CRAZY BUSY!

It's been a crazy, busy couple of weeks. I really don't think we could have packed anymore into them if we needed to! This week has been quite busy too, but as we approach the end it is slowing down a bit. Jason and Kyle leave tomorrow morning to go pheasant hunting in Valley City, ND. They will be gone through next Tuesday. It is usually a family trip, but because it's such a spendy trip, we decided that Kory and I will stay home this time. So I'm not sure what we will do, but it will be nice to have a weekend with nothing planned!

I started a new job as the administrative assistant for North Central Wisconsin's FCA program. I can do it from home and it is only 5 hours a week. So far I have easily fit the hours in between being in the boys' classrooms, a weekly bible study and helping out at MOPS twice a month. And, a little extra cash doesn't hurt. :-)

Jason has been as busy as ever. He is still out of the office more than he is in the office on the road driving from project to project for meetings and such. He was up and at 'em at 4 this morning because he needed to be in Eau Claire by 6:30. Yuck! He definitely needs a break and his hunting trip will be a nice little vacation.

Well we managed to fit a family photo shoot into our busy lives last weekend. My good friend, Emily, took them. She is awesome! Here are a few of the shots...there are so many goods ones it's hard to choose!

I hope that this post finds you all doing well and enjoying the fall colors and weather. Take care and God bless!

Mrs. Lewis' class to the apple orchard

I went along with Kory's class to the apple orchard yesterday. It was a very cold, windy day but the orchard was still beautiful despite the weather. We went on a hayride around the orchard and Helene explained what she and her husband need to do each day and year to make the apples grow. It was pretty interesting. All of the kids were able to fill a bag with apples they picked from the trees. Kory brought home 1/4 peck of apples that amounted to I believe 9 apples. He has already eaten two. He won't let anyone touch the one's that are left. Last night he was ready for daddy to make an apple pie with them, but we'll see what today brings!








All of the leaves are changing here and the landscape looks so beautiful so...Jas and I are taking the boys on a drive tomorrow after football. We are going to hit an apple orchard on the way up north. We have yet to drive "up north" so it should be fun to explore the small towns while enjoying the fall colors.

Football Season

Kyle is playing tackle football for the first time this year...yikes! As a mother, I questioned the sanity of myself when saying "yes" to such a thing. Yes, it is okay for other boys (most of which have a couple inches on and outweigh Kyle by 10 pounds) to smash you into the ground! So every Tues. and Thurs. it's off to practice for 1.5 hours. Then every Saturday morning it's up and at 'em and off to the field by 9:45 where Kyle positions are...tight-end on offense and cornerback on defense. (Please don't ask me what either of these positions are suppose to do!) They have played 4 games...won 2 and lost 2 and they have 3 games left. He is enjoying it so much...now if only we could pack on the pounds :)

So serious...a football player must not smile!

The Ravens

A couple of action shots

Tomorrow's game time temperature is suppose to be a balmy 45 degrees! However, I have a feeling it won't even be that warm. I guess I'll be dragging out the winter jacket for this one.

Kory's first lost tooth!

Hooray! Kory has officially joined the Loosing Teeth Club. He has had a couple a loose teeth for quite awhile now, but is so unlike his brother in the fact that HE DOESN'T WIGGLE THEM! So...what's the result....they just sit there just a "little" loose for months! Maybe being in school and the periods of time throughout the day that he needs to just be still that has prompted the "wiggling" because yesterday he came home from school with this request..."Mom, I need you to pull out my tooth." Well I don't touch loose teeth with a 10 foot pole...gag...ack...cough...cough... they completely disgust me so he patiently waited until dad got home from work and PRESTO is was out. He was a little disturbed with the blood that came afterwards, but overall did quite well, just had to keep asking, "Will it stop bleeding?" (Because it bled for a whole minute!). So here begin the days of gaping holes in his mouth and the awkward slow progress of his permanent teeth coming in...you know the time when all children look like some sort of version of a hillbilly.

I hope all of you are enjoying your September. Drop us a line when you can...we'd love to hear from you.

The First Day of School...

Yippee....Yahoo....Yay.....Hurray....are their any other words to describe the elation of the first day of school (this includes mom too!)? You know the summer needs to come to an end when instead of hearing happy laughter and excited plans of what they are planning to do together...your days frequently start with this..."Stop it Kory!" or "Mom, Kyle keeps yelling at me." or "Kory get off of me." or "Kyle why won't you play with me?" The boys have reached the point of too much togetherness! I just can't believe the time is already here. I know we had summer, but I truly do not know exactly what we did to make it fly by. It seems like just yesterday Jason and I we boarding a plane and heading off to Hawaii! Oh how I long to be back on the white sandy beaches! Anyway, we are back in the grind of schedules and routines and before we know it this school year will too be over.

All set to go...

My 1st grader...hard to believe...he was just born, right?!

5th grade...yikes!

And they're off!

Well, I am all set to enjoy the beginning of 9 months of liberation!!!!!

Last Day of Summer...

This year we decide to take in Wausau's Labor Day parade! Some friends of ours live right on the parade route so we hung out in their front yard and watched four marching bands, numerous politicians, tractors, monster trucks and a bazillion police cars and fire trucks pass by. And, of course, came home with two bagfuls of candy...yippee!Kory and Hannah patiently waiting for the parade to start

Wausau West High School Marching band

Hannah and Kyle...the parade is almost over!

After last week's craziness, it was nice to have a relaxing long weekend at home just chillin' as a family and hanging out with friends.

Speaking of last week...Jason was in Portland, OR for work so the boys and I visited with Grandma and Grandpa...here are some shots of the time spent with them.

A simple photo shoot

Yesterday was a gorgeous day so I decided to bring my amateur photographer self out in our backyard to take some photos of me and the boys...so here the best of them! (Seriously, Nichole where are you when I need you?! I miss your "eye".)

One sunny summer day....

The boys decided one day last week to pull out the blankets and the portable DVD player, grab a snack (bananas and yogurt) and head outside to watch a movie. AND...of course, it had to be in the front yard where everyone will drive by and wonder what they are looking at under that pillow!

Where has the summer gone?

I apologize for being sparse in my posts. This summer has been crazy busy and I have had barley enough time to sleep. So what's been going on? The biggest project has been helping my friend with her wedding planning. And, on August 2nd, all of the hard work and effort paid off...the wedding was beautiful. Mixed in between the wedding planning has been landscaping, soccer games, a trip to Grandma's and Grandpa's and most recently a visit from my sister and her family. So here's a view photos of our crazy summer...

Landscaping before...

Landscaping after

SOCCER

While my sister was here, we took the kids to Clay Corner Studio. It's a place where you pick out a piece of pottery and paint it...so here they are hard at work...

Kyle

Kory

Brian

Blaine

Kayla

The time with them is always too short, but the kids certainly made the most of it...riding bikes, shooting marshmallows with their marshmallow shooters, playing PS2 and Wii, catching frogs and toads...the list could go on forever! I don't think they sat still the whole time, except while eating and that was questionable at times!

My mom so enjoys spending time with all of her grandchildren together. Here she is with the whole crew...

(L to R - Blaine 10 1/2, Kyle 10 1/2, Kayla, 13, Grandma, Kory, 6 1/2 & Brian, 9)

It's always a must when Tara and I are together that we take a "sisters" photo. It's fun to look back to each year and see how we've changed...probably won't enjoy that much when we are old and wrinkled :)

Mom and her girls

Now everyone is gone and the house is "quiet". We have about 3 1/2 weeks left before the new school year starts. I think we will try and make the most of what's left and do a few things just as a family.