Fall? Fall!

The last three weeks have been unseasonably cool and rainy here in Savannah.  Leaves are falling in the Seattle-style rain, the breeze is cool, we've had our windows open!  (Which is fabulous because our A/C has been out of commission and is barely hobbling along as we speak)  Though it's way too early to bust out our fall attire, it's been very beautiful weather!

Some other great stuff has been happening around here:

1.  (I might overly love lists)  We are so proud of Jordan.  She has officially completed her 1st Google search.  Josh is more proud of WHAT she searched FOR...m ms  :)  hahaha!  She is definitely his child!

2. Jack, as we reported last, learned to ride his bike without training wheels.  It does not matter the size of the bike, he can start it and ride off into the sunset without trouble :)  He has, however, had his first wreck.  And it was doozy.  He was racing Renae (primarily) and a car (secondarily (!?!)) to our driveway.  They saw our friends' car heading to our house and took off top speed....and he went over his handlebars. Ooooo nellie!  But nothing is broken and he has all his teeth!  The inside of his left cheek was black for a few days, and his face was swollen and bruised up pretty good- not too bad though!  Gotta love the face first landing...We met some new neighbors out of the whole deal--there's an elderly couple that bikes around every evening and the husband put Jack's bike in his bike's basket and rode it home and another neighbor ran out of her house to pull the wagon with Noah and Jordan in it so Josh could carry Jack home.  (I was home waiting for the friends!  Talk about a welcome wagon!) A couple days later:

3. Two Saturdays ago we had a large adult lizard in our house dining room.  It was an adventure!  No one wanted to catch it of course, so it got chased behind a heavy cabinet.  Fabulous. Awesome. Yay. So I (under the influence of the Holy Spirit) went to get a yard stick and Josh forced the lizard to climb onto it.  He held it's tail and let the kids look at it up close.  What a fun experience! Until it startled Josh miraculously escaped from Josh's death grip and jumped onto Renae's chair (it is worth noting that Renae was the only child who wanted no part in examining or petting this lizard).  Horror movie quality screaming ensues.  Josh recaptures and relocates.  Lysol and dinner commence.

4.  Josh had another great save a few nights later as we look up to the ceiling and see a full grown cockroach just hanging out up there.  Now, if you miss killing it on your first attempt, that thing is gone so fast you are left wondering where to search and good luck.  So, Josh get's a chair, and the container of lysol wipes (I told him he was so brave to forgo the shoe method and just clamp the grossness inside a wipe in his iron grip) which he then slammed into the ceiling (the WHOLE container, not A wipe).  He held it there for a good minute. Then risked a minuscule peek....STILL ALIVE!!!  By the time he applied full pressure again, the head had wiggled out.  We were left with this:  a roach beheading.  Siiiiiiiick.

I'll zoom in for you:  :) hahaha

5.  Josh and I went to see War Room (actually the same night as Jack's face injury) the movie.  All I'm going to say is this:  If you haven't seen it, you MUST.

I'm the first to admit that most faith based movies thus far have been a little (or a lot) cheesy at times.  There are only about 10 cheesy seconds in the movie, and they aren't even very cheesy.  We loved it.  LOVED IT. Ok so I said a little more... ;)

6.  Josh got to go to the Nebraska-Miami football game in Miami with some great guy friends!  He had a great time, and that game was incredible frustrating something else!  Check out facebook for some great pictures.

7. I got the chance to go visit some of our favorites in NYC a week or so ago...Parts of that city sure are beautiful!  I got to eat at Wahlburgers and attend an Army 9/11 Remembrance Service on Sept 11th--very moving!

8.  One of Josh's soldiers made us a delicious pie.  Sweet potato cheesecake. :)

9.  We met another neighbor due to flying our Nebraska flag...they are Air Force retirees who were long-time stationed at Offutt AFB!  She said Omaha was one of the two places where they felt at HOME in their entire career.  The other was in central Georgia.  I think they might be us in 20 years :)

10.  BSF has started again.  Bible Study Fellowship.  We are studying the book of Revelation this year.  If you are interested in studying the Bible---only the Bible!---I promise you BSF is not what you think it is.  We study the Word, we study Jesus, we study Truth, and we trust the Lord to teach us as we study Together.  Please look it up--men and women and school age kids--guided study thru Revelation, verse by verse.  www.bsfinternational.org  I've been a part of the Genesis study, the Matthew study, and the Life of Moses study (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy).  Always wonderful!

The Day Everyone Learned Something New

We've started school!  Three weeks down and so far so great!  One thing I love about Classical Conversations is that it promotes education for the whole family--Josh and I are learning right along with her and honestly, Jack and Noah and Jordan know A LOT of it just from listening :)

There was a day last week where everyone child in our house learned something new.  :)

Renae learned how to get on and start her bike all by herself...she has been capable of doing this for awhile but too timid to try it..she's finally got it! :)

Jack asked to take his training wheels off his bike and took off on his own.  No coaching or helping required!  This has been a long time coming, too, but he finally asked! :)

Noah has always been a singer, but now he's singing Renae's school songs that involve science facts, prepositions, Latin, and skip counting :)  He's always got a song to sing.  Also, he and Jack can both bounce a baseball on the driveway and hit it when it comes up.  I'm still not coordinated enough to do that! hahaha!

Jordan learned how to make fishy lips.  And to say the word bathroom. She now says- Daddy, Mommy, Dak (Jack), Nae (Renae), ok, no, ball, shhhhhhhoes, gink (drink), baby, peas (please) and bathroom. (which by the way is clear as can be...hahaha!)

Grand Intentions!

We had such a GREAT GREAT GREAT Summer!  Quite possibly my favorite summer of life so far...(close 2nds are MB Summer Project 2004, and the summer we got married {2006}).  It took me most of the summer to really put a finger on why I was LOVIN' this Summer so much.  

*Dramatic Pause*

This is the 1st summer in 6 YEARS that I have not either been pregnant, or nursing a baby!!!!

This was a hot summer (even by Georgia standards!) but...I LOVED IT!  I had the body temperature of a normal human, not growing or feeding anyone else, not the one who was 12,000 degrees sitting indoors or holding a sweaty baby 4-5 times a day.  Ok, ok, you get it!  But seriously, I loved the heat.  We were outdoors almost every day.  We went to the beach almost every weekend, and if we didn't go there, we went to the pool.  We got to vacation! (Look on Facebook for pictures, there are A LOT)  It was the vacation of the 'Villes.  We journeyed to Clarksville, Evansville, Hudsonville, Stevensville, and Nashville!  A trip filled with floating down a river (4 adults and 6 kids 7yrs old and under), friends, the zoo, parks parks and more parks, cousins, the pool, grandparents, Lake Michigan, the county fair (the rides, the animals, the food!), fire pits, hammocks, and new babies.  We had such an enjoyable time :)

With the Fall comes fresh starts.  A schedule begins again!  And FOOTBALL.  ((And maybe-I know, I know- I can find time to write more updates!))

We begin our homeschool adventure this year as Renae starts Kindergarten.  So far, so fabulous! It is exciting to watch how eager she is to learn.  It is definitely infectious.  Jack wants to do some school everyday now, too!  :) I'm definitely remembering things I had forgotten!  We are doing Classical Conversations which is a wonderful homeschool program.  The Community is incredible, and the academics are rigorous and challenging.  If you are thinking about homeschooling and have any questions about CC ask me!  I'd love to talk with you about it!