive games, like this bungee game where competitors had to stick a velcro baton as far as they could on the middle lane. Aunt Amy and Ian competed first, and Amy got smoked. :)
Jason and Matt even took a turn. We discovered that one of the bungee vests was tighter than the other, so whoever was on the right side typically won. Still, it was an enjoyable competition.
During our visit, we gathered for quite a few community meals. Lots of out-of-town guests traveled in for the retirement celebration, many of them members from the Schleichers' previous congregations. Mom and Dad Schleicher's current congregation prepared delicious meals throughout the whole weekend for all of the out-of-towners. What a treat this was! This particular meal was at the apartment community center. The cousins are relaxing after a tasty lunch.
We also ate at the hotel one day... This special meal was provided by Beth Young-- Chicago deep dish pizzas. YUM! Thanks for your thoughtfulness, Beth. What a great meal!
Most of the meals were at the church. After this particular meal, we were served an ice cream dessert. The little boys even got cones. Talk about being spoiled! :)
Of course, the main point of our visit was the retirement celebration. Unfortunately, I didn't get very many pictures of this event. The service, however, was just wonderful. So many musical groups performed (handbells, choir, and even a kids' chimes group), and many kind words were spoken about Pastor John and Carol. All of the Schleicher kids (Beth, Matt, Jason, and Andy reading for Jonathan) gave a speech sharing memories from their dad's various congregations. We even had the 5 grandsons stand on the altar steps and sing "Jesus Loves Me." They actually did surprisingly well, considering only one of them is over the age of 2! Then, all of the Schleicher kids sang a song that Jason had written to the tune of "Let us Ever Walk with Jesus," a song that had been sung at Mom and Dad Schleicher's wedding.
Dad and Mom Schleicher received a few gifts and spoke a bit at the end of the program, too.
John and Chelsea joined us for the program via Skype and were broadcast on this TV in the front of the church. We missed their presence during this celebration, but we were VERY excited to welcome their new little baby boy, Isaiah, into the world two days later! Here is the rest of the family at the end of the program...
It was obvious that Dad and Mom Schleicher were well-loved in all of their congregations and that they served the Lord and His people faithfully. We are happy for them to be starting on this new chapter of life.
It was a blessing to be with you, Mom and Dad Schleicher! We are thankful for your lives of faith and service. We love you!
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