Life is never dull!

I always said "There are people who blog about what they want to do and there are others are don't have time to blog because they are out living their adventures!"  I am definitely one of the latter, but I am doing my best to keep up the blog.  Our family has been quite busy this past week.  We have spent a lot of time together as a family enjoying one another and watching the boys continually learn about life and the world around them.

Last Saturday night the older 3 boys sang in downtown Clarks Summit with their church kids' choir (name is SLAMM- singing, laughing, acting, making music)  The past many years the adult singing group has sung at the Christmas tree lighting in Clarks Summit (of which I was a part for 2 yrs).  But, this year, the kids' group did it since our adult group is no longer together.  The kids were great despite the chilly evening and having to stand in their group for over an hour!

 Sam and Nate were very active little singers!

The whole group after they were finished.
We look forward to the full performances in a couple weeks.  Our boys really enjoy music and singing which makes their mother very happy!  They obviously inherited my musical ability (somewhat) and not their father's! :)

This week was a short one for Tommy and Josh.  Tommy only went to school two days and Josh two and a half.  We were looking forward to all being home together for four days!  Even though we are always welcome at Josh's parents' house, we have stayed home the past several years and really enjoy that!  A couple in our church with grown kids always invite us.  We've been there 5 years now and there's always a different group.  They are so hospitable and really enjoy opening their home to people who are away from family.

We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed visiting with a few different people there.  The kids did well eating and played outside some because it was a warmer sunny day (for November!).  That evening after coming home and running the kids through the shower, we sat down and had our first family Christmas movie night.  "Charlie Brown's Christmas" was the first movie.  It was really fun watching it all together.  Josh and I decided we want to start establishing traditions the kids will remember.  We have several Christmas movies we will watch over the course of the holiday season.  Everyone went to bed relatively early due to a full day and huge meal!

One last thing- Thanksgiving Day morning I took the kids "school" pictures and a few family pictures.  I have a white backdrop that Josh hangs up for me in the dining room.  We save some money by me doing pictures and then ordering only what we need!  I get tired of spending money on a zillion pictures we end up throwing away!  I wanted to include a couple I took that day.  The boys were really giggly which helped get genuine smiles.

We are so thankful for our wonderful family!