For Thanksgiving this year, we went to Allan’s brother’s house. We enjoyed great food, then most of us went outside to play in the snow. It was a great afternoon!
Author: Joyce
Smile
Back to School
Today, for the first time in a long time, everyone was home to work on school assignments together. While Mark was gone, school was different. It seemed quieter and he was not around to help answer the younger ones questions. Today’s noise and controlled chaos felt so good!
After a morning of hard work, we went to the park for Adrian’s science class. We left early so we could see if an inch (or two) of snow was enough for sledding. It was! We played outside until class started, and then the kids enjoyed playing a few more minutes after class.
It is so good to be all together again!
Hard Work
It seems like we had a lot more leaves than normal this year. We have completely raked our yard three times. I think we are finally finished.
I am so thankful for children who are willing to help us work hard. Then as a reward, they enjoy playing hard too!
Good Morning!
When morning gilds the sky,
our hearts awaking cry:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
in all our work and prayer
we ask his loving care:
May Jesus Christ be praised! 
Translated by Edward Caswall (1854)
Capes
It all began innocently enough. An e-mail saying “Such a cute costume that I think you could get away with as a Sunday outfit” with a link to a sweet little cape tutorial. I happened to show it to my girls. Before I knew it, they were digging through our cupboard looking for the perfect material.
Within a week, and very little help from me, each girl had a new cape. Each cape reflects their owner’s personality! Audrey used fleece because it is soft and snuggly. The reverse is bright and playful. Andrea’s cape is “satin” with long bow ties to show off the contrasting inside. Megan’s cape is made with pink denim and colorful hearts in easy to wash material.
Now the girls have capes that they use for church and for dressing up. Thank you Lilly for the idea!
Safari
This morning, we took a nature walk at the park. We looked for leaves and pretended we were on a safari. We drove around the “game park” looking for animals. We discovered deer, turkey, flying geese, chipmunks and lots of squirrels.
Holly
The neighbors own two barn cats. Often, Holly will come over to visit. Often, while the kids are outside, Holly will walk through the back yard to see what they are doing.
She is not super friendly, but she likes to be around the children. If they don’t try to hug her too much or pick her up, she will hang around the backyard watching them.
The Park
While Adrian learned about bats in class, Audrey and I roamed nearby. The fall colors this year are amazing!
Soccer Weekend
This weekend, Andrea’s soccer team participated in a fall tournament. Even with cold and rainy weather, they played very well.
The first game was good, though cold! The girl’s had a shut out game of 5-0. The second game was miserable; it was very cold, breezy and started to rain. However, the girls pulled off another shut out game of 8-0. They were excited! They knew they had a chance at the playoffs.
The sun was very low when they started playing at 8:15 Sunday morning with the weather clear and around 38 degrees. It was a tough game. The referee seemed very fair even with some controversial calls. We won again, 2-0.
We thought the third game was hard, but it was easy compared to the championship game! Our girls ran and fought for the ball the entire game. The other team was sneakily “dirty”. They fell often and we noticed them tripping or pushing our girls. Our girls aren’t perfect, but usually play fair. The referee tried hard and he called many of the fouls. After a very exciting, loud game, we ended up losing 0-1.
The girls played so hard! Most of them needed a break, did not have enough subs, but continued playing their best. They ended up in second place! We learned later that the last two games they played were with Level 1 girls, and our team is Level 3. So they played a lot better than they realize!