Home Group Christmas Party

We hosted our home group's Christmas party this year to give the Gates a break. We did it pot-luck style, with tasty appetizers, cheesy potatoes, spinach and raisins, corn on the cob, chicken pesto pasta, German chocolate pie, ice cream, and berries. Add to that plenty of wine, egg nog, mulled apple cider, gifts for the kids (thanks, Julia!), a fun white elephant game, and good conversation.... The perfect way to get the holiday season kick-started!

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Next Step U

It started out as an innocent enough side project-- Eunice and Maggie volunteered to help our church put together a day of community classes (which Ryan cleverly named "Next Step U"). Hundreds of hours later, there was a high-class logo, advertisements running during the weekly service, gourmet lunch and beverages, dozens of volunteers and attendees, outsourced childcare, and a fantastic curriculum of how to take the "next step" in your spiritual journey.

The day was a smashing success-- we actually had the chance to sit down to think and talk like adults for a change, discussing subjects that don't get enough mind-share in our daily craziness. We attended a morning class exploring the intersection of social justice and faith, took a nice lunch break with the kids, and then rounded out the afternoon with a turbo-speed class on reading the Bible for all its worth, taught by our good friends Phil and Kevin. Eunice managed to rope our daycare providers in as childcare workers, so our boys had a fantastic time too!

ODC Launch

At long last, the church we've been attending for over a year (Open Door Church San Mateo) which had been renting space from Aragon High School, finally moved into a newly remodeled permanent space at 4150 Piccadilly Lane near El Camino Real and 42nd Ave.

ODC's grand opening launched with a fun block party that highlighted local merchants and featured, much to Spencer's delight, a jumpy house! Spencer and Tyler especially loved their new nursery and pre-school rooms, which contained some fantastic toys for them to play with.

This photo below doesn't look like Spencer at all, but we thought we'd include it so you could catch a glimpse of what he's going to look like when he's an awkward 13 year old with braces. :)

Our Little Tiger

After waffling back and forth all afternoon, Spencer finally decided he wanted to get his face painted while we were at our church picnic. He asked to be a tiger. Here are the results:

We love his expression in this photo - it's so...Spencer!

Spencer's attempt at a snarl...

Jen Quan, our friend and face painter, claims she learned how to do this a few hours earlier by watching youtube videos. We find that pretty hard to believe... We'll definitely be showing up on her doorstep for help with the boys' Halloween costumes next year!

Earlier in the afternoon, we took our turn getting a family portrait taken. Here, Spencer helps dad out with his wardrobe.

And the ridiculous end result...

Somehow, our kids ended up looking normal, and we ended up looking like goofballs. How did that happen? Perhaps that's closer to reality than we'd like to admit! :)