Happy birthday, Mead!

Mead turned 9 last weekend, and she had a small group of friends over for an early birthday party.

They had a good time - ate fruit, pizza, and cake, and watched The Emoji Movie.

I'm very thankful for Mead and for the friends that Mead has made at school.

A few days later, on her actual birthday, we were able to celebrate as a family.  We began with the traditional cinnamon roll breakfast, of course.  It was a fun day.  We love you, Mead!

Merry Christmas!

I barely took any pictures over the break, but here's a couple from our holidays.

Cole's class made gingerbread houses one day at school - he was so proud of his creation!  He did a great job.

And here's the kids Christmas morning opening their stockings before cinnamon rolls and presents.  We had a nice Christmas together in our new home.

Snowy Day

We got a little bit of snow last weekend - maybe about 2 inches.  While it was snowing Cole and Penny ran a 5K together in downtown Roanoke.  They had fun doing the Jingle Bell Run - finished in 30 minutes, and Cole ran the whole time!

Here's a picture of our house with the first snow of the year.  Looks so pretty!

A visit to the Star

Whenever we have friends come in town we take them to the Roanoke Star.  Though it's not the most exciting thing ever, it's still a local landmark worth visiting.  Here's our most recent visit to the top of Mill Mountain with the Mayfields...

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.