Dec. 2018

Preschool
Nova's preschool had a special day where family members could come.  The older kids didn't have school that day, so Aria joined Tara and hung out with Nova.  (The boys went to a friend's house).

Mini Golf

Ryzen had been asking very politely for several days to go out mini-golfing, so we were able to find a little time and took him to Putters.  When Zade heard Ryzen and I were going, he decided to get in on the action too.  

Lego Class

Tara was able to get Zade's school to start up an after-school Lego class.  He has been very excited, and loves building there. 

At home, Zade even made this nice sign for Ryzen.

Family move
My sister Kari just bought a new house.  While she was moving in, we took her kids out to Chuck E Cheese.

Afterward, we went to see the lights at the Oregon Garden.

Basketball Game
The youth in our church went to a UO women's basketball game, and since Tara serves as a counselor for Young Women, she got to go with them.  When Tara came home, she told me she actually had a good time.  I was pleasantly surprised, as she's not one for watching sports.

Family comes to town
Tara's sister & her family came to visit around the holidays.

The kids had a good time and built a pirate ship!

Then my sister and her kids came from Florida, and the rest of my family joined us to celebrate Dwight and Dean's birthdays.

Christmas Eve
The kids were all so excited for Christmas, that they wanted to all sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve.  While Tara and I were downstairs, they hauled mattresses and blankets into our room and setup shop.   By the time we realized what they'd done, it was just too costly to try and undo it. So we let them stay.

Family Pics 2018

Nov 2018

Zade has been working hard on practicing piano and is getting ready good at playing several songs, including the theme song from the Lego movie.  

Occasionally, Aria asks me to teach her some guitar.  We work until her fingers start to hurt. 

RAST Conference
I went to the Review of Accounting Studies conference, which was held at Notre Dame.   I got experience Mass in the basilica, and see a mural of what they refer to as "touchdown Jesus", which you can actually see from inside the football stadium.

Silver Creek Falls
We went on our annual pilgrimage to Silver Creek Falls.  Given how dry it's been this year, the water levels were pretty low, but it was still fun.

Gearing up for Thanksgiving, we collected a bunch of leaves that had fallen from the trees in our yard and wrote on them all the things we're thankful for.

After nearly a year of badgering us, we finally got Aria her own phone.  Fortunately, it has a lot of parental controls, which hopefully will help her learn to use it responsibly.  She certainly loves taking selfies with it though. :)  Here she is with her friend Emma.

Our poor cat Azure was wheezing pretty bad, and we thought it might be the end of the line for her.  We took her to the vet and found out that she had a bad cold and a urinary tract infection.  Fortunately, after some medicine she's recovered and seems to be as good as new.  

 Here's Aria in one of her dance costumes.  Her dance team got to go to various schools throughout the city and perform a few routines.

Thanksgiving
My parents were kind enough to stay the night at our house before Thanksgiving, so that Tara and I could get up Thanksgiving morning and do the Turkey Trot (~4 miles.)  I helped pace Tara and she was able to run close to an 8 minute mile on average.

As in years past, we got together with my extended family and the Myrolds.  Here's some of the lovely food everyone brought.

After a hearty meal, everyone played a bunch of games.

Aria's dance team performed the Nutcracker.  She had a lot of fun with all her different dances, which ranged from ballet, contemporary, hip hop, etc.

When the kids had a day off school, Tara took them to see the new Grinch movie.  They were pretty stoked!

Ryzen talked us into getting an Elf on the Shelf, and ever since he's been super motivated to be helpful, so that the Elf reports good news to Santa.  He's hoping it translates into getting a nice remote controlled car for Christmas. :)

Rather than cut down a Christmas tree this year, we decided to try something different.  We went to a nursery and got a potted Nordmann Christmas tree, which we will plant in our yard in the spring.

Tara felt that our house wasn't very festive, so we decided to get some decorations. :)