UPWARDS

 Mr. 5 is playing basketball for the first time.

He has been So excited.

However, first practice was rough.  There were tears.

First game rolled around and there were more tears and reluctance but there was also some game.

The coaches are amazing and have a lot of patience.

Lets hope the season will get better and better

By the way, they did win the first game and he even did get a chance to shoot.

WINTER FORMAL 24

 One of our co-ops holds a high school winter formal.

The kids really enjoy attending with friends. 

Some pictures from this year:

We actually went "thrifting" over Thanksgiving break down in North Carolina and the girls were able to get dresses for an extremely reasonable price.  Okay, okay-they were cheap.  It cost more to have them cleaned, but I'm not complaining.

MJ decided he didn't want anything new for this time around, so he wore his regular Sunday clothes.

So. Much. Hair.

Missy with her "bestie"

We were running late (ahem! #2) so I didn't get any before pictures of the kids together and I had a car full of the younger kids, so I didn't go in to get pictures.  I'm glad that one of the other moms sent me this one.

DAVINCI SCIENCE CENTER

 

This past week we took the boys to the DaVinci Science Center.

I believe they are moving to a new location soon, so it was fairly empty except for our group.

It is a fairly small facility, but I think they enjoyed it, especially the little guys who hadn't been there before.

We had a Thrill Ride workshop and a Super Coolness Science Show about liquid nitrogen

UNWRAPPING

 

Toward the end of December, we headed down to Porsche for an unwrapping event.

Well, it was supposed to be an event for the kids, unfortunately, the person running the event ended up calling out sick so it ended up being a bit different than originally planned. These things happen.

Usually when you unwrap a package, you get to keep it, right?

Not in this case.  The keys weren't included.

We got a morning out and some time to see Daddy though!

HOLIDAYS 2023

I feel like the holiday season, from November into January just goes by in a blink!

We have several birthdays plus Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Christmas Concerts, special Church services, family get-togethers, friend get-togethers...etc.

We try and make time for some extras as well.  

This year, one of the things we did was the Turtle Back Zoo Holiday Light Extravaganza  

One of the nice things about this event is that they do not charge admission-they ask for non-perishable food donations or gently used winter coats.

SWEET 16

Waaaay back in November, #2 turned 16!

There was a LOT going on in November plus sickness, so later on in December, she gathered a few friends for a "fantasy themed" dinner out. 

Here are the lovely ladies!

16 also brought us a driver's permit 😲