Kamryn's Birthday Weekend

Today we began Kamryn's birthday celebration. (Her birthday is actually tomorrow.) This morning we had breakfast at Wolfgang's. The surprise for Kam was that Sharon, Emily and Sharon's parents were going to meet us there. Sharon and Kevin are special friends of our family from Visalia and Kamryn was the flower girl in their wedding a couple of years ago. We were so excited to see them and had a great breakfast together! Emily is such an easy going baby and didn't mind being passed around to all of us. She had lots of smiles for everyone. Of course we did miss Kevin, but Sharon called him during breakfast so he wouldn't feel left out!

Kamryn and Emily

Katie and Emily

Kamryn talking to Kevin on the phone.This afternoon Scott took Troy, Kamryn and her friend, J.P. to see the movie, "Bolt." Then we met for dinner at Applebee's.

Happy 9th Birthday, Kamryn!

Snow Day!

Today was forecast to be a nasty snowstorm and the forecast came true. When we woke this morning there was a pile of snow on the ground and more falling by the second. I think every school was cancelled (except for Calvin Seminary!). This was supposed to be the last day of school before Christmas vacation, but many teachers planned on it being a snow day already yesterday. So Scott trudged off to school for his one class this morning. When I looked outside again late morning, I noticed many cars stuck on our street. Scott decided he would still try to get home from Calvin in his little blue car and made it all the way to the bottom of our street. He got stuck and had to snowblow his way out. He got the car out and safely in the garage and then proceeded to snowblow his way through the neighborhood. Neighbors were so happy to see him they were offering him water and hot chocolate! He cleared several driveways and sidewalks and then finally made his way back home. He walked in the door after stripping off his snow encrusted clothing in the garage and proclaimed, "That was fun!"

A Night of Concerts

Tonight we found ourselves attending two concerts on the same evening. We started out at Troy's preschool and then ended the evening at the highschool for Katie's band concert. Here they are posed before the festivities.

Kamryn was not to be left out!

This is the whole adorable group of 3-5 year olds on stage. (Troy is on the far left back row little blond head sticking out behind boy with red vest.)Troy hid himself behind this boy the whole program. (You see his smiling face peeking out at me!)Here is Troy and his best bud Brandon after the show.

More of the group.

I have no idea who this little boy is, but Scott and I laughed at him the whole time because he got mad and pouted the whole program.

Then we move from Preschool to the band concert-the VERY LONG band concert! Katie plays the oboe and is actually first chair. Holding that position involves tuning the band before performances. She tuned very well and even remembered to take a breath this time!


Her highschool has a beautiful auditorium. Here is the stage area as they are setting up.

Fun times!

Our Week at a Glance

My birthday week has come and gone. We've been having quite a hard winter already this season and the weather was starting to get to us all. Thankfully on Wednesday (my birthday) we woke to a sunny day which lasted all day. Everyone I met who knew how much I need sunshine said it was sunny just for me. My dear friend, Deb, had a birthday lunch with some friends for me at her home. It was wonderful! We are so thankful for the friends God has placed in our lives. Friday evening we hosted a Christmas party for Scott's FFM (formation for ministry) group. We also invited some other Seminary friends. It was a great time of sharing food and just hanging out. We've again made some great life-long friendships during these Seminary years.

**********************

This is Scott's group along with their professor. (Brian and Jason are missing.)

This is what Seminarians do at parties-sit and talk about Seminary! (Gail and I retreated to the other room to chat!...Thanks for the picture by the way! :)) Wednesday morning with the kids.


A typical December day out our back door....I don't want to hear any more complaining about FOG!!

Tonight Scott and I were able to have a night out for dinner and a little shopping. What a treat!

Small Group Outing

Saturday evening our small group had a surprise (to me) outing to The Melting Pot restaurant. We were supposed to meet for Bible study, but Scott arranged an early birthday celebration instead! At this restaurant, all of your food is dipped/ cooked in fondue pots on your table. Needless to say, several items were lost in the various pots. It was tons of fun with a great group of people. Thanks for a wonderful night out!

Signs of Christmas

It's beginning to look more like Christmas at our house. We braved the cold the other night (between snow storms) and ventured out to our local Home Depot to choose the perfect tree. Of course they keep the trees outside and there is no cover over them and so they were blanketed with snow. I would think I saw one I liked and Scott would shake it out and then we would find problems with it. Everyone was getting very cold and sick of this process, so finally we just grabbed one that was still wrapped up and bought it. We did not see how it looked until we got home. It actually turned out to be one of our better looking Christmas trees. The kids helped me decorate it last night.

Also, after much nagging from me, Scott is finishing up his annual letter/poem contibution. It's another good one! Look for it soon!

Troy's Wisdom

This morning on the way to preschool Troy had another gem for me. He said, "Mom, we can hear God talk to us. We just have to be very quiet and listen."...Cool!