We had a very lovely week off from school for Thanksgiving. And now the house is decorated for Christmas!

Over the long Thanksgiving weekend, Jon worked (and I helped) on lofting Lucy's bed. We recently bought the bed from friends who were moving; it's the top bunk to their bunk bed, but we were just using it as a twin bed on the floor. Since it was part of a bunk, though, it already had the ladder, railing, and holes/pegs in the bottom of the legs to make lofting it easier. I looooove it. Now there's more space in the children's room for playing, and we even added that little triangle desk space so Lucy has somewhere to color and draw. 

Pictures for Nannie

Some pictures

Our final trip to Disneyland using our annual passes:

Nate worked up the courage to go on a kids' roller coaster (Goofy's Flight School) and was so proud of himself. He went twice.

Lucy's baptism

When Nate was baptized two years ago, Lucy began asking, "When can I get bath-tized?" We told her we would love for her to be baptized and would keep talking about it. The Bible tells us that baptism is not what saves us--it isn't a requirement for going to heaven. It's a public declaration that we believe in Jesus and desire to obey Him. Once we felt Lucy understood that, we said yes she could be baptized. 

Last Sunday was the day! She wanted her Grampy Ray to baptize her. She answered his questions before the church (I especially loved when he asked how the church could pray for her and she said, "That I would obey my parents.").

This boy

This boy is funny, wild, cute, sweet, happy. This boy still loves cars. This boy is 5 today.

Hi Nannie

Me... in an empty car:

I got to babysit my favorite baby (Amelia):

A knight, a pumpkin, and Moses:

The CSA table I do at the school's Harvest Faire:

Hello

Ten points if you can figure out what I went to a Halloween party as:

Checking in

I'm sorry my blog posting has slowed to a trickle! Here's what's going on here...

- I can't remember if I posted about it on here, but I recently joined a team of three girls who took over the children's ministry at church. It is going fine and means just a bit more work each week than usual. Team leading has its benefits (less work for everyone) and its drawbacks (things slip through the cracks when each person thinks one of the others is going to take care of it and/or sometimes one person seems to do more than the others).
- I'm still working one day a week at the graphic design studio in Long Beach (Vision Design Studio) and also from home. It's still going well and I enjoy it. I'm not really a proofreader anymore (though I do help with that sometimes); now I'm a "special projects coordinator." I help coordinate one of the big ongoing projects (i.e., as soon as the June project finishes up, we have to start preparing for the September project, then December, then March) our company does for our biggest client. I like it.
- The children are all doing well at school. I think Nate is fitting in better in class now that he has been there a while (it's the same class, same teacher as last year). Lucy loves 1st grade. Levi is having the kinds of adjustments you would expect from a child starting school for the first time--figuring out how to get along with new children, how to deal with kids who are sometimes mean, etc. It's all going very well, though.
- We are going to Virginia for Christmas. Yay for solidified plans! :)

Now we're off to AWANA!

Virginia wedding

We had a lovely and very quick weekend in Virginia for Heather and Greg's wedding. I'm so happy for them!

Part of the rehearsal dinner setup at Mama and Daddy's house:

Brunch at Hanshill:

Squirrel hunting in the back yard:

Levi loved the clip-on tie we borrowed from Hallie's boys:

Tractor ride:

I didn't take one picture at the wedding!