Fall Festivities

Our Fall was full of activities and memories with friends. Our neighborhood gang got together for a Fall party the day after Halloween. The Breedens hosted, and it was such a wonderful evening, with perfect weather, Fall food, and sweet fellowship. 

The kids all played volleyball and football in the backyard before dinner. 

Elena even convinced the moms to join in on the volleyball game. Elisabeth said her favorite part of the whole night was playing volleyball against the moms. 

Desiree planned a whole caramel apple dipping activity. The kids were thrilled. 

The kids sure enjoyed spending the evening together. The adults did too. 

After it got dark, we watched The Wild Robot outside on the projector. It was the perfect Fall night. I will never take for granted the blessings of such solid, Godly friendships with dear people who live in our neighborhood. It is an answer to prayer. 

This Fall brought with it a Presidential Election. Nathan was ready to watch the election night coverage. He pulled out the projector and everything to watch the Electoral College map. I made him go to bed before they called the election, but teenagers are pretty awesome to experience adult things with. 

Every year our church has a First Grade Bible presentation, and this year it was Katherine's turn. She was so excited to receive her Bible. She had already purchased a Bible case for it before she received it. 

We are praying she will hide God's Word in her heart and follow the Bible all the days of her life. 

The same day of Katherine's Bible presentation, the boys were in Kansas City ready to cheer on the Chiefs. 

They picked a thrilling game to attend. I was sure the Chiefs were going to lose, but they pulled out some field goal blocking magic to win it! This is the third season that they've attended a Chief's game. The last two years the Chiefs had lost the games they watched, so I was relieved and happy for them to get to see a Win at the Chiefs stadium. 

We pulled out our Fall decor, and this little Thanksgiving ceramics set that Granny made it one of my all time favorite things. I love that the girls help me set it up now. I hope they love it as much as I do. 

Katherine helped decorate our traditional turkey cupcakes for the CHEER Friendsgiving. 

These two had a great time at the party. I can't believe this was the only picture I took that day. It was such a fun celebration with friends. 

This winter we will be cheering on the NOAH Jaguars as Elisabeth is playing in their basketball program for the first time. Of course Katherine and I needed some matching merch to cheer on our favorite player. 

The girls' regular season doesn't start until January, but they had a scrimmage in November with an OKC homeschool team. They struggled but never gave up. Elisabeth played hard, and I'm expecting significant improvement before their first regular season game. 

We love our number 42!

Our co-op group hosted a book fair again this Fall, and the kids and I helped organize and sort the books one afternoon. 

These kids were in heaven looking at all the awesome books. 

While the boys were at robotics one evening, I took Katherine across the street to a fun little coffee shop for a treat. She sure is fun to spend time with. 

Erica and I are coteaching an Elections and Government class at co-op, and we organized a mock election as part of the class. We divided the class into three parties and assigned roles- president, vice president, campaign manager, and media specialist. The kids worked hard designing posters and newspaper ads and preparing speeches. 

Samuel was a media specialist for the Defenders party. He created a pretty cool poster. 

Elisabeth ran as the presidential candidate for the Soarian party. She prepared a five-minute speech to give in front of all of co-op before the election. 

The kids gave their speeches in class as a way to prepare. Their issues were a cookie to serve at co-op and a group game to play at the end of the year picnic. 

Elisabeth did an awesome job writing her speech. 

She was the youngest candidate and spoke so confidently. 

It's easy to teach with such a great group of students. They all worked very hard in our mock election.

The next week was our election. Jyl initially had the vision for the class. She's teaching an elementary elections and government class, and we all brainstormed together how to pull off an election. I'm so thankful for her vision, because it all worked out so well, and the kids learned a lot about the voting process. 

Along with voting for president and vice president, the kids also got to vote on a cupcake or popsicle to be given out before Spring Break. That was our "state question."

It was an exciting day. Elisabeth didn't win, but she learned and gained some great skills. Proud of her and for Samuel's hard work for his party. 

One of the moms in our homeschool group hosted a capture the flag game for some of the older elementary kids. Katherine tagged along to play with some of the younger siblings but was happy to step in and play when there was a shortage of kids for one team. She lived her best life that day and kept up with the big kids just fine. 

Samuel asked to cook dinner one night. He didn't have to ask me twice! He cooked a delicious pepperoni spaghetti. Yum! Thankful for him and his service to our family. 

Nathan and Samuel attended a craft day and made these adorable snowman wreaths. Such a fun afternoon for those boys.