Homecoming parade

Sterling College homecoming parade was last weekend and I'm only now posting about it. Gorgeous fall day, a rare one, so very appreciated. Pop pop Anderson was driving one of Duane's tractors, so I had to take the camera! Love the fall leaves!

Poor Pop pop had to follow the camels! Look out for the P**P!

Taken from Our Daily Bread:

"He will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. —2 Timothy 2:21"
The word hallow isn’t used much anymore, and when it is, the uses have a broad range of meaning. Christians use the word when we say the Lord’s prayer, as in “Hallowed be Thy name.” Often the word is associated with the last day of October, which we in the US refer to as Halloween, a shortened form of All Hallows’ Eve.
In Scripture, the word hallow is a synonym for the word sanctify. When we hallow or sanctify something, we set it apart as being holy.
The name of God is not the only thing that we are to hallow. We too are to be hallowed. Paul urged Timothy to be a vessel sanctified and useful for God by pursuing “righteousness, faith, love, [and] peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” and by avoiding “foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife” (2 Tim. 2:21-23).
On this last day of October, children in the US will be carrying bags filled with sweets. Thinking of them can remind us to ask: “What is filli ng the vessel of my life? Is it a bitter attitude that leads to foolish disputes and strife, or is it a sweet spirit that leads to righteousness, faith, love, and peace?”
We can hallow today, and every day, by setting ourselves apart for God to be used by Him. —Julie Ackerman LinkErin is dressed as her dad: complete with plyer pouch, cell phone, cap and grey t-shirt!

Lacy the NAP dog

After a very exciting concert (and a long day) I decided to lay down while the kids got ready and into bed. Well, I tapped off, I sorta felt the dog join me, but didn't really care. Then I was aware of giggles and murmurs...Not only did they wake us up, they got Lacy excited and...she kissed me!The next day i caught her and Chris sharing a sunbeam...awww!

More singing!

Our school has an amazing music program. Seriously how many of us remember really good elementary and JRH concerts? Our choral director Clark puts on a wonderful 5-12 concert, which scared the daylights out of me the first year. (Can you imagine how long a concert featuring 5th through 12th grade could be?) 45 minutes! I was so thankful having several wiggly kids in a crowded gym. This years was very entertaining and uplifting. I did not video at all but I have a few pics. For a public school 2 or 3 songs were openly Christian, the last one being acting out "Wake UP Ollie Brown" The 5th and 6th graders did 2 nice numbers. Everyone wore their jammies since the theme was night or sleep.

The 7-8 graders did a number where the played the water glasses. The funniest one was the 7-8 graders "In the Jungle" which Collin got to participate in. Our friend's son Luke had the opening. They started just bobbin their heads back and forth and then the seriously got to groovin' and then settled it back down again!

Exciting....

As a parent there are so many thrilling moments. This past weekend as I dropped Hans off to Honor's choir practice (with 226 other students from around the state) I was filled with the same giddy feeling you get when they sit up the first time or walk or talk. These weeks have been just filled with watching our children do some amazing growing up! I know it's been happening slowly every day, but wow, how they have grown and changed!

Collin attended his first JRH dance. It was a costume party and he dressed in a Japanese Kimono and dyed his hair black along with black eyebrows and eyelashes...and he danced... with girls other than me!!! My dear son is growing up! It was very suprvised and even the dancing had strict stipulations, but he definitely had fun!

Our Erin is playing the flute these days. She struggled at first, but here she is after getting the hang of it! I forgot how tricky this instrument can be! Hans has had a muscial week, he had a solo in the 4th grade fall mini concert on Thursday and then performed at the KMEA Honor's Choir concert on Satruday! Here are the 4th graders and their recorders!Alan in his new glasses to correct the "convergence excess" issue he has!

Collin’s big stop!

The last football game of the season was this past week.  We were sad that the team, struggling with the flu we had the week before only wanted to play 2 quarters of the B game.   The 2 prior weeks we struggled with the flu and terrible weather, so I was ready for some football.  We were not disappointed, the guys gave it their all!  Collin had a great stop.  He read a pass well and got right in their and immediately stopped it!  I of course had come down on the field for some good shots and he was on the opposite side… busted! He not only stopped him, but he pushed him backward a good bit! If only 66 was not in the way!

Cross Creek Candle Open House

Last weekend the kids and I had fun getting out the candles for our candle open house.  To both help them and  earn some extra money, I decided to sell the hand poured soy candles that  Chris’ cousin Tricia and her friend make and sell.   We took some pictures of the displays we had up to show off the various scent samples. If you would like to order you can order directly from the website at Cross Creek Candle Co and mention my name in the notes as your consultant.  We are hoping to tuck the extra money aside for our trip to South Africa next year!!!  I do love their candles, they are so highly scented that they rivel Yankee or Gold Canyon candles, plus they are from pure soy, something that makes my husband very happy!There are  have some lovely fall and winter scents available.  If you would like a sample I can scrape some from a sample and send them to you or let me know and I’ll bring you a sample to try. 

“Padded Trampoline Football”

 

Collin, Hans and Alan love to play trampoline football, not sure exactly how that would work, but they do!  Last weekend  Taya was here for a visit and she got in on the fun.  

You can see bits and pieces of blankets showing through… kind a funny.   They get hurt less this way and gosh, it’s funny!

News!!!

Well here are Hans and Alan, relaxing in bed after a busy day. It's Thursday, very cold, very rainy, so we left them at Dick and Carol's so they would not freeze at Collin's football game in Nickerson. The game went poorly, but that's another story!

Hans has been selected to sing with the KMEA 4-6 Honor's Choir (only 2 were chosen from the each grade). He is very excited and has been staying after school to practice music with Mrs. Anthony. The choir is OCtober 24th!!!

Alan who you may know has struggled with reading since kindergarten...now has some answers! After some headaches at home and school he was referred to an eye MD (Even though he passes the vision screening). He has Conversion Excess, thus when he is reading his eyes over converge and the page goes out of focus for him. The MD took a paper and a transparency with the same thing printed on it and moved it just a millimeter and show us that this is what a gook looks like for Alan. We are so relieved and he is excited that now he knows what is going on!!! I feel terrible for the times when I thought he was just not paying attention or trying hard enough.

Corn Harvest 09

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H1N1???

Erin started it. A week and a half ago she woke in the night unable to sleep. As i tucked her back into bed she was burning up! 101*F at least. I gave her Motrin and the next day she was "fine" although I made her stay home from school. Dinner time *pop* there goes the fever, plus aches, sore throat, cough, runny nose. You could see it come over her. Kept her comfortable for a little more than 48 hours and that was that. Everyone else in the house had a bad cold and cough, but no fever.

This past Wednesday Hans was particularly grouchy in the car after AWANA complaining that Collin's reading light was hurting his eyes etc.

As I tucked him into bed....burning up. He was already coughing and sneezing. Out of the 4th grade class of 21 only 8 students were in school on Friday. Other classes were not as effected...

yet!

Who will be on the couch next week with the cat? The ironic thing is, sometime soon they will be bringing the H1N1 vaccine to the school for all the students to receive. Now I have no intention of having any of my kids vaccinated, I think we over vaccinate already. The irony is, I think they're too late.

Now does anyone else remember standing in line to get vaccinated. I remember in 2nd grade, the wait was worse than the shot!!!

Sadly, my friend Staci was going to come and stay with us with the 2 boys Brody and Barrett, because they had a wedding in Wichita Saturday. They did not come and we missed Collin's Thursday night football game in Hillsboro. Oh well, what can ya do!

State Fair

Whoo hoo, everyone loves the state fair right? You know lots of junk food, stinky animals and overpriced rides!!! This year we went with Bill and Paula and had a pretty good time doing all 3 of those things! We saw a sheep with 3 horns...ew.Getting wet on the Water Slide...and eating Uncle Bill's pop corn.Bounced on the trampoline/ bungee thing...And got trapped on the bumper cars from hell! all the kids got stuck in the middle and just sat there. Erin came out with a huge headache and we went home!