Thanksgiving Week

While we try to remember to talk about how grateful we for the many ways God has blessed us throughout the year, this month we've been really focusing on the things for which we are especially thankful. We made a turkey and wrote things that we're thankful for on feathers to attach to our bird. Anna's favorite thing to be thankful for is bunnies!
We did a lot of food prep yesterday and then spent the evening with my sisters and their families. It was a pretty low key evening, so we could really enjoy visiting. The kids have such a blast together.

Anna was very excited to help us out with the food preparation yesterday. She loves to crack eggs (or at least help and watch), make bread with Papi, stir things in bowls, and get apples ready, and do some tasting (and smelling--she is really into smelling things lately). She's a pretty good little helper.


We were very excited to have guests over and do a lot of the dinner cooking. Matt did the turkey on the grill (California style!) It was quite an experience doing it in our cold weather with a little snow on the ground!
The turkey turned out fabulously and tasted great! Anna was a little apprehensive. She sat for the picture, but didn't like it much. When we asked her to smile she said, "I'm a little afraid of that." (She didn't eat any of the turkey--or too much of anything else on the table.)
We head to Matt's cousins with the extended family on Saturday for another celebration.

A Banner Day!

What a banner day for all of us! Matt and I were especially excited to see the FedEx man deliver the check from our house sale! Yippee!!!
Anna is having so much fun having her Papi home so much during this break. They are getting a lot of playing, running, laughing, and snuggling in these days. She was also pretty excited to see snow today. We got about 3 inches--just enough to have to shovel the driveway, build a small snowman, eat some snow, and get a ride in the sled! What a great day!

Yahoo!!

Tonight we celebrated! Our house in Ripon is sold, escrow has closed and the check is in the mail! We are no longer California landowners! It's been a long, draining haul, but God is good and we are certainly thankful. As much as we miss Ripon, our friends, church, and the house that Matt built; it's been difficult having a mortgage while living in a different state and with no income. We began the adventures of 21426 S. Olive Ave at the Outback Steakhouse with our friends Bryan, Cindy, Courtney, and Caleb and decided to celebrate the ending of that adventure there as well (though we really missed doing it with our friends). Here's a goofy picture to remember the event!

Another Day at the Garden

Since Matt's finished with exams for this quarter and has time off before winter quarter starts, we headed over to Meijer Garden today. It was quite cold today, but we had a lot of fun. They have their Christmas display up--including their train, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Anna had fun, too, in their children's activity area. It was great being able to spend some good family time together.

Celebrations and Crew

We have been doing a lot of celebrating this week! We signed papers on the sale of our house!!!!!(more on that later) on Thursday. Yesterday, Matt took his final exam for the on-line Hebrew class. (He's doing so well with the languages that this week he got offers from both the Hebrew prof and his Greek prof to be their TA next year. He's a Greek- and Hebrew-geek! And I'm very proud of him!) Earlier this week, Anna started pronouncing her "L" sounds--nice since her doll's name is Lily and now she actually says "Lily" instead of "Wiwy". Again, I'm very proud!
This afternoon, we went to see Calvin's Crew Team in action. Our friend, Hannah, is on the team and invited us. It was VERY cold and windy, but we had fun. It's something we've never done and we really enjoyed watching the races. (We did mention to Hannah, though, that maybe we'd like to see more races earlier in the season, rather than the last one.) Matt's got 2 more exams to go and then has the next week and a half off. We certainly have much for which to be thankful!

"Look, Mommy"

Anna and I took advantage of the beautiful weather we've been having and went to Meijer Garden this morning. This sculpture is right at the entrance off the Beltline. When Anna saw it, she said, "Look, Mommy! There's a 4." (Ok, so it's an upside down 4. I was still pretty proud.)

Trick or Treating

Our little bumble bee got to go trick or treating last night with a Ninja and a panda. Anna's cousins invited her to go trick or treating with them, so after supper we headed over to their neighborhood. What a cute bunch! (Oops, sorry Justin. I mean tough looking!)


I had told her what to expect for the night, but I wasn't sure if she was getting it. Well, I needn't have worried. After the first 2 houses, she had the hang of it. She even remembered to say "trick or treat" and "thank you".
Checking out the stash with Papi! We had a fun night!

A Big Pile of Leaves and 4 Legs

We had such a gorgeous day yesterday, that we just had to be outside! It was a good day to get some yard work done, too.
Anna and Troy had so much fun playing in the leaves I was trying to rake in the front yard. After the pile was huge, they ran over to it and jumped in! All I could see was legs.

Then it was on to more fun!