Christmas Decor

Craig won the fake or real Christmas tree battle, and the result is a lovely hand-me-down fake tree.  Isn't it absolutely beautiful?!  Craig thinks so too. :)  It came with 350 colored lights so those were swapped out for 600 white lights.  Much better.

Lori and the girls are now INSISTING on a real one next year, but Craig is hoping they'll forget.

This year's Jesse sticks …er, I mean, tree.

Christmas Prep

Meg created a special nook where she could do crafts and Christmas present prep in privacy.  Good idea.

Christmas Cards

Totally appreciated the help from the kiddos, and they were thankful for the pull-n-seal envelopes.

Snowfall

To say that the girls were totally excited about it snowing is a huge understatement.

And here's a picture of Val that was too cute to pass up …

Rakers

Before the weather was to turn nasty cold, I had some help with the leaves.

30 minute Halloween

That's how long we lasted outside in the cold wind and rain.  By the end, Val's bird costume (designed and produced by Meg) was quite disheveled.  Despite the conditions, we had a good time running around the neighborhood and meeting neighbors.

PS -- If you're looking to use black electrical tape for tiger stripes, I'd make another choice.  The tape left a residue that wasn't easy to get out.  Live n learn.

Team Denver Soccer

Val and Meg were stoked to be team Denver as this is the city of one of their uncles.  They had a great season, and below are pictures from their tournament weekend.

They won both games on Saturday one of which was in the pouring rain.  While Lori, Lia and I shivered on the sidelines, Val and Meg played on hardly noticing the rain.  Afterward, I asked, "Weren't you freezing out there?"  "No, it was fine."  Clearly, they were in competition mode.

The two wins put them into the championship game on Sunday.  This final game was tied 1-1 at half, tied 2-2 at end of regulation, and still tied 2-2 after overtime.  Lots of near misses kept the parents on the sidelines in a constant state of anxiousness.  A shootout ensued in which they lost 3-2.  Fantastic game.  And team Denver gets major props as they were missing 3 players all weekend which meant they had no subs.

Game #2 ...

The Final ...

Way to go Denver!!!

Zambian Bracelets

Some very good friends are raising money to translate the Jesus film into a Zambian language.  The film is based on the life of Christ from the book of Luke; earlier this year, it was translated into its 1,200th language.  No joke.  God has used this film in huge ways.

So our girls made rubber band bracelets with the colors of the Zambian flag to sell to friends and classmates to help the cause.  Great work, girls!

Yardschool

Lia turned her homeschool morning into a yardschool morning.  With a day like this, it's a brilliant idea.

Apple Orchard

We had heard about a local apple orchard so we took part of our weekend to enjoy time with one another there.  The orchard area was huge which included a large section with a ton of different activities and games for kids to enjoy.  We didn't have time for all of that so we decided to skip the activities and head to the orchard.  We had a blast and got a ton of different varieties of apples.

Lia

Lia's somewhat-official-7th-grade picture.

Pals from Porto

We hosted a family from Portugal for a week and really enjoyed having them.  They were in the midst of a 2-month stint in the U.S. learning about the ministry as they're on staff with Cru high school.  They were wonderful guests … and it didn't hurt that their two girls are super cute.  Their youngest is named Lia - just like our oldest.

Both our families were really busy during the week, but we did have a chance to go on an outing with them on the weekend to a "machine festival" at a local park.  We all had fun exploring the construction equipment, tractors, fire engines and helicopters.

Welcome to America!

I couldn't find the keys to this thing … bummer.

Conner Prairie

Grammy and Papa's first visit to our home in Indiana included a visit to Conner Prairie.

Miss Tracie

Our good friend, Tracie, from Orlando was in town for a few days and got to stay with us.

Message

I'm not sure which daughter did this, but regardless, I like it.

July Palatine Trip

It was great to catch up with family in Chicagoland.

Meg and Grammy

Puzzle with Papa

Lia with Grammy

Awesome set of cornole that we borrowed from a neighbor.

Indy Children's Museum

When Lori's sister and her daughter visited us from Nebraska, going to the Indy Children's Museum was a must.

We've been to a Chihuly (blown glass art) museum in the past.  We're fans.

We're familiar with the terra cotta soldiers which we affectionately call "the dirt dolls."