On the 18th of December, we went to Seattle for photos with Santa. While there, we played at Game Works and rode the carousel downtown. On the way home we went to Lalibela for Ethiopian dinner. All in all, it was a great day.
Here is video of us waiting for Santa:
Here’s a glimpse of the action at Game Works.
And here’s a bit of video on the carousel.
Sary-Jo and the boys baked cookies and other goodies for Christmas. The goodies are almost gone now, but they were delicious! David was the photographer so, unfortunately, he is not in any of the pictures. There are some good shots of Sary-Jo and Daniel, though. Click the picture to see more.
Apparently, the children’s church program focused on remembering good things that God has done in each child’s life. As we were getting in the car after church, David told us, “The best day ever in my life… was the day I met you!” Imagine us trying to retain our composure.
No sooner did soccer end than basketball began. The boys are shown in their jerseys that were great gifts from Tyler, Tanner and their parents. We took the pictures the day basketball practice started for both of them. Daniel & David enjoy basketball and are good at it. Soccer remains their passion, but I think they’ll have a good basketball season and learn a lot. Once the games begin, we’ll take some video so be sure to check back. Click the picture to see a few more.
Sarah had a little time on her hands; enjoy her video.
We had a small gathering at our home for Thanksgiving – Joany, Margie and Ruli came over. We have so much for which to be thankful as God has truly blessed us! The boys helped out with dinner quite a bit. David helped Randy make the pies and cranberry sauce on Wednesday (school and work closed due to weather). Daniel helped Randy with the stuffing and turkey. He handled the knife very well and really seemed to enjoy stuffing the bird. They both helped Sary-Jo set the table, get drinks together, etc. And for cleanup it was “all hands on deck.” We enjoyed our pie in the family room and, after everybody left, we watched Disney’s A Christmas Carol.
Click the picture to see more.
The weekend before Thanksgiving brought extremely cold weather followed by a few inches of snow. Last year, we had tried to give the boys a bit of snow experience by taking them inner-tubing, but it turned out to be quite warm so they didn’t really play in the snow. Now they’ve had a bit of experience with it… and they seem to like it. Click the picture above to see more pictures, and be sure to watch the video below.
Here is a short video from the soccer jamboree. We only had the camcorder for the last day and, in an effort to keep the video short, trimmed it down quite a bit. In this video you’ll see David score a couple goals, then the coach talks about him as she hands out trophies. Following that, we cut to Daniel’s game where you’ll see him show his footwork and make a great centering pass. Unfortunately, nobody got the ball into the net.
Daniel wrote a short autobiography as a school assignment. He did a stellar job so we asked him to read it for the camera. Check it out here.
The boys just finished their first soccer season. They learned a lot of vocabulary, and although they knew the basics, they learned how to play the game. Practices started in August, the same day we arrived from our trip to California for Janel’s wedding. Back then Daniel was sporting a blue cast on his arm and the weather was hot and beautiful. Ahhh!!! Between both teams, we had practices every night but Fridays. It was a bit crazy for a while. Once school started Daniel couln’t go to Monday practices because of Bible Study and David’s team only met once a week. Mom took advantage and spent one on one time with the other kid doing homework, reading, and talking about the day, at least for part of the practice. Then she worked on her homework while that kid got to play. Overall, we only used our big umbrellas two or three times. Last weekend we spent all weekend (6 games) at the Turkey Jamboree in freezing weather! Brrrrr!!! The boys didn’t seem to care if it was sunny, rainy, or freezing cold – they just wanted to play. They both had great coaches and very nice boys on their teams. As newbies, our family was blessed by a very positive experience (except, of course, for all the laundry and very stinky boys). Both Daniel and David say they want to play again next year. We’ll be ready to cheer them on and record their progress!!
As usual, click the photo to see more. Note: Daniel played for the Wolverines and David played for the Rockets.
