Family pictures

I haven't done as well with taking pictures in recent months, so I've been trying pull my camera out more frequently the past few weeks.

Laine participated in a Veteran's Day program at school and got to play her recorder while the kids sang - she did a great job!

Laine also helped take a photo of Penny and me - we rarely stop to take pictures of just the two of us!  These turned out nicely, and I've decided to take a "couple" picture more often.

And the kids helped me put up Christmas decorations this weekend - Mead wanted a picture of our new stocking holders and decorated mantle.  It's been fun to decorate a new house this year!

Friends

Over the course of the past month we've had several friends come to Roanoke or pass through town.

Our friends, the Hathaways, met up with two other families for a Virginia Thanksgiving and stopped by our house on their way.

Mead and Mary enjoyed hanging out with one another and reconnecting - I also enjoyed visiting with Shannon and catching up!

They all got to come to Christ the King to worship with us on Sunday, so that was a special treat.

Earlier in the month Rachel came and did our women's retreat for us, and it was great to see her.  She did a wonderful job of sharing with the women of our church, and I was thankful for some personal time with Rachel.

Finally, we had P.D., Kelli, and their girls come stay with us for Thanksgiving.  We jumped right in with conversation and kept on chatting for the entire time they were here.  I love easy and long-term friendships like that!  The kids had a good time playing with one another too - they met one another for the first time during their visit but had fun together.

Halloween 2017

Once again the kids participated in the Halloween parade at school - Mead was a cheerleader, Cole was a baseball player, and Laine dressed up in a ball gown.

I only managed to get good pictures of these two, but it was fun to see everyone in the parade.

Halloween night they dressed up again - the girls changed costumes into a crayon and a ghoul.  It was our first time trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood, and we had a good time.

The kids carved their pumpkins a few days prior to Halloween - they turned our nicely!  We're very thankful to be in such a great neighborhood with lots of other kids.

Happy birthday, Cole!

Cole turned 7 this year - hard to believe my baby is already that old!

We had our traditional cinnamon roll breakfast, and then enjoyed the whole day together.

The kids were off of school for a teacher work day, so Cole was able to spend some time with his friends to celebrate his special day.

We let him invite 3 buddies to go bowling and then came back to our house for pizza and cake.  It was a low key celebration but lots of fun.

Having his birthday near Halloween meant that he picked out a spider cake, which he was super excited about!

Sinkland Farms

The kids and I went with some friends to Sinkland Farms last weekend.  It was a lot of fun to go through the corn maze, try some pumpkin bowling, and just hang out for the afternoon.

They had a great corn sack slide set up!

And we got to go on a hay ride several times.

GO Fest 2017

While Nan and Pop were in town we went to the GO Outside Fest in Roanoke.  It was this huge festival encouraging people to get outside and try various outdoor activities.

Cole got to try his hand at using a two-man saw to saw through a log - they use these saws to cut trees down in areas where others might be camping or otherwise enjoying the peace and quiet of the outdoors - much nicer than hearing a chainsaw!

He did a great job, with Penny, cutting through the log and even got to bring home the piece of wood that he cut off as a souvenir.

Next the kids tried climbing the rock climbing wall.

They did great - Laine made it all the way to the top!

We might have to make a trip to a local climbing facility to let the kids practice climbing even more.

Visit with Nan and Pop

Mom and Alex came up to visit this past weekend.

It was good to see them, and I'm glad they got to see the kids' soccer games and our new place.  Glad they were ale to enter into our world for a bit!

On a completely different note, we've had a spider on our back porch for a week or so, and she's been making some amazing spider webs.  Check this thing out!