Good-Bye...

Today, we officially say good-bye to our beautiful house in Batesville... We loved that house but we are very happy to have it sold and now be able to just concentrate our creating our home here.
We have had a fun week with lots of activities. Spanish club, French Club, band, Science club, baton lessons, volleyball, swim team, basketball try-outs, flag football, etc. The kids have been having a great time. Grandpa got off the boat and is back in town again. Grandma brought her friend, Dick, and came over for the evening to watch Calvin's football game. This afternoon, we leave for Batesville for the weekend for the wedding that Max is in and for lots of friend time. Should be fun!

Taba's Room

I worked some more on Tabitha's room today and almost have it completed. She is just loving it! Next, we plan to use a white picket fence to create a headboard for her bed.
Great day today... Max went on a field trip to a local apple orchard and had a ball! He told us all about how they grow their trees from seedlings and how they have "hundreds and hundreds" of trees. He was also thrilled to find out that riding on the school bus "wasn't scary at all!" I never even knew that he thought it might be! Calvin had Spanish Club after school and just loves it. He is also participating in French club so sometimes he gets his languages confused but not often. Tabitha started her baton lessons tonight. She has twirled for years in Batesville and loves it so she was very happy to be twirling again! Who knows... maybe she'll be the next Purdue Golden Girl! Quincy had a very, very exciting day! He loved going out to lunch with his buddies and felt like such a big shot, leaving the school grounds during the day! After school, he had his first round of Science Club and could not stop talking about how great it was! They learned about lenses but the best things were when they played with photograph paper and took apart a camera!

Distracted and Busy!

We have been so busy with the kids and doing things to the house, I haven't had a chance to "blog" anything lately. This week's focus has been on doing the kitchen, not really doing anything, just making decisions. We are planning on new countertops and flooring so we have been visiting all the local home improvement stores and researching to decide what we want. Our next door neighbor who has become a good friend and sounding board, says that we are going to be in this house for at least the next 20 years so we should "do it up right"! I hope she's right. After Josh brought home the final load of our stuff from our old house on Sunday, I feel like we have moved in all over again as I try to find places to hang things on the walls and put stuff away that we don't want out. Quincy has the opportunity to leave school for lunch today. He is so excited! They are allowed to leave with an adult during their lunch hour so the mother of a friend of his called this morning to see if she could take him out to lunch with her son and a few of his other friends. Isn't that fun?! Basketball try-outs are also this week so Quincy is going to have an active week! This weekend is the wedding of our old babysitter, Ms. Sarah, where Max is the ringbearer. He is getting so excited to wear his tux! Should be awfully cute!

A Rainy, Cold Sunday...

We managed to get a lot accomplished again today but we are now officially exhausted. Josh got up at 5 this morning to head down to Batesville to clear out the last remaining things in our house there. The new owners will take possession on Friday so this was our last chance. The kids and I got up and went to church and our various CCD activities. Josh then came home and we finished up all the touch-ups on our painting job from yesterday. Looks great! Josh then replaced the hallway light fixture with one that is not circa 1985 which I am so excited about! We then had to unload all the stuff Josh brought back from Batesville and go grocery shopping. I got in the mood to cook with all this good food around, so I made our meals for the next few nights. The kids were great, all day. They happily entertained themselves, played with some neighbors and while it rained... Did plays in the basement. Very reminiscent of my own childhood!

Now that is some bedhead!

Quincy is currently loving having his hair long, thick and wild. Here's the style from this morning.
Josh and I painted all day long for a total of 10 hours of painting and completed the upstairs hall, the entryway and the downstairs hall. Hopefully it won't need a second coat tomorrow! We are exhausted!
We are now hanging up our paintbrushes, dumping the kids, and going out to eat and to see a movie! Hurray!!

Home Decorating Fridays!

That seems to be our theme lately and it is fun. Today is bye-bye to our hideous pink entryway. We are having to pay someone to do that painting as it involves great heights which neither Josh nor I are "up" for. Due to a lot of patching and smoothing, it won't be finished until Monday but it is so nice already to see the khaki color take over the pink. I have also spent a great deal of time today working on Taba's room. Grandpa cut out wooden flower shapes which Taba has been busy painting the various colors of her bedding and we will hang on the walls with mirrors in the centers. I also shortened and hung curtains in her room today and painted her rocking chair. We are having a great time. Josh finally comes home today after traveling for work and we can't wait to see him. Two weeks as a "single" mom is way too long!

It's Autumn!

Oh my gosh! It got cold today! All of a sudden, we are no longer able to wear shorts and flipflops and had to pull out the jeans! Today, the temperature only got up to about 58 degrees! Wow! I love it! Don't worry, I had to include this picture because it's just so funny, but Max is not really hitting Calvin, they were just fooling around. Josh is out of town for business again this week so I am flying solo. It's only Tuesday but since that means my work week is basically finished ( I only work a half day on Thurs), I feel like we are holding up pretty well. Max's class is having pajama day at school tomorrow but he says that he doesn't like wearing his pajamas in public so he would rather just wear his normal clothes. The other kids would love to wear their pajamas to school! Oh well...

Very Disturbing...

Something very disturbing happened today... My nephew Adam went from this little baby in the IU sweats to this big guy in the OSU shirt. Adam left for college today! How can that be?! It is very exciting but also a little sad to think that he is so grown up!

Phew!

Are weekends supposed to be relaxing?! This one sure wasn't although it was fun. We spent the day in Ft. Wayne yesterday. Had a very nice visit with Josh's grandma to celebrate her 87th birthday. She has just moved in to an assisted living facility and is trying to adjust. We were also able to spend time with Josh's mom and brother. We then went over to visit my brother, Bruce for a short time before heading to the Johnny Appleseed Festival where we got to see lots of "old-timey" things and eat lots of fried apple stuff. We drove back here in the late evening last night and shoved the cranky kids into bed. Today, we spent several hours doing church things. By not putting the kids into Catholic schools here, we have committed to several hours each Sunday on Religious Ed. Max goes from 9 til 10:15, Calvin and Taba go from 10:30 til 11:30 and then Quincy goes to Youth Group in the evenings from 5 til 7. Keeps our Sundays busy! Taba and I also painted a third coat on the walls of her room while Josh and the boys worked out in the yard. Quincy had a school friend come over for the first time which they both seemed to enjoy. Now it's time for laundry!

Finally Doing Some Decorating!

Thanks to my mom and dad painting Quincy and Tabitha's rooms this week, we have finally gotten around to doing some decorating in this house. I finished Quincy's room yesterday and he is just thrilled with it! It was so fun, now, I want to do it all! Today, though, we are heading to Ft. Wayne for the day to do some visiting with Josh's mom and grandma and to eat our way through the Johnny Appleseed Festival.

Calvin

Calvin got his football team pictures today and was so excited! I had gotten them made into a pennant for him to hang in his room. He loves it!

Home Improvements

Looks like our house in Batesville might actually be sold, we'll close on it on the 29th. Now, we can start concentrating on getting this house fixed up the way we want it. Hurray! That's fun. My mom and dad came over today to do some painting for us. They started in Quincy's room and then moved on to Tabitha's. They do good work! It's nice to have them here as Josh is out of town for business this week and extra hands are always helpful to have around.

The Tradition Continues...

Since Josh and I first met on the marching band practice field of Josh's freshman year in highschool, it seems only fitting to watch our oldest 2 embark on their first band experiences...

Another Trip to Chicago

Max, Tabitha and I just got back from another weekend in Chicago. We had another wonderful time. This time, we met my college roomate, Leah, and her husband and baby there. They were in town for a wedding and we went up to help babysit the baby during the wedding. It was originally just going to be a girls' weekend with Tabitha and I, but Max had so much fun in Chicago last weekend and is so interested in seeing just what babies are like, he really wanted to come along. We had a great time. The 3 of us did some shopping along Michigan Ave. and in American Girl place before going up to the top of the John Hancock building and eating at the Cheesecake factory. We then headed to the Goedels' hotel where they headed to the wedding and we took over Jordan. Such a sweet, easy going, baby girl!! Taba held her all evening except when Max was taking his turn and when she needed a diaper change. This morning, we hooked up with the Goedels again for breakfast before heading back home.

End of the Week

Quincy studies his spelling words.... perhaps in a little unorthodox position but he's getting good grades so....
Great week! Lots of activities. Quincy, Tabitha and Calvin all started Spanish club after school one day a week. Max and Calvin started French club one morning a week before school. Tabitha started school choir practice. Quincy and Tabitha started band practices and got their rental instruments to bring home - Taba on the flute, Quincy on the drums! Calvin had another flag football game which he claims they won but since no one really keeps score, it's a little hard to tell. Tonight, he gets to parade on to the field at the high school varsity game with his team and then watch the game for free. He can't wait! Quincy started swim team practice and is really holding his own. He keeps saying that he is going to teach these Boilermakers how to swim like "Stingrays" (his Batesville team). Lots of fun! I love my part-time work schedule and am really enjoying my job as well as being able to take care of things at home. I even had my first volunteer day in the school libary.

Swim Team!

Quincy tried out for and easily made the swim team tonight. He will now have practices 4-5x/wk through the first week in February! Eeek! What have we done? Anyway, he really wanted to do the winter swim team program and is very excited to have done so well at try-outs, so what can we do? The other kids all have many other activities going on so they weren't as inclined to join. Isn't this a great picture of Calvin reading "Calvin and Hobbes" to his stuffed "Hobbes".

Chicago by Train!

We just got back from two full days and one night in Chicago. We had a fantastic time! We traveled by train from Lafayette which was a nice way to go! The kids had room to roam around and we didn't have to worry about the drive. Very fun! Anyway, we were able to do and see lots of things including the Field Museum, the Children's Museum, Navy Pier, the Lincoln Park zoo, daddy's friend Marc and his girlfriend, the hotel swimming pool (where Quincy swam 38 lengths - he was aiming for the 44 that it took to make a mile but didn't quite make it), a long walk along the lakefront (from the museum campus all the way to Navy Pier), and several good restaurants. We love Chicago! Max said that our trip was even better than our annual trip to Notre Dame!

Friday!

Thank goodness it's Friday! I am finally at the end of my orientation period at work and can actually start functioning as a real physical therapist with my real schedule next week. Looking forward to it! We have been fooling around all week with a rather half-hearted offer on our house. Just enough to make us sort of consider it but not enough to make it worth while. Frustrating to think of how much time and energy we have wasted on it this week with no real end result that we can see. Anyway, we are heading to Chicago by train tomorrow for a weekend of sight seeing and visiting and can't wait! Max is bouncing off the walls with the thought of riding on the train! The kids had a great week. Quincy got signed up for band and science club (a little geek in the making, eh?), Tabitha got signed up for band and choir, Calvin played quarter back on his football team last night and threw a pass that his friend caught and scored a touchdown (pretty exciting!), and Max learned that he can go to the library at school by himself during free times so he has been checking out books like crazy. Max also got a big goose-egg on his forehead at school when some girl fell on top of him and caused his head to hit the floor. Not pretty! We all attended a picnic with Josh's company last night and had a great time. Nice to finally put names with faces for Josh's co-workers.