The Littlest Angels

 Each Sunday two little angels help bring the advent message. These two little beauties were up for the challenge this week!

Christmas Dance

Anika and a group of friends headed off to the Christmas dance. They got all dressed up and had place to go. It was held in a restaurant and banquet room. They had supper and then a dance. She had a great time!

Christmas and more

We had seven Christmas concerts in 8 days.
1. Jessica and Maria's music teacher is from a very musical family. Actually, Maria is good friends with one of her nieces! The music teacher has two sisters and it was a a very good concert.



2. The next morning, the church our kids' attend for youth programs had their kids' Christmas program. Very fun and cute!

3.  Sunday evening a friend played in a handbell choir. The congregational singing was AMAZING!

4. Next came Jessica, she played the trumpet in a trio, in the band, and then sang 'The First Noel' as a solo, followed up by 5th grade choir.

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5.  Wednesday night was Brandon's turn. It was a short concert but well done.

6.  Thursday night came Anika in the high school's Christmas Collage. She played tuba for the first song and flute for the others.

7.  Friday morning Maria played in the third grade bucket brigade - drum sticks on 5 gallon buckets.

Winter Sports

Jessica played basketball for MCS this year. Her fifth grade team had lots to learn and made some great strides.  They started the season, barely scoring 10 points in a game. They finished the season in the championship, against the same team, and only lost by one point.  Jessica played very well. She is aggressive and handles the ball well. It was fun to watch her play. She is full of emotion and after games and practices has lots to work through! I love that little girl!



Brandon played on the 7th grade team. They had a rough season, but had fun and learned lots. There was definite improvement from last year.  Brandon continues to play hard. He has a size 11 mens shoe - seriously, what 7th grade boy has shoes that big?  Its fun to watch your kids play!

Maria turns 9

The baby of the family is definitely all that and a bag of chips. She is a fourth generation youngest which translates into lots of spunk, perseverance and a will to stick with and keep up with everyone around her. We love her smile. She can organize with the best of them.  She can spend hours coloring and still will play with Barbies or dolls. She works hard in school - and is becoming more bilingual every day!
Maria chose dirt cake for her dessert - made with chocolate ice cream.
We love you Maria - Happy 9th birthday!

Sunsets, pumpkins, and Halloween

We LOVE SUNSETS!  There is something that just sets my heart right when I am at the beach, the sound of the waves, the beautiful colors.  Its a happy place for me!

 

My parents came to visit for a few days.  My dad raises pumpkins every year. He etches the kids' names in the pumpkins when they are little and the pumpkins heal over with their names clearly shown.  This year he used some mammoth seeds. The smallest pumpkin weighed more than 80 pounds.  These things were HUGE.  They had so much fun carving. Huge faces, multiple sides. tons of fun!  Thanks Dad and Mom for your work and for bringing them out!

Halloween was a wet mess again this year. It had rained every year we have lived here.  Just Jessica and Maria wanted to hit the town this year. So they went as a fisher man and little red riding hood - convenient for the rain ponchos we had!

Fall sports

Brandon played for the same team he has for two years now. He has taken on the job of defensemen. It took awhile for him to want to play defense, he loved scoring goals. But he is good at it, and like I said, its fun to watch your kids play!



Anika was on the freshman volleyball team. She started out as the setter but moved to outside hitter. She played all around and was always hustling after the ball!

Somehow I managed to miss getting a picture of Jessica's team.  BUT this is her first year playing travel soccer for the West Michigan Storm. She is on the U 11 B team. Jessica has fun doing just about everything, but she is also full of emotion and so sometime there are bad days.  Every team member got to take their second place trophy home for the day, so we captured a picture with her and the trophy!

Maria continued to play for her rec team. She has played for the same team since we moved here, same coach, many of the same team members. Its been lots of fun getting to know these families.  Her team ended up winning the championship in overtime.