Champions!

Sorry - this post was all written and then Amy just forgot to hit the "post" button - so now it is a whole week late!  So it'll be a two post weekend (assuming we don't forget to hit the post button again!)

Zachary's football team, the Wolverines, have finished the season undefeated!  Congratulations guys!  It was super exciting to see them finish without losing - Zachary did a great job as quarterback!  He got several touchdowns himself, even though he was the QB as well - good job man!

We had a super fun weekend, deciding to go to the zoo in the morning on Sabbath to enjoy the perfect fall weather.  It was so awesome - not crowded, not hot (and thus the animals were very active!!), and perfect family time.



An unusual moment - cooperating with mom in taking a picture!

Riding the tire swing!  More cooperation with looking and nice smiles???  How can this be?!

Apparently it was a day to play the lottery, because this many picture with the kids looking and smiling nicely is amazing!

Riding high...  This is "no shave November" so check out Karis' full on beard!

No zoo trip would be complete without a train ride - and even better yet, we still had some leftover passes from their birthdays last year so the ride was free!!

After the zoo, we jumped into the van and headed out to Chapin Station park where we spent the afternoon in fellowship with friends - perfect day for a picnic lunch!  The dads played soccer with the kids as the afternoon wore on, which delighted all of them! 

Looking down as Addi takes on the big kids slide....the little slide is for babies!!

And then Bossy Bessy (aka Addison) demanded that her mother follow her down the slide! :)

After such a full day and no afternoon nap, it took about 2 seconds for Addison to fall asleep in the car!

Trying to get the soccer ball past Karis!

The Z-parents ended the evening with a concert with a work colleague at his church - Lewis.  We've been to their church one other time a few years ago to hear Meredith Andrews - it was so good, it is still a highlight in our memories!  This evening was a blessing as well - although it started off oddly with the first band being heavy rock....and while we've all had times in our life when we've listed to hard rock, it wasn't expected at this time in our lives AND at church!  But the lead singer did have a good message, and talked about having the boldness of Elijah that he could confidently proclaim without doubt that God would rain down fire from heaven....wouldn't it be awesome if we all were that bold?  The main singer though was Audrey Assad, and it was beautiful music, and a beautiful worship.  At the end, she had the audience singing a well-known worship song with her, and as the song drew to an end, she stopped playing the piano and it became a capella.....and then she took her mike off and she walked off the stage as the audience kept singing the rest of the song bringing glory to God.  It was amazing.....it felt truly like the whole point of her concert was to worship God...not to bring glory to herself.  Well done - so impactful!


Phrase of the week:  Mommy, pony!  This is Addison directing her mother that she must have a pony-tail of some sort!  :)   The other thing that she's started this week is to say "Frog....Mommy......Sing!"  This turns into the Old McDonald song, because what other song can you incorporate a frog and its sound into!?  So demanding this child - we've begun to call her Bossy Bessy! :)