Happy Feet

Megan is taking dance again this year. And while that is not a surprise, the type of dance is....tap! Yep, she switched from ballet to tap this year. And even though she has mentioned taking tap before, I was still surprised. She really loves ballet so I thought tap would be a second class if we could work it out. It didn't work out this year and when it came down to choosing, she picked tap.

And she loves it! She had taken it as part of a ballet/tap/gymnastics preschool class a few years ago so she has some knowledge of the basics and she's moving right along with learning the steps. It's also fun that she has one of her bff's in class: Erin!

Our tapper:

It's been a very interesting fall around here. One where I can almost see our kids growing and changing. This is one of those examples. I hope the ballet skirt isn't gone for good, but if it is then so be it! I want her to enjoy what she is taking and come away from the experience learning something that she wanted to learn.

On Her Way!

Last week, Kristen started back to school. My baby (they'll always be that, right?) is a JUNIOR! I just can't believe how fast it's going! I'm afraid she might not have been feeling the same way; that is until she got to school last Wednesday to a very encouraging surprise:

Her Associate's degree!!! Of course she isn't stopping there. I'm not sure an associate's degree would get her very far in her field. But still, receiving something tangible for all her hard work was VERY encouraging to our girl. It was just the thing she needed to kick her junior year off right :) You go girl!!

My Little Flower-picker

Last night Nicholas had flag-football practice. Both boys usually have practice on Monday but last Monday it rained so practice was postponed. I definitely didn't mind! I take Megan to dance practice and Todd takes the boys to flag-football practice on Mondays then hustles out to drop Brandon off at his boyscout meeting. Our Mondays are just crazy right now so it was a nice break!

It was absolutely gorgeous outside yesterday evening, so perfectly fall, so it was a joy to be outside. It was also a joy to watch one very sweet, little girl play:

 I couldn't decide on the editing for this one! Warmer colors:

 Or brighter:

  Not sure which I like better. Maybe both!

Bringing her treasures to Mommy :)

I had fun just watching her :) 

Picking the Pears

I realized, when I was posting our apple picking pictures a couple of days ago, that I had forgotten to post our pear picking pics! Where did we pick pears? My mom's backyard! My mom called one afternoon and said her pears were starting to get ready and asked if we'd like to come over a pick some. Um, yes please! We all love fruit around here and picking our own for free is a very nice treat :)

Kristen had some errands to run but she was already there when we got there. The ripest pears were up high (naturally) so Mom brought out her ladder.

 Cute pear picker!

 Nicholas wasn't too sure about this...

 but he gave it a try anyway.

 Brandon too.

 Then he ran off to check out the garden ;)

  Megan climbed up there too :)

Kristen is so busy these days that when she's able to join us, it's a sister love-fest!

It was a nice day to be out and so much fun picking (and eating!) some yummy pears :) It reminded me of a favorite book for fall: Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears.  We love all the Mr. Putter and Tabby books but that one is great for fall. Enjoy!

Saturday Morning Football

It was a football weekend around here! Brandon and Nicholas had their first flag football games of the season Saturday morning and we all had a great time!

Megan still has a couple of soccer games which are at the same time so I wasn't planning on being able to see their first couple of games, but she had a bit of a sore throat (everyone has some sinus stuff going on right now) and didn't feel like playing so we decided to bundle up and watch the boys!

And I do mean bundle up:

It was chilly! And the wind...brrrr! But we were happy to be out there. I love the location of the church that hosts their Upward football. It's a gorgeous drive!

Praying before the games. I love Upward!

Brandon was up first.

 Then it was Nick's turn.

They both looked good out there and had a really good time! Looking forward to a football-filled fall :)

Apples Anyone?

Yesterday afternoon, I treated the kids to some apple picking! We almost didn't go because of this little cold snap we're having but they wanted to so bad I couldn't say no. Not to mention the sound of having some very fresh, very locally grown, very yummy Jonathan apples sounded really good....good enough to brave the cold ;) No wonder they wanted to go! We love our apples!

 YUM!

They couldn't wait to get started!

Nick kept saying things like, "Look at all the apples!" and "I've hit the mother-load!" . He was cracking me up!

 Doesn't he look like he's contemplating eating that one?

 And this is why we go during the week:

 There were other people here and there but NO CROWDS! I'm all about sharing but I really like it when we aren't elbow to elbow with everyone else trying to get our apples ;)

We had a great time! And, of course, we had to have a treat after all that work so I made a gluten-free apple crisp for dessert :) No wonder they really wanted some apples!

Leavin' on a Jetplane...

So yesterday, Kristen had another grown-up first....

First flight without a parent.

Yep, she and Lydia (one of Jon's sisters...the one that could be Kristen's twin ;)) bought their own tickets, packed their own bags, made ALL their own arrangements to go to Georgia for another visit with Liz (one of Jon's older sisters) and her husband Brad before school starts back up for her next week! GAH!!!

Of course, I photographed the entire airport experience ;)

 These girls were so excited!

Checking her bag:

Traveling girls!

  We said our goodbyes at the security check area. This was as far as I could go with them.

 But I still snapped a couple of her after she was technically on her own going through security ;)

The flight was fun and uneventful...at least this is what she tells me. If she told me they almost crashed or something she knows she'd be riding home in the van with me so she might not be 100% truthful on this! I'll get the real story when she gets home ;)

On Being Joyful

When I named our family blog "Our Joyful Life" I wasn't thinking of the kind of joy that means "happy" I was thinking of the deep joy that comes from knowing Jesus. The joy that we have no matter what.

But earlier this week, I was reminded of the other joy. The one that means "happy".

I was at Megan's soccer practice. She was practicing with her team, I was sitting on the sidelines half watching half reading a book when it was time to run laps. Now let me just say here that there are only two girls on Megan's team. Originally there were three but one broke her arm so she's out for the season. The other girl missed last weeks game (along with most of the team, to the point where we had to "borrow" players from the other team or cancel the game entirely. I don't even want to go into my total frustration with Megan's soccer experience this year.) but she also missed practice this week which means Megan was the only girl there.

As I watched her do her laps, she started weaving in and out like Dory....

Just like Dory, she started out with purpose then forgot what she was doing and was just....joyful. I couldn't stop watching her. So joyful! It didn't mater to her that she was last (by far at this point!), she just enjoyed the moment.

I didn't snap any pictures, although I had my camera. I didn't want to miss a second so I just watched :)

But....I had been meaning to post these anyway, what better time??

And a couple I took on picture night:

She reminds me that although my joy is in the Lord, there is also joy in everyday moments :)

"A House for Hermit Crab"

Megan and Nicholas have been studying the Apologia science book, "Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day" for science. Really, it's mostly Nicholas; Megan will occasionally sit in but usually I read related picture books and/or do a more hands-on craft or project with her. (Or head to the zoo! Which is coming up now that fall is here.)

For the last two weeks Nick and I have been reading about crustaceans. We have had so much fun reading about some of the amazing creatures God made! For Megan, I chose "A House for Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle and found the cutest craft to go along with it! (I've been harboring a secret...I'm a Pinterest addict. For anyone not yet aware of this new "site", it's an online pin board onto which you can "pin" ideas from other sites into categories. It's the very best way to organize all those great ideas I find on other blogs. I heart Pinterest :) It is by invitation only so if you'd like an invitation to this fabulous site let me know and I'll send it!)

I Heart Crafty Things  is the blog that has the original and more detailed instructions. Check it out!

My condensed version:

In making our hermit crab, the first thing we did was paint a little hand red and smoosh it onto our paper for the crab:

 Oh Megan... ;)

Next, I got out the cheap paper plates, the ones that aren't good for anything except crafting ;) then we cut out a small section along the edge (sorry, I didn't photograph each step, but you can click the link above to see each step or you can kind of see it in our finished pictures). With a permanent marker, I drew the swirls for the shell, then the kids used watercolors to help the shells look more like the ones in the book.

 I drew the stem for our sea anemone, the coral, the snail, and the starfish free-hand and they cut them out and decorated them. For the sea anemone , we used strips of tissue paper to finish it up. For the lantern fish, I printed off a clip art fish then they colored that and cut it out.

 We used pipe cleaners and googly eyes for the eyes. I had to hot glue them on, everything else stayed on with Elmer's.

We made a mess but it was a very fun project! And it holds a bit of truth too since hermit crabs will often stick a sea anemone on their shell! When they outgrow their shell and need to move to a bigger one, they take their sea anemone along!