MO'M's favorite part is the beautiful craftmanship on the wheel. Stennes sure is talented.
Branch practised his APA speech in front of the homeschoolers at our monthly meeting.
He then performed the same speech at competition the next day. It was the first time for him, so he was a bit nervous.
He won fourth place, which was great for a beginner. Next year he'll be even better.
Teresa gave the homeschoolers an interesting class on sugar content in orange drinks. The kids really enjoyed watching, and some were quite shocked as to how much sugar can be hidden in foods and drinks. Yuck!
Stennes discussed his upcoming DPA competition. This will be a MAJOR competition for him, Levi, Josiah, and Anders (individually). They have a lot of hard work to do before the end of January. Busy, busy, busy...Each boy discussed a bit of what he'll be doing in his particular field of competition.
The Girl thoroughly enjoyed her out-of-state female!!!! cousins for a few days. The sweet girl below flew in to Tallahassee on a private plane piloted by her father. Just the four family members on one sweet little plane. Isn't that fun?
She served up many "delicacies" in her restaurant while The Girl provided the ambiance with beautiful music. Branch was the lucky recipient of the yummy (albeit plastic) food.
We attended two family reunions on Thanksgiving Day, as has been our family tradition for many, many years. The kids enjoyed a rousing game of soccer. Gotta burn off all those calories, ya know!
The moms and some of the older folks opted to watch and chat instead of playing. Smart idea!
The Girl enjoyed her cousins' attention. These two lovely ladies stayed next door with Teresa with their parents and brother. They are just genuinely as sweet as can be. 
And The Girl's close companion again, this time without her tray of goodies. These two giggled until very early in the morning, the two nights they shared together...
ChubChub climbed posts. Literally.
After the game, the boys were quite sweaty and winded. They thoroughly enjoyed "cousin time".
They then walked home together and talked, talked, talked. What a great bunch of kids!
We got together for a bit of music after a few hours of rest.
The Girl was "plain tuckered out", so she fell asleep on Mean Ol' Mama for a little while. How she could sleep with all the noise and people is an indication of her late night giggling...
The three Tenneseans performed an excellent trio. It's amazing what talents we all have within our small family.
We ended up the evening roasting giant (yes, GIANT!) marshmallows out on the bonfire. It was quite cozy. The kids all wanted to sing some more, so it was a sweet time for all of us. Uncle Bob (on the end in the photo) and Aunt Barbara came in from Togo, Africa, and we were glad to see them, listen to his accordion playing, and enjoy the interesting talks about their life overseas.
One final family photo before everyone heads home. Boo hoo!
ChubChub and his cousin (same age) didn't want to come down from the tree! She cried when they drove away, and ChubChub grieved as well.
Branch celebrated his 10th birthday. He was excited about all his gifts, especially his satchel from MO'M.
He received his personalized Bible from Pop that all the kids receive on their 10th birthday. He was glad to see his name in print on the front!
Sorry for the small photo here. It was taken on a cell phone camera by Guy Kelly, who was hunting with the fellows when Poppins shot a deer for the freezer.
We have a lot going on down here in Georgia. The gardens in the raised beds are beginning to grow a bit; College should be finished this week; competitions are coming up; Josiah plays cello for the College on Thursday; there are two band concerts the next two Mondays; at least five Christmas concerts for the family (that we know of); cooking for parties; and hopefully making sweet memories. We'll keep you posted. 
