Thanksgiving

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with a lot of turkey and plenty of games, which in my book is something to be thankful for.   Nick and Natalie came in from Indiana and as always when the I get together with my brothers, plenty of game playing ensued.  "The Resistance" was the game of the weekend, with a lot of yelling, accusations, along with the numerous utterances of the phrase "Trust me, I am not a spy"  We even suckered Natalie into playing, which is a feat in itself (we still couldn't convince dad to play)  Brayden and Hayes  enjoyed playing with the baby dolls and baby carriage, with Brayden even breastfeeding his doll.  Max got a lot of attention from the girls, they liked playing with him.   A great family, great kids and a fabulous wife, I have a lot to thank God for and with a fun weekend of games, food and family it's easy to be grateful for His blessings.

~Jeff

 

 

Time to Turn Two

It was my nephew's two year old birthday this week. We celebrated, or at least, everyone except Hayes celebrated. Hayes did not quite get the concept that none of those cool Firetrucks, Helicopters or Cars were for him. Brayden received a balance bicycle designed for toddlers to ride, but then decided he liked riding Hayes better. Hayes, for the 23rd time that day, was not amused.

A Night of Culture

Both Max and Delaney had concerts on Thursday night.  Max started the evening off with the Jefferson School 3rd and 4th grade recorder recital.  I remember also playing the recorder in music class at Jefferson but do not remember having a big recital, but my mother assures me that, yes, she in fact does remember having to attend my recorder recital.  The surprise of the night was my daughter's  Morton Junior High Orchestra Recital with the Boston String Quartet.  I was going into it with not the greatest of attitudes because of the $10 admission for a middle school concert, but I was quickly won over by the amazing Boston String Quartet and it was cool to see the kids playing along.  Also the music wasn't the typical classical music but rock and pop music that had been arranged for an orchestra.  So next year I will gladly pay the $10 for a Junior High Orchestra concert with the Boston String Quartet, and heck it's on the same night why don't you just throw the 3rd and 4th grade recorderists in there while your at it.

 

Fall Frisbee

This past Sunday was a great day, especially for November in Central Illinois, so Max and I took advantage of what was probably the last frisbee golf game of the year.   So we buzzed down to Bradley park and got in nine holes.   Max was hoping that one of our discs would go in the creek so he could go in after it but except for a couple of close calls, we kept them on dry land.  I only played a few times this year, so I was a little rusty, but hopefully next year we will be able to get out more. 

~Jeff

 

Baptism Video

Before Max and Delaney were baptized, the church plays a video that the kids recorded about their faith and why they wanted to be baptized.  Delaney's played but Max's for some reason never played.  So here are the videos and then below the video that Catherine recorded of the actual baptism.

Zooconomics

I will be the first to say it was a scheme.   A scheme to save twenty bucks.   Catherine goes to the Peoria Zoo a couple of times a week and likes to take Hayes and walk around during the day, but her annual pass is almost expired.  She wanted to get a family pass, so she could continue going to the zoo, but realized the annual pass for the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington is only $60 compared to the $80 that the Peoria Zoo charges...AND the Miller Park Zoo pass also gets you into the Peoria Zoo.  So off we go to Bloomington to get our $60 zoo pass and also check out the Miller Park Zoo which neither of us had ever been to.  Our ingenious plan was foiled though just as we were about to buy our annual pass.  The zoo employee mentioned that she heard that the Peoria Zoo was going to change their policy on January 1st and the Bloomington pass would only get you half-price entry to the Peoria Zoo and not the free entry.  I'm guessing we weren't the first zoo cheapskates to see the arbitrage opportunity in the local zoo economy.  So we didn't buy the annual pass, but we did check out the Miller Park Zoo and got to see and hear the singing dog.  So not all was lost.

~Jeff

 

Washed in the Water

It was an exciting Sunday as Delaney and Max both decided to publicly profess their desire to follow Christ by being baptized.   I was very proud as their father, along with Pastor Jim, to baptize the kids in what turned out to be some very warm water.   Richwoods church plays a video before the baptism that let's the people being baptized give a short testimony about why they want to be baptized and what it means to them.  Laney's played as we walked out but after we baptized Laney, Max's video didn't play, so I think he was a little disappointed about that.  The church is going to to give us copies of the videos, so I will post those when I get them.  I grabbed some photos of the baptism off of our church's flickr stream and they even got one of Hayes in the nursery.   It was an exciting day and all the praise goes to the Father for the work He continues to do in the lives of Max and Laney...praise be to God.

~Jeff