The day after we set up our Christmas tree we headed out for a date. We needed some time away after the hectic month and especially the fall retreat. Cheap food with a coupon at Qdoba was just the ticket.
We went to JCPenney and got Terry his annual new pairs of jeans for Christmas. Once again I found an awful metallic piece of outerwear...
...just like last year! So not as bad as last year but still had to take a picture.
The following week our ice maker, which had been broken for well over a year, randomly started leaking water. I discovered it when I was at the kitchen sink, heard a strange noise, turned around and saw water pouring out the bottom of the fridge.
Suddenly our evening revolved around getting that fixed. Terry couldn't get the water turned off (it appeared the water handle was broken or something) and so he went out to get a new cap. However the cap didn't fit. Terry again pulled and pulled on the water faucet until he nearly broke it, but it turned off. Very strange but such is home ownership.
Trying to get through school that week.
That final weekend of November brought a special outing to Pottery to Paint with a group of homeschoolers. We hadn't done this since maybe 2012 or 2013 and it was such fun.
Amanda and her crew joined us much to the kids' delight. Noah and Moses, the patriarchs...sort of.
Evie and Abigail.
The littles.
I had to prod them over and over to keep painting and embellishing since they seemed to think one simple coat of paint was enough...
...and they turned out so great!
Afterwards we ran a few errands and thought this game at Target was funny...
...since we had just seen this hilarious joke on Facebook. 😆 Terry printed it off and hung it on his office wall along with the rest of his jokes. When we got home Terry started playing Oregon Trail on his computer with the kids. I couldn't stop reciting this joke. "You just died from dissin' Terry." Still makes me smile. 😂
On December 1st the kids had their Christmas piano recital.
Zooming into Evie.
She did great, although she didn't think so. The "piano" sounded more like a horrifically tuned harpsichord and she thought she had done bad. She cried buckets when we got home. However, the piano was just really bad. It wasn't her fault.
Her performance.
Noah followed my advice and played on the keyboard. It sounded better but not great. He played very well though.
And Noah's performance.
The following week, the start of December, Samuel had to write a letter for Grammar.
He opted to write it to his cousin Theo who would be coming for Christmas.
By the time he gets to Grammar everyday he's pretty ready to be done so he wasn't excited to read for me, but here it is. I sent it to Ana and Theo once they got the letter in the mail.
The next day we went to Paige and Zach's baby shower and they played this hilarious balloon belly game. Zach putting on shoes while "pregnant" is extremely accurate.
Just a puppy with a kitty and some other kitties on her shoulder.
