Mall of America Fun

This past Saturday was nothing but rain so we decided to spend it going to one of our favorite places, Mall of America.  Some of our good friend gave us some surprise ride tickets, you scan them at the booth to find out how many points each ticket has.  Most were pretty low, but one was a very large amount.  Therefore, we spent the rest of our morning and afternoon riding rides (lot of firsts doing adult rides for Caleb and Kallen), doing a little shopping, and playing at Lego-land.  Plus as an extra bonus, Nana was even able to drive up to meet us for the day.  Great was to spend it indoors.

Autumn Fun

Since the kids were off for MEA, the weather was in the seventies, and Dad had no appointments this afternoon we decided to all journey through our first corn maze.  We successfully made it through thanks to Dad, if he was not with us we probably would have just walked in circles.  After the maze, the kids tried all the other fun activities from the mini maze, bikes, play-places, tug-a-war and the petting zoo.  This may just remain one of my favorite fall memories ever, such a fun day!

Lincoln Logs

The boys pulled out the Lincoln Logs on this rainy Monday and they have been busy making some beautiful creations.

Awana

Tonight kicked off another year of Awana and man were the kids excited!  This year was a big year as three of the four moved to new levels and Ian got his first official Awana attire.  The kids must have had a great time as bedtime was an adventure in itself tonight.  So glad to see that they love being apart of Awana still and increasing their wisdom in God and His word.  Beyond grateful for the volunteers and church for serving our family like they do.  

Elyse: T&T now
Caleb: Sparks (Level 2)
Kallen: Sparks now (Level 1)
Ian: Cubbies now (Level 1)

Not going to lie, this picture gets more and more emotional every year as there was a time it was Elyse so little in the blue Cubbie vest.  Growing up too fast!

8 Kids!

So last Sunday my dear friend Rachel's grandmother who I had the privilege of meeting while in Alabama passed away.  When Aaron and Rachel told us the cost of flying and how Aaron didn't like the idea of Rachel driving the 22 hours on her own there and back, we quickly offered to watch their kiddos.  They left Wednesday morning and arrived back at 11:30 PM last night.  Overall the kids (9, 9, 6, 5, 5, 3, 3, 1) did GREAT; they slept well, played well and kept us very busy!  The hardest thing was getting kids to and from school; however the school schedules also gave me some much needed breaks.  Someone asked me at church today if we'd ever do it again and without a hesitation I quickly responded with, "Absolutely!"  Love those kids!