November

 We started the month with a trip to the African American History and Culture Museum.  Such a beautiful museum that we were grateful to visit.

Aunt Vallerie is the best at crafting, and the girls love getting to create with her!  It's even better when Vallerie generously lets them include their friends =)

Gretchen participated in a "marshmallow catapult" competition with her class at our homeschool tutorial.  Of course, we turned to Uncle Steve for construction help =)  She didn't win, but she didn't come in last, so we called that a success!

Not sure what's happening here, but aren't they cute?!

Rooke and his buddy are on the same basketball team.  They cheer for different NBA teams, who happened to be playing each other on the friend's birthday, which made for a fun hangout night for these two!

Ryan scheduled seasonal shots for the whole family.  We had mixed feelings about the appointments, but had fun together nonetheless 

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Steve and Vallerie hosted this year.  We were grateful to share the table with family and our friend from church.  It was a very relaxing day, full of feasting and good fellowship.  

Day after Thanksgiving tradition: cinnamon roll waffles for breakfast, watch Elf, put up the Christmas tree and decorations!!

October

Our church set up a table at the Cheverly Day market and handed out bags of popcorn - it was a popular place for the kids to visit!

 

Gretchen reached a milestone this month: first trip flying solo.  She had the awesome privilege of spending a long weekend with Kaye K, Big Daddy, and Evelynn in Oklahoma!  Her days were packed with a tea party, art museum, special outings, preparing yummy food, playing games, music, and being super silly.  It was a gift not only to Gretchen, but also for us to know she was having such a wonderful weekend with family.

Meanwhile, we went for a hike and brought home bushels of apples to celebrate the onset of Fall

I was making soup and needed carrots, only to realize I didn't have any in the fridge.  Then I remembered that we still had carrots to harvest in the garden!!  The dwarf carrot seeds were Bridgette's idea, so she grabbed a handful for me to use in our soup - delicious!

Our favorite leader celebrated his birthday this month - Happy 43rd to Ryan!

Ryan's parents planned to visit and were able to be here to celebrate with us.  It was special to have them here, and we're thankful for how flexible they are to go-with-the-flow when our days are mostly full of school work and extra-curricular activities.  Bridgette was able to get out and enjoy part of the Smithsonian art museum, the guys played disc golf (of course!) and we took time to enjoy good food and walking around DC.

These four beauties put on their 3rd annual Fall Feast for our families.  Grammy Deb and G-Daddy were able to come, also!

They are in charge of the menu

And the older girls take care of the entertainment portion with a reading of their novel.

The kids saying goodbye as they head out for their day at our homeschool tutorial.

Bridgette participated in an outdoor ensemble performance.  She did great, and her group was objectively one of the best performances.

Her cheering squad:

Fun with a new friend

Saturday morning snuggles

Our beautiful 7th grader heading off to a Harvest Hoedown dance

Nothing to see here . . . just a bunch of teen and tween girls and guys gathering for football, pizza, and hanging out.

Halloween party tradition!  

Alice in Wonderland and Gretchen was the Queen of Hearts . . . Bridgette was "spring" from the four seasons with her friends, and we had lots of friends and families come through for soup, drinks, and candy!

September

Mom and Dad drove home from Maine with us, and everyone would tell you that the 12 hour trip with our van full was not bad at all - praise God!

After one day of unpacking, doing laundry, and prepping food for the family, Mom and I flew to Nashville to attend the Sing! Conference together.  I was already looking forward to attending the conference on behalf of our church, but getting to be there with my mom was such a rich blessing.   

And if it wasn't already special to be with my mom, our dear friends whom I've known most of my life were attending the conference as well and we were able to sit together during the plenary sessions.  The four days of singing and learning while in the company of such wise people filled me to overflowing.

Meanwhile, Rooke flew with Big Daddy to Oklahoma for a few days.  He played with his cousins (or maybe more accurately they played with him!), spent time with Nana, ate tons of cereal, watched tons of sports, and - most importantly - attended the IIWTCFL fantasy football draft with my dad.  I've been told that their team, the Bullets, are looking good this year thanks to Rooke's role as Director of Analytics. =)

I came home from the conference and had a day to turn around and join women from my church for our ladies retreat.  No photos to document the weekend, but it was a wonderful time, though it made for a very full week before we started school. . . 

Our family has joined a different homeschool tutorial this year.  The girls were able to attend an orientation day while Rooke and I were out of town, followed by some Shake Shack!  

All three kids bravely stepped into new classes with new tutors on our first official day of school.

Rooke, 9th grade

Gretchen, 7th grade

Bridgette, 5th grade

Sometimes you just want to sit on the porch, listen to Adventures in Odyssey, and crochet. =)

Cool kid rocking her science lesson

I entered a drawing for free tickets to hear the Pan American Symphony Orchestra perform, and I WON!  Gretchen and I enjoyed a special night out to the Kennedy Center to hear our friend from church join other musicians in a beautiful performance.

Bridgette has been experimenting with oil pastels this month.  It's so fun to see what she's coming up with!

Ryan and I went out for an early birthday date to see Sunny Day Real Estate play.  He's loved the band since high school, and he requested that I wear his t-shirt to the show, which I think really helped me fit in with the forty-something grunge punk vibe - ha!

Saturday outing to a park where the guys played disc golf and the girls and I walked the nature trails.  Then we all marveled at five-day-old piglets!

While in the area, a stop at Donut Shack was in order