Pictures from Top of the Rock

You rent a golf cart and they have a trail you drive along and can see all the pretty scenery. There is also a pretty cool cave you drive through as well.

 I think there were like three different Amish bridges you drive through. I thought this one had beautiful lighting.

 This was a little spot you could stop and go see the bear. When you walk up, there is a sensor and after a minute a very real sounding bear growls. All the kids were up at the gate and Vanessa took off so fast, the rest of us were still trying to figure out what was going on. She was across the trail and in the golf cart in a split second. We all laughed about this for a good five minutes. If there ever was a real bear, we all know Vanessa would be getting out alive!--side note: there wasn't a real bear.

November

The kids made their own little zipline in the family room. Even Annabelle wanted in on it. This may have been what spurred the idea for our Christmas gift :)

 Benson's obsession with reptiles moved to include dinosaurs. I felt uneasy teaching them that the world was 2 billion years old when the Bible tells us it is only about 6000 years old. So I started googling a bit. I found a whole realm of science I had never even heard of. Creationists, as they call themselves, are people who study the earth and try to prove the Bible with science. For example, carbon dating is "proven" by many scientists and considered irrefutable. It is so common, it is in every non-fiction book about the Earth. However, everything we know about carbon dating today is different than just 50 years ago. And will likely be different in another 50 years. The Bible, hasn't changed. Also, carbon dating is based on some pretty huge assumptions that are very obvious, if you look for them. Even some of the biggest proponents of carbon dating agree that nothing past 25,000 years is an accurate date. And even with 25,000 years, there are varied forces and changes on the earth that can alter those dates. Anyway, after reading all this, I tried to help  Benson understand and come up with some of our own theories.

Jon took Benson to the hospital for his sleep study the first Friday in November. The rest of us went to McDonalds and had a movie night. We didn't want to go without dad or Benson though so Vanessa drew their pictures for us.

 We are still participating in our co-op and it has been really great. The kids really enjoy their Tuesdays with their friends.

 The next week, Jon had to take Benson to St Louis for another injection. These two got lots of alone time this month. They went to one of our favorite restaurants, Zia's. Benson loved the calamari. That boy has a very mature palate.

 The other three were bummed we weren't going to be swimming at the hotel so I promised to take them swimming at the OC. A community pool we haven't visited yet. They loved it, especially the whirlpoool. Vanessa was also very excited she was tall enough to go down the slide.

Annabelle is turning into quite the little helper. She loves to help me clean and is actually kind of helpful. Sometimes she gets a little feisty about it :) She loves to have a rag to wipe things with me. She always wants to help sweep, vacuum, etc. 

 Jon and I went on a date and went shopping. Because we have become that super exciting couple that does things like that. But at least he looks sexy in his new boots.

 Here are a few things we have been up to in homeschool. Vanessa is memorizing her times tables, practicing cursive and reading. We also throw in art projects and science experiments a couple times a week. Benson is working on place value and early reading, letter sounds.

 Vanessa did a month of horse back riding lessons. Unfortunately, we didn't really enjoy the teacher that much so we are looking elsewhere for lessons again. She is still doing violin though.

The kids also mastered getting all four of them on Benson's wheelchair.

 Jon also had to go to a scout camp this month, yet another weekend away. It was kind of a bummer month with a lot of missing dad. Steph Brady got married the day before Thanksgiving. Jon was only able to get the day of the ceremony off so he was the only one that flew out for the ceremony. Unfortunately, it costs a small fortune to fly on Thanksgiving so he came home the day after. We put up the tree right before he left. The kids also added a few personal touches later.

Happily, since my parents are just 5 hours away now, they were able to drive up for the holiday. The kids planned a magic show and other things for my parents when they arrived.

 We went to Chuck-E-Cheese one day, always a highlight for the kids. And Brigham was incredibly sweet with Annabelle.

 We talked about going out to dinner but ended up making the real deal. It was fun to me because Jon and I have never made the traditional Thanksgiving meal. We had brined turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (with fresh green beans), stuffing, cooked carrots, and rolls. We also made pumpkin pie and a tart for the kids. The carrots and pumpkin pie didn't turn out so great but the sweet potato casserole, green beans, and tart were my favorite.

 We also went and saw Moana. The kids love going to the movies for some reason. But this movie was definitely a cute one.

We were really happy to have Jon back home and try to unravel from the drama of the wedding. It's never fun being apart for Holidays. Sometimes I think it makes it even harder to have him away so much when he is the type of dad that spends tons of time with us. We are pretty blessed to have such a family oriented dad.

 Annabelle is growing so quickly and getting so smart. It's so fun watching their understanding grow as they begin to communicate better and better. I feel like Annabelle's speech is a little bit less than our other kids. Partly because she prefers to answer yes or no questions. She will say "no" very resolutely when you are not offering what she wants. And she nods her head when you've got it right. She also uses a lot of body language. She will take your hand and lead you to what she wants if you aren't understanding. She will bring you a cup for a drink and if you go to the sink for water, she will tell you "no." Then take you to the fridge, wait for you to open it, then say "um" and point to the drink she wants.

We made these baby Jesus' in co-op and I thought they turned out super cute. The idea was to add hay every time they do service for someone. I think the kids really enjoyed making these as well.