Cheers to Coming 2020!

'Tis the Season...Merry Christmas!

Sara Visits

It was so nice to have Sara come and see us!

We spent lots of time at our house just catching up (and homeschooling). But we also took her to our favorite thrift store (all shopping for an impromptu White Elephant gift exchange together),  and we drove to the Insight for Living Ministries Headquarters. 

The week went by too quickly. 

Special moments!

Personality by Shoe Type

Never Too Cold for Ice Cream

It's Chilly Out!

We had a day in the 20s already! 

It called for some creative indoor games. :)

Guinea Pigs for Show-and-Tell

Giving Thanks for a Beautiful Autumn

10th Birthday Visitors

Doubles digits for Brent now! A big birthday. G'ma and G'pa were able to fly down from WI for a long weekend to visit and help us celebrate. Brent is still into Legos, and he received several new Ninjago sets which he has been enjoying very much. 

We went to church together, and then our subdivision had a little fall festival with games and prizes for the kids. It was a perfect 75 degree day!

So thankful for a lovely weekend all together. 

Trick-or-Treat

Amber was a "Greek empress," Clara was a cowgirl, and Brent was an Enderman from MineCraft. 

Lucas was "The Specter of Failed Business Models"...yikes!! 

There aren't very many kids in our neighborhood. So when our kids would ring someone's doorbell, often they were encouraged to "take a handful!" or "take 10!" 

Three streets later their buckets were full!

Building a Fort

A broken-down backyard fence, leftover bricks, and a tarp... They created this with Dad and are really enjoying it in the fall weather now. 

Changing Vehicles - a New Season

The minivan has been an excellent family vehicle for us for over a decade. But time to upgrade. Thankful for a Honda Pilot. Hopefully this serves us well for many years too. 

Vacay to South Texas

This fall we took a trip south to the Texas coastline. Along the drive down, we stopped in central TX to hike "Enchanted Rock." It was less than a mile hike, but it was mostly straight up (in 95 degree weather). 

Corpus Christi area was our final destination. We really enjoyed the beaches there. We rented a condo that was 3 blocks from a beach. The kids learned how to boogie board and really loved it! We awoke early one morning to watch the sunrise too.

 One day we went downtown Corpus and toured the old aircraft carrier from WWII the Lexington. 

It was hard to say goodbye to the beach and all the fun and the beautiful nature.
Maybe we will go back another year to vacay. 

Sharing Smiles

Continuing to Learn Together

A 6th grader, 4th grader, and 2nd grader....
It's a wonderful season of learning both at home and at our homeschool co-op. 

Dad's Birthday

Dreaming of Taking Gymnastics

Some of Clara's homeschool friends have been giving her tips on how to do a  better handstand. Clara would love to take gymnastics lessons sometime this winter. But for now she is just practicing all around the house. ;-)

Swim Lessons

Amber and Brent are making good progress in a "stroke clinic" this fall, where the coach fine tunes their freestyle, backstroke, and breaststrokes. They are also learning the butterfly stroke, flip turns, and diving entries. Getting ready for swim team next summer hopefully!

August - at Home and Around Town

Another way to survive the August heat...kindles! Now the kids each have a gaming and reading device.

On a family date night, we tried a new chicken sandwich restaurant. Some family votes resulted in saying, "Better than Chick-Fil-A!" Wow. High praise. :)

Camp in the City

This summer Brent attended "Camp in the City" with his schoolmate (below on left). Counselors from a camp in east Texas come to the Dallas area, with all their enthusiasm and fun equipment; and they help the kids experience camp locally.  All kids can go home and sleep in their own beds each night, and then return for more fun the next day. Best of both home-and-camp-worlds is the idea. Brent mostly enjoyed just  being with his friend. 

Amber's Birthday Buddy

Amber's schoolmate from last year has a birthday very close to Amber's. So the girls had a special play date at our house when we celebrated. Both girls love horses and dogs. ;-)

Birthday for Amber

Amber celebrated her 11th birthday while Gma and Gpa were in town. Precious Amber still LOVES horses, so she received several horse gifts, and...even a surprise trail ride at a ranch 40 minutes north of here with Grandma and Dad, where she cantered for the first time!    In the cooler mornings we enjoy biking to feed bread to the turtles in our subdivision. Gpa and I did this with B and C while the others were on their horse trail ride.

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Gma and Gpa Smith Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Smith had a 3 day layover at DFW as they were traveling back to PA from CA. We really enjoyed seeing them again as it had been over a year!