The last 30 days in pictures

 It was a beautiful day on on Thanksgiving when the cousins sat down to take this picture.  The sitting lasted all of about 30 seconds and then they were all off in different directions.  

 

 The next day while mom was at her craft fair Noah and Ben went to see Santa at the fire hall.  Santa and fire trucks.  Now that is cool!

 

 A week later all three of them got to see Santa.  It was a snowy day for the DSAF of NE Christmas party, but there was still had a good turn out. 

 

 Noah had fun singing at his Christmas program. 

Ben had fun singing at his also.  He seemed to have a bit more trouble staying focused and staying in line with his class mates.  There was a baby in the room that needed to be loved up.

 

  One day while a repairman was out working on our internet this little guy showed up on our patio.  I assured the repairman that we did not have a pet raccoon and that when they are out in the daylight, they are most likely sick, so he picked a different door to leave from.  I attempted to nudge him with a broom and he would not leave.  Fearing he may be rabid, I called the county sheriff to see what they suggested.  The sheriff that came out agreed that it was sick and shot it.  Luckily the ground was soft so it was not hard for Randy to bury it when he got home. Hopefully it did not pass it's illness on to any other animals in our area.

Ben helped to decorate the Christmas tree.  He also helps to un-decorate it a little bit every day. 

 

One of John's basketball seasons is over already.  However that meant practice every day and 2 games a week for most of December.  They had a good year and won the tournament at the end.

Ben is not enjoying the buzzer this year.  In fact it scares him.  He watches the clock count down to zero and holds his little ears as shown above.  At least we know those tubes are working.

Noah is playing with the Varsity Small Fry team that John plays with.  He is enjoying learning a new system, and holds his own against the 6th and 7th graders.  It will be a long basketball season for him by the time he is done playing Rookie Small Fry (against 3rd, 4th and 5th graders) in April. 

One Friday night we had very dense fog.  However that fog turned into beautiful shimmering ice the next morning in the sun.  It was a pretty drive into Lincoln, and I had to stop and take quite a few pictures.

The moon was beautiful coming home from Lincoln that same Saturday Night.  The sun was not quite down in the West so it really made the moon glow in the East.  This was taken outside of Eagle. 

Singing With My Boys

Tonight was the community Thanksgiving church service at our church.  Due to scheduling conflicts with the boys basketball practice, we have not been able to attend Choir practice yet this year, but our gospel choir was short on people so they asked me to come.  We practiced right before the service.  Since the boys were with me, they got handed music and decided to sing too. 
I don't remember hearing the song before, but it was an easy hymn.  As we were practicing, Ben opened to the door to the class room we were in, brought is little board book, and started "singing" with us.  It was cute.  When we were done he told us all "great job". 
When it was time for our choir to perform, John, Noah and I all went up front and started to sing.  I noticed that Randy was struggling with Ben who was putting up quite a fight.  Randy let him go and quick as a lick he was up front with that same little board book standing right in front of me between John and Noah.  What I could not believe was that on the chorus, I heard him trying to sing with us.  He was a couple beats behind, but not off key, but I don't think the audience minded much.  Most of them had big smiles on their faces watching him sing with us.  It was so cute.  How I wished we had a camera so we could have taped it.  
Singing with my older two boys is awesome, but singing with all three of my boys is priceless.  I am so thankful for all my boys.

Here is a picture of Ben doing his new "cheese" face.  For a mom that likes to take pictures it is great when your kids will finally stop and look at the camera and say cheese at least every once in a while.