Baking w/ Grandma

Grandma Anderson took a day off of work to come over and bake with us. Maddie wore her chef hat (we couldn't find her apron) and was a wonderful help before she had to go to school.































The boys got a chance to decorate a couple of cookies when they got home from school.










Izzy almost fell asleep eating.

Gingerbread Houses @ Shover

The Annual Gingerbread House making at Shover lived up to it's tradition of adorable houses and kids snitching lots of their candy decorations to eat.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Trav and I went and got our Christmas tree on a snowing Saturday morning. Finally on Monday the kids were able to decorate it. They had a blast and I only had to rearrange a few ornaments that had been clustered together. Our tree is significantly smaller than usual, so it is absolutely packed with ornaments.

Fun, Fun, Fun Times

Miss Maddie got her ears pierced while we were there. She was really brave. She had a couple of tears after but no sound came out.















Jonah, Maddie and Izzy gave us a little concert full of songs and dance.












Zach and Jeremy played a game of Monopoly.














Trav ended up on the bottom of the monkey pile. Surprise, surprise!










Crazy Kiddos!

Kiddo Craft Time

Trav and I were quite often the supervisors of all 6 kids as Beth and Charles worked. We let the kids go wild with a tote of craft supplies and then we had to vacuum when all was done. It did keep them occupied for a very long time so all was well.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Our beautiful table with all the fixins!

Road Trippin' to Crystal Lake

We went to my sister's house for 8 days the week of Thanksgiving. Here we are getting ready and on the road. 10 hrs. there, 12 hours back!


Zach got a black eye right before we left in a scuffle on the bus.















































The Chaos!

Halloween

Okay, I know it's ridiculous that I haven't posted Halloween pics yet, but here they are. This is a picture of Justin as in the later pic you can't see him as he's dressed all in black. He started the day as a magician but decided to be a robber instead. I wasn't in the mood for an argument. We went to Bethel church for pizza, games and Trunk-or-Treating. Izzy is paired up with her friend Malachi and Maddie with Adi. Better mention Zach, he was a mummy.

Olivia

Livi (or Ole as our kids call her) had her echo and it showed no signs of any problems. Not sure if they were just seeing how first parents would handle stress for a week, but praise to God for giving us this healthy baby.

Good Outlook

Livi had her echo Friday and although they don't get the offical report until Wednesday, the tech told Steph not to loose sleep over it. It was a huge sigh of relief for them and us. More and more we are hearing about others who have heart murmurs so that makes us have a sense of calm about the whole thing, especially now that she's had her echo. Thanks for all your prayers.

More Info

From what we'ver heard, up to 75% of people have heart murmurs. Brad and Steph are not seeing it as something to stress about until the tests would indicate that there is something wrong. She has the echo-cardiogram on Friday.

God's Precious Gift

Please be praying for my brother Brad, his wife Steph and their 2 month old baby girl, Olivia. Yesterday she had a check up and they detected a heart murmur. She will have an eco-cardiogram next week. I will update our blog with the results.

Shover Halloween Fun

Izzy and I went to Maddie's school to help with their Halloween party. I went as an Applebee's server, complete with balloons and kids cups. I know, I'm super creative. Izzy and her buddy Malachi checked out the computers. What a cute bunch of kids.

Olivia's Baptism

We helped celebrate Olivia's baptism last Sunday. She shared her special day with her cousin, Gavin. Steph's sister Amber and her husband Seth had a little boy just a couple of weeks after Olivia was born.

4th Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

We hosted our annual pumpkin carving party on Sunday, Oct. 28th. Staying with tradition, after carving and much playing outside (don't forget football) we huddled inside, washed hands in warm water and enjoyed chili and many other goodies. We tied with last year's number of 35 people in attendance. Can we top that next year?

The Newest Addition to Our Family

This is Miss Molly. She joined our family over a month ago from the Humane Society. She has grown so much. Her and Hulk play so good together and they get their puppy energy out as Hulk is only 11 months himself, but HUGE!