Fukuda Sensei visits

Our pastor from Tokyo was in America in October and flew home through Denver to spend a few days with us. The time was short, but very sweet. It was so good to connect with him and have him in our new home. We miss him and his family terribly so it was nice to have a piece of Tokyo with us. Shortly after he returned to Tokyo he suffered a severe stroke in his brain. By God's grace his sister, who was his nurse, caught it in time. He is completely healed and this is nothing but a miracle. We praise God for this man, his wife, and their friendship to us and that his work will continue in Tokyo. While he was here, we took him on a hike in downtown Boulder through the flat irons and out to lunch on Pearl Street. In the evening we had our new pastor in Lafayette and his wife over for dinner so they could meet each other. It was a fabulous 48 hours of fellowship together.

Halloween 2016

We enjoyed our first ever real trick or treat in America in our new neighborhood. Some friends from church came over for a chili dinner, and the dads took our boys and their kids trick or treating. They live on a farm and do not have a neighborhood to trick or treat in. Miss M went with her neighborhood friends and a few moms. My friend and I sat on the porch and passed out candy while chatting and drinking a pumpkin ale. It was so much fun and the kids had an awesome time. We had so much candy but it was fun and worth it. I loved watching Miss M and her friends trade in the driveway when they came home as it brought back fond memories of when I was a kid. We really do live in an awesome community. Everyone is new and they want to meet other people. It is a very safe and kid friendly community and reminds me a lot of the neighborhood lifestyle I grew up in. Miss M was Anna from Frozen, the K Man was a star wars stormtrooper, and the J man was a pumpkin that we used for Miss M when she was his age.

October and November Scrapbook Day 2016

I am clearly behind on the blog. For some reason my Ipad is not letting me access the site and I rarely have time to sit at the home computer. It is much easier for me to do a quick entry on the ipad so that is why you have not seen much of me lately. Since I have a list a mile long of blog entries I decided to combine our October and November scrapbook days. The October scrapbook day fell on a Sundays. Sundays are fairly busy for us in the morning as husband helps with set up at church. By the time we get home from church, we typically want to relax and rest to get ready for a new week. Our October Sunday was no exception. On this particular Sunday, I took Miss M to a Lantern Festival organized for homeschool families. We were supposed to go as a family but the K Man came down with a fever so we had a mother daughter date. Sadly the wind kicked in towards the end and we were not able to launch the lanterns, but we had fun together exploring a new area. For November, scrapbook day fell on a Wednesday. Wednesdays we do not have any activities besides school. We spent our morning in school and our afternoon playing. Miss M likes to countdown until her friends get home from school so she can join the neighborhood community. On this particular day we found the J Man in the sink as we were finishing up school. He is a climber and he gets into everything. Our typical sitter was sick this day so he was left on his own while we did school and he made his way to the sink. I am lucky he did not turn on hot water or find a knife! Here are some recent pics of the kids...clearly they are growing and are a lot of fun right now.

Fall Fun

This past weekend we had the perfect fall Saturday. We enjoyed football with the K man in the morning. Then we visited the local pumpkin patch. There are several to choose from in the area but we went with the one that is free. The kids loved picking out their pumpkin, trying to find their way out of the corn maze, and the hay ride. After lunch at home we watched football,enjoyed pot roast and apple crisp for dinner, and watched Inside Out for a family movie night. It was the perfect fall day with beauitiful weather, leaves changing, outdoor activity, and family togetherness. 

Grandma and Pawpa Visit Colorado

This past weekend my parents came to visit from Kentucky and see our new home here in Colorado. The trip and jet lag to mountain time was a bit easier for them than going to Tokyo. We had a great time showing them around our area and tried some new things together. We loved Sunflower farm and will probably go back one more time before the end of the season. We ate at a local restaurant called The Post for the first time. We also ventured up to Lily Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park and enjoyed a beautiful drive with the aspens changing colors to a beautiful bright yellow. It was a fun visit with family. 

Little House on the Prairie

On Wednesday we took a field trip to the Walker Ranch, up thick in the mountains outside of Boulder, to experience life in the 1800s like Laura Ingles would have experienced. The drive was up and up and up until we came upon a beautiful open piece of land. The kids saw a one room school room, a blacksmith at work, and learned how they washed clothes, cooked, and ironed back in these days. It was a lot of fun and a great experience to meet other homeschool families.