Thanksgiving into December..

I've fallen horribly behind on posting, I'm sorry. To make up for it, there are a TON of pictures here for you all to enjoy!!

Tree Decorating:

The week of Thanksgiving, I gave the boys off school so they could help me prepare for possible guests in our house. Unfortunately we never did get the guests but they house was nice and clean... AND we got up our Christmas decorations!

This was Elizabeth's first year helping to decorate. She just loved all the ornaments!

They all did a really good job!

THANKSGIVING:

This was taken just before we were leaving to go to church to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The turkey I prepared... it turned out!! LOL
No turkey hassles this year, thankfully!

Everyone seated and enjoying the feast. We sat in the front right table there but I couldnt squeeze Dennis and Elizabeth in, who were sitting there.

But here they are.... I love this picture!

After dinner the children entertained us with a song. This was real fun trying to get a picture. Since they all had their balloons and were playing with them too. HAHA!

Pastor and Mrs Thornsley were presented with their gift. :)

We sure do love them!!

Mass chaos in the auditorium after dinner!
Every year a missionary from Romania brings his balloons and makes much anticipated balloon animals for all the children.

For the most part all the boys (and some of the girls) get swords....

and they have some pretty wild sword fights. haha

The little ones stay out of the way. :)

Snow

We've gotten a WHOLE bunch of snow these past few days! It's amazing! It's only just December.

Today I gave the boys a 1/2 day, snow day so we could go out in play in it. HAHAH!!
I would say there was a good 6-8 in for us to play in.

Hey! We did some science too, we looked at the different snowflakes. ;)

It was hard for her to walk, the snow was up to her knees. haha!

Entering the holiday season

We've had an easier time this year doing cub scouts with the boys. Mainly because the meetings are held within walking distance of the house and they do all the dens on the same night, at the same place. SOOO much easier!! :)

This month, Ryan's den had to sing My Country Tis of Thee. Each one of them having to solo sing their verse. I was so proud of Ryan. He sang loud and clear for everyone to hear. He did a great job - all of them did!

Then of course came all the silly song where they get to wiggle and move around. All the boys love those! Can you spot Sean? He's having a great time! Haha!

Even Elizabeth got in on the fun!

Ryan having a good time!

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The boys have off school this week for Thanksgiving. We are supposed to have some missionary guests at our house too so we're doing a big fall clean up.

I figured we might as well start putting up the Christmas decorations while we're at it.

This is Elizabeth's first year to be able to participate in this. She just ooh'd and ahh'd over all the decorations!

She did really well helping put the ornaments on the tree....

Daddy trying to untangle all the hooks. LOL

Though it is not pictured, Elizabeth did well until she decided to take one of the glass balls and spike it onto the wood floor. She learned real quick that Christmas ornaments don't bounce.

Fossils anyone?

This weekend Sean went on a 'Fossil Dig' with the cub scouts. They went to a local quarry that allows people to come in and dig for their own fossils.

We were amazed with how many he brought home!!







Most of the ones Sean found are Ammonites... you know, the swirly snail-shell looking ones. Giant sea creatures have been found in the quarry as well - the museum has them on display.

So I asked Sean, "Now, how can so many sea creature fossils be found here, near Stuttgart, where there isn't any large body of water to be found?"

Sean said without any hesitation, "because of The Flood, of course."

A+ !!

You can see from some of those fossils that there were just hundreds and hundreds of these ammonites piled right on top of each other, just in one little section. How could this be? Did a sea otter have a special spot where he deposited the shells after he ate his lunch? Did all the ammonites decide to die all together right on top of each other? Or mayyybe...... when the flood waters receded, the sediment flowed down the mountains and carried all those creatures piling them up in one spot (think giant mud slide). We are at the foot of the Schwäbisch Alps, you know. :)
Who knows!?

Here is the website to the Museum:
http://www.urweltmuseum.de/website/index_eng.htm

And the Quarry (you have to click on the UK flag to enter - it's very basic site):
http://www.schieferbruch-kromer.de/

Birthday and Scouting

It's quickly approaching the busy time of the year. First school starts, then Sean's birthday, and time rockets by until about February where time seems to come to a screeching halt with boredom. LOL

Anyway, so I should have lots of pictures to and stuff to update here in the next couple of months.

First of all, Cub Scouts has started up again. This year Ryan is a Wolf and Sean is one of two boys in the Pack that are Webelos II's. I cant believe next year Sean is going to be a Boy Scout!! Here the boys are sporting their new uniforms. Sean still has a bit more growing to do so he can fill his out a bit more. ; )

Quickly trying to shovel dinner down before the first Pack meeting of the year. Mom messed up and thought it was at 7:00, not 6:00. Oops!

Meeting up with their Dens:

Posting the colors.
Sean carrying the colors for the first time. He did a great job!

Having a good time singing songs!

The Wolf pack had prepared a song.
They did a good job!

Webelos huddling up.

Ryan catching me sneaking pictures of him haha!

Wolf pack getting up on stage to receive their awards.

Ryan receiving his award.

Elizabeth liked joining in when they banged on the tables instead of clapping.

She loves the camera, can you tell?

Webelos receiving their awards

Finally some individual recognitions. Sean got called up to assist the Cub Master.

After everyone received their award. He gave Sean a little special coin for his help.

Now on to Sean's Birthday!!!!

We let Sean invite a friend over for a sleepover to celebrate his birthday.

Blowing out the candles!
Ryan's face is perfect... I think he was trying to help.

Sean's birthday was actually the weekend prior to this, so most of his presents were opened then.
His friend brought over a present and we saved one of his presents from us so that Sean could have a little something for this sleepover too.

Last but not least.... the love of my life!!!
HAHAH!!!