Two Little Princesses~by Beth

Here are two of our little Princesses. Emma is wearing a gown that was on clearance after Halloween so I picked it up. It gave her and Charity great joy. Johanna is wearing one that was given to us as some point. A little big, but she was happy.

Football season 2010~by Beth

Our boys started football practice in July and everyone gained a lot of skill. So much so that the boys went to state. They finished the season 5th in state. Of course we are a part of a small state league, but still they played well. Here are the boys from our house. Stephen and I watched many games. Bubbles helped pass the time.

The Fishing Field Trip~by Beth

Our children participated in a field trip that was set up for Jonathan's school but they let us tag along. It was at the pond of Bass Pro Shop. While they fished I did some shopping for Christmas. Here are a few shots of the fun.

Abby turns 5

Abby celebrated her birthday this week. She got to go to ChuckECheese last week for a school fund raiser with her siblings. Sunday we celebrated with cake and presents. She loved her gifts and kept carrying them around the house with her. Today she told me that she did not understand why she was not starting school yet since she turned 5. I explained that she would start when school began next year. Besides, we have to get Johanna through 1st grade phonics before I start all over in kindergarten phonics.

Caleb's new class

After several months on the waiting list Caleb officially started his culinary class. We took a photo of him yesterday when the rest of his uniform arrived. Today's photo is the "going out the door before our first class" photo. Yesterday was our last game until state November 11-12, so we only have practices. Life is so busy with active teens in the house.

Joel is off to the University of Florida~by Beth

Friday was another milestone in Joel's and our life. He left for UF. Stephen and I helped to pack him up. Here are the photos to prove it!

An unexpected trip to Texas~by Beth

After the conference ended, we grabbed some dinner, late, at the Golden Arches with Nathan. The plan was that we would take Nathan back to the South Campus where he was staying and also drop off Caleb and Zachary to spend the night. In the morning all three would ride back on the ALERT vans back to ALERT and the boys would work base support for a little more than three weeks. Just as we arrived at the South Campus at dusk I got a call that my aunt in TX had passed away. So, we got the boys off, got the other children ready for travel and said our goodbyes. While filling up the van with gas Jonathan and I began to discuss whether it would be possible to go to Texas for the funeral that would be the following Tuesday, 4 days later. Since Jon did not have to be to work until Friday we figured we could swing it. So, at 11:30pm we started out, not for Florida, but for Texas. We called Nathan to check with him about staying at ALERT which was fine. His sister-in-law works in conferences at ALERT so she arranged our housing on campus. Around 2:30am we pulled over to rest at a rest stop somewhere in Illinois. David got out to use the restroom and looked at the map of where we were but he must have been too sleepy to realize that Illinois was not on the way home to Florida. Later in the morning the children woke up and began to wonder where we were. Charity, in particular, kept asking where we were, where we were going, etc. I tried to give vague answers like "We're going south". Before we got to the Texas sign she had figured that we were not going home. They erupted in cheers when they realized that we would visit family in Texas. We kept our visit a secret from Katie. She had been asking us to visit practically every month. She had also suggested that we send Stephen with the two boys coming to ALERT and he could fly home with them. So, when we arrived we went to her apartment and had Stephen knock on the door. Because she and Stacey (our DIL's sister) had been painting all day in over 100 degree heat and had just gotten back and showered, they were pretty tired. So, Katie yelled "Come in." Stephen turned the knob and I had him walk in and she squealed with delight. The whole time we were there was delightful. We got to help Nathan on two rooms they were fixing up in their apartment and celebrate Katie's birthday a couple days early. On Tuesday we drove over to Ft Worth for the funeral and had a special time with all my Dad's relatives. I got a shot of the remaining three siblings of my grandparents. They have lost two siblings now. Dad is the one in the center. Though it was a very long trip home, it was well worth going.