Thanksgiving!

We had a full day on Thanksgiving. First we visited Grandma Connie and Papa Lind's at noon. We had a wonderful meal there. Uncle Jimmy was ready for a nap after that, but we had a ham by the name of Isaac that wouldn't let him nap for too long.


Great-Grandma Achter came and ate lunch with us too.
















After that we went to Grandma and Papa Herrera's for another wonderful meal. When it came time for dessert, Lily got more than her fair share by going from Tia Nikki, to Tio Vince and then over to Anna and Tio Israel.




Then we got to go home for a little bit before we went to visit with family and have more desserts at Great-Grandma Achter's.

All in all it was a blessed day!

Catching up from Halloween

I'm finally finding the time to update and post some more pictures. I'll start with Halloween. The kids had fun going with Grandma Connie over to Great-Grandma Achter's neighborhood. Nathaniel opted to stay back with Papa to do some hunting back at Great-Grandma Lind's woods.
Jacob was dressed as a buff Batman, Abby as the adorable Tinkerbell and Isaac had a costume that completely fit his personality - Scooby Doo!

There are also pictures from Abby's parade at school. All the kids got to parade around Walbridge while Lily, Jacob, and I watched.

What's going on ....

Isaac has finished Flag Football now, he had a blast. Although his last game was freezing outside. It was probably about 45 degrees out and there was some serious wind blowing out there. Abby spent the majority of the game on my lap covered up with my coat. Good ol' football weather!

Nathaniel is really enjoying Art Club, they meet every other Thursday from 3:00-3:45. As soon as I get some of his projects I'll have to post them.

Abby is doing great. She's getting taller so now her pants are fitting her in her waist, but they're too short. So we've moved up to 6 slims and they fit very nice. She is enjoying school. They had a field trip to the pumpkin patch last week.

Jacob is enjoying being at home. We get to have Lily over here Mondays - Wednesdays so he likes that for the most part. Except for when she tries to steal his food from his plate. For the most part they have fun playing. It's so cute hearing Lily walk around the house yelling "e-up" (Jacob).

Vince should be starting his new route at work next week. It will be from about 3:00 a.m. to about 11:00 a.m. We are really excited about that, because we will all get to see each other as a family now during the week too. We also won't have to worry about babysitters and I should be able to put my hours back to normal at work.

This weekend at church was fun. We had a full worship team with Vince leading on guitar, Israel on bass, Sean Dempsey on drums, Izzy Alaniz singing and Chris on harmonica. It was great.

Our Little Cheerleader!

I finally have a chance to post the pictures from Abby's night of cheerleading. She was so adorable and she had a blast. She got to experience a high school football game from a cheerleader's perspective. The younger girls (K-3) cheered with the JV cheerleaders on the sidelines during the first quarter of the game. The older ones (4-6) were with the Varsity cheerleaders during the second quarter. Then half-time was the big show.


The pictures we took of the half-time dance didn't turn out very good so we have to figure out a way to post the video that we took. The pictures are Abby at home before we left, walking onto the side to cheer for the first quarter, and then her doing her favorite cheer "Go, Go, Fight, Fight!"

Wisdom from Jacob

This past week Jacob has given us some new ideas. Jacob and I met Vince for lunch and Jacob told us that we should have a cow at our house. We asked him why and he said "Because I like milk and then we would always have some." Then he gave us a theory on why the leaves fall from the trees. He says, "The birds that go in the trees, poop on the leaves, and that's why the trees go bald". He's always thinking.

Isaac will be starting flag football tomorrow, he's really looking forward to it. Abby is signed up for a cheerleading clinic. They will learn some cheers, chants and a dance that they will perform at half-time of the high school game on the 28th. Last weekend Nathaniel shot his first goose. He was very excited and can't wait to go out again to try for another.

I'll have to post pictures later.

Labor Day Picnic

Monday we all had a cook-out at Papa Herrera's for Labor Day. We had great food and good times. Sunday after church the kids and I went to Aunt Karen's for cousin Ryan's 1st birthday party. She was so adorable and it was great to see Erin and Ian.

Isaac has just signed up for flag football, which will be starting next Thursday. His games will be on Thursdays and I think he will have about 5 or 6 games. I'm looking forward to watching him play, I know he'll do great.

Days with Lily

For the last two days we have a visitor by the name of Lily. She is our adorable 21-month old blonde little niece. Jacob has loved having her over because now he has someone to play with since Nathaniel, Isaac and Abby are back in school now.
Tuesday our day involved dropping the kids off at school, Lily practicing on the potty (whenever she has a wet or dirty diaper she lets you know by turning around and saying "eewww"), meals - Lily's favorite part of lunch was raisins, and then some playtime outside. After playtime Jacob decided that he and Lily should "relax in the shade".
Wednesday's activities were a trip to the store and the coffee house (where Izzy couldn't believe how blonde Lily's hair is). We all enjoyed a green apple smoothie before we came back home for many games of peek-a-boo under the clothes hamper and then a little nap for Lily before she left.

As for the rest of us, Vince is busy with his new job during the day, the kids are all enjoying school, and busy with homework when they get home, so it can be done before I have to go to work. We are all looking forward to the holiday weekend so we can all have an extra day together.

We are also really excited to be at our new church, I think each one of us looks at going to church a whole new way. The kids really like their class and being in with us during worship has been very good for them.