A Turkey Dinner and Tree Decorating

Since Savannah and I had been in Orlando over Thanksgiving, we decided to have our Thanksgiving feast when we got home. It took a little over a week for us to be able to fit it in but on Monday, December 4th, we finally got our turkey dinner.

We even invited the elders to come share our tasty meal with us. Those lucky elders - two Thanksgiving dinners this year!

These two elders go down as some of our favorites - Elder Stone and Elder Coombs.

Unfortunately it was the week of transfers as well and we knew we were losing Elder Stone. As David likes to say, Elder Stone got the Christmas bone!

Time for some final pictures!

On a previous visit the elders had been complaining about how expensive cereal is so they've been buying the cheap Fruity Pebbles. As a parting gift I got Elder Stone a box of good 'ole regular Fruity Pebbles to enjoy. Who knows if he can even eat them because he doesn't eat anything with glutin but he seemed to appreciate it. Who knows what's going on here, especially with Noah's rear in the air! Whatever it is, Savannah finds it hilarious.

Sad faces as we say goodbye...all except Noah who just has to be Noah.

Thank goodness we still have Elder Coombs!

After they left we decorated our Christmas tree for Family Home Evening.

Bringing out some blasts from the past!

Savannah still wonders what she was thinking when she picked this pink monstrosity!

Got a little help from David.

I had purchased this beautiful star the previous year in the after-Christmas sales and couldn't wait to have it on our tree! This year was Savannah's turn to put the start on top.

And wouldn't ya know it...it didn't work! Our tree wasn't strong enough to support it. Well, back to the reindeer at the top!

My cute kids!

I love our family!

The kids also got to enjoy their advent calendars from Grandma Schaeffer!

The State Championship

We were thrilled that our boys had made it all the way to the state championship!

Unfortunately on the other team's first possession they ran almost the entire length of the field for a touchdown and that was basically how the remainder of the game went.

We had a few good plays but were unable to get our offense going.

They had several extremely talented players and they just dominated.

The game ended up being a 35-0 loss for us. As we gathered after the game for the players to receive their medals, I ended up standing next to a dad from the other team. He congratulated our team, stating that we gave them their toughest game of the season. I started laughing and he said, "No, really. All the other teams we've played we have beat by 50 to 60 points and that was when they called the game after 3 quarters." Apparently no teams have scored on them the entire season! I didn't say it but I was tempted to tell him that it was pretty obvious that they were in the wrong division! We were all still proud of our boys and the tremendous season they had!

Our Emmorton U12 Bucs!

Xander sporting his medal...

and the team trophy!

Hangin' with some teammates after the game.

Brother and Sister Archbold came to support him which I thought was so sweet of them. They had also been there for his championship game against North Harford. Such great leaders we have!

So proud of my Xanderman!

November Happenings

November was such a fun, busy month for us, with so many big sports events, but it was also full of wonderful youth activities. I continue to serve in the Young Women organization at church and absolutely love spending time with my Mia Maids. Several of us got to support Emma by attending her high school play, an updated version of Macbeth.

Hanging with my girls on a Tuesday night though we are missing Savannah who has soccer training the same night.

Our missionaries put on a fabulous activity for the youth to get them excited to participate in the church's Light The World initiative. We played games...

my team struggling to win but content with third...

and feeling spiritually uplifted and ready to be a light each and every day in December.

I also got to attend a lunch with a bunch of fabulous women from church! We gathered to say goodbye to our sweet Audrey who will be moving into a new home a little farther away.

And this cat of ours...how I love her! Some neighbor kids left this big camo cushion in the middle of the yard and she made herself quite at home on it. She is too funny!