Thanksgiving Day Weekend

Sorry, it has taken me so long to get this to post ~ I had a problem getting my photo's to download. Forgive the extra turkey picture - I'm not sure how delete the extra photo.


The boys and I started our vacation days by making our traditional turkeys. Since we were going to spend Thanksgiving at my folks - I didn't have much prep to do at our house. : ) This year, we brought Rick's step-mom along so she wouldn't be alone for the day. She ended up getting sick and went to the ER for the entire day. YUK!


Friday, we took the kids shopping and then to get our tree. Megan begged to stay home. PARTY POOPER!!! Although, we still made her go. We go to a small tree farm across from the Children's Farm. Cheap prices, friendly people, and a short drive. We found our tree rather quickly and we were on our way. Rick & the boys worked on outside lights and we all worked on the inside (well, except Meg).

It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas . ? . ? . ? .

For quite some time now, my boys have been wanting to get out our Christmas decorations. I keep telling them, "No, we always do it after Thanksgiving. So let's wait." In recent days, I have been wanting & needing to go through my Christmas things and purge and re-organize. So yesterday, I told the boys that if they were good and did all of their schoolwork - we COULD get out our Christmas bins. In my mind, I thought this would be a perfect time to purge, sort & re-organize it all. So as I would go through each bin, they would haul them upstairs for me. After a while, I noticed they were taking a while to come back for the next bin - "Humph!", I thought they probably got sidetracked - watching a cartoon or something. No sooner did I think that - and I hear running feet on the floor above. "Mom, come see what we did!" they shouted. I went upstairs to see bin lids strewn everywhere, our Americana decor in a heap on the floor AND the shelves were decorated with Christmas and the stockings were hung with care. And yes, it was just Nov. 20th! I would like to wish you all special memories as you plan and prepare for the upcoming holidays!

Sunday Afternoon with the College Students

Last Sunday (10/19) was our day to host the MBBC college students. We had nine students this time. We love having them over - especially the kids. Normally we play a game or two and then they nap or study. This time Aaron dedicated all of his time to jump on the trampoline, teach the boys to jump onto the swing and took all of them for a bike ride. Melissa (Aaron's girlfriend) - also spent alot of time with Meg. This is the 1st time I didn't get a picture of everyone around the table - Sorry! : (

Cottonwood Airport

Game Time

Edward's Apple Orchard

Time to catch up

I am so far behind in blogging - so please bear with me. I had a difficult time getting my pictures downloaded to the blog - which is unusual. I have been SO over-whelmingly tired and haven't had energy or time to do anything extra. I will post several pictures/slideshows and explain them all to you at one time. So here goes!

COTTONWOOD AIRPORT
Rick & Caleb enjoyed some time at Cottonwood Ariport earlier this month. They have a young eagles program. Caleb got to help fly a small plane and ride in another. They flew over our house - that was really neat for Caleb. This is his new passion.

GAME TIME
My boys have wanted to play the real Monopoly - so here's a few pictures of them playing.

EDWARD'S APPLE ORCHARD
The boys and I really wanted to go to Edward's Apple Orchard, but Megan really didn't want to - so after talking Megan into going -we went. They all fed the goats, the boys tried out all of the tractors more than once, Megan & I worried about the Llama spitting at us, and we all enjoyed an apple critter (the smaller crispy pieces of dough they can't sell as donuts - YUM! They're the best), cider or slush. Meg really enjoyed relaxing in the sun reading the Maranantha Messenger - I guess that's what teens like to do when at the Orchard. : ) I'm glad she finally decided to come with us.

PAGE PARK
Everyone who has grown up around Page Park knows how beautiful the leaves are EVERY fall. It's almost tradition to get pictures in trees and leaves there at Page Park. Here are a few - the ones of the kids in the tree turned out really well - I think!

Fall Pictures at Page Park

Rick's Birthday

Rick turned 41 on Sept. 27th. My folks kept our kids overnight on Fri. the 26th - so we could go see Fireproof. This was such a good movie with a great message. (by the way, it is a 5 buck movie starting tomorrow) I encourage everyone to go if you can. Rick had to work on his birthday - so when he & the kids got home he opened presents and then we went out to Jessica's to celebrate my Gramma's 91st birthday. We all enjoyed a slice of his cake when we got home that night.

Our First Week of School

Phew! We did it! We completed our first week! I am teaching all 3 this year - unlike last year Megan (7th grade) did all of her schooling from a BJU hard drive. Although, for math this year she is using a Saxon Math CD - a teacher introduces/teaches each days lesson, Meg does the work & I check it all and am here if she needs help. She loves English. Caleb (3rd grade) hasn't complained once this week - : ). He really loves learning cursive writing- we tried cursive last year & he just couldn't get the "feel of it". As you can see, Megan complimented him - so he must have done well. He's also learning multiplication! Jacob (1st grade) is really good with numbers. Last year, he made it through 1/2 of the 1st grade Arithmetic book. So he's looking forward to finishing that up & getting into the 2nd grade book. He'll be polishing his reading skills, too. And me - you know where I'll be. : )

Jake made it through!

Yeah, for Jacob! He did it! He started the day out with 3 missing teeth and now he has 7! He was really brave - unlike me. The whole process took less than 45 minutes. Now, Jake's trying to figure out how much money he will after tonight. : ) Thanks to all who prayed for him.

Labor Day '08

Never mind the date on the pictures - it was 9/1/08 when we went to Racine Wi. We love this place. There are so many fun things to do there, but #1 on our list is the beach. It was the hottest day of the summer - 90 degrees! It was a great way to "end" our summer. We also made a stop at our favorite bakery. They make the most delicious Kringles. Yum!

Racine

Prayer . . . and the Lord's leading

I truly am thankful for the Lord's leading in our lives. This past month, has been a month of many decisions. I am grateful for prayer and guidance in planning for a new school year (which curriculum to buy,etc.), direction in finding a new dentist for Jacob, wisdom in a job offer that I was given, and in so many other small areas of life.

Pray for Jacob! I have posted before that Jake has really bad teeth. A year and half ago - Jake had about $3000 worth of work done - 3 silver caps, a few root canals, fillings, etc. YIKES! Poor baby! We didn't have a good experience with the dentist at all. So we never returned. Well, recently Jacob has felt a cavity - so I knew I had to get him in somewhere else. Almost two weeks ago, we were finally able to get him into Dr. Johnson - a really good children's dentist. In my mind, I thought Jake will get his tooth fillled and that'll be all. NOT! He has to have 4 teeth extracted by a oral surgeon, have a root canal, another silver cap, spacers made for the teeth that will be extracted and 2 fillings on the front of 2 teeth. Eeeks! Poor Guy!!! After the extraction, he will have 7 holes in his mouth - because he has lost 3 teeth as well. Thankfully, this time we have insurance that covers a good amount of the cost. Oh, yeah - one of the teeth that will be pulled is one of his silver caps - that's money down the drain. Last year, I even asked if there was anyway we could pull a few of these teeth and the other dentist said, Oh, No they need to be there so the permanent teeth will have room. Someone needs to tell him about spacers.

***Remember, to pray Jake on Tuesday (9/9) at 9:00 AM - and that he will recover quickly.

JURY DUTY

Well, my time has come! I reported to Jury Duty on Tuesday, Sept. 2nd. And of course, I was immediately selected for a civil trial that was expected to last the entire week. : ) My first thought was that I homeschool and where are the kids gonna be all week. My poor mom has not been feeling well (dear old arthritis) but I didn't know what else to do. I really appreciate my folks for keeping our kids. We had delayed our starting school 'til I knew if I was selected or not. The kids were glad to have me serve - they could be at Grandpa & Grandma's and postpone school until next week. : ) Yippeee for them!!! Thankfully, we finished a day early - so I'll have a "long" weekend before school starts. I met a lot of neat people and truly enjoyed my service as a juror.

Dawson's Baptism

Dawson Bruce Berg was baptized today at St. Mary's Church
in Oregon, IL. Dawson is David & Cari's 1st child.

Our new bunny

Last weekend, we got a new bunny. She is a 9 week old 1/2 New Zealand & 1/2 mini lop. We haven't decided on a name yet. Megan calls her Bunny & Jake & I call her Miss Daisy. We may need some recommendations for her new name.

Winnebago County Fair

Saturday afternoon, we went to the Fair. We all rode some rides and got some delicious snacks. Jacob got cotton candy, Megan got a large corn dog and we all shared a funnel cake. It was a beautiful, sunny day - in the mid 80's. Jacob kept asking to go on all of the big rides. You can see him and Rick on the ball of fire in the 2nd set of seats. He's always been a "dare devil". A fun time was had by all.