Fun in Ft. St. John

We decided to take a break from the road and stay put for today in Ft. St. John, one of the largest cities we've seen along the Alaska Highway. We started with a big breakfast at Whole Wheat & Honey and then headed over to the Pomeroy Sports Centre, where we spent several hours playing basketball and ping pong and running along the indoor track. Later, we popped into the aquatic center for a little swim. Eventually, everyone was hungry again, so we walked over to Roustabout's to grab some grub. Then, we returned to the aquatic center for the rest of the evening. It was a good day of physical activity that should carry us through a few more miles in the van.

Street entertainer

Friendly game of ping pong

Playing a little b-ball

Trying out all the equipment

A big thumbs-up for this day

First time down the slide

Officially 9 1/2

I have a weakness for flowers

First time off the high dive

Ready to jump

"It was fun but also scary.
I don't want to do it again."

Relaxin'

Holly Jolly Holiday

Piano recital for a lady's group in Kingsland 12/2

hi

Walkway of Lights, Marble Falls 12/2

Seasons Greetings in San Antonio 12/6

Gingerbread Village 12/7

Oh, Christmas Tree 12/11

festive flowers 12/13

Nursing home recital 12/14

deer-in-the-headlights (and Christmas lights!)  12/15

football on the lawn of the Johnson City courthouse 12/15

yearly carriage ride in Johnson City 12/15

trying to stay warm on the carriage ride 12/15

Days of Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful time during the Thanksgiving holiday. We arrived at my parents' house on Wednesday and began all the preparations for the big meal on Thursday. My grandparents and uncle and aunt (and their two German Shepherd puppies) joined us later in the day.

Cuddling with Granny

Trying out the puppies' pen

Thursday was all about eating. And eating. And eating. And, watching a little football and visiting. But, mostly eating.

A lovely Brussel sprout centerpiece

On Friday morning, Jeff and the boys went out for doughnuts. Because, of course, they needed more sugar and calories. Friday was also Ruth's half-birthday, so Jeff and I took her to see Catching Fire, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. And later in the day, because I let my boys pack their own bags and then got distracted and never double-checked their packing, and they ended up with not enough clothes and pretty much everything they own that doesn't fit or has holes in the crotch, we ventured out on Black Friday. Thankfully, though, we were able to avoid all the insanity by just popping into a wonderful children's consignment store in Temple that wasn't the least bit crowded. Clay was asleep when we got there, so my mom went in with the kids while I stayed in the car with Clay. She helped them pick some things out and oversaw the trying on of clothes, and then said she would buy one outfit for each kid. She randomly pulled out the outfits and paid for them, not looking at any of the tags. Then she came out to the car, and I went in the store to pay for the rest, also not looking at the tags. Our totals came out exactly the same, down to the penny, which completely confused the salesgirl and had us shaking our heads and chuckling for the rest of the day. A couple of my cousins (and two more very large German shepherds) joined the party on Friday, as well.

Eye on the prize

Icing and Sprinkles

Yay for doughnuts with Dad!

Watching a movie with Phillip

a private concert

coffee with Nana and Grandaddy

Jeff and Ruth left about 6 on Saturday morning, so Ruth could participate in her first competitive horse trail ride in Spicewood. She came away with the first place ribbon for her division. She also won a sweet thermal vest. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience and is looking forward to participating in another ride soon. The rest of the family (and all their dogs) left on Saturday after lunch. Then, my mom and I took the boys to Target, so Weston could use the gift card he got for his birthday. Saturday evening was designated for football watching, and we literally all stopped mid-bite and got up from the table to replay the last second of the Alabama/Auburn game. Wow! Then, we watched the Aggies flounder and lose against Mizzou, but at least the Aggie defense seemed to show up in the first half, which isn't something we have been able to count on this season.

First place!

On Sunday, Weston wanted to use the Fandango gift card he got for his birthday to see Frozen. We took the three big kids. Everyone enjoyed the show, but Weston was a bit disappointed that the things depicted in the ads were not represented exactly in the movie. We spent the rest of the afternoon packing up and enjoying a brief visit with my sister and her family as they passed through on their way home from their Thanksgiving travels. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We have so much to be thankful for! Hope you had a great holiday, as well.

Reindeer games

An otherwise lovely weekend

Jeff and I got to have a Date Night on Friday. We've been making an effort to make this a priority this school year, and it has been so good for us in so many ways! We tried a new-to-us steakhouse over in Spicewood, which was absolutely excellent. Then, we spent a couple of hours wandering around Barnes & Noble in Bee Cave. We managed to get out without doing too much financial damage, but that store is truly dangerous.

The three big kids had sports in three different towns on Saturday morning, which was fun to juggle. We all left the house at 7:00 am. Ruth and Clay and I dropped Jeff and the big boys off at Starbucks in Marble Falls on our way to Burnet for the 8:00 volleyball game. They waited there for one of Weston's coaches to pick them up. Jeff and Max were then dropped off in Canyon Lake, and Weston went on to Bandera. When Ruth finished up her game, we made haste to pick up Jeff and Max and then hustle over to Bandera, where we got in on the second half of Weston's game. His team had their biggest win of the season and secured their place in the playoffs. Woo-hoo!

Since we were so close to San Antonio, we decided to just make a mini-vacation of it. Our first order of business was to track down some yummy Mexican food, which we found at La Fogata, a new-to-us, off-the-Riverwalk, super-fun place. The next stop was the San Antonio Children's Museum, which is one of our kids' all-time favorite children's museums. And, we've been to a whole bunch of children's museums in several different states! They played hard until closing time. We then loaded everyone up and headed to the nearest Nissan dealership to try out the NV van. We aren't really in the market for something new just yet, but we had seen one of these the other day and wanted to get a closer look. After a quick test drive and a stop at Walmart (because what's a weekend away without a stop at Walmart?!), we stopped by the hotel, before heading down to the River for dinner at yet another new-to-us, yummy Mexican food place. I'm not sure how we've missed this place on our previous trips to San Antonio, but we won't miss it again! After a long day of fun, we were all ready to hit the hay back at the hotel. (All of us except for Clay, who was over-tired and wound up and didn't go to sleep until almost 11:00!)

Friendly HEB checker

True-to-life shopping experience
(You can tell it's true-to-life by the overflowing shopping cart!)

life-size tinker toys

from the farm to the table

pig farmer

milking this experience for all it's worth

We headed home after a late breakfast, so that we could get a few things done around the house before Ruth's piano recital this afternoon. She played three songs, including a duet and the song she wrote. And even though she was a bit nervous, she did great!

Unfortunately, in the midst of all this frivolity, we received word that Jeff's grandmother passed away on Saturday evening. She had not been in good health for a while, but no one really realized how serious things were. Regardless, the death of a loved one is never really something a person is truly prepared for. This was obviously a somber note in an otherwise lovely weekend. Granny Wanda will definitely be missed.

Gotta brag

Ok, people. This is a brag post. I'm not even gonna try to candy-coat it: my children are absolutely brilliant and completely amazing. Let's go youngest to oldest, shall we?

Clay is starting to speak in sentences. Clear, understandable, grammatically incorrect, adorable sentences. He can yammer on about almost anything. He has also recently starting pretending, and he has an imaginary friend named Jibba. And, he is learning (by listening to his older siblings practice their CC memory work) several conjugations of Latin noun endings, his favorite being Imperfect Tense.

Max is doing a great job in all his school subjects, and he knows most of the first six weeks worth of CC memory work (which includes skip counting through the 12s, European geography, Latin conjugations, different types of pronouns, 42 timeline cards, Science (Ecology) facts and some Medieval History facts). He is using some of his free time to learn the U.S. presidents and to work on some inventions, because he hopes "to be a famous inventor, like Da Vinci, someday." And, today at CC, he really wanted to carry the soccer ball in from outside, but offered it to a younger child instead, without being prompted.

Weston is on track to finish his 3rd Grade Math book by the end of the semester (even though he's just in 2nd Grade). He is reading really long chapter books, like Hardy Boys, in just a day or two. And, he has the CC memory work down pat. Today, he was also nominated as one of CC's kids of the week, for his "willingness to work with a cheerful heart and his enthusiasm for the material." This was his second time to be nominated this semester!

Ruth is excelling in her CC Challenge class and is ahead in most subjects. We are having to come up with new challenges for her, and, better yet, she is coming up with some for herself. Having finished the Challenge writing assignment early, she came up with her own assignment today, which was a very logically and clearly written critique of a non-fiction book she is reading for Challenge. It was clear she had given it a great deal of thought and that it was a subject she was fairly passionate about. And, for music class today, she finished composing a waltz she has been working on. She did this, not while sitting at her keyboard experimenting with different sounds, but while sitting in the silence of the library. She said she just heard the music in her head and knew which notes would make it sound right. She couldn't wait to get home to play it for Jeff and me. And, I'd be lying if I told you my jaw didn't drop. I'm still completely in awe! She calls it "The Waltz Fantasy," and I may be biased, but I think it's absolutely beautiful!

Jeff and I are so very proud of all our kids! They constantly amaze us, and we feel so blessed to be here everyday to watch them learn and grow and discover! They have so much to teach us and we are trying to pay close attention so we don't miss anything.

Weekend Pics

Serving for the Apache

Playing a duet with Nana

Sporting their Sunday best

Indulging in a cupcake at First Sunday potluck