Sunday, December 24, 2017

Fall 2017

In late August, Hurricane Harvey swept through the Houston area and dumped a huge amount of rain (30-40 inches).  Vast swaths of the city were flooded, including part of our neighborhood. Many of our friends were flooded, some even having to be evacuated by boat.


We didn't have any problems at our home, so we were blessed to be able to help out others who weren't so fortunate.  Matt spent many days "mucking out" people's homes. The flood waters were incredibly foul, and everything that got soaked needed to be thrown away. Homes had to be torn out down to the studs. The smells were awful. Everything had to be piled in the front yards waiting for weeks to get picked up. Instead of driving down a street lined with neatly kept houses and yards, you would be driving down a street lined on either side by huge piles of garbage.  I couldn't even bring myself to take pictures it was so sad. The amount of devastation was really shocking; it was like living a bad dream.  Even worse for people who actually got flooded!


Our good friends, the Litherlands, were one of those families. We loved having them stay with us off and on this fall as they have cleaned out and rebuilt their home. 


Because of the flooding, our Homeschool Co-op had to cancel the first six-week session (because our building got flooded) and our second session was held at a park. We spent a lot of time outdoors....

which we all loved!







This little man is now a big four-year-old. We had birthday cupcakes at Nana's house.


Aunt Sarah and Uncle Ben were even in town to help celebrate! 
(They were here for the weekend to help muck out houses. )


We also went to the Space Center for the last time before our membership expired. We love that place!


In October, we headed to the "Oil Ranch" for a field trip. They have so many activities! And it was so fun!



Riding horses...



Milking cows...


Petting goats....


Riding the train...



Swinging...(I know the picture looks like she isn't enjoying it, but she didn't want to get off this thing!)


Feeding cows on the hay ride...



Picking out pumpkins...



Sadie's birthday was next, with a costume party.



The kids got to decorate their own "monster cakes."


I made a "monster melon" for it too. --I thought he turned out pretty cute.


We also took a trip to the zoo to help celebrate.



This beautiful girl also got to be baptized. --I can't believe my little girl is growing up so fast!

In November, we were able to make it to "School Days" at the Renaissance Festival. There were lots of really cool demonstrations


like a replica of the Gutenberg printing press,


spinning and weaving,


and of course, armor!


Other cute pictures:

Annie still has to have Lovey and Foxy wherever she goes.



Sadie started piano lessons.

Ada's haunted castle.

Michael's castle. (We're studying the middle ages in school right now.)





Monday, December 4, 2017

Family Pictures

I had a friend take family pictures earlier this year. It proved much more difficult this year to get a decent picture of the whole family. --Trying to get seven people all smiling in the same direction at the same time is quite a challenge, even without one certain unnamed nine-year-old who is determined to make silly faces and/or put bunny ears on someone else in every single photo.  So, here is the best we could get:



Joseph proved the most photogenic one of the whole family.