November 2013

November of an entire year ago is here at last! Here are some of the highlights.

The first weekend in November Amelia and Shannon had their soccer tournament to end the season. It wasn't a very winning season...we won one game, and it was on tournament day! But, it was fun and the entire point was to learn team work and a new sport and to get outside and run around. Mission accomplished!

We had an end of season party in the gym at camp.

 Thanks, Coach Matt!

And then the boys built Lego stuff. Just like every single day of their lives!

Midway through November we headed to McDonough for a visit with family. School is portable, and there are a lot of field trip opportunities around Atlanta.

One evening we had Brazilian guests over for dinner. Our friends the Knotts hosted a couple in their home that Chad had met on a mission trip through CMU, the organization we have been to Brazil with in the past. They were very nice folks, and James dusted off his Portuguese for the evening.

The highlight of the month came at the end of it when the Texas bunch came to see us for the week of Thanksgiving.

Mimi brought a snowman craft for the kids to make.

Men. Doing dishes.

Snowman hat tassel moustaches.

Uncle Jason shows the boys some jujitsu moves.

WHY is he smiling?

Qwirkle!

Aunt Jen is the best! She wanted to cook Thanksgiving dinner, pretty much solo. So we let her. It was a sacrifice on our part.

Mimi was full of crafty ideas this year! She brought a bunch of retired neck ties (some sent by friends who were going to throw them out), and they made glasses cases out of them.

This little cutie pie niece grows a lot from visit to visit. Voa was three this time, and so much fun!

Complete the anaology: Kids to a screen are like moths to a __________.

Fun with Uncle Jason's toys. Still smiling! Boys are weird.

Here's a hard core picture. Go ahead, boys, kill each other. You have our blessing.

Jen, Jason, and Jared.

Mom H. and Jeni.

Voa Lou!

And Bella, their child.

On Thanksgiving morning James, Jason, and I ran a race in Gainesville. We ran into our buds, the Davidsons. Maggie and I ran the last half of our 10K together.

The start of the race was 25 degrees. The end of the race was about 27. Brrr!

James and Jason ran a half marathon.

Proof of cold...that's ice on his hat!

We did it! Time for some turkey, dressing, and stuffing of faces!

Jen's masterpiece! The Pioneer Woman provided the recipes, Jen provided 10 hours of labor plus some kind of magical ability that made everything taste extra yummy.

Om nom nom!

Wish I'd have known he was going to do "deer in the headlights," I'd have done it too. Or maybe this is "GQ model." It's hard to tell the difference.

Let the feast begin!

We didn't stop until we were properly miserable.

Family picture time!

Mini me, age seven.

Papa and Mimi

Papa and Jennifer and Mimi

 Jason, Papa, Jennifer, James, Mimi, and Jared

Siblings sans parents

Jason and Jen

Jared, Laura, and Voa

Riding Star was a hit.

Storytime with Mimi!

 Mimi left the kids a Lego advent calendar.

 And a fun time was had by all. Every time we all get together I think about how unfortunate it is that we all live so far apart!

This concludes your tour of November, 2013. Thank you for joining us.