Grandma and Grandpa and Katie and Amy are HERE!

My parents and cousins arrived on Sunday night for a visit. It is so great to have them! Here are a few pics of their visit (so far).

They're here!!!

Celebrating Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa
Trying on his new pj's (over his clothes, of course)
Husbands waiting bench (or at least it is according to Dad)
Ike and Elle were at school, so Joe got lots of attention from K and A
Check out these newly acquired skills!
And these!
Andy pestering the girls!
Grandpa time
Some of Elle's new Christmas presents....She loves the Ariel necklace! That's Peppermint Hot Chocolate on her face (just in case you are wondering).
This is for Grandma Barbara, Uncle Mark, and Uncle Tom.... all the family with Math degrees...Elle's getting a head start

Elle's First School Christmas Program

Christmas Happenings

This past week has been busy with different Christmas activites. Here's a look at a few of them....

Andy's had the opportunity to share at 3 different schools during this Christmas season. It's a great opportunity to share the reason that we celebrate Christmas....Christ came!
We had our Mission Christmas party last Sunday. This is how Joey and Ike entertained themselves while we chatted. This mat is what we like to refer to as "Taipei". In other words, LOTS of cars!!!
Ellie spent as much time as she could with Miss H
This pic is for Grandpa Kenny. Ike surprised us all (but especially me) by eating the C's fruit soup. I think he thought it was chocolate when he took it, but he ended up having 2 bowls of the stuff!!
Just to show that we really do have Scandinavian pride, M and I also tried the fruit soup. Brought back lots of memories of Grandma Bestemor!
We spent Christmas Eve down south with our friends and went to this great science museum!
There were lots of fun things for the kids
...and the adults!
Yep, Joey is without pants in this picture. He had to pull his "gag and puke" act at dinner so we had to quickly wash them before we headed home.Christmas morning!!!
Puzzles from Santa
This boy was up at 6:45am and dug into his stocking and Joey's (who was still sleeping). Guess he was excited!
We ended Christmas Day with a program at the kid's school. I was pretty impressed with the program this year...lots of Christmas songs, a magician, and some traditional Chinese music.
It was Elle's first Christmas program and (surprise, surprise) she wasn't shy at all.

KungFu

A Visit from Johnny O

Our friend, John, was here for a visit and we had a great time catching up and just hanging out. Thanks for coming, John!

Yuck!

This was taken at the "thumb" of 5 Finger Mountain.

John could even wear Ike's motorbike helmet!

Fall

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We have much to be thankful for this year...family, friends, and most of all a loving Savior! We pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We spent the day at the C's house. Elle loves playing with Miss H!
The boys weren't really into their food so they "rested" on the couch
Our friend, John, has been here for the past 1 1/2 weeks, so he joined in on the festivities. He just left today to head back home (I'm sure his family is excited to have him back)!
And a very normal picture of these two....one goofy, one extremely serious!

Harvest time

Today the kids and I walked along an itty bitty road through the rice fields to check out the combine. They were in their glory just watching the combine and the birds that quickly followed behind it!

Fall is finally here!!

Fall temps arrived last week sometime, and it looks like they might be here to stay (for awhile, at least). We are so happy to have a break from the heat AND to pull out the long pants and light jackets, even!!!!

Off to school
Flannel pj's even!
Happy to FINALLY be able to wear his "Cars" jeans!

Model shots???

Just Joey

Can you guess who likes "Jelly" (peanut butter and jelly that is)?