Where Two or Three are Gathered

It's finally time to back to normal life posts rather than vacation ones, don't you think?! I don't know though... vacation always sounds nice :). 

It has just so happened that recently there has been a lot of days and evenings, weeks and weekends, where Marcus and I have been gone traveling or just working, leaving Mom and Dad with the three younger ones to occupy. It seems like more and more these days, we have different events going on that consist of just part of the family instead of doing everything as whole family. It's just a part of all of us getting a little older and having fuller schedules.  Enjoy the following the post of all of the fall activities the younger half of the family enjoyed together these past few weeks:). 

While I was in Mexico, Mom and Kenan got to spend the day with Luann and her three cuties at Rader Family Farm! From the looks of things, the weather was enjoyable, and I know by the text that Mom sent me that she enjoyed her day immensely :). 

how could you not enjoy a day with him?! 

they certainly don't make Kenan look any smaller than he is :) 

take-out for less than a dollar:

They got quite the kick out of their supper one evening while we were gone ... apparently no one felt like cooking or spending money on supper, so they ended up using their free Casey's pizza coupon, plus free personal pizza coupons from Monical's and a free quart of ice cream coupon at Dairy Queen:). Who else does that?? 

not downstairs much anymore during school hours, but I'm pretty sure this is a common scene... Kenan getting his reading time in to whoever will listen :). 

They got to babysit four sweet kiddos one Saturday evening!! 

Oh, and one of the first things I heard when I arrived home from Mexico was that they had Lemon Shake-ups while I was gone! :). 

great idea thanks to Hannah's mom in the Titus II newsletter :)

Mom has taken on a new endeavor for the month of November. She is now an elementary art teacher! While putting the lessons together has taken a lot of time and thought, I think she would tell you that she has really enjoyed it - more than she thought she would! And although I don't get to attend her class (I'm stuck in a class of my own, learning about taxes and debt, aka, consumer economics), I can tell by the big smiles and paint splatters on the kids' faces that their class is a ton of fun!!

She and Martha together teach grades 1-4... 26 kids!

Here are some snaps from the older art class that was taking place at the same time

Saturday the 5th, Mom and Dad took another group of 7th-8th graders to the Creation Museum for their Sunday School Trip. This is the third time they've been among those in charge of this trip, but this one was a little different than any other they've had before (we'll leave it at that :)). It was Jared's class so he got to go along with them.

He was all proud of being able to say he touched a lizard! 

the weather was so beautiful that even in November, they could enjoy a walk through the lovely gardens outside the museum

The last Saturday in October, Dad, Mom, Jared, Lily and Kenan enjoyed the beautiful fall weather leaf crunching around New Salem (set up to honor Lincoln and his time period) with some other family friends! 

When they got home, I was asking Kenan about what they saw there and he so excitedly exclaimed,
"Yes! And all of the cabins there are made of Lincoln Logs!!" :)

That's quite the list of family fall activities! We sure have enjoyed the extended fall weather :). I'm a little disappointed that it's getting colder now, especially since Dad has a radical idea to try and break a record by not turning on the heat until December. Be forewarned in case you plan to visit this month... it's been chilly already and we're not halfway through the month yet!