November 2013

This month began with finishing out the two sports seasons: Volleyball and Football.  Both our girls and boys teams qualified for state; the first time for our volleyball team.  Jonathan took both our athletes while Beth stayed home with the younger children, and our two older boys who work full time.  Stephen, among others, ended up being very sick with the latest virus at the time, and we were all glad that Beth was home with him instead of at the state tournament.
Later that month we all walked/ran a walkathon for our local Lifeline Family Center.  Here is a shot before we ran it.

Stephen stretching out.

Stephen was a trooper and ran or walked the whole distance.

 The morning of Thanksgiving the 4 of us, along with my friend, ran the 5k Turkey Trot.  Our results mirror the order of this photo, with David coming in first of our group and me coming in last.  My friend Kathy came in just after Jonathan, way before Beth crossed the finish line.  It was the coldest day of the season with temperatures only at 42 when the gun went off.

Beth finishes her first 5k

 After a quick shower we went to church to thank God for our blessings.  When we arrived home we took some photos of the family for our Christmas card. Here is one of our family still here at home.

The day after Thanksgiving we decorate for Christmas.  It was Johanna's year to place the angel on the tree.

October 2013

October always means football right?  Here are a few shots of David and his team.  Football season for us also included volleyball, so here are some shots of Christiana in play and her team at our tournament.

At the end of the month we celebrated Abigail's 8th birthday and Nathan and Hannah's 4th anniversary.

The younger children also held a Chinese party.  Here they are having Ramen noodles and trying out their chopsticks.

September 2013

So, this month began for Beth and 3 of the children in Texas.  Here is another photo after the birth.

 After we left, Nathan and his family went to a local event where they shot a great family photo and Lydia rode a pony and had her arm painted.  She is so adorable.

Nathan, Hannah, Lydia, Audrey, September 2013

Then came Dave's 17th birthday in the middle of the month.

 This month was also filled with volleyball for Christiana, seen here helping out a small team in the season opening jamboree, and football for Dave.

Dave's got the ball.

Stephen gets to pet a puppy at one of our games.

August 2013

August was a very busy month, and lots of fun.  It brought the beginning of school on the 5th, Katie's birthday as well.  Stephen started kindergarten.  It just so happened that on his first day of school Zach wore a matching shirt.  So, before Zach headed to work and Stephen began his first day we shot this photo.

Here are the other students in our school on their first day

The biggest event, however, was Beth's trip to Texas for the birth of our newest grandchild.  She left August 17th and stayed just past Labor Day in September.  So as not to lose momentum for school, Stephen joined her, along with Johanna to be monitored for her medications and seizures, and Charity to keep Mom awake on the 21+ hour road trip both ways.  We  had a blast with all our children Nathan, DIL Hannah, her sister Stacey, Katie, and granddaughter Lydia.  Because baby Audrey decided she liked it in the womb, we did lots of things and went lots of places.  It was super great fun being together.  Here are a few of the things we did.

Katie, Nathan and Hannah.

We visited Splash park several times since it is so close we can walk to it and it was hot!!

field trip to an old farm now a state park

Lydia's new bike and helmet

Having fun at Katie's gym.

Lydia and Uncle Stephen love to snuggle in the morning in "Grandma's bed."

Our next field trip was to the Ft Worth Stockade where most of the cattle were driven to market in times past.  It was super hot at 105 degrees, but we had fun.

Then the best was yet to come as baby Audrey entered the world.  She arrived on 9/4 at 2:38am, weighing 9lbs. 1oz, and 22 inches long.  Beth got to witness her birth too!  We all got to see her before we left to drive home to Florida literally an hour and a half after her birth.  God be praised that Beth stayed awake on no sleep for the 22 hour drive.

On our way home we snapped a shot of the Mississippi.  It was a great time.

These all fit in September, but they ended our trip which mostly took place in August.

July 2013

July consisted of summer golf lessons for the children, celebrating the 4th, hair cuts for the girls in our family, Cow appreciation day at Chicfila, and a visit from some friends that live a couple hours north of here.  On Independence Day we started out at the parade in which the 4 girls rode bikes.  In the evening, after the traditional cookout, there were fireworks.  We live in an area where there are so many fire works displays around us in any direction, we don't need to go anywhere to enjoy the "bombs bursting in air."  Of course, setting them ourselves cannot be beat.  For Beth, July also included getting ready to start school in August.  Here are the photos!