December

 Beautiful sisters!

Sometimes even the teenage boy needs to cuddle

I took my piano students to share their Christmas music with the residents of the nursing home where Gramma lived.  Bridgette joined the program playing a Christmas carol on her violin.  

Bridgette is excited for basketball season to start!  She got a one-on-one training session through the AAU team Rooke played for last year and soaked up all the coaching.

Gretchen and her bestie passing out programs before their school Christmas concert

Vallerie and the girls set up a table of their crafts and artwork at the Cheverly Christmas market.  It's become a fun tradition! 

Candy Cane Cookies!

Double-date with dear friends to celebrate both of our anniversaries, which are weeks apart

Let's Go Panthers!  Rooke's team has had a great season

She continues to enjoy piano lessons via Zoom with Kaye K!

Grateful for Big Brother taking Bridgette to her violin lesson on a day when family schedules were extra crazy

This beauty turned 15!!!

Family lunch after church to celebrate Gretchen, then a trip to Claire's to get her gift: a second ear-piercing 

One of the many reasons I love the Christmas season =)

My final homeschooling student and I took a mid-day field trip to the Botanical Gardens to see the Christmas train display

Forced Family Fun: tickets to a G-League game to see the local team play.  Thank you, VetTix!

One of the hot games during the Christmas break was Settlers

Our favorite: Christmas Eve pajamas from Grammy Deb!

Stockings on Christmas morning!

Santa Payne =)

Showing off some of his new stuff

Merry Christmas from the Paynes!

November

We voted!  My first time to vote In Person (previous voting has always been via mail-in ballot)

Not sure what they were watching, but they were entertained

School at Starbucks?!  Yes, please =)

Rooke's team faced off with another team, including two players Rooke previously played with on his first AAU team.  It was fun to see Rooke tip-off against his former teammate

This is what I packed for Rooke to take on a full day of school, afternoon volunteer tutoring, and an away game.  Feeding the Man Child is no small task!

The guys traveled for a belated 16-birthday gift to Rooke: tickets to see the Hornets play in their home arena in Charlotte, NC.  It turned out to be a great game!

Outtakes from our impromptu family "Christmas photo shoot" at our neighbor's house 

Kaye K and Big Daddy came for Thanksgiving!!  We had a great week together, doing all the things, playing all the games, making all the food, watching all the sports - it was fun!

The guys got to see the UMD men play

The girls got to see a performance of the Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center

Food preparations . . .

Feasting!

Adulting!  Celebrating Dad's 70th birthday early with an adult morning out for breakfast and coffee

Here comes Christmas!

October

Happy Fall Y'all!

 

Vallerie treated Bridgette and I to a special day at Lucketts Holiday Market (the perks of homeschooling that we could just take off for the day!).  The weather was perfect for wandering through the beautifully decorated stalls. 

Gretchen went to her school's homecoming dance!  She joined a group of girls from her class to get ready and then I got to drive the lovelies to the dance - so fun!  She had a great time!

Camping weekend for Ryan's birthday!  We were grateful for perfect weather.  We tried a new spot and it ranked pretty high up on our list.

Stopping for a treat before setting up camp.

Happy Halloween!  We hosted our annual party and I did a horrible job of taking photos, but thankfully Vallerie snapped this photo of Bridgette and her friends when they trick-or-treated.  The girls dressed up as "fruit" this year - ha!  Bridgette's the only one left who is still trick-or-treating.  The older two opted to watch a scarp movie with friends while mostly the adults hung out at our house.

September

Gretchen's first day of high school!  We are thankful for the opportunity she has to attend a classical Christian school with friends.  It's not super close to our house, but also thankful for a good carpool from our neighborhood.

 Bridgette's first day of seventh grade!  She is back at the homeschool co-op we were part of two years ago.  We're both grateful to be back in that community and she is ready to tackle the Logic years.

Gretchen began running more over the summer and decided to try running a 5K race raising money for a teen pregnancy clinic.  She did great!

Getting out for a hike on Saturday

Four out of five Paynes are big fans of basketball!  Thanks to VetTix, we've been able to enjoy a lot of local games, including Bridgette and I getting to see the Mystics play.

Then . . . we scored five (nosebleed - ha!) tickets to see another WNBA game: Mystics vs. Fever - woohoo!!  Forced Family Fun for some, but a great night and we were part of a record-breaking crowd . . . so many people at the game!

We are grateful for Rooke's school basketball coach; he is patient and encouraging with our Big Red player.

An early birthday present for Ryan: tickets for the two of us to see Sigur Ros play at The Anthem.  A fun night of beautiful music.