Halloween

We sure had lots of fun on Halloween this year! We trick-or-treated in our neighborhood for about an hour with our cousins & then went over to our friends' house to party and do more trick-or-treating. Isaiah was disappointed that he didn't get to give out candy at our house, so I promised him that, next year, he and I would trick-or-treat for a little bit & then give out candy for the rest of the time. What a sweetie!

Fall 2009

Well, so much has happened over the past few months, I don't even know where to begin...Elias turned 7 on August 17 and had 2 friends come over to spend the night. We went & saw a movie & then went back home for a party. I made him an R2-D2 cake & we had a fun night!



















Simeon turned 9 on August 26 and had a party similar to Elias'. He had 2 friends spend the night, we went to a movie & ate pizza. He, however, asked for Chocolate Chip Cupcakes instead of a cake. It was lots of fun!













The boys started school...Isaiah in Kindergarten, Elias in 1st grade & Simeon in 3rd.
























The boys played Upward Flag Football and enjoyed it very much. They all improved so much! By the end of the season, Simeon was making some pretty amazing plays (stiff arms, jumping over people, throwing touchdown passes to his cousin, just to name a few), Elias was making touchdowns, Isaiah was learning the plays (and stopped chewing on his flags!). It was a great season and so much fun to see the boys play! Here are Isaiah, Simeon & Elias playing....



































We also had some fun at the pumpkin patch. We went to the ISU patch and then to Rader's Farm in Normal. The kids found pumpkins, scarecrows, and even had their faces painted!


















































We carved our pumpkins for Halloween...each boy had his own ideas for what his pumpkin should look like...of course!

End of Summer...beginning of TRANSITIONS!

Well, the end of summer is upon us & we are sad. We went to the pool today for one last hurrah before it closes...we won't have any time to go again before Monday. We had fun with the cousins, so it was a good day. Kristi has been spending much of this week at work. She's had tons of Unit 5 New Teacher Orientation meetings and has some more training tomorrow. We're looking forward to going out on the boat on Friday with the boys & doing some tubing in Clinton. Elias has his 7th birthday on Monday, so he is excited about having a few friends come & spend the night on Friday night. He has big plans! Kristi officially starts her employment as a Normal Community West High School teacher on Monday...go Wildcats:)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All 3 boys will be starting school on Wednesday (Simeon-3rd grade; Elias-1st grade; Isaiah-kindergarten). They're not very excited about summer ending, but they'll get used to school again & we'll fall into some kind of routine. This year will be a very interesting year...lots of changes! Pray with us that we'll make this huge transition with ease!

Just a few more pictures

Isaiah fell asleep right before the wedding...as we were lining up!!! It was probably better though as he did his job as ring bearer much better after getting a little nap in! Caroline's dressed & ready to get married!



Caroline's wedding was a lot of fun...as you can see from these pictures!

Here we are, being silly sisters, me fixing her corset back, and then getting a sister picture.









Ben & I had to have a picture, too!










Adam can't take a good picture...he always has to screw it up with his dumb faces!

Caroline gets Married!

We arrived around 11:30 to help set up the church for the reception. The boys got in on the action & helped with chairs, silverware, candles, etc.

The rehearsal was a lot of fun. Each of the boys got in some good, quality time with the family!
Isaiah is pictured with Uncle Adam, Simeon with Papa & Elias with Aunt Petie.









The rehearsal dinner was fun...a Mickey Mouse cake always makes for a fun time:)

Fishing With the Family - First Time Summer 09

Elias out-fished Jason...tee hee! We had lots of fun on the boat. The boys like eating snacks (sometimes they'd rather do that than fish, but not Elias!).

Black Eye #3...or is it #4?

Well, summer has started off with yet ANOTHER black eye for Isaiah...he was at the library and he and his cousin, Kyler, bonked heads. A black eye for Aunt Caroline's wedding!

As you may know, Jason just returned a few weeks ago from his first mission trip. He went to the Dominican Republic. While there, the group held sports camp for teens, fed children at feeding centers, and had a Men's Adventure weekend. 9 men accepted Christ as their Savior as a result of the weekend & were baptized. Awesome!