Noteworthy November

Kyla has been begging to have her ears pierced for quite some time, so since she was 6 and I thought it would be great to get her new earrings for Christmas, we decided it was time!  She was a bit nervous going in, but did amazing-no tears!

Her best friend’s sister, Chloe also got hers done…no tears from her either!

The girls working hard to help prepare a few meals for our 97 year old neighbor

Hallie cuddling her class pets…they have 2 guinea pigs, Jesse & Snuffles.  She loves them!

                             

Parent watch & costume week at dance!  Hallie was so excited when Daddy showed up!

                            

Hallie was so excited to go to Mahala’s birthday party!

Cuddling their new beanie boos from Nana & Papa!

Sometimes they walk nicely from the car to the school yard!

Fun on the adventure playground at school

                            

Brian took a day off on a day where all 3 girls are in school, so we got to have a super fun date day together! We rode our bikes for about 2 hours, riding from Manly Beach to the Spit Bridge and back.  We enjoyed morning tea overlooking the bay then headed back to Manly for lunch!

After lunch, we hit the waves for some boogie boarding fun!

Back at home after picking the kids up from school, we enjoyed a family swim in our pool.

Brian Houston during church service in the Chapel.  We enjoy going to the 8am chapel service sometimes….very early morning, but it’s nice to be in a smaller, more intimate space!

Thanksgiving with friends-we have enjoyed hosting Turkey Day with different friends here in Australia and giving them a taste of our special holiday.

Beach Weekends Away

We had a great weekend away about 3 hours south of Sydney, near Jervis Bay with 2 of our favorite families.  The weather was not great and Brian was in the US, unable to join us, but we still had fun!  Our house was perfect for our group, deceivingly small from the outside, it opened up into a huge, 6 bedroom house!

                                     

After arriving and getting unpacked, we headed down to check out the beach.

                                     

                                      

These crazy kids headed straight for the cold water and had an absolute blast playing in the waves.

                                     

Practicing gymnastics

I think it’s funny that it looks like Harrison and Louis have pushed down my baby girl! We had so much fun playing tip on the beach!

After the beach, it was back for dinner and games!  The next morning it was our turn for meal time….the girls made menus for our breakfast restaurant.

Then it was back to the beach!

Pretending to be old grannies

We enjoyed a nice dinner out followed by more games and another morning swim at the beach before heading out.  We stopped at a nearby park before making the drive home.

The following weekend, we had another beach getaway with another group.  We spent the weekend near Port Stephens, 2 hours north of Sydney with our connect group from church. A little rainy again this weekend, but still a blast and the kids enjoyed the pool many, many times!! This house fit our group of 8 adults and 15 kids very well!

                                      

They also had a very old school playground that the kids had a blast on!

Our view from the house!

Our Mexican dinner spread

Throughout the weekend, we enjoyed going for a nice run, playing outside, indoor games, movies, lots of food and great company!