Dorian is 8 years old!!!

On Saturday, the 11th, the boys each invited friends to go swimming with them.  Levi played with Jacob and Dorian played with Anderson, Brady, and Graden.  We are thankful for friends!!!

Dorian woke up very excited about his big day!  We started with eating cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then he opened the presents that Grandpa and Grandma Tintle, and Aunt Suzanne sent in the mail.

 After church, the Bolkema's came to eat lunch with us!

 Dorian opened presents and he picked out ice cream cake for his birthday dessert.

Then he opened the presents that we bought for him.  Roller blades and everything he needed to play street hockey!

Dorian and Levi played a competitive game in the garage and they both did really well learning now to roller blade!

I love my boys!!!

Heartland Break

SCCS and surrounding Christian schools don't have school on Thursday and Friday during the first weekend in October so that the teachers can attend a conference at Dordt.  This meant that our boys would be home from school and I planned an overnight shopping trip with my mom and sisters!  I knew that I was in need of some new clothes, and after asking Heidi to come and give me some opinions about the clothes in my closet, she agreed.  :)  Nathan was able to stay home with the boys Thursday and Friday and work on Saturday instead.  It was a huge blessing to me!  We had so much fun.  And I wish that I would have taken some pictures.  We went to Omaha to shop at a new outlet mall on Thursday, had supper at the Cheesecake Factory, and stayed in a nice hotel with a hot tub that night.  On Friday we went to a mall, a furniture store, and a few others before we were all spent.  Oh, and we also got to eat at P.F. Changs for lunch.  I felt so spoiled!  When I was checking out at one store, the cashier, who knew I was shopping with my mom and sisters, told me with tears in her eyes that her mom had just passed away a few months ago.  I told her that I knew that it was a huge blessing to be with them!  We laughed a lot, bought a lot, and ate really well.  Next time, we need to find a place closer to Katherine so she can come along!!!

On Friday, Nathan took the boys to Sioux Falls to the Science Museum.  They had a lot of fun and even got to see the first snowfall of the year!  Yikes...I'm not ready for that yet!

On Saturday, the boys broke open the HUGE hershey kiss that Grandma Tintle left for us last month.  :)  We went swimming afterward so they could burn off all of their energy.  :)

We've been doing a lot of planning and preparing for our big trip to Florida.  It's only 2 weeks away!

September Memories!

After Nathan had been gone for 10 days, we were excited to celebrate Labor Day with him!  Mason and I had picked him up from the airport the day before and Dorian and Levi spent the night with Grandpa and Grandma.  We joined them for the parade in the afternoon!

I love the picture of Grandpa holding Mason's hand while watching the parade.  :)

Dorian and Levi had fun on all of the rides...but especially on the bumper cars!!!  They were by far the best drivers.  :)

We decided to buy a new mower (since our old one wasn't self propelled and the wheels would loosen and fall off!) so that Dorian and I could mow the lawn!  Dorian has been SO excited and he has done a great job!  And I enjoy being outside and getting some exercise too.  I love the smell and look of a freshly mowed lawn!

Yeah!!! Levi learned how to do the monkey bars!  How fun!

Grandma Tintle came to visit us on the weekend of the 13th!  The boys had fun playing ping pong with grandma.  Nathan and I appreciated the extra hands on Saturday so that we could do some yard work together.

Dorian and Levi got to play hockey for an hour on 3 Saturdays in September.

Nice rock man, Dorian!

September 15:  Kindergarten field trip to an apple orchard.  I enjoyed being able to go along while Mason stayed home with Grandma Bolkema for the day.

It's only happened once, but Mason was playing downstairs for nearly 2 hours by himself.  After sneaking down and checking on him many times, I found him sleeping on the floor!

My little hockey players all ready to have fun on the ice!

Mason is 18 months old!!!
It was fun taking pictures of him and the other boys while we were at Pumpkin Land playing on the toys, seeing the animals, and completing the corn maze!

Mason has been waving to everyone lately.  In fact, going to the grocery store with him is a lot of fun right now because he waves to everybody we meet.  :)  He also waves to people driving by our house.  It's so sweet!

This made me laugh.  He was putting his head through the wrong direction.  :)

MOPS and Kindermusik also both started in September.  I love the Kindermusik program and Mason has enjoyed playing all of the instruments, listening to music, and learning new things.  He was in his high chair at home and started raising his arms up with his voice going higher and then down with his voice going lower as we do there.  :)  He is just soaking up so many new things!  Sunday school has started at Bethel and I'm excited to co-teach 2nd grade with a friend.  Dorian was very excited to have me for his teacher.  :)

Dorian and Levi have both adjusted well to the new school year.  It's been SO nice to have a month without too many extra events on the calendar.  In fact, we didn't spend any of our budgeted gas money for the month.  Crazy!