Lights

We made our yearly trek to see Christmas lights with friends from church. This year we went to Naples, which is a canal-based community in Long Beach. Emma and her friend Maddie decided to use her tube scarf for a two-person hat.

Tea Party

Laura has been hosting tea parties throughout the month of December for ladies in our Elder district (CAMP). Complete with cucumber sandwiches.

Attic

The kids helped me put some flooring down in the attic, which will make storage and retrieval of Christmas decorations MUCH easier in the future.

Decorating the house

Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving were spent decorating the house. The kids each got to sort out some of their favorite ornaments for the tree.

Family Pics

Family pics: Standard, and silly.

Smoke

Southern California has again been ravaged by wildfires. Here is a shot of the sunset, which is veiled by smoke that is covering the region. Our car was dusted with ash this evening.

Champions

The mighty "Slammers" took home the championship for volley tennis, with a dominated performance. They won the best-of-three match with two quick games of 15-4 and 15-1. Their games will again be broadcast on the local city cable channel. It's been quite a year of sports for Emma.

Oak Glen

We haven't been to Oak Glen for a couple of years so we went on a Monday when we were all off for Veteran's Day. It was nice and quiet, as most tourists go on the weekends. The kids sampled some pioneer activities and we bought some homemade doughnuts on our way in to Oak Glen AND again on our way out.

Concert

Emma's first band concert!

Camping

A few shots from our Halloween camping trip. We went trick-or-treating throughout the campground.

Multi-Age

Here are a couple of shots from Emma's class this year. She is in a "multi-age" class that has a mix of three grades. The room is set up very differently than a traditional classroom, and it includes group tables, a common area, and a small computer lab.

More Disney...

The kids like to take pictures with characters. Can you tell? We threw in a less-interesting picture of the parents as well...

Gram's Dinner Party

We had a fun family dinner to celebrate Gram's 60th birthday. The kids and grandkids displayed various talents in her honor.

Football

And J catches the long pass for a touchdown!

Laura's B-Day

A few shots from Laura's birthday. We had a nice lunch together and then we had a family time down in Long Beach. I even went on a Ferris wheel. The night was capped off by a little girl time.

Pumpkin Run

The kids all ran in the park service "Pumpkin Run" this week. Emma and Meg got first in the respective age divisions and Jonathan got second. Meg was especially pleased because she received an actual mini pumpkin as a prize.

Dressing up

It isn't quite Halloween but the kids dressed up and we went to Disneyland last week.

Fierce Creature

We heard some strange noises in the backyard the other night. After verifying with a flashlight that we weren't in imminent danger, I snuck out and snapped a quick pic of this little fella.