Fall Pictures...

Connor - 11 months

Mindy - 4

Aiden - 6

Molly - 7

Anna - 8

Luke - 10

Eli - 11

Emily - 13

Elizabeth - 15

Jack - 17

Kaitlyn - 19

Mama's Two Week Visit...

Dad's mother, known by her grandchildren as "Mama", was here for a lovely 2 week visit. We hadn't seen her in months and she had never even met the youngest of the crew, Connor. The children were ever ready to show her their many "talents" and she, being a sweet grandmother that she is, had plenty of praise in store.

We were very thankful we could spend some time with her, and when Dad and Mom were getting ready to take her to the airport today, Mindy said, "I wish Mama could LIVE with us!"

The Things You Can Do With a Trampoline!! :o)

 

It's Trampoline Time!!

Our family has never owned a trampoline before, so you can imagine the excitement that reigned when we purchased a good used one this week. The kids were in a big rush to get it set up as pictured above. A.J. - "Are you guys putting that on upside down?"




Luke demonstrating his abilities on the trampoline. In his own words, "It works awesome!!"

 

Just a picture of Jack and me...

Camping Trip (A boy's dream vacation!)




Luke (our monkey boy :o) climbing on one of the shelves of rock we found near our campsite at Kankakee State Park.



My first attempt at "real" archery turned out to be a lot of fun!!



The photographer of most of these pics posing with his pride and joy for this deer hunting season.





You can't have a camping trip without hot chocolate!! :o)




A few boys who woke up too early Friday morning. (3:00 to be exact!!)




An invention of Matthew Arnold's at work. The "super swing" was much enjoyed by all the boys who didn't mind being swirled around and around and up and down!! (Watch out for the ceiling!!)



One of the contests for the older guys was the challenge of climbing a slick 16 foot rope to the ceiling of the horse barn. And the winners were.....drum roll please.....Matthew Arnold, John Ferry and myself!!



One of the biggest highlights of the camping trip was the horseback riding, supervised by Alexandra Arnold on Buddy (left) Joe Ferry is riding Firebird in this pic.



Adrianna Arnold was one of the few people there who actually knew how to handle a horse!!



And here is my favorite pal,...Patriot. He was a bit lazy at first, but by the end of the riding session, he was really moving pretty fast!!




After all the activities of the camping trip: Horseback riding, laser tag, moto-cross, campfire building, football, frisbee, wrestling, rope climbing, hiking, exploring, archery, skeet shooting, four wheeling, rock skipping, trampoline, super swing and general messing around......I was TIRED OUT!!! As was pretty much everybody else.

But hey, how can you have a real camping trip without getting plain "tuckered out" ?

Overall, it was awesome, and not only did we have a great time enjoying the view of God's creations, but He held back the rain for us that was predicted by all the weather stations for the whole weekend!!

Happy Birthday, Jack

On Saturday evening, the blogger celebrated his 17th birthday! For his birthday dinner he chose steaming onion soup, topped with toasted french bread and sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. For desert he had spice cake, with a rich caramel frosting. Are you hungry yet?

Jack has been such a wonderful brother, and we're all certainly glad that he is part of us!

He has his moments of teasing too (many of them), but what would a brother be, without teasing? It's all part of the package! And here he is, ladies and gentlemen...

From A-B-C to Algebra

Isn't this "fall-is-almost-here weather" super? It is perfect for walking, and outdoor activities. I think this is my favorite time of year. Cool enough to slip into a sweater, but not exactly COLD enough to need a coat.
By the way, this is Kaity posting again, not Jack.
These first weeks of school have gone really well for everyone, and we are still "surviving" the more scheduled layout that we're trying this year.
Thought I would post a few pictures of the kiddoes. I have been able to work with Mindy this year, which I love.
I enjoy working with the little guys. They come up with some of the most interesting questions, sometimes school-related and other times having nothing to do with it whatsoever!
I think the redheads are especially amusing at times, because of the abundance of exuberance they seem to possess. :)

Mindy, studiously preparing her next term paper.

-

Lizzie, taking on the challenge of Algebra.

One of Emmy's favorite places to

study and read is her bed.

Mindy asked me the other day, "How long will it be until

I go to college?"

Here is Eli, helping Aiden out with some Bible memorization.

Operation: Flooring

Recently my mom decided that she wanted the old carpets that we had been using for years to be removed and burned due to the large numbers of stains and spots on them. So like good obedient boys Rick and I pitched in, not knowing what was in store for us. We peeled up one corner to make sure that the wood flooring underneath was good before we tore up the whole carpet, and it looked fine. As we proceeded to rip the carpet up I looked down and said, "what's that?" There on the nice wood floor a bad spot was revealing itself as we pulled the carpet back in the shape of a LARGE rectangle. So we had a brainstorming session, "What should we do about the spot? tile? new carpet? a large rug?"


We didn't decide right away but since we already had the carpet most of the way tore up we had to finish so out to the burn pile it went.

Eli was a big help with carrying out the leftover junk that was laying around.

"The Spot"

Then the "real" work began. For any of you that have ripped up old carpets, you know what I am talking about...staples, and those long carpet bars that are nailed tightly in all around the edge. :O) I am talking about hours and hours of work!! But with all the siblings pitching in and some good music on...it didn't seem to take long at all!!

Here is a pic of an interested bystander.

As if the living room wasn't enough we did the dining room too!! And Rick and Dad stayed up till four o' clock in the morning laying tile!!



All in all though, it was a very good feeling when we had it all done, and the new flooring was all laid. It was kind of neat to see our two main rooms dowstairs changed from old and worn out to a fresh and new look. And we finished the floors just before we had some company over!!

Here is a picture of the new rug the Mom and Dad found at Lowes on clearance.