What a Weekend!

So, you may be wondering what we've been up to this month...and then again, you may not have! :) I'll tell you either way! :)
This month has been a rather interesting one.
1.School, school, school....still trying to get things to work smoothly while also caring for nephew, Daniel, 3 days a week. I think we are making progress here! :)

2.Josh had his 3rd and final Bible Quiz of the year. They memorized 1 Thessalonians 1-3...chapters that is. :) Josh did good this year and will be working on chapter 3 a bit more to really get it down. They will quiz on chapters 4 and 5 next year so Michael wants to start now and memorize it with Josh so that they are ready early!

3.Abby had her friend, Emily over to spend the night. They always have TONS of fun together and one night is never long enough. :) I don't think they would think a week would be long enough! LOL!

4.The 3rd weekend in October saw me down two kids. Josh went away on a Jr. High retreat/campout. He was thrilled because they had a bonfire which he informed me he has not had the pleasure of in FOREVER! This same weekend Abby went to her AWANA girls' Lock-In at the church. It felt a bit strange with just three at home! A horrible foreshadowing of future events. :)

5.Abby has been completely enjoying her sewing classes every Monday afternoon. She is learning how to do some machine work - making a little jacket for herself - as well as some embroidery and ribbon work. She loves the time with her teacher and the other four girls in her class.

6.David and Anna have been plugging away on their school work. David is telling time and has finally mastered counting by 5's. Something we have struggled with for awhile now - it finally "clicked"! YEAH! :) David is also reading now! YEAH!
Anna is enjoying practicing counting and writing her numbers - things she really already does just fine but mom wants her to go ahead and stay in kindergarten for now instead of jumping ahead to 1st grade! For one, we don't want her outdistancing David just yet! :)

7.Jeff and Michael took a four day trip to Colorado. This was a huge blessing for Michael. He has been homesick for Colorado mountains and family for a long time so we were so thankful for the extra ticket Jeff's parents purchased so Michael could go along. Jeff's brother came for a visit - along with his wife and baby son :) - from Hawaii. None of Jeff's family had met little Luke as yet so there was a big family reunion planned for the occasion. I am glad Jeff was able to go and meet his nephew and visit with his brothers. Michael enjoyed the trip even though it was short. Before the guys left for Colorado our van was having MAJOR issues and we were trying to figure out how we were going to either do without it or buy another - ugh! God is faithful - as always - and when we were in a spot where we really didn't know what we were going to do, He provided a van for us...by way of friends of my grandparents! Only problem - it was in Colorado. No problem! Jeff and Michael flew there and drove the van back. It has been such a relief to have a reliable vehicle that also has room for us all! :)

8.Jeff got sick after he got back from Colorado - just a bit of a cold. Well, wouldn't you know, he shared it with me! :) I usually don't take a turn so I guess I was due for one. I got it good, too. Unfortunately, I also shared it...with little Daniel. We are praying for his bout with it to not be long or severe as these sorts of things are harder on him than most. I am just about over my cold thankfully.

9.I have several days "off" (Becky is off so I won't have Daniel for awhile) so have major house cleaning on the list. It has somehow gotten out of hand...again...and needs caught up. I had gotten off to a great start before I got sick so hope to get back to it before I loose my motivation to do it!

10.Yesterday, the kids and I drove over to Cabela's, sat on the grassy hill behind the store and watched the air show. The Blue Angels were here again this year. They are so fun to watch! I love getting to see the air show each year. Even if we stay home, we are close enough to the airfield that we see most of it as the planes fly over us. We also get to enjoy them for a day or two before the show as they all fly in and practice. Very cool! And, on a side note, even after two or three weeks of rain you can still get a sunburn on a perfectly nice October day in Texas. DUH! I totally forgot the sunscreen as I have been out of the summer mindset for so many chilly weeks and didn't plan on it being 75 and gorgeous out - let alone sunny! :) Thankfully, no one burned too bad - think I got the worst of it and I found a white hat for Anna at Cabela's for $1.88 in their clearance bin. So, she was spared being fried as well! :) The kids had more fun rolling and playing on the grassy hill than watching the planes. :)

11.I have enjoyed being able to attend the small group fellowship/Bible study again this year that I was a part of last year. It is held at Rocky and Sue's house so is for me a sort of visit "home" twice a week as well. We are studying 1 John and it has been a blessing to me. I am so thankful for Josh who watches his siblings so I can do this. It's great having a responsible teenager! :) And thankful that the Wyatt's don't live very far so I can run home if I need to - which, thankfully, I haven't needed to so far! :)

For the rest of the month we have...
1.Free tickets to the opening home game for the Mavericks - given to us by Jeff's boss - to which Jeff and I are taking Michael, for his birthday. :) FUN!
2.The Countryside Faire at church - a sort of Fall Festival, family fun night. The kids can hardly wait - they had fun last year.
3.Michael's 11th birthday on the 29th. Sheesh! Where does time fly off to anyway?!

I guess that is all for now - and enough! I look forward to this time of year so much - I love fall, for one, things seem to slow down somewhat - although typing this out sure doesn't feel that way! And the holidays are coming - that means fun things to do that we count for parts of school! Hurray!

We hope all ya'll are doing very well and enjoying this time of year as well.