Indy Zoo

Thanks for sharing the day with us Kip's!

a day at Grandma's

  We decided it was time to spend some quality time together at Grandma's. In the past, we have gotten together as a family often, but now it seems like it is too many family schedules and too many children. We met in August before Cole started school. Yes, I am very late in getting these done. Christmas is coming and I must get caught up. (it's awful to start the year behind)  :)

The children have so much fun playing in the "playhouse" at mom and dad's.

Mom grew most of her garden on fences this year. It turned out pretty neat! Here are a few watermelons just hanging out.

Camen thought Olivia was the "baby." Olivia was not so sure about him, but it was pretty cute. She tolerated him for a little bit anyway.

The "new-old" mommies! Yes, we have (had) two new babies coming to join our family! Praise God!

Camille and Bri are cousin friends. They wanted me to take this picture. So sweet and so fun to see their relationship grow.

This would be the Schaurer family stuck in here. We celebrated Dad's 85th Birthday together at Ruby Tuesday's.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Psalms 19:1

One Last Summer Vacation

Actually, we stayed home on vacation! It was fun. I had a little trouble wanting to weed the garden, but I was satisfied with just pulling a few weeds. Ken was good at keeping us on task :)  !

We really did very little. We ate out, ordered food in, ate junk food (much to Brett's pleasure; lots of chips), read books, watched movies, swam together, and mostly just enjoyed being together. 

We had planned to do this in July the weekend Bri was in the hospital. We were thankful that all four of us were home together -- healthy. 

Blessing after blessing from His Hand

2nd grade is upon us

 We started our first day of school at Panera Bread! It was super fun and super good. Yes, Brett is smelling his bagel. He just can't get enough!!

We are now getting ready to start our 13th week of school and I think I can say half of this school year has went great! It took us about 6 weeks to find a good routine and get through the summer slump, but after that they have taken off. I don't think they would say we have lots of fun, but as the teacher I can see they are "getting it" and we do have fun most days!

Reading is one of their favorite pastimes. I can't seem to keep enough new books available for them. I wanted them to love to read so badly that I taught them to read before they started kindergarten. I am so glad I did, but I have told my mother on multiple occasions that they are paying me back for every moment I spent reading when she wanted me to be doing something else. It is a blessing even when I am frustrated with it!

Misc Summer

Brett helping me can beans. I have found that they can be extremely helpful when they want to be! :)

Our silo received a new covering this summer. We are hoping to not have to worry about it blowing off this winter. One less worry for my hubby.

The ever present laundry! Oh, how I love my clothesline.

Yummy, farm fresh eggs all summer long.

Helping Mom (and Dad)

The weekend after Bri came home from the hospital we headed to my parents to help pull up the carpet that was, oh, somewhere around 30 years old. Mom then wanted to sand and refinish the hard wood underneath. We didn't think it was fair to make Kip do it all so we went to help. It was a fun day. Bri was still easily tired, but all the cousins enjoyed being together and she did very well. Here are just a few pics to document the day!

Kip working -- Dad and Ken eating! 

The late afternoon was spent swimming. They never seem to tire of it!