Long Time No Post!! :)

Yikes! Time got away from me - I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I updated this!! I'm surprised at how busy I'm managing to keep myself with the kids gone all day - it's amazing to me that's it's already October tomorrow. I have a few minutes now that all my boys are watching the Vikings - just took the picture to the right a few minutes ago. They are so cute, all piled into Mark's big chair with their Vikings blanket, trying to learn the in's and out's of football. They needed some "daddy time" - Mark was gone at a church retreat on Friday night and part of Saturday, and the boys MISSED him. I love how much they love to be with their Dad.

Had a busy weekend - Mark was gone until yesterday at noon, so the kids and I laid in bed yesterday morning watching cartoons for a while, then went to Target, then went to their soccer game, then got their hair cut, then had lunch, then went to a birthday party, and THEN Mark and I went to an extremely boring Chamber of Commerce dinner. Uggh. At least it was a free meal and the food was good. This morning, I had to be at church at 8 a.m. for a meeting, then we had Sunday school at 9, after which we had to race out to Zion to attend their service for the school's 50th anniversary - all the school kids sang a big medley of songs (8-10 of them!!!) and it was the SWEETEST THING EVER. They made mom all misty eyed - it was spectacular. :) And wouldn't you know, this was the one time we didn't bring the video camera. In some ways, that was good though - I was completely absorbed in them, and not worrying about what angle to get. After an open house in their classrooms, we came home and are looking forward to a quiet evening at home with a movie.

Last weekend (a week ago) we closed out our camping season with our camping buddies the Rossons. It was a really nice weekend - great weather, great time. (Check out the picture of the "crooked cabin"!) On Saturday night as we were "doing bedtime" in the camper with the boys, Mark mentioned that it was our last night of camping until next spring, and within 5 minutes, both boys were in their bunks crying in their pillows because they didn't want camping season to be over. It was really cute, and it made me thankful that we are creating such awesome memories together as a family - it's clearly having a big impact on them - - and I'm sure their eagerness to go camping will diminish a little each year as they get more involved with other things. We made it out seven times this year! It was even sad for Mark and I to put the camper away until next year . . . .


Doing the Hamster Dance with Kyle and Lacy . . .

We also wrapped up the soccer season this week - the boys' team actually has their two last games this upcoming week, but we'll miss them because we'll be in Iowa visiting my sister and her family. I'm posting a couple pictures from this past week. We saw a big progression in the boys during this season - I can't wait to see how they are doing in the spring.

Jack's in the red shoes, center of the picture:

Action shot of Noah:

The kids have been doing GREAT in Awana - they earned their vests and books on the very first night - got through all their memory work perfectly. I thought they might need a little "break" then, but they eagerly did 3 more verses for the following week. In flipping through their books (which they can take at their own pace), it's staggering to me what they have to memorize, but so far it doesn't seem to be a problem. Oh to have that mental capability again!! :) I couldn't do what they are doing, I don't think!

Mark's officially on jury duty starting tomorrow - he has the month of October - but he doesn't have to report this week, so he's happy about that. Only 4 more weeks to go!!! The kids only have school 3 1/2 days this week (yeaahh!) and then they have 1/2 of Thursday, all of Friday and all of Monday off. I'm so excited to have 4 1/2 days in a row with them!! We're departing on Thursday for Iowa and will return on Monday. We have some fun things planned with the Wranek family, so we're all getting anxious to leave! Have a great week . . . . .

Lovin' Life

We have happily settled into a nice routine now, three weeks into the school year. I quickly adjusted (thankfully!) to having the kids gone during the day, and have been amazed at how busy I've been! Both Jack and Noah's teachers have found various jobs for me to do in both classrooms, so most mornings I spend 2-3 hours at the school helping out, which I have been LOVING. I now know all of the kids in both of their classes and have had fun getting to know some of them better. In Noah's class, I've been helping the kids memorize their addresses and phone numbers, helped them on the computer, and gave some extra assistance where needed on writing. In Jack's class, I've done some administrative work for his teacher, and have been helping them on the computers too. Anyway, it provides me with a few extra hours to share in my kids' lives, which is the best!

On Tuesday mornings, I have my MOPS activities - two regular meetings per month, and one Steering Team meeting a month . . . . and then all of the preparation and management that goes on in between!! I'm definitely at the "upper limits" of a MOPS group, but I have such a passion and love for it, I'm going to fully enjoy my last year.

As for the boys, they have gymnastics after school on Mondays, Awana at church on Wednesday evenings (more on that below), and soccer on Thursdays and Saturdays. We only have a couple weeks left of soccer, which is fine with me - we didn't realize they would have TWO games per week when we signed up, so it's been more than we bargained for. Once that's done, our schedule will be a little more home-centered.

Awana - last week was "orientation night", in which the kids got their first set of assignments - they have several things to memorize before they can even get the book and vest. When I saw what they had to do, I figured it would be a few weeks before they got it all done - - they have to completely memorize the motto, the key verse (with reference), Pledge of Allegiance, the Awana Pledge and the Awana Sparks song. I should know better than to underestimate my kids - they already have it ALL DONE and ready for tomorrow night. I'm amazed. The best part is the fire they have for this, and how proud they are of what they've already accomplished. They were bouncing all over the house tonight singing about Jesus. It's AWESOME.

That's it from around here . . . trying to get one last camping trip in this weekend if the weather holds out - wish us luck!

Rainy Sunday Afternoons . . . .

. . . are the BEST! We had an awesome day today - went to church, then picked up KFC on the way home so we could have a "family room picnic" in honor of the Vikings first game today. Football season has begun! And I now have THREE Vikings fanatics in my house instead of just one! It's actually pretty cute how the boys get into the game with their dad, so I won't complain. Anyway, it was rainy and freezing here today so we all put on our sweats and laid around the family room all day - watching football, reading the paper and just goofing off. It was great.

In other weekend news, we have rodents in our house again. Except this time, it's on purpose! Jack and Noah each got a hamster this weekend - after over a year of pleading, we finally agreed. We took them to the new PetSmart and let them each pick one out - Jack named his Brownie and Noah named his Chewy. I can't believe how entertained the kids were this weekend, just laying on the floor by their cages watching them. I have to admit, they are pretty cute. I'll have to remind myself of that when I'm cleaning two cages on a weekly basis. My mom let me have them when I was little, so I'm determined to pay it forward . . . . (thanks again, mom! 25 years later!)

The boys have really adjusted well to their school routine - much better than I thought they would. Noah is pretty tired by 6 or 7 at night, but all in all, they are doing really well and enjoying it very much. Our decision to keep them at Zion was affirmed again this week, when Jack's teacher told me that one day someone in the class asked what a "sin" was, and that led into a 1/2 hour discussion about sins and forgiveness. I LOVE that - what a great environment! This week I start helping out in both Jack and Noah's rooms, so I'm excited to do that.

We are trying to get in a few more camping trips before we have to "winterize" the camper - I can't believe we're already talking about that, it seems like we just got it out a few weeks ago - ?!?! We went camping a week ago with our friends the Rossons - our first trip with them since Mike's surgery, so it was wonderful. He's healed perfectly, it's a total joy just to be around him. We had the best time - relaxing and fun at the same time. We took all the kids through a cave - something we'd been promising all summer - and they LOVED it, of course. The four of us also went on a horseback ride - an hour and a half trail ride, which was so much fun. Jack and Noah hadn't ridden before, and they were a hoot to watch. Jack took to it right away - looked like a mini-cowboy trying to control the horse - and Noah did great too, but didn't like the horses stopping to poop. :) We also got a photo with our "Happy Camper" shirts on - I posted it up on the right. We're hoping to camp the next two weekends, and then that will probably be it!!

There's our update - will try to get a posting on here more quickly next time!!