Thanksgiving Tree

 One night when Aubrey had a bunch of friends over, she made them all contribute to the thankfulness tree. I enjoyed seeing what each of them wrote.  

Tree Fetching and Decorating

Our tree this year was a beauty...and a beast. It had an eight-inch trunk at the base, which meant we had to buy a bigger tree stand, and it was quite the ordeal getting it into the stand and in the house. Greg and Joel wrestled it in until it was as straight as we could get it. 

Kari and Aubs helped me decorate before Kari and Joel had to leave to head back to CBU, and as we were unpacking our many ornaments, Kari has the idea of hanging them by type. So, we sorted them all and hung them by category--school, work, vacation and trips, beach, Disney, potty training, baby, sports, books, musical instruments, etc. I loved it. 

Thanksgiving

 

November This and That

 Kelly sent some photos from her visit down at CBU. The boys' pantry/food shelf was pretty sad, as was the decor (the dried leaves I'd mailed Joel in October with his care package treats). 

Grant and I went to see the school musical, Anything Goes. His friends, Lucius and Bella, were in the show, and I had several students and past students in it and got a photo with some of them afterwards. 

Struggling with my sinuses again let me to have allergy testing done. I found that I am allergic to most everything outside around here, especially grass, many trees, weeds, dust, and mold. At least now I know! Going to try another couple meds before considering allergy shots. 

Aubrey got her acceptance letter/box from CBU. She's headed there next fall!

I made a fall flower arrangement with ladies from church one Saturday. I loved how it out. 

My heart was full-to-bursting with happiness over having all four kids home again for the kids' Thanksgiving break. I was so eager to post my happy photo, I botched my "story" on Instagram. Before I realized what I'd done, Kari made a story of her own and posted it. Too funny! 

I took a photo on the way to church--all six of us together in the van. It's rare that we take only one car on Sunday mornings. 

State Polo

We both took Friday off to go to to the state water polo tournament, and we ended up having two back-to-back early mornings, leaving our house at 5:45am to get to Tualatin. The boys played Tualatin at 7:30am and won 9-8. Grant played well and had the winning assist to Parker. I was a nervous wreck during that game. Something about Grant being the youngest one out there with all those big guys had my heart racing (119 bpm!), and it was a close game. The girls won their game against Tualatin that afternoon 5-2. Day 1 was a success! 

Day 2 was a bit rough. The boys lost their early morning game 23-5 to Lake Oswego, as expected. Grant got a goal, though! The girls lost their game against Lakeridge 4-8. They played hard, but their shots were just not going in. The boys lost their last game 8-19 against Newberg to get 4th in state. They were disappointed, but that was better than we expected at the start of the season. The girls were down 4-8 in the 4th quarter of their last game against Lake Oswego, and we were feeling nervous. I remember asking Rachael who was sitting next to me, "Do you think they could score 4 goals in the next couple minutes?" The girls rallied and ended up outscoring the other team 6-1 in the 4th quarter to come back and win 3rd in state! It was such an exciting, happy ending! 

What a fun, full season it was. I loved getting to watch both kids and love that they got this one year in high school together and on this team. I shed a few tears the night of the awards, knowing this was Aubrey's last polo event. Her senior year is off to a great start.