Birthdays and Busy

We've be so busy lately. I know everyone is this time of year. Our birthdays all fall in a row (in the Fall). Mine is September, Thomas is October, and both kids were born in November. Wyatt generally gets to celebrate his birthday with his cousins on his Daddy's side of the family because Thanksgiving is our "family reunion" time with them.


The trip to my sister-in-law's (and brother-in-law, nephews and niece) was very nice. We rented a GMC Acadia from Hertz. I have to tell you, we really like those guys. We had a couple of bad experiences with another rental company, but people at Hertz were great. The Acadia had tons of room and a built in dvd player.


I made three pairs of moccasins from Tandy Leather kits on the way down, while I was sitting in my roomy heated seat. Best traveling shoes ever! My feet always get cramped and sweaty in tennis shoes, but I was comfy cozy in my brand new moccasins. From left to right are mine, Ellie's, and Wyatt's moccasins.

My beautiful children are now each a year older.

Ellie is now 9 years old.

Wyatt is now 7 years old.

In the midst of holidays and birthdays, Thomas won an award for Outstanding Contributor to USTA Tennis Program.

We've all been working on "renovating" our basement. I finally have a wall that I haven't had around our utility/laundry/workout room for the past 7 years (we had to pull it down because we found out we had termites). Thomas is busy doing trim work and I am busy painting walls, floors, and the ceiling. What is done so far is beautiful. Our project might not seem like much to some people, but we spend a lot of time down here and I know we're really going enjoy the changes.

Of course, all the normal life is going on with jobs, Civil War Kids Club, Awana, Co-op, school, Bible study, tennis, etc. There's never a dull day. It's literally freezing cold here in the heartland; chill ya to the bone cold. We have ice and snow still on the ground, but it is not to bad for driving, even on the gravel roads. Thomas said that he thought of Laura Ingalls Wilder's The Long Winter when he walked into work the other day. He has such a long walk that he was wishing he had hay bales to walk through like Pa Ingalls.

Much slower than I wish, I'll keep on trying to keep this updated.