The last of the catch up posts!

Here is the rest of what we've been doing in the past month:


One week my A. Karen, cousin Michelle, and her cute little guy Carson came to Illinois to visit my grandparents.  We got to take them out to eat at Ruby Tuesday one night and the next morning they came for breakfast!

I never even got to see Michelle when she was pregnant, so I was super excited to see Carson before he turns 5. :)  Thanks for coming out...we loved, loved, LOVED getting to see you three!

 

I took a one day, 5 hour photography class at the beginning of August.  I loved it and have been trying to play around with some of the things they taught.  Don't expect the pictures on the blog to change drastically, though!  I've learned that when I'm trying to get pictures of the kids, I pretty much have to shoot on automatic right now because it takes me too long to figure out the light, change my aperture, ISO, and/or shutter speed.  By the time I would figure it out, they are gone!

The kids and I spent a morning at Meg, Maria, and Hanna's house one day.  It was rainy so the kids played with umbrellas first.

Then they played in the pool!  Yes, I figured out shutter speed in this picture. :)

Splash!

One day I babysat Elena and Annika, and these little girls had matching shirts.  They were cracking each other up!  The rest of the pictures from this little photo shoot are all hilarious!

One day Nora wanted to wear a 'new' dress, so I found this one in her closet...my A. Connie made it for me when I was 5!

Max being goofy.

We heard that the Chuck Wagon Gang was coming to a nearby town, so we bought tickets to surprise Greg's parents.  We went out to eat beforehand and then to the concert.  We had to get a picture of Mom with their big RV!

The concert was a benefit for Midwest Food Bank.  Deer Fry International played first, and then the Chuck Wagon Gang.  It was...amazing!  Inspiring, uplifting, and just awesome.  The lady whose head is in this picture was also fun to watch.  Lots of 'Amen!'s and 'Thank you, Jesus!'  :)

Mom grew up listening to the Chuck Wagon Gang, so her kids did, too. :)  Shaye, the woman in the blue shirt, is the granddaughter of the original alto of the CWG.

 

That was a Friday night, and the rest of the weekend we had company at our house!  It was Invite a Family at church, so we asked Will and Joanna to come out.  I'm so glad they did, as it was just a perfect weekend.

We had Gary and Kathy over for supper on Saturday night, too.  Here are all of the one year olds (give or take a few months):  Lynelle, Landon, and Tirzah.

I found Landon palming dirt into his mouth after supper...I did stop him, but not before a couple of pictures!  He's just so cute!

Greg got out our inflatable jumpy castle, which the kids all loved.

Later that night, the kids weren't quite sleepy yet and played for a bit.  They each wanted a corner of the blanket!

Tyson wanted me to take his picture.

When Tirzah saw it, she came and wanted one, too...she wasn't ready for the flash!

Believe it or not, Sunday morning we got all 6 kids to sit on the couch for a picture.  Left to right are Tyson, Landon, Tirzah, Nora, Trenton, and Max.  Max and Trenton are a month apart in age, Nora and Tyson about 2 months apart in age, and Tirzah and Landon are maybe 4 months apart in age.  It was a lively house that weekend, but SO MUCH FUN!

On Sunday Jo braided Nora's hair before supper.  I am quite envious of her skills...it was adorable!
Thanks again for coming out, Will and Jo and boys!  We had a great weekend!

Last picture:  One morning Max and Nora made a 'castle' out of their blocks and were very proud of it!  Max said that the blue blocks were windows.  I thought they did a great job!