"Tis the Season

 When the kids were smaller, I made an advent calendar that I would put little things in each day (pencils, stickers, or a note about a planned activity). I decided to bring it back this year, and they've been having a lot of fun with it. The first day was [off-brand] Lego ornaments. It made my day to see them all drop what they were doing and immediately put them together. (Micah insists on not using directions. He's surprisingly accurate.)The past few days have been games from this kit. I wasn't sure we would like it, but it was on sale for only $10, so I gave it a try. It's been worth every penny! The first game we did involved playing a Christmas song on a kazoo for other people to guess. Hannah was hilariously entertaining, and she and Matthew have been playing with the kazoos ever since. Last night was telling Christmas jokes and trying not to laugh. Hannah failed miserably. Micah and I tied for the win.

We had our annual Christmas party and white elephant Yankee swap. Micah is just outside of the frame of this picture, and Kayla was at work. 

Ashlynn (2), Hannah (13), McKinley (8), Matthew (10), Aaron (13), Colton (13), Jackson (13), Ally (15), Sydney (15), and Carter (16)

Hannah and Matthew decorated gingerbread houses. (Well, one house and one barn.) Micah might do his after finals are done. 

We decorated Christmas cookies with Fae and Elle. Hannah and Fae took a great deal of creative license in the "Christmas" theme, as evidenced by the "Christmas strawberries" (made from an acorn cookie cutter), "Christmas snowman ninja holding a slushy", and more. 

the normal ("boring") ones were made by me

Just like last year, Matthew and Hannah both had Christmas concerts on the same night and time. I went to the afternoon performance of Matthew's, then went to Hannah's in the evening while Scott and Micah went to Matthew's. 

video of the whole school singing

Hannah was front and center for the seventh grade band

video of the seventh grade band

video of the whole middle school band

Matthew is really enjoying basketball. Both his rec team and his travel team have shown a lot of improvement. Matthew's travel coaches have told us that he's a great teammate and a hard worker. They love how coachable he is - they can tell him something, and he'll immediately implement it.

Three of their last four games have been against the top two teams in the league. One of Matthew's best friends from school and two of his buddies from his old soccer team all play on the Stow team. I think getting to play against friends made losing a little easier to take. 

The Kent team has four very big boys on it. Matthew has learned a lot since the first time we played them. He used his body as much as possible to keep his player from getting the ball. Number 34 was getting pretty frustrated, so I'd say he was successful. 

Micah has been doing a lot of driving!

Goofy Sadie loves to snuggle (especially with me). She finds creative ways to fit on my lap. 

The Rest of November

 One of our favorite nights of the year is the silent auction to support First Glance, a Christian youth center in the Kenmore neighborhood of Akron.

I don't love this picture of myself, but I do love these people!

Micah and teammates went to Columbus to cheer on the girls team and two individual boys who qualified to states. The girls finished an impressive 4th place, and the boys were "All-Ohio". 

At their sports banquet, Micah received a scholar athlete award and lettered again.

Hannah and I took Fae shopping for her birthday. (Her birthday was months ago, but we had to get through fall sports before we had a free weekend.)

one of the lunch moms sent me this one

Matthew got to take a behind-the-scenes tour of a bowling alley for Fantastic Friday

That same session, I got to lead my favorite Fantastic Friday group - gymnastics. I didn't remember to take pictures until the last minute, and they're all blurry. But we had a great time!

The slower pace of winter means we have time for things like making pancakes on the weekend.

Matthew is playing basketball this winter. He is on both a "rec" team and a "travel" team. Their travel uniforms didn't arrive in time for their first game, hence the masking tape on his jersey.

Here are a couple of videos of Matthew getting points in a rec game. 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ixxhQH85z19h1KHq5

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dnrjxXBZ4Vpu8qJZ6

Matthew reading to Baby K

all the Chamberlins came to Ohio for Thanksgiving

Hannah and I took our pretty-much-annual trip to the ballet to see her friends perform.

McKinley hung out with me one day. We braved the cold to take Sadie for a walk.

Scott had the privilege of giving the sermon at church on Sunday to begin Advent. If you'd like to hear his message, you can find it here: https://www.thechapel.life/sermons/a-living-hope

Trick-or-Treat

Matthew's double-decker creation

At first Micah wasn't going to trick-or-treat. But then Oysters were coming over, so he said he would to keep Jackson company. Then some of his school friends said they were, too (including Lily, who brought the cookie monster outfit for him to wear). Then Carter came over after work, so we pulled an old pumpkin costume out of the basement. 😄

Micah and the Oysters

the teenagers (and McKinley)

Logan and Micah with their 3rd grade teacher

At first Matthew's friend Luke was going to come to our house to trick-or-treat. Then another school friend who lives in Tallmadge invited friends over, so Matthew and Luke joined them. Matthew was "Mr. Moneybags" (the Monopoly guy). 

Hannah made plans with friends to have coordinated "Winnie the Pooh" costumes. She was Eeyore. 

So, in the end, I walked around with Meghan, McKinley, and Baby K. Then Elle and Fae joined us for a while. It was a beautiful night and fun to see all the neighbors!

Baby K was a mouse for trick-or-treat...

...and a pumpkin earlier in the day, just for fun.

Our other fun Halloween event was our church's 2nd annual "Harvest Blast". Scott, Hannah, and Matthew did all the planning to create a Monopoly-themed trunk for trunk-or-treat. Like last year, we had a huge turn-out from the community. Scott estimated that he passed out close to a thousand pieces of candy!!

Micah and I did not attend Harvest Blast because we were at his regional cross country meet. His race was not as great as the week before at districts. He had a slower start, then wiped out going around a turn. He still ran a very impressive race, but just not quite what he was hoping for. The boys team made a valiant effort, but were not fast enough to qualify for states as a team. Their top two runners qualified as individuals, though.

The big excitement of the day was the girls team! They looked absolutely amazing, and ended up taking second place! (To put in perspective how difficult our region is, I believe Tallmadge's boys and girls teams have only qualified for states once each in the past 30+ years.) Everyone was ecstatic for the girls and excited to see how they do in Columbus next weekend. 

Most importantly, Sarah remembered to take our annual picture of Micah and Ally.

Earlier in the day, Matthew's team won the silver bracket of their championship! Matthew had some great plays, including causing the other team to fumble, then recovering the fumble for his team. It was a great finish to the season!

Matthew is on the far right