Quick trip home

Wow....seriously...where does the time go?!?!? The last few weeks have flown by and here are a few things we've been up to.... About a week and a half ago, Nathan called me from work (on a Wednesday) about 1:00 in the afternoon and since it was later than he normally would call on his break, I asked him if he had a late break today. He replied by saying "I'm on break until Monday!" What??? He said that a guy at work (accidentally) cut another guy with a chainsaw so the company sent everyone home for the rest of the week (without pay) as a punishment. So he had the idea of going home! Since we could drive there that night, we'd have 4 full days at the house and then Nathan had class on Monday in the cities so that would work out perfectly, so we decided to load up quick and make the 8ish hour trip home! The drive went so fast and with only stopping once, we made great time. We were back home at 11:30pm and everyone was so happy to sleep in their own bed! We spent the next 4 days playing, cleaning, and organizing. The kids played in the creek, picked rocks in the field, played with friends, and enjoyed lots of outside play on their bikes. Brayan just sitting behind the garage, looking at the land, thinking about life :) T

The kids pickin' rock in the field (a penny for every rock)

My sister-in-law is having a garage sale in a few weeks so I spent quite a bit of time going through all my totes downstairs and getting rid of anything that we don't use. Since we are hoping that our house will sell soon (or be rented out) I tried to clear stuff that we knew we didn't want to pack up and store when that happens. We got together with some good friends and had a wonderful time in fellowship. The kids played and the adults tried to play a game of bocce ball in the yard. It didn't work very well though because the part of our yard with nice grass is mostly a hill, and the little kids kept moving our marker ball :) It was fun though. We are so thankful for their friendship. Our kids and the Tiemann kids. Between us there are 9 kids 7 and under. Great times!

Jaeger 11 weeks

Sleepin' with Grandpa Ron

Monday morning came and it was time to leave for the cities bright and early at 6am in order for Nathan to get to class on time. Since the cities in an hour and a half closer to Chicago, we decided that it would be smart for me to drop him off at class and then hang around the cities until he was done with class and just leave from there. Well, what to do with me and the kids from 8am til ? while we wait for dad?? I looked on my phone and saw that the Como Zoo was just a couple miles away! They didn't open til 10am so after we arrived, we hung out in the van and watched a movie. Once it opened, we walked around checking out the animals for about an hour and then went back to the van to get something to eat and feed the baby. After lunch, we went back into the zoo and walked around for another couple hours. In the meantime, I had texted Nathan to see if he knew what time he was going to be done with class yet, and he thought maybe around 2. It was 1:30 so I thought we would just head over to his class and wait for him. Well it worked out perfect bc while we were driving there (just a mile or so away), he text me and said that he was done and that I should come get him! Tiernan watching the tiger

The clan--it was a perfect weather day! mid 60s and sunny!

We headed back to Chicago and arrived Monday evening. (Which means that we also missed the last night "Awards night" for Awana. The boys had only gone 3 times but they loved it sooooo much! Tiernan would talk about it for days and after getting home from awana, he'd say "only 7 more days and I can go back!" :) The rest of the week was filled with unpacking, playing at the church gym, and a birthday party! The kids were invited to a "super hero" themed birthday party at the park for friends of ours boys' 5th birthday! It was so much fun for them!! They each got a cape and a mask and played a whole bunch of super hero games that was coordinated by the dad, who was also dressed up in super hero gear. They had to jump through hoola hoops, catch the bag guy with the gold coins, pop balloons, all sorts of stuff! In their capes and masks (Ariella was posing before the pic but then got mad :)