Additional snow fun

Southerners are still amazed with snow. Here's some afternoon video after 7 inches fell last night.

Christmas concert

Four of our boys participated in the West Michigan Homeschool Fine Arts Christmas concert. Philip played the cello, Sam played the trumpet, Andrew & Peter played recorders and sang in the choir.

Sledding video

We had a little more snow last night. Behind our house, there's one small hill which is handy for sledding. For our younger 6 boys, this is their first real snow.

Shoveling Slush

Sledding

The forecast today called for some "wintry" weather. Sure enough the snow started falling last this afternoon......




It wasn't long before it was beginning to accumulate and the boys were anxious for it to be enough to go sledding. Unfortunately for them, about the time it reached that point we had a dinner meeting and they were sequestered in the downstairs den. Finally, about 10:00 everyone was gone and we released them. We even woke Sam up so he could get in on the fun!

Joshua


Philip



Paul


Samuel


*Note to cousins Kate and Seth: Thanks for the sleds!!!

Christmas Tree

It violates all Mom's sense of tradition, but we got our Christmas tree yesterday! Tradition says we do it on the first Saturday of December, but if we did that this year (and I suppose every year forward!!), Abby wouldn't be with us. So, we joined the ranks of those who put up trees at Thanksgiving. It's painful for Mom, but Abby's more than worth it!! :)

Abby and the little brothers

We are enjoying having Abby home so much!! She's such a joy! She and the little guys had a photo session and the pictures are too great not to share!!!

Andrew, David, and Abby

Andrew, Daniel, Peter (back left), and David (back right) Notice Daniel's pajama outfit....he's quite the fashion king!

Philip (12) with Abby




How sweet - Peter loves his big sister!!

Our Thanksgiving Eve....

We're spending a quiet (well, not exactly quiet) evening at home! Joshua's girlfriend, Carly, came for dinner and to meet Abby and now everyone's hanging around the living room playing games, playing with cameras etc.

Dad and Abby officially opened the Christmas season (24 hours early by Mom's standards!!!) by singing a duet of "White Christmas" inspired by our tonight's forecast of a couple of inches of snow.




Joshua and Carly


Peter finally lost the second front tooth!


Philip declared that our dog Buddy deserves a spot on the blog, too.


We're looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow with Mark and Sherry and their family!

Just Tuesday

Daniel is crazy about anything with wheels and engines. He LOVES to play with this train set. It's a battery hog and a set of batteries never last for more than a day or so. Every once in awhile I make his day by getting him a new set of batteries! Today was one of those days! :)




Sam and Andrew are trying to get the leaves up before the snow falls!

Peter lost his front tooth!

The second is sure to come out any day now.....just in time for him to sing: "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth....."!!

Not exactly snow......

But this sleet was our first taste of wintry weather. I think there's likely to be just a bit more over the next few months!! :)

Bama vs LSU and Jordan's birthday

We're enjoying living so close to Beth's brother Mark and his family. Since his wife Sherry is an LSU alum and big fan, we had fun watching the game together. During halftime we celebrated cousin Jordan's 10th birthday.



Philip and Sam watching Aunt Sherry light the candles.


Yeah! We managed to surprise her!! :)

Frosty mornings call for mittens!

The little guys are excited about getting to use their new mittens (they have lots thanks in part to the Michigan cousins -Kate and Seth - who moved to Alabama!! :) but Mom's wondering how we're going to keep up with them all!!!

If the forecast holds, we'll be seeing more than just frost by tomorrow morning!!

Time for cozy evenings by the fire....

....but first you have to bring in and stack up the wood:


then you all gather around to "help" Dad light the fire!

Zoo Trip

I can't believe I forgot to post these last week! We enjoyed an afternoon at the zoo on Tuesday of last week. The weather was perfect - upper 60's and no wind - and we pretty much had the place to ourselves! We're thinking it'll be interesting to go back in the snow this winter!

Our cuties in costume....

Peter the Pirate



Andrew - "Moses", Sam "Secret Service Agent", Peter
David - "Clown", Daniel - "Woody"


Daniel


David