Orchard Balloon Festival

We played and picked apples first.















Then we settled in to watch the balloons.





It started out as a big field with a few vehicles and trailors.





They set up a balloon for kids to play inside of with a bunch of balls.


Then they started setting up the balloons for flight.























This one went right overhead! It was AMAZING!














Lots of friends and neighbors came.























They came back and did a "glow" for us.


Behind us the sun was setting. We had a beautiful and fun evening!

Cousin fun (from July)

We had friends over and made Stone Soup.



Aunt Beccy managed to find cordinating swimsuits at the thrift store. aren't they cute? I love that little girls will pose for pictures.





Slip and slide with neighborhood friends.


I love this picture!

Stuff I have been making.

I haven't been finishing a lot of my bigger projects, but I have been busy creating. Here is a sampling of finished projects from the end of summer and the beginning of this fall.

My bag I made for RAGBRAI.


Pocket detail.


Pillowcase made to match my fleece sleeping bag.


Bag to house the tent portion of my cot tent.


Oodles of toy storage bags. Some with clear windows so you can see what is inside of them.









(Side note: I got a smaller chest to store all the "sports" toys in the dining room and am getting rid of the big buffet now that we have all the kitchen stuff back up in the kitchen. I love craigs list!)


Baby swaddling blankets.


Burp clothes.


(Oooops! I should have embroidered it before I sewed the halves together! Thanks to Marlene Dillavou for the fabulous burp clothes she made for me that were my inspiration!)


And last but not least of the finished projects I remembered to take a picture of... My first knitting project!


Now to finish my 4 quilts in various stages of undoneness, pajamas for the boys, winter coat for Seth, clothes for me, gifts for several friends.... OH YEAH! CHRISTMAS IS COMING, TOO!!!!

I don't see a lot of sleep in my future! :o)

Today for homeschool...

...Seth practiced reading and writing.

We worked on our model of Ptolmy's idea of the universe/solar system. We started memorizing a couple more verses in the book of James.

Gavin learned to ride his bike with no training wheels.















I love doing life with my kids!!!! Off to dinner to celebrate Gavin's success.

Sports.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be a sports mom.
Never.
I am kind of really bad at anything competitive or involving a ball.
BUT GOD HAD A DIFFERENT PLAN FROM MINE.
(I am pretty sure that last statement could be the title of a book about my whole life...but that is a different story.)

Sports. This fall.
Ice skating/hockey.
Swimming.
Tennis.

Three coaches. Three times.

This is the thing I didn't get until recently: Seth and Gavin have way more energy than I can think of ways to burn it off, but when they start to get into trouble it is often because they have too much energy.
Starting to be naughty? Run a few laps up and down the stairs.
Acting up in the store? Jump up and down on one of the square floor tiles.
Need to be still at the nature preserve? Take them skating for an hour first.

It works. What I am loving is that it is not taking away from family time at all, that the boys are learning to listen and take instruction from a variety of other people as authorities in their lives, that they are becoming good at things I could never teach them, that they are becoming more interested in many other areas of life as they explore new horizons, that I get to work out while they are having tennis lessons,...

Sports mom.
It is starting to fit.
I think I need to keep working on being more sporty to keep up with them seeing how my 2 main sports skills are biking and climbing trees.

So what is next?
For Gavin I see a lot more hockey and swimming. He pretty much has a one track mind..hockey and water have been his obsessions for a LONG time.
For Seth? Well, he will get at least one season of hockey on a regular team just to learn the basics and learn to swim for safety, but then? Speed skating? Fencing? Archery? Golf (I hope not...)? I am glad he enjoys it all, and it will be fun to see if he does everything like Daddy or specializes in something at some point. It is a real adventure.

Pretty much loving it!
And Seth's scarf is getting longer. :o)

Rough Patch

Well, we have been busy lately and pictures are coming. I have been having a hard time lately with side effects of the steroid shot I got before RAGBRAI. I never want to have another one of those again!!!! One of the things it does is mess with my emotions and make me feel frustrated and angry all the time. Unfortunatly for the boys, they haven't figured out how to leave me alone when I am in a bad mood. Instead they pick at me and push my limits when they sense I am off my game. One day last week was particularly bad. They would NOT do what I asked, when I asked and we were extremely late getting out the door. As we were driving Seth starts to go on and on and on and on about how he is going to give me a monster birthday party with a monster cake and monster decorations and monster... You get the idea. I finally asked him why he was saying all this. "Because you scream all the time". Nice. Really nice.

We did a soft start on school this fall, and this is our first week in earnest with Mommy and Daddy making a new habit of getting up at 5:30 every morning to get a head start on the day before the boys wake up. I am looking forward to a cleaner house, memorizing the book of James as a family, a lot of fun school projects, trips and activities, and fewer busy evenings this school year.

Pictures coming soon of all the things we have been up to.

Oh, and we have some serious problems going on with our house. Please pray we can find the right people to resolve them quickly before winter sets in! Thanks.

We have one of these.

Marbled orb weaver.


In the front window making a web. Inches away. Repulsed and fascinated at the same time.