Winter Wonderland!

What a difference a night makes. This morning we looked outside to find snow! Some snow was in the forecast, but much more fell than was predicted. Scott and Katie headed out to school, but found it to be deserted. They called home and we checked the tv to find most all schools were canceled. (Except for Calvin that is!) So we hauled out snow pants, boots, gloves, hats, and everything else necessary for snow and the kids headed outside (before 8 AM!) to play with friends in the neighborhood. It's been a nice year in that the snow didn't come too early. Now I think winter is here to stay for awhile. I'm already tired of all the clothing changes that come with wet clothing!

Katie tackling the driveway.

Kamryn and Troy taking a break inside. (Love the rosy cheeks.)

All suited up.

Our driveway and deck. (Yes, I should have taken the cushions in!)

Thanksgiving-2009

You may be wondering why this first picture is included in our Thanksgiving documentation. The reason is that Scott, in his quest for a new and better way to cook our Thanksgiving turkey, decided this was the year to try deep frying. As you have seen on the tv commercials and heard the horror stories, there is a bit of danger involved in this cooking method. Needless to say everything turned out well! The turkey was delicious. The weather cooperated-no snow! We had a great group of family over to our home and thought about the many ways we have been blessed again this year.

You can never be too careful!

The cook and his assistant keeping careful watch over the contraption.

Out it comes!

The finished product.

This year's batch of turkey cupcakes.

After dinner we kept up the bowling tradition we always enjoyed with the Grimmius family in Visalia. We invited the Klavers to join us too.

Serious bowlers?!

The kids...and Pete.

Final Performance

Last Saturday evening we attended the final performance of Katie's musical, "Cinderella". It was a great show and Katie had lots of fun being a part of it. The Auditorium at Christian High was packed out for the last night. The weeks leading up to the musical were filled with lots of hard work and late nights at school, but it seemed to be worth it in the end. Katie will be trying out for the next show which is a "one act" play that they do for competition. She says it's hard to get in, but we'll see what happens. Great job, Katie!

Katie in costume before the performance.
This is the beautiful auditorium just beginning to fill up before the show.

This is afterwards as they were handing out flowers to those who helped. Katie is blocked in this picture, but you get an idea of all the costumes and stage.

Grandma E. and Hank attended the last performance. (We missed a picture with Boppa and Grandma R. the night before!)

Candidacy Photo Shoot

Scott's going to kill me when he see this. But I thought these were good pictures to post. Scott is, as many of you know, in his final year of Seminary. This year is known as candidacy year. This means that Scott has many things beyond his regular classes to finish to be a candidate for ministry in the Christian Reformed Church. He has completed much of the list already in anticipation for his becoming an official candidate at Synod this June. We await, with much anticipation, God's leading and call to our first church. Anyway, since I got a fancy shmancy new camera we thought we would take care of another item on the checklist: candidate's picture. After much complaining and grumbling we did get some decent ones today. We took an outside shot and one inside... Look for one of these in an upcoming Banner page this summer! :)

Cinderella

We got to see Katie's play, Cinderella, last night at Christian High. It was an excellent performance and everyone did a great job! (I guess all the late nights staying at school paid off!) Katie had lots of fans who came to see her and stayed to greet her afterwards.

Claire and Erin Sytsma, who Katie babysits, brought her flowers. So sweet!
The Borsts came to watch Katie and Anna wore her Cinderella shirt too!

Grandpa and Judi were able to come from Canada and were impressed with the performance.

Kind of disappointing they make the kids take off their costumes before they come out to greet people, but you can still see the stage make-up. The musical runs one more week. The kids love putting it all together. I know Katie will miss it when it's all over.

Basketball Season Begins

Kamryn and Troy had their first Pure Play basketball games this past Saturday at school. They have both become quite the basketball fans since moving to Michigan. I tried out the new camera and upon seeing my pictures realize I have a ways to go yet. Atleast now I can take a picture from more than 5 feet away in the gym! Anyway, they both did great on the court and we are looking forward to a great season!

Afterwards Troy headed outside to find his friends. Scott went to take some pictures and this is what he found...

I realize that Katie has been missing from many pictures lately. She has been working hard at school getting ready for the musical that opens this Friday. Today's practice is supposed to go until 8 or 9 pm! Look for pictures soon!

Kamryn's Photo Shoot

This is a little photo shoot Kamryn and I did last Sunday afternoon. (It only took a little candy bribery!) I wanted to try out my new camera. It is fun to see some of the things it can do. The only problem is, I took a class last night and learned a lot more. Now I need to go out and try out the things I learned before I forget! Anyway, we had a good time wandering around the Sem pond at Calvin enjoying the last of the fall leaves.

This week has been a busy week again. Tuesday afternoon we had the funeral of my previous principal, Judy DeJong. I have worked for her the last two years at Ada Christian. We really respected her and credit her with bringing our family to this school. Ada Christian has been a wonderful place for our kids and for me to teach. Judy was only 60 and had retired last year. She was at school visiting the day before her sudden death. We will miss her. It was a touching, but sad funeral. Through this, though, we continue to see the blessings of being part of a Christian school community.