Warren Dunes

We are in an amazing marriage group with three other couples. Those couples happen to have kids that are all close in age with ours. We went with this group out west to Warren Dunes last month. Man did we have a lot of fun! We were fortunate enough to stay in the Darnell's mammoth camper with them! That was awesome! We were very close to Lake Michigan and about a two minute walk to a huge sand dune.

 

The kids had a fun and tough time climbing this thing! I was getting pretty winded myself!

 

The kids did a great job though, not complaining and giving it all they had! There were only a couple times that we had to pick up Allie and Hannah.

 

Once to the top, the views were outstanding! You could see Lake Michigan, which was still about a mile or two away.

The kids had fun playing at the top and running around in the sand.

 

We had bonfires at night, ate our meals together and enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day at the beach on Saturday!

 

It was a great weekend. The weather was perfect during the day Friday and Saturday. The nights were very cold, I think it got down into the 40's! Sunday morning we woke up to rain so we all packed up and headed home, with a quick stop for lunch with everyone. We're so grateful to be able to get away for a weekend with the family, and especially grateful to be a part of such an intentional group!



September

Goodness gracious, this month has whipped by! The girls are settling in to their morning routine for school. Although, I don't think a morning goes by where I don't say "you better eat your breakfast or you're going to miss your bus!" I even set my alarm for fifteen minutes earlier so we're not rushing. I think it's inevitable though. They are just big-time putzers.

 

We have enjoyed some cold weather and some warm weather around here. We took a weekend to go camping and the weather dipped down into the 40's at night! But was hot and sunny during the day. I'll post pictures of that as soon as my dear friend Jackie gives me a disk. I didn't bring my camera.

 

 

We've tried to continue our Friday movie nights. 

 

 

The girls had their Fun Run at school. They do this at the beginning of every year and it's their biggest fundraiser. I totally slacked this year and forgot to ask for pledges. Oops.

But they had a lot of fun running and the weather was perfect. Papa and Hannah came along to cheer them on!

 

I had a moment just before we were getting ready to leave where I thought "maybe I'll run with the girls, so I should probably put shorts on... " then "nah, they probably won't want me to." Of course Allie wanted me to so I sweat my butt off running with her in jeans!

Hannah was a slightly cranky and tired little cheerleader. 

 

Fall also brings with it a lot of canning! My sink has looked like this a lot lately.

 

I had to organize the canning shelf in my pantry so I could figure out how much I've done so far. I had no idea we already had this much! From left to right: diced tomatoes, salsa (and I'm STILL picking tomatoes), two rows of apple sauce, dill pickles (from my endless supply of cucumbers), peach jam (first year making that, and it is SO good. I'm planting a peach tree next year!), apple jam, and one little jar of blueberry jam.

 

 

This is currently in my crock pot. I'm trying a recipe for apple butter. We'll see how that turns out.

 

Michigan had no apples last year because of our crazy spring. So this year, everyone seems to have an over-abundance of apples. I have so many sweet friends calling me telling me to come pick apples because their branches are breaking from the weight of all the apples! It's been awesome!



FALL

I don't get very excited about the start of a new school year. My girls and I like to sleep in. And I don't love the fact that the girls are gone for so many hours during the day. I wish they could do half days. But it does mean I get some fun one on one time with this cute little lady.

We were waiting for stone to be delivered. We're completely redoing the front of our house. I can't wait till it's done and I can post pictures before, during and after! Here's the four huge boxes of stone that were delivered from a semi truck. That was a nice little traffic stopper.

 

 

My outdoor volleyball team did very well this year! We took first place for the league, then took second in play-offs. And all three play-off games were very close. 

We took pictures for our church's new directory. It was fun to pick out some new photos for our walls. The last time I put up new pictures was when Hannah was a newborn. I'm not so good at keeping up with that.

I haven't been posting as often as I'd like. We have had a crazy summer, right into a busy fall! But I am looking forward to all the holidays coming up so I'm sure I'll be posting all about those!



First Day of School

It's crazy that Allie is already in Kindergarten. It was weird enough sending Ava to second grade, but now to give up Allie too. It's just so stinking crazy! I don't like it one bit. Thank God the girls loved it though, cause if they were having a hard time, I might just chuck the whole school thing and start teaching them myself!

 

Allie was super excited to get to ride the bus the first day. And Ava was super excited to show her sister the ropes. Mike and I met Allie at school and welcomed her off the bus. We then were able to stay with her till about 10 am. We met her teacher, checked out her room, toured the school, did a craft and read a story with her. Then we kissed her and hugged her and tearfully (me) left the classroom. Gosh, it's hard to leave her there for seven hours. It's just too long!

 

We snuck a peak in Ava's classroom and she looked like she was doing great! Both girls really like their teachers. Ava has lots of old friends in her class. Allie is still having a hard time remembering names, but she's enjoying it so far! We already had our first day off today, for a Jewish holiday, and then back to school tomorrow!

 

Hannah woke up just in time to see her big sisters off to school. She misses them so much during the day. She's told me twice how bored she is without them!

Grandma came down to see the girls off, then watch Hannah so we could go to school with Allie!

 

 

After school, we had some visitors come to see the girls off the bus and see how their day went! Oh and we're remodeling the outside of our house right now so it looks a little crazy. That will be a separate post when it's all done!

 

There are four second grade classes and FIVE Kindergarten classes! We really are part of a great district and I love the school the girls attend. I'm looking forward to volunteering in their classrooms again this year. It's a great way to get to know the kids my girls are hanging out with!