Soccer

Caroline is loving soccer this Fall. She is on a team with a lot of her friends from Kindergarten, which makes it so fun!!! What a blessing to have such great friends!! Caroline loves to be the goalie . . . every once in a while, we have to remind her to watch the ball and stop doing cartwheels. :)

Here are two of Caroline's biggest fans. :)

Simple Fun

It's funny how the kids have the most fun doing simple things. . .like playing a game. I need to keep reminding myself that it is so important to slow down and take the time for the simple things in life . . . things that don't cost money to do or require any driving :).Simple things are definitely a blessing. (and so are these two smiling faces!)

Fall Blowout at Church

We went to a Fall Blowout at our church last night. It was super fun!!!

The kids are waiting patiently for their balloons to be made.

Caroline got a fishing pole with a blue gill attached. :)Jake got a sword.Luke got his own sword with a balloon holder around his waist. How cool is that?!

Caroline tried out the velcro wall.

So did Jake . . .

Sweet! They had cotton candy!!!! :)

What a treat!!! :)Caroline couldn't get enough of the slides.Luke loved the firetruck slide!OK . . . this was definitely a favorite!! We are glad that we got there early because there was an hour long wait for this after a little while. Jake didn't have to wait long at all.

Jake loved this one . . . the kids had to put on a vest that was attached to a big bungee cord and then they had to see who could run the farthest without being pulled back by the bungee cord. Jake wants me to try to find out how we can rent one of these for his birthday party. We'll see.

What a FUN night!! We love our church. Wheaton Bible is a blessing to our family!!!

Football Buddies

I just love my two little football buddies!!!!!

What a blessing it is to look out my kitchen window and see this!! :) It is so sweet of Jake to let Luke "tackle" him like that.

Brookfield Zoo with Caleb

I forgot that I haven't posted these pictures from our fun day at the Brookfield Zoo with cute little Caleb. Caroline and Luke were so happy to show him around. We were amazed at how the giraffes had to bend over like this to drink!!
So proud to be "climbing" a tree. :) Look!! An alligator!!

Three little "joeys". Of course, we had to get our traditional zoo snack . . Dippin' Dots.
Caleb loved it!!
Riding the carousel was a special treat.

Even with the HOT weather . . we had a blast. It was so much fun to see Caleb's expressions whenever he saw an animal. We sure love our little Caleb . . . He is a blessing! (so are you, Auntie Diane and Uncle Colin)

Nature Walk

For Science class the other day, we decided to go on a little nature walk to collect some leaves. The kids had a great time picking all the different kinds and trying to guess what kind of tree they came from. We made leaf books with the leaves. So fun!! Soon we will go to the Arboretum and get some more leaves. (off the ground, though)

We had been studying about mushrooms, so we were excited to see this one in our front yard.

Revolutionary War Reenactment

Last Sunday we went to Cantigny to see a Revolutionary War reenactment. Jake took these photos from the sidelines.

We kept reminding the kids that the people were acting and that they were not really getting hurt.

It was soooo loud!!!!
This man was showing us his serpent horn. It sounded like a French horn.

This man was showing us how they made candles during that time.

Uncle Steve learned how they made dart boards out of the bottoms of barrels.
Even though they didn't have tanks during that period of time, the kids wanted to go and see the tanks at Cantigny. They enjoyed climbing all over them. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed learning about the Revolutionary War. We also went inside the World War I museum and we were so impressed with it!! What a great place to visit and learn!!!!

After being there and learning about the wars, we are so very thankful that so many men gave their lives so we could have freedom. Jake really was affected by this and gave it much thought that night. We consider all those who fought in wars blessings!!