Thanksgiving at the Ranch

This year, we spent the entire Thanksgiving break at the ranch. We had a great time getting to unplug for a few days hanging with family. We drove down Wednesday, with everyone else on the roads and actually stayed until Sunday. We rarely have the opportunity to stay for such an extended period of time.

The kids played nonstop and didn't get nearly enough sleep (we are paying for that this week with Megan), but it is such a joy seeing them play with their cousins. We are so thankful that our kids have cousins who are close in age to them on both sides of the family.

Throughout the weekend, we watched football, played football (another post all together), played games, went fishing, went on golf cart rides, read books, created presents for the kids' teachers, created manna bags, and so much more. We loved slowing down for a few days even though it has meant playing catch up a bit this week. We have so very much to be thankful for.


Our awesome niece, Alli, fishing with Megan and G'Daddy

Third Grade Bible

Tyler received his bible from the church in September. Since then, their Sunday School class has taken a break for the standard curriculum in order to focus on learning how to use their new bible. Before Thanksgiving, the class had a breakfast for the parents to show us all they have learned over the past couple of months.

Kevin and I were blown away with all that these kids had learned. What was perhaps most impressive was that when their teachers asked questions about the bible, almost all of them raised their hands to answer. This happened with every question! These kids amazed us. It was clear that they embraced learning about the bible.

Halloween Weekend

I am quite late getting this post out but wanted to at least chronicle our crazy halloween weekend. We had so much going on I think I probably missed something, but here are most of the highlights.

Saturday started with a flag football game for Tyler. His team, The Crush, finished up their season this past weekend as the 2nd place team in their division.

We went from the game to our elementary school carnival, which was a blast as always. Megan's daisy troop had a booth. She and her friend Thea are posing for one of the few pics of the day. They were moving too quick to stop for photo opps.

Sunday, we had all of our normal church activities. In addition to those, we had a halloween party with friends from school. One of Megan's friend's families has hosted a halloween party for a number of years. Last year, they invited Megan's entire class and families in addition to their normal attendees. This year they expanded the list yet again, which included some of our cousins. Kennedy and Megan enjoyed playing at the party.

As the party was winding down, we went to collect the girls and found that they had discarded their costumes for a new look.


We finally made it to halloween. Megan had a bit of a costume crisis. The costume we bought for her (minnie mouse) was very scratchy and uncomfortable so she called Gran Allie at 5:15 to see if we could come get the witch costume she has at her house (which was mine when I was about her age). We picked it up and eagerly awaited for the sun to go down. Here are our kids in their very "dark" halloween costumes - the witch and the dementor.



We were just about recovered from all the crazy activity and Monday halloween until daylight savings hit. For a family with kids who are always early risers, the fall time change is brutal. Hoping to not see the clock before 6:00 in the morning!

**In case you are wondering why there is such a discrepancy in the number of pictures of Megan and Tyler, it is because Tyler HATES getting his picture taken right now and usually dives out of the way before I can get pictures of him.