Parker & Will basketball

 We watched Parker's HHC team play 2 games in a tournament this afternoon in Kelso.  They lost one, won one.

Will's SWOCC team lost to Everett tonight.  Will had 13 points, making 3-3's and  4 foul shots.

Will

Will's Southwestern Oregon team is playing in the LCC Red Devil Classic tournament this weekend.  They played LCC tonight and won.  It was great to see Will play, he had 5 points, a 3 and a couple of foul shots.  He had a big cheering section with 28 family and friends there. 

Preschool Harvest Feast

 Ava and Harper's preschool had a Harvest Feast today.  They sang 3 songs, one using sign language,  then sat down with their guests to have soup and pumpkin bars, which they had helped to bake and got to serve everyone themselves.  They wouldn't eat the soup but loved the bars, Ava even went back and asked for seconds.  Didn't get it but it never hurts to ask.

They were so excited to have Lexi and Luke come to see their school, it was a very special day.

Painting/Papa's school

 The girls made Thanksgiving cards today and then painted pictures.  Harper wanted me to paint the outline of a flower and trees and she filled them in and added sky and a star.  She was very proud of her work.  Sometimes she gets a little frustrated when she can't paint or draw as well as Ava.

Papa bought some flash cards to help the girls recognize numbers.  They thought it was pretty fun to have him for a teacher and did just what he said.  They have also been doing a lot of dot-to-dots and that is helping with numbers, too.  After naptime we took them to the bakery, they love to eat their goodies there and they showed us their "restaurant" manners, they are very well behaved.  Later they got to go to Rielee's, they played dress-up with her and had graham crackers and milk.

Macee's dorm/Emmy's Senior Night

warming up with the team

 Saturday we went to watch Gonzaga's last home match of the season.  They lost in 4 and Macee didn't get in the game, but it was fun to see the campus and Martin Centre.  After the game,  the players were emotional, lots of tears as they said good-bye to the seniors.

 Afterwards, Macee took us to see her dorm.  Papa pointed out that her roommate was very organized, Macee said she was very annoyed by that fact because she's not.  She changed and packed and we all took off for Ellensburg to watch Emmy's last home match, her Senior night.

Emmy needed 4 kills to have scored 600 career kills and she did it.  They beat Western Oregon in 3. There were tears here, too, after the game.   Emmy and her teammates were so close, she lived with several of them.  And of course, Laury was emotional, as was I, it's been such a joy watching Emmy play. 

Pictures afterwards with family, 

and Dan,

Macee and Tierney,

and Grammy and Aunt Sue

Later, David took us all out for dinner to celebrate, it was fun with lots of laughs.

Library

 Ava and Harper were really excited for their first trip to the library.  They were very quiet and well-behaved and quickly picked out a couple of books and then started coloring.  The big box of crayons really impressed them.

We had to go and find Papa to help Ava after she decided to try to put together a United States puzzle with very small pieces. They got most of it together but couldn't finish it because several states were missing.

Harper looking for "just one more please Grandma", they checked out 6 books and read them all with Papa before bed.

Auna's braces

It was so cute, at naptime, Ava had to have her baby in the crib right beside her bed.  It wasn't long before she came running out to report an emergency - "baby picked her nose and has a bloody nose!"  Some days, most days,  they can think of lots of things that distract them from sleeping.

Poor Auna, suffering through her first day of braces, she had yogurt and a smoothie since she was having a lot of trouble getting anything else down.

We got our first look at Will, #12, playing for SW Oregon CC tonight on a live stream.  So good to see him back on the court, and they beat New Hope CC out of Eugene by a bunch! 

Crowns

 The girls wearing the crowns they decorated today, they plan to take them for show and tell on Friday.  We also worked on the letter "H" and we did some rhyming practice. 

They learned a couple of Thanksgiving songs at school, too, very cute. 

Santa Daddy

 I took the girls and Rielee to meet Kelly and Charb at the Carroll's Elementary Christmas Bazaar this afternoon. Kelly's friend is in the PTO there and Charb volunteered to play Santa.  Even though the twins said before we left that they weren't going to be afraid of Santa, when we got there they were both terrified and didn't want to go near him.  Once we got them close to him though, and he called out Harper's name, she recognized his voice - Santa was really Daddy!  She was okay then, but  Ava was still nervous and didn't want to go near him in that scary suit! 

 So they went to do some crafts instead.  First they made wooden snowmen,

which turned out very cute.

 Then they got to make evergreen arrangements in mugs.  They worked very hard on these,

taking lots of time to get them just right.

 They were proud of their creations.  Back at the bazaar, they got to buy some giant frosted marshmallows on a stick, which they each ate about a quarter of before we tossed them,

 and they also got candy canes from Santa, but Ava was still keeping her distance.

After the bazaar, Rielee went to spend the night with Ava and Harper.

Playing at the mall

 The girls had a great time on the rides at the mall today.  They took turns being the Mom.

Ava was the kid taking pictures of the other cars.  We also went to Target, Papa put them in the double cart and got them some popcorn, split up in 2 bags and they were happy the whole time we were there.  We cruised fast through the toy section where they pointed out lots of things they wanted for Christmas. 

Papa's party

 We had a party at Gabe and Des' Sunday to celebrate Papa's birthday. Actually, it was just a good excuse to everyone together to visit with Emmy and her boyfriend Dan. 

 Emmy had a couple of days off from volleyball, work and school, so they were able to come home after her match Saturday in Seattle.  It was a fun time,  we had some pizza, cake, and good conversation.  Rielee also got to show off her new kitten "Kitty".

Em vs. Seattle Pacific

Emmy helped to give Uncle what he asked for on his birthday, a CWU win over Seattle Pacific tonight.

 Uncle was having his own party, entertaining himself by pretending he was taller than Dan, Emmy's friend, on the right.

 Emmy's cheering section, the Johnson's came, Emmy's friend Heather and her boyfriend,  and Auna brought her friend Trinity.

The only picture I took of Emmy was blurry so this was the program with Emmy listed as kill leader, so cool!

Veteran's Day Parade

 Rielee's school had a Veteran's Day parade this morning. 

Each class walked together and most were dressed in red, white and blue.

They carried flags or decorations they had made, sang patriotic songs, chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A" or simply yelled "thank you Veterans".

They walked around the school, down to the church and back, then met at the flagpole for more songs.  They did such a great job, it was very special.

This sign cracked me up, Emmy found it on Pinterest.  I didn't take a good picture today, and forgot my camera when we took the twins and Rielee to Chuck E. Cheese this afternoon.  They had a ball, as usual, playing for 2 hours and we still had to practically drag them out of there. Harper was so funny, she tried to do the football toss game, not realizing she was way too short.  So I said I would help her, ha, we actually scored 0 points, and she was perturbed when she didn't get any tickets.   Rielee came over after dinner, too, and played a couple of games of Maisy with them.  She made 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons to give out so everyone could be a winner. 

Toothless Ava/ James on crutches

Ava was so excited to tell us about her lost tooth this morning, she and Harper bonked heads last night.  Most exciting for her was the tooth fairy leaving money under her pillow, "she's a FAIRY, Grandma!"  She felt just fine this morning, I thought she might be sore, but she sat down and made a 4 page card for her teacher, drawing pictures of herself, flowers, and letters on each page.  It was picture day at school, she said she smiled nicely with her mouth closed.  

James and Michelle stopped by tonight.  James got hurt Monday playing quarterback during the last play of his last JV game of the year.  What bad luck.  He had an MRI on his knee today and will find out the results tomorrow.  Hopefully, it's a strain and not a tear.  It didn't hurt his sense of humor, though, that's just as good as ever.

Lego towers, Alan's plane

 We've been building Lego towers with the girls this week.  It was the first thing they wanted to go again this morning.  I found out the hard way the danger of taking pictures from the floor when this one they were trying to get to the ceiling came crashing down and hit me on the head.

 Their reaction when the next one came down.  They never did reach the ceiling.

They played again in the afternoon, showing Alan how high they could build.  He went home and got his awesome new hovering airplane to show them, they got a kick out of that and chased it around with their puppy and baby.

Quiet Saturday

It was a lazy afternoon and evening with the kids.  Auna was beat after volleyball try-outs so she watched a couple movies and played games on the Kindle.  Rielee came over and visited, doing handstand after handstand,

 she is getting better.  She does them in front of the couch so she can fall on it if she goes over too far.

Then Parker showed up, he was waiting until it was time to go to a Halloween party at his buddy's house.  He said he wasn't going to dress up but tried on a wig, which was really scary.  I made some cookies and we watched Emmy's volleyball game (they beat Simon Fraser and she had 10 kills), then we watched Forrest Gump.