Baby Evan

Yay for a new baby cousin! The girls were making up songs for him and dancing all over in excitement. It's definitely pretty awesome and we are so excited to have a new family member!

He loves the Broncos blanket that Audra made for him;)

Tuesday Night Lights

For Audra's final game we had to drive out to Timbuktu. It was the third time the game was rescheduled, and I hoped it would be canceled, but it was  not.

It was at a field with lights- something new for her, so that was fun.

Unfortunately, even though I told her she needed to win to make the drive worth it, they did not win.

But, it was still a great season.

Because her teams kept disbanding and her teams were always terrible, we decided to try a new league called "Rec-Plus." It is still non competitive with no try-outs or tournaments, but they are a step above recreation. They have a paid coach at one practice a week. Admittedly, I wasn't very impressed with the paid coach. At least at the practice I saw, all they did was play various types of tag- they never touched the ball. But, at least they didn't lose every game, and the games they lost were all very close (except the last one in Timbuktu where it was a total blow-out). So, it was a much better season than in years past.

Sadly, even though this team ha been together for several years, I don't know if they will stick together next year again or not. I feel like we have finally found the right league for her, so I'm hoping she can stay on it. Time will tell.

At least the harvest moon was beautiful- the picture obviously does not do it justice.

Thanksgiving Tree

The Thanksgiving Tree has become quite the annual tradition- one we really enjoy. Claire made the tree this year ("it's tradition" as she would say). It's nice as they get older and come up with more insightful things to be grateful for- it is really sweet to see what they have to say.

Here's some of my favorites:

-DCSD Security guards (Audra)
-Disneyland memories (Ben)
-Hanging upside down (Claire)
-Books to open my mind (Claire)
-Jazz band (Audra)
-Eternal families (Camille)
-Cousins at Bear Lake (me)
-The ocean (me)
-Friends who help me when I need it (Claire)
-Joy and hope (Camille)
-Napkins (Camille- this was fitting. She uses A LOT of napkins! I have to buy a lot of napkins for her!)

The Season That Never Ends...

The soccer season that never ends (thanks to bad weather and the continued cancellation of games) finally ended for Claire.

She had to switch to a new team this year. She was on a great team that had stuck together for a number of years- we loved the team. But, the coach and his wife divorced, and that disbanded the team as well. If only they had stayed together for the team!

At any rate, this year she joined the Mermaids. Her first comment when she  found out was, "We always beat them." Sure enough, The Mermaids, despite their name, are not the fiercest team ever created. They tied their first game, won their final game, and lost every game in between.

But, they did have fun. The coach is great, and Claire did improve. At some point we will likely switch her up to the same league that Audra is playing in, which is a step above rec but still not competitive. Until then we will ride this team out and see what happens.

Space!

As always, time goes faster and faster and we are already over 1/3 of the way done with our school year.

We have been very eclectic this year! As I mentioned earlier, I am trying to be a little looser with our curriculum.

So, we are doing a Space unit. The girls have wanted to do a Space unit for a couple of years, and we simply never had time because of our very structured curriculum. I love a structured curriculum, but one of the best parts of homeschooling is our ability to learn things that we are excited about. So, this is the year where I am taking the plunge and trying to incorporate the kids' wishes. Hence, Space.

We have spent far longer on it than I thought we would, but we are having a lot of fun with it, so it's worth it. We have read lots of books (The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy is so far a bust, we may just switch to the movie instead), are working on a fun lapbook, visited a Planetarium, and made this really, really cool diorama. It's one of my favorite things the girls have made in all of our years of homeschooling:

We learned about the phases of the moon, courtesy of Oreo's. This was their favorite:

And so, we continue onward. There are good days and bad days, but overall things are going very, very well. We really do have a lot of fun together!

Denver Zoo

This week is full of co-ops! Normally I try to not do more than 1 co-op a week, but there were some great ones so we signed up.

Today was Free Day at the zoo, and we had a co-op that focused on classification. We hadn't been to the zoo in a couple of years, so it was great to go again. We had a great time! Even though it was super crowded when we got there at 1, by the time we left at 4 it was pretty empty.

Camille was super excited for the penguins.

Claire took this picture- and I think it turned out really cool:

Traffic was awful coming home, but we survived.

Then, for FHE tonight I thought I would do a cool experiment that Emily Freeman recommended in regards to Hebrews 4:2: "...not being mixed with faith in them that heard it," which refers to a group of Jews who had the gospel preached to them, but because they lacked faith the gospel didn't mean anything to them and had no affect on their lives. The idea was to make caramel corn. When we added baking soda, or faith, to the caramel, it was supposed to expand and explode in the pan to show what we become when we add faith to the gospel.

Let's just say the result were...underwhelming to say the least. It didn't expand at all and was quite disappointing.

Trunk or Treat

We couldn't get the building until tonight, so we had our Trunk or Treat the day after Halloween. Somehow, I am on every committee for every activity, so I was part of the committee for this activity. I put together our flyers:

I decided to actually try for our car this year. Normally I just throw some of our decorations in the back and call it good. But, my friend did this idea and it was pretty easy and cute. Plus, the girls got really excited and into it:

Our numbers were down from last year, presumably because of the day. It's a bummer, because it really was great. The owners of our favorite, though now closed, restaurant Piere Michele made the dinner- three different types of soup (pumpkin, French Onion, and Ministrone), and mac and cheese- not Kraft, the actual good stuff with real cream and good cheeses. They even made a gluten free pan for people like me who can't eat gluten!

It was a great night. And, now Halloween is officially over. Hallelujah!

We brought Audra's friends Brooke and Sarah with us:

Ben and Camille came late because of Camille's basketball practice, and when they got there we pretty much never saw our kids again because they were off having fun.