Happy Halloween!

It took a few tries, but I think we got it....sort of.

A Fun New Tag

This is a tag from my friend, Rosalyn. I am supposed to post the fourth picture in the fourth folder from my pictures folder on the computer and briefly explain what is going on and then tag someone else.

There's really not a whole lot to say about this picture, but a ton I could say about the subject! Wally was working on his bike one afternoon. This is what he does to relieve stress or get out of the "honey-do" list that he often gets on the weekends. Since this is his primary mode of transportation, he rides year round to work in the sun, snow, sleet, hail, subzero temperatures and sometimes even in the rain, this is a big deal. I think he is cleaning the chain in this picture. I just love that he's wearing his t-shirt from the Tour de Tykes, his first mountain bike race in which I believe he placed 4th in (just bragging a little bit) while we were living in Pennsylvania.

Ever since I have known Wally, he has ridden his bike everywhere. He had his mission bike for a long time after we were married and he even tracked it down after it was stolen (another story for another time). That shows some dedication, right? He had a hard time saying good-bye to that bike when the time came, but felt it was OK since he was getting a really nice one in its place. Thanks to another good friend, he took his riding to a whole new level. He started racing in mountain bike races a few years ago and only wishes that it wasn't so flat here in the midwest! His bike loving fever has trickled down to Brandon and it has been such a fun activity for us to do together as a family!


Oh, and did I mention, he's got some really nice looking legs?!




I am going to tag anyone who reads this blog. It should be interesting to see what is hiding in the depths of the picture folders on those computers of yours!

How Was Your Sunday?

It was my turn to play the organ this morning at church. Brandon likes to sit with me on the bench, which is usually fine as long as he doesn't push any buttons or any keys--the organ can be loud! He must have gotten a little bored during the second song because he turned towards the congregation and started leading the music with both hands in the air and a goofy grin on his face. I tried to stop him, but it's kind of hard to play the music, pay attention to the bass pedals with my feet, and pay attention to what Brandon was doing. I can multi-task, but I'm not that good. Wally, who was sitting in the back of the chapel, tried to use sign language to get him to fold his arms, but Brandon was to busy leading away. Finally, one of the speakers, a nice lady who thought everyone was laughing at her, turned around and told him to fold his arms. I guess being in front of big crowds of people doesn't bother him.


Not.


At.


All.

Whew!

Bike Ride at Harms Woods

We have had a really busy day today (I really can't believe that I'm sitting her blogging about it!). Brandon started soccer today and had a great time. He was so excited and couldn't wait, you should have seen how quickly he got his jobs done this morning! Once he was out on the field, he was such a ham! He almost scored a goal and when he was done, he announced as loudly as he could that he is the world's best soccer player. How's that for being humble?!

We also had a bike ride today with my cub scouts that I am in charge of at church. We met at a forest preserve not too far from our house and biked around for about an hour. It was so beautiful outside with all the colorful leaves and perfect weather. The boys (and girls) did a great job on the trails, and no one went home hurt. That is what I call a successful activity, folks.

After our bike ride, we came home, made pizza and then a few of Kelsie's friends from school came over for a High School Musical movie marathon in anticipation for the new movie coming out next week. We are almost through the first movie, getting ready to start the second and all the kids are on a sugar high and having a great time--I just heart rumors of a pillow fight, should I be worried?

These girls (and boy) are so cute!

All in all, I think it's been a pretty successful day, hopefully I'll be able to get everyone up and ready tomorrow morning in time for church!

A rare photo of the two of us together.

Head over Heels

Caleb has had a rough couple of days. He is in that awkward stage of always running into things and always seems to have some kind of bump on his head. This weekend, he fell down hard (twice) on the floor and has a huge goose egg and bruise on his forehead. To make matters worse, he fell off the stool he was standing on and cut the inside of his lip pretty bad too. A couple of ice packs and a handful of ice chips later, he's doing fine. He's as happy as he can be, but will every once in a while point to his head with a serious look on his face, like he remembers exactly what happened. Our goal today is to just keep him on his feet!

Call Us Crazy...Seriously!

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a piano looks like? Well, here is our piano in all it's naked glory! We bought this piano last December, just before we moved, off of criagslist for $25. It wasn't the prettiest piano on the block, but was quite the steal for the money we paid for it (I know, we're such big spenders!). I have had grand ideas for the last few months of repainting it and making it look nicer. Before we took the plunge, though, I had a piano tuner come check it out for me to tell me what kind of condition it was in. Lucky for us, we really did get a good deal and have a pretty darn good piano. She showed me how we could take it apart to refinish it and so now, after a lot of convincing to Wally that this is going to not be too bad, especially with the help of an electric sander, we're right in the thick of it. We're done with all the major sanding, just need to work on the details now. The painting has started and our hopes are starting to get higher. Stay tuned (ha, ha!) for our big reveal!

A Quick Shout-Out To All My Go-To's

Thank you.

Kettle Moraine State Park

Paradise Springs, Kettle Moraine State Park

After we were done at the apple farm, we headed north to Wisconsin to visit Kettle Moraine State Park. Thanks to many recommendations from my awesome father-in-law, we had a great afternoon hiking around and enjoying some new scenery. We went to Paradise Springs, which was a naturally made spring complete with fish (although I'm not sure where the fish came from), and were able to hike around. The kids had a great time throwing sticks into the creek and finding interesting things like rocks, leaves, and pine cones. We even put our feet in the water and it was sure cold!

Can we really put our feet in the water?

The second hike was a .7 mile loop (a.k.a. the brown one) on the Nordic trail. The kids all had a great time walking around in nature and seeing so many fun things, including a tiny snake! Caleb loved his freedom, but got pretty tired by the end of our hike and ended up on Dad's shoulders. The only downside of our escapade into Wisconsin was the many, many, many mosquito bites we came home with! I guess that means we have some sweet blood!

Our cute little hikers.

How cute is this face?

Some serious attitude in this one!

Kelsie had a good time video taping part of our hike, video-diary style, and insisted that we put it on our blog for everyone to enjoy. A word of caution: it's a little dizzy...you might need your dramamine!