Fun at Quiz Fest 2009!
So, I am inserting a non-Christmas update blog in the mix here because we had such a big weekend! Madeline's quiz team from church had their annual quiz fest, which made for a very rewarding/exhausting weekend!

Here's our Madeline Rose with her two sweet teammates, ready for the first match of the day on Saturday.

Here's a clip that I took of the girls during a match. You'll have to turn the volume up pretty high to hear it, but I actually caught a streak where they all jumped and answered questions correctly!

The night before Madeline and one of her teammates got to quiz together in the 2 on 2 tournament. It was fast paced and fun to watch. They did great and had fun together. Here they are having some lunch together on Saturday.

Timothy had fun at quiz fest too. He watched a couple matches, but they had a game room, and he spent a lot of his day playing with other kiddos, informing me later that he wants an air hockey table for our house now.

The girls won second place in their tournament that afternoon!

Our NMC boys team brought home the first place trophy from their tournament!

Here are two of our NMC teams right after the awards ceremony with their trophies.
The girls were super excited. They all worked so hard, and each one of them contributed so much to the team. Their interactions are sweet to watch as they cheer each other on and strategize together with their coach.
They thought this placing the trophy on the head of their smallest team member was pretty cute...
until she ended up getting knocked on the noggin.....don't worry....no tears, just lots of laughing.
Here is the team with all the moms and dads. We were maybe a little proud of our girls!

This is Jim, who coordinates the quizzing at NMC and also for our whole region. He has done such an amazing job, and his fuel for doing it is his desire to see the kids hide scripture in their hearts. We are so grateful for his ministry. The battery on my camera was starting to go by the end of the day, so my pictures got progressively fuzzier, but here is one last picture of the kiddos on the way home. Do they look just a little bit excited? They slept well last night!

One other achievement worth noting I won't tell you, but show you...the kids and I have been working on this for the past two weeks during the drive to school. =)

Oh, and just because it was so precious, I have to share Timothy's prayer from dinner tonight. He said, " Dear God, thank you for my family and for our food, and thank you for everyone on this globe, even the USA, and even Alaska, and even Mrs. Garland's brother that lives in Hawaii. AMEN!" He's been learning about maps in school, and his prayers have since had more and more geography in them. I love our little turtle!

OK, that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, thanks for your prayers for our family!

-shannon

Catching up: Installment #2

OK, so the Christmas tree is up...now we need Christmas cookies! Here are Madeline and Timothy working away at the icing while our cut out cookies bake.

We made a ton of cookies!

Here they are cut out, baked and icing ready to go...and that's how they traveled to Ohio with us.
Sunday morning the kiddos went to church with Gramma and Poppy...I know this is not the best picture. They were tired and it was impossible to achieve simultaneous cooperation. But aren't their outfits cute? Timothy's sweater is from Aunt Heather, and so is Madeline's top, a pillowcase dress that Aunt Heather made for her!

Mike and I played hookey (I know, shame shame...) to attend a Browns game. Now before you chastise me, I have to say that this may be one of the most monumental acts of love from wife to husband ever. Sure....it doesn't look sacrficial here when we're all smiles on the way....

But here we are during the game with a windchill down to -25 and gusts of wind up to 45 mph!

Take a look at the stands during third quarter....the place was so empty. "only the committed fans are out today," they kept saying. Well, let me tell you it was the committed fans and their even more committed wives!

Here's our number one Browns fan (decked out in Tarheels gear!) during fourth qaurter. Check out those stands. The game was still going on!

Well, after our hike back to the car, we took awhile to thaw out. Here are some pictures of the thawing process... We did finally warm up, and even had a nice dinner together before heading back home to Mom and Dad Renfrows'. Look who surprised Mom and Dad and made it up for Christmas after all. We love you Matt and Hannah!

Aunt Hannah helped ice our Christmas cookies...look, we even let her use the sprinkles ;) Well, that's all for now!

Catching up: Installment #1
So, we obviously have had a ton of stuff going on, and I have a lot of pictures to add, which is why this lengthy update will come in installments. I am making no guarantee on how many there will be or how soon they will be up, but for now, here is installment number one!

Madeline's December quiz meet went well. She had a lot of fun with her team; they did a great job too!

She had three quiz outs that day. Here she is with one of her buddies after the last match of the day.

And guess who came to see the quiz meet....our favorite little peanut!
We all went to Chuck E. Cheese afterwards and had a great, though extremely overstimulating, time.

In other news, the kid's had a Christmas program at school called "Advent Lessons and Carols" which was a treat to watch, and we enjoyed some cookies and punch afterwards. Here is Madeline with her directress (that is Montessori code for teacher...) The teachers at the school are amazing, every one of them. The kids have been blessed to be in such a loving school.

Having punch and cookies with some of their friends....

The kids with the assistant from Timothy's room. They love her so much!

That evening the kids put on some new jammies and then had a good night of sleep before the last day of school before break.

Pajama day at school! I was volunteering at the school that week and got to help them make cookies that morning...here's some of Madeline's group...

Timothy's group...

Later that day we went ice-skating. Madeline took right to the ice!

Timothy with his directress....I am pretty sure that God brought her to Good Shepherd just for Timothy. She has been such a blessing this year!

Madeline with the assistant from her class...another amazing person that we are thrilled to have our kids spend the day with!

Even I got a pair of skates and ventured out on the ice!

The kids had a blast!

Back at the school warming up with some hot cocoa...

And look! We finally put up our Christmas tree that night =)