Merry Christmas 2013

Yesterday evening we returned home from a special Christmas in Texas that we shared with the Royces, and part of the Hanschen family too. Jered's mom and brother Ian flew down to Corpus Christi to share Christmas with my family this year. We made lots of good memories, and the kids were so excited to see everyone. We had a short trip this year, less than a week, but it was very full of activity. We had Christmas at our home in Virginia the weekend before our trip to Texas. The kids enjoyed telling everyone, including the pastor at children's church, that they had TWO Christmases!

That Christmas Sunday in Texas was one of the highlights of our trip for me. We went to the church my parents have been attending by their new house. Our kids kept the congregation entertained by candidly answering the pastor's questions about traveling, and then made us cry when he asked, "Why would Jesus come to earth?" Emma answered "Because he loves us!" - nice and loud for all the church to hear. Who could think of a better Christmas gift than to hear your children share the love of God with any who will listen? Amen, Emma! He does indeed love us!

Family Christmas Pictures

We did our family Christmas pictures yesterday morning. Homemade as usual. We thought about getting them done this year, but we ran out of time and money, so we did them ourselves. Got some cute shots, and once again family picture on the first try - yay! That's such a blessing with 2 little ones wiggling around.

Thanksgiving 2013

We had the pleasure of having Jered's mom (aka Grammy) and brother (Uncle Ian) at our house for Thanksgiving. The kids were so happy to see their Grammy and uncle. Ian was sick almost the whole time he was here in Virginia, but we were so happy to see him anyway (poor guy!). We had time to see Jered at work, eat lunch with Will at school, visit Emma's library, have a girls' shopping day, and a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. We also put up the tree and other Christmas decorations with Grammy the day after Thanksgiving. Grammy's birthday was December 1, so we were able to celebrate together. This Friday, December 5 after Ian flew out, we went to Will's school for "Cookies and Cocoa with Santa" - their school Christmas festival. It was very well done, with lots of crafts to make, cocoa and cookies, take home coloring books, a gift shop for the kids to buy family presents for $1, and a chance to get a picture with Santa. The kids had a blast with (Emma quote) "that Christmas man at Will's school." They each got a candy cane, and this morning Emma told us she "wants to buy another candy for her mouth," so I guess candy canes are on her Christmas wish list! Jered's Christmas leave was approved, so we are gearing up for our Texas road trip in about 10 days. It's been a busy holiday season!

Happy Halloween!

We just experienced our first Halloween in Virginia Beach. We had so much fun with the kids' fall activities. Last Thursday Emma's ballet and tap classes had a little Halloween recital in their costumes, which was adorable. The next day Will's school had a very fun fall carnival. They set up different games in the classrooms, passed out candy in the hallways, had crafts for sale, fair food, and Emma even won a cute pumpkin cake in the cake walk. Will's class had a party today, which we made cupcakes for, and tonight we took the kids around the neighborhood before the Trunk or Treat at church. Our housing community has a requirement of at least 2 children per household in order to live here - so there were LOTS of kids! Throngs and throngs of kids. We gave away 5 bags of candy, plus all the candy our kids had collected when they went trick or treating. Virginia Beach has an under 12 yrs old, lights out at 8pm rule for trick or treating, so that was nice too. We never got to trick or treat in the neighborhood we lived in the last 3 years. The first year we tried it, not one single person answered their door! So we usually went to a friend's neighborhood or our old neighborhood in San Diego. The kids had fun at the Trunk or Treat too - Jered took them while I stayed home and passed out candy. I'm so glad the children had fun and it was a great way to go around and meet all of our new neighbors.
It's been a beautiful fall season here. The trees are all sorts of lovely shades, the air is cool, but not too cold, and we love to see the leaves blowing in the wind. Until we got sick last week, the kids and I have enjoyed biking 1-3 miles almost every day around our neighborhood. The kids are better enough now to want to play outside, but my voice is still gone and I have a terrible cough. We hope to be back enjoying the outdoors again soon!
Jered had the opportunity this month to go on a men's retreat with our first church up in Washington DC. They went to Ocean City, MD, for a few days. He loved catching up with old friends and worshipping with them again. The only thing wrong with this is that he has now been up to see our friends and family up there twice, and the kids and I still haven't been able to go! Hopefully soon we can coordinate a school break with a short trip up there. It's so great to see people we thought we might never see again on this earth. Will had basketball try outs for Upward Basketball this month. They start practice in December and have games until March. Jered is going to be a coach for Will's team. They are excited to play together. It's a great program because they get the "official" feeling - uniforms, games, regular practices with 300 kids - but it's a Christian program that has team devotionals and facilitates team work and kindness above competition. Hopefully that's what Will gets out of it!

Week of Firsts

This week was Will's first at his new school, Shelton Park. The first day of school, Tuesday, was also his first time riding the school bus. Last year we lived too close to the school to qualify for the bus. He loves riding the bus, and the bus stop is right in front of our house! That is especially good because Will has never been an early bird and the bus comes at 7:40. Normally he doesn't wake up until after 8, so it's been early bedtime for him this week, and naps after school! He has been enjoying first grade. His favorite things to talk about are: music class, art class, PE, the playground, and his math work book. He has had nightly homework, but nowhere near as much as he did in California. Of course, it's only the first week, but I'm hoping they are not as homework crazy here!

Today was Emma's first dance class at her new studio, Encore Dance Center. It is within a mile of our house, so very convenient, with a good reputation in Hampton Roads. They do a big recital with costumes at the end of the spring semester, so that will be fun. Her class is a combined ballet/tap (30 minutes of each) for 3-4 year olds. I was happy to see that they use proper names for the ballet steps and did a lot of the same exercises she already learned. She was so happy there at her old studio, I'm glad this class is not too much different. Except for the tapping - which she thinks is great!

 Tonight was also supposed to be back to Awanas for Will and Emma's first night at Cubbies, but the church at which we were planning to attend didn't work out for us. We will try another nearby church for Awanas next Wednesday. I hope it works because both kids were so excited (and disappointed). We managed to salvage the evening anyway by playing at the neighborhood park before bed. Other firsts recently were getting into our new doctor (not so great - but so near to the house), and meeting 1 of Emma's new specialists, the pediatric orthopedist. She was great. We also decided to join our neighborhood church, Bayside Baptist, that we've been attending since July. It's a great place, and we're so glad to have found a church home so quickly, and so close to our house.