Miscellaneous Fall Happenings

Clara had a BIG HUGE family history project for school.  It was intense.  For one part she had to interview a relative.  She interviewed my Grandmother.  With the help of cousin Trevor we Skyped one evening with her.  I love her.  She is wonderful.  

 The boys designed and made a booby trap for air soft battles:

 The basement got painted:

 Clara's girl scout troop planned a toiletries drive for the homeless shelter.  When they delivered the goods they got a tour and learned about homelessness, and what programs our shelter has to help families get back on their feet.  It was a really cool experience:

 The kids were going skiing or sledding and laid out their clothes.  Looked like a crime scene:

 We picked up some paintings from a local gallery.  They day we got them they were setting up for a show by artist John Salminen.  We LOVED his stuff and ended up getting this piece of the Manhattan Bridge.  

 Took the kids to Riverdance.  It seemed like it was going to be kind of cheesy.  But we all really loved it.  It was great.

 For my friend Diane's birthday we went to a painting class.  It was fun.  You can tell one of us is actually an artist and one of us isn't:

 Shannon and Dave:

 Kent and Diane:

Clara's heritage project culminated in a class feast where everyone had to bring in a dish from a country where their ancestors are from.  Clara brought in ebelskivers:

 I'm Clara's troop leader this year and they earned their Brownie Quest Journey which took a few months!  Exciting:

 This was our basement the day before all our company started to pour in during Thanksgiving week!  Yikes!!!!