November 2016

November gave us a chance to slow down a bit.  We were grateful for the opportunities to catch up on routine projects.  Still, we had a very fun month!  Here are our highlights

Nov 2nd, Eve went to her first Young Women in Excellence night.  She was able to report that she completed her goal of passing off at least one goal per month.  The goal that she chose to share was under Good Works.  She helped plan, prepare and shop for our family meals for 2 weeks.  This was fun and I think she learned a little bit in the process.:)

She has really enjoyed this large group of girls and her leaders!

On November 5th we went down to Cincinnati to attend a BYU football game.  We also met up with Mike, Jonah, Luke, and Parker!  This was a fun game to attend together!

Throughout the month we had some smaller fun miscellaneous moments as well.

Here Sheri and Christian are reading together in our reading room.

Christian had a few more fun play dates with Luke.

The kids went to the dentist.  All is well in that realm.  Christian did great!

We continue to love our time with the Thomas family.  Here is a great after school pic with Natalie.

I retired my old tap shoes from high school (signed by Savion Glover and the Tap Dogs of New York).  I replaced them with new tap shoes since I will now be a substitute teacher at the kids' dance studio.  Applying for and preparing for this position was a great way for me to step out of my comfort zone and develop my talents again.  I have been taking ballet and Pilates for personal development for the past year or two, but this was a step toward teaching that I felt excited to pursue.  I will be substitute teaching 2 classes for 8 weeks while the tap coordinator is on maternity leave.

Matthew took a turn filling out our Count Your Blessings chalk board one day.  This brightened my whole day!  The best part is, he tells me all the time how much he loves me.  I am so grateful for him!  He makes me feel like a million dollar wife!

Christian is learning to write his letters and his name.  This is his "m" practice that we showed to his dad.

Sterling has been extra creative with his Lego Bionicals.  Here are pictures of his latest creation.

We had great fun raking leaves and jumping in them.  Matt would even give the kids rides on the tarp as he dragged piles of leaves to the garden.  This is what I call good, "clean" fun!

This was only a fraction of what we raked that day, and there were a lot more leaves yet to fall.  We had a lovely time!

Annie surprised us with a care package!  She gave us so many fun things and special things.  Annie truly knows how to show her love through gifts!  I am blessed to be her sister and the recipient of her thoughtfulness!

Christian made a cute thankful head band and turkey at preschool.

Christian and I made apple pie together in preparation for Thanksgiving.

We harvested the sweet potatoes from our garden.  We made them into a delicious cranberry sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving.

We were very happy to go to Michael and Taralie's house for Thanksgiving!  We always feel happy when we can visit them.  We had an abundance of food, fun, and love!

Eve and Sabey were surprised that they had been separately been learning the same song in band.  They had a fun time putting their parts together with Eve on the flute and Sabey on her clarinet.

We are grateful for all the blessings we enjoy!  We know that we have so much to be grateful for, especially the gospel of Jesus Christ which helps us feel a fullness of joy as we grow closer to God and to each other!

October 2016

We started out the month by watching General Conference with the Owens who came to visit.  I love being with them on this uplifting weekend.  It makes it even more joyful.  We also enjoyed playing games, baking homemade apple crisp, and going on walks.

A few days later Sterling participated in the annual Pinewood Derby.  Matt was great to help him build his car.  He finished in fourth place out of about 12.  He practiced good sportsmanship and had a fun time.  He was pleased with how his car performed this year.

On October 6th Christian's preschool went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.  I was happy to spend the morning going with him.

Saturdays in October were filled with  dance class for Eve, soccer games, and B.Y.U. football games.  On the 8th Matt and Sterling went up to Michigan to watch the game.

While the rest of us stayed home and had some fun.

Here are a few more soccer photos from later in the month.

Eve has started to dance at an additional studio.  She dances there on Tuesdays for 90 minutes and on Saturdays for about 4 hours.  This is what her Saturday mornings/afternoons look like (with a lot of dance in between.).  This is the view on our car ride to and from dance.

This is her cat that welcomes her home each day.

She has seen some real growth, but is also struggling with overuse symptoms.

On Saturday, October 9th Jennifer arrived for a visit with Joseph, Mary and Jonathan.  Oh how fun it is to have family in town!

On Monday we went shopping while the kids were in school and then went to lunch.   We also went to the pet store because it's one of my kids' favorite things to do.  Annie flew in that night.

On Tuesday we went to an apple orchard.  It was a picturesque day.  It was fun to pick apples, play in the corn box, talk, and eat a picnic lunch.  Joe was hilarious as he played the king being pushed around by his peasants.

It really was a Golden, Delicious day!  We enjoyed fresh apple crisp in the evening.

Wednesday we went to Hocking Hills State park.  We chose to do the Old Man's Cave hike.  It was not too long, or too difficult.  We enjoyed the scenery very much.

Too bad we saw this sign AFTER our hike!

 On Thursday we went to Slate Run Historical Farm.  This is an actual working farm run by volunteers to help us learn how farms were run before electricity and major farm equipment.  It was a lot of fun!

In the evening had a little camp fire in the back yard.  We also celebrated Jennifer and Mary's birthdays and played games.

I always enjoy talking with my sisters!  I also really enjoyed talking with Joe on this trip.  I also enjoyed listening to his music and hearing him sing.  It is always wonderful to catch up with each other.  It was an all around fun visit.  I am grateful for the effort that everyone put into coming out to see me.  I know it is a LONG drive.  My sisters are so fun, and I love hearing their insights.  The thing about true friends and sisters is that they know your weaknesses and still love you.  I sure love my sisters and their great kids!  We are lucky to be such good friends!

On Saturday  the 15th our stake hosted a Women;s Conference focused on service.  We had about 5 different meaningful service projects going on.  Everything was so well planned and executed!  It was marvelous to be part of such a meaningful event!  Some of the projects included, Days for Girls, Sole Hope, journals for a crisis center, blankets for children going into foster care, and a few other smaller service activities.  There were also a few classes and lunch provided at the end.   Look at the awesome theme!  The whole event was amazing!

Here are a few more highlights for the month:

Swimming on the kids' day off of school.

Harvesting vegetables and drying herbs from the garden.

Eve earned a special Irish Way award at school.  This award is noteworthy in that they don't pick very many kids each year to receive it.  Eve has been a diligent student and a model of respectfulness and kindness at school.  I have had a few teachers make a point to call me to tell me how grateful they are for her.  Though none of us are perfect, we should celebrate when we see positive and special efforts made to do our best.  Eve tries very hard to do her best and I am proud of her for it.

The 3 younger kids participated in their Primary Program.  It is always special to hear their testimonies through music and their words.  Sterling talked about why baptism is important and how he is grateful for Joseph Smith's example.  Sheri talked about temples she has visited and her gratitude that we are sealed as a family so we can be together forever.  Christian talked about how he can be obedient by saying his prayers.

This day we also had new boundaries announced for our stake, placing us in a newly created ward.  We are in the Dublin 2nd ward now.  Matt will serve as a ward clerk (he used to be an assistant clerk over finance.)  I later received a calling as a counselor in Primary (I used to be a Cub Scout den leader.)
This will mean some adjustment and missing some friends.  But we aren't far away, and we will make new friends as well!  :)

Finally, we enjoyed Halloween festivities.  

The ward party.

School Parties.

The kids cool Art teacher.

We had dinner and went Trick or Treating with the Klein family.  They are so kind to invite us!

Our cute boys.  Christian was on the look out for candy that he is not allergic to.  :)  I  had to remind him to be grateful no matter what he got especially since his siblings can trade him.  :)

Well, we live in very comfortable, abundant times.  I am so, SO grateful for all the fun, success, beauty, and love that is part of my life!  Happy October!