Christmas Tree Hunt

We headed out to the forest to find a Christmas tree.

And we found the perfect one.

 

We made a new advent wreath after church.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a brief but lovely visit with my family for Thanksgiving.

 On our way home Friday, we stopped to smell trees during the Christmas tree hunt.

November Happenings

Making sand art.

Watching a cement mixer pour concrete while waiting at the dentist.

Mary picked out a book about how to draw dinosaurs at the library, then did a great job drawing some.

Making cinnamon sugar pretzel bites.

Enjoying a rainy day.

Mary learned how to make Jacob's Ladder and play Cat's Cradle.

Heading out to pick apples in the mist.

The first snow of the season.

Joshua and David built a sword together, and he spent a lot of time carefully sanding it.

Uno and Birthday Fun

The kids and I headed to Visalia during the men's retreat at camp. Mary and David were excited to play Uno with everyone.

We also had time to draw.

And a second birthday dinner which was equally enjoyed.

Hannah's Birthday

We celebrated our sweet girl with a sweet day ending with a carrot cake with a bunny on it.

Hannah was delighted it was her birthday.

Mary made decorations.

Mary and David made Hannah a card.

Three Years

Sweet little Hannah is three!

She loves to laugh and play and is full of fun.

Her favorite game is follow the leader and her favorite color is green. She is interested in everything and asks lots of questions. She also talks a lot in general, chattering away about whatever is on her mind.

Hannah likes to sing, especially Robin Hood and Little John, Yankee Doodle, and alleluia amen. On a walk recently she told me she was Robin Hood and I was Little John, and she combined two songs by repeatedly singing, "Robin Hood walking through the forest with Little John, alleluia amen."

She loves playing with her big sister and brother, but is also content playing on her own.

She likes to help in the kitchen or anywhere she can be involved. 

 Hannah is a joyful little girl, and we love her so much.

Picnics

The weather has been warm and sunny lately, and since we know it won't last forever with winter coming, the kids and I have been trying to take full advantage of the warmer days by spending extra time outside. After how much we all enjoyed our picnic at George's Falls, we hiked to Gethsemane Falls and had a picnic lunch there.

A couple of days later, we had a picnic lunch in Sherwood.

Autumn Leaves

Even though the weather didn't feel much like autumn, we were excited to decorate leaf cookies at Dad and Mom's house.

Youth and Family Retreat

Joshua was the speaker for the youth at Sierra Vista's youth and family retreat, so we got to be part of that this fall. It was at a do-it-yourself camp near Santa Cruz, which was interesting. It's always intersting to go to other camps and conference centers and see how they run things.

The first full day, the kids and I explored the camp and went on a couple of hikes.

We also played in the sand at the volleyball court.

Wednesday was beach day, so after breakfast, making sack lunches, and a brief session at camp, we went to the boardwalk. Most things were closed and there were only a few people there, which is not how I've seen the boardwalk in the past, but it was fine with us. The kids got to try cotton candy for the first time and thought it was good.

We went down to the beach for awhile.

It was still mostly sunny, but there was a storm coming in. We got rain a number of times during our four days at the coast.

Mrs. Fulce was the leader for the kids and did a great job with lessons, games, and crafts for our little group of six kids.

 We had our last lesson after breakfast Thursday, then cleaned up our cabin and ate our sack lunches on the way home.