Super Thanksgiving Doorbuster Mega Post!

Welcome to the Super Thanksgiving Doorbuster Mega Post, which I'm cheating way back to the end of November to disguise the fact that I'm actually posting it in March 2013!

We had such a great Thanksgiving and it's a shame that it took me 4 months to put it on the blog. Anyway, here it is!

There are so many pics, it's almost impossible in this new Blogger interface to caption them all.... I think I'll summarize here at the beginning and let you take in the pics, hopefully with some idea of what's going on in them.

Of course we prepared the turkey and tables... then everyone ate and took the annual Star Wars quiz.  Jason was the winner - he won a Star Wars Lightsaber Pen!

Things really got rolling with the first ever Alff Thanksgiving Talent Show.  Everyone had something to contribute, including a trumpet solo, paper airplane demo, flute, piano and drum solos, dramatic readings, riddles, stories, origami, nose and ear wiggling, and Fosse Fingers!

Then the kids went outside and it was time for the sing-along.

After that... the annual end-of-the-evening Ross Family Photo, interrupted by Deacon, Maren, and in his Ross Family Photo debut, Jason in the finale pic.

Sorry to caption this way but otherwise I don't know if I'd ever, ever get this post up!

Happy Thanksgiving, a week or so away from Easter 2013!

Here are the pics!

If the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, what's the day BEFORE Thanksgiving?

Well, here are a few pics from Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving.

Derek and Grandma are the horn section!

Of course Grandma is multi-talented... here she is making pies with Maren.

And here she is giving Deacon a haircut!

Check back very soon for full coverage of Thanksgiving 2012!

Deacon's Class in the News!

Well, Deacon's class is on the cover of this... newspaper? What do you call these publications that are mostly advertising but they have news, too? A circular?  Anyway, now I can't find a picture of the cover online, so I put the actual paper on my dryer and took a picture:






















Deacon, not smiling:


You can read the article here, on the Tolucan Times website.

Fun Fest 2012: Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Life!

Disney may own Indiana Jones now, but that didn't stop us from using the iconic character as our inspiration for Fun Fest 2012. Thanks to Andrew Rog of Cross Eyed Photography for most of these pics!

Indy tends to find himself having to examine issues of spirituality more often than he likes. This provided many storytelling opportunities for Derek as he constructed the script for the epic 17 minute skit.

The crew! They've had a combined total of 2.5 hours of sleep in the past 4 days.

Azerbaijan, 1935

The show starts with Indy in a familiar predicament, this time with his sidekick Sanjay. Despite her tough demeanor and large authentic Thompson submachine gun pointed at the guys, the lovely Fatima cuts the ropes and gives them a clue that will help them later on.

Sanjay, helping Indy find the Fountain of Life.

Sanjay tells Indy the important clue given to him by Fatima.

And accidentally sets fire to a spider web, which contains another clue! After this, a confetti cannon sprayed plastic spiders all over the crowd!

Sanjay has a talent for seeing the future. He sees Calvary... Calvary Chapel Burbank! He suddenly sees the gathered crowd and hands out candy to the kids.

Back to his adventure... Indy and Sanjay take cover as a massive rock slide threatens to bury them!

It turns out Sanjay drank some poisoned water earlier in the show and isn't feeling very good.

Indy finds the "Fountain of Life," which is revealed to be out of order. He has no choice but to humble himself and reluctantly say a prayer for Sanjay.

His prayer is answered as, with God's help, he puts the gathered clues together to discover that if he strikes a nearby rock, life-saving water will save Sanjay's life.

Sanjay awakens and the men walk into the sunset, with Sanjay discussing Indy's need to look into the biblical account of the Ark of the Covenant - unbeknownst to Indy, the subject of the next big adventure in his career.

Derek and Steve, ready for Fun Fest 2013.

Here are a few cast/crew pics!

I'm not sure who to credit for this, but someone cut together a two minute summary of the show, which you can view here, on the CCB website.

The show is also available for your viewing pleasure on the TV in our living room.

October 2012 is in the books! On to November!

The END of October - Part 1

October has finally come to an end!

October 31st was full of activity. The kids had the day off due to a teachers' conference, so Derek took the day off, too, and everyone had fun.

Except Derek, who was still finalizing things for the Indiana Jones show at Fun Fest.

The kids empty the gunk out of their pumpkins.

Deacon wore his TV costume and tried to maneuver around all the other trick or treaters.

Astronaut Maren

Almost done trick or treating. Deacon ditched the TV and became a field reporter. Jason was a thunderstorm. As his mom said, you have to be a real man to wear that outfit!

Check back soon for AFB coverage of CCB Fun Fest 2012: Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Life!