Basketball

 Jeremiah's first time playing Upward Basketball.

Chinese Night

 Friday night was Chinese night!  Our curriculum was focusing on China and the Great Wall and the culture of China.  We decided to celebrate for family night.  We got some Chinese, used chopsticks and topped it off with watching Torchlighters video- The Gladys Alyward Story.   

It was so touching to think of how the Lord used this amazing single lady! 

Sledding and Snow...

 Some action shots of our week last week and this week sledding!  We have an amazing hill in the back of our house!  And we can't have a good sled ride without some hot cocoa and cookies afterward.  The cousins have gone a lot- who needs a lot of snow to sled.  And I am enjoying shoveling- I love a good shovel!!  Michael laughs at me when I hop out of bed in the morning and say, I am going to go shovel for 30 minutes.  :)

December Highlights...

 Trying to pick a Christmas tree that was way too expensive to cut down- so we went back to Home Depot and got it from there- cheaper but not as fun to cut down.

 Making gingerbread houses with some friends from co-op- so we used Graham crackers and decorated them- way easier!

 Making sugar cookies and decorating some ornaments- thankfully two sweet teen girls came over to help me make sugar cookies- literally, I could not have done it without them!

Thanksgiving Flashback... 2017

We enjoyed spending time at Thanksgiving with extended family.  My parents came to visit us which was fun to have them here and to shop and get and decorate our Christmas tree with them.  The week of Thanksgiving, we focused on reading lots of Thanksgiving books and made cranberry orange bread to give to neighbors.  We enjoyed walking around and visiting with neighbors giving them our thankful treats!  Joely loved his first Thanksgiving and starting in December, I decided to start feeding him some baby food.

Reformation... 2017 flashback

I wanted to keep a record of our Reformation Day in 2017 as it was the 500th year this year!  We got to visit with a sweet friend from Cincinnati visiting the city.  The night before we went to a Trunk or Treat at a church nearby.  On Reformation day, October 31st, we hosted a Reformation Day party!  We hosted some friends for lunch and read The Life of Martin Luther- A Pop-Up Book.  We also thought about reading this book-  Martin Luther- A Man Who Changed the World. (this book was for a little older kids)  In the evening, we carved a pumpkin, lit it, popped popcorn and watched the Playmobile Martin Luther video as well as the Torchlighters Martin Luther video.  We loved celebrating the 500th birthday of Martin Luther and the Reformation.  Of course, we always have to sing "A Mighty Fortress is our God!"

Christmas Day 2017

Christmas Eve was a little hard for me this year.  I was really struggling with sadness- taking my thoughts captive and Michael was gone a lot at church preparing for the evening.  Thankfully by the time we had dinner and made it to the evening service, sweet friends were able to help me with my kids as they were very tired and done from the day.  Christmas day we relaxed at home, the kids opened some fun presents including a purple cape that a sweet friend's daughter made.  Lydia is so excited about her cape.  We packed up, went caroling at a friend's house and then made it to Michael's parents to celebrate and have dinner with them.