Last night the older kids and I attended a Dowling football game with papa. That is where Susan went to high school and papa attends most of their games. The game itself did not off much – they were up 35-0 8 minutes into the game – but the company and experience was a good one.
This morning we marched in the Beaverdale Fall Festival Parade. Our friend Brad Anderson is running for Secretary of State and his wife Lisa organized a parade contingent for him. We were near the end of the parade so we spent the first hour spectating and collecting candy and then jumped in when our group came by. Susan played Robin Hood and redistributed all of the candy our kids had collected to others along the route.
Today we visited the Wills Family Orchard in Adel to pick some apples and make our way through the corn maze. We learned a little about organic apple growing and the kids had a great time picking the apples.
After talking about it for years, we finally got our house repainted this summer. We love the new look!
Today was the first day of school for the kids! Elliot is starting first grade, Mari second, and Andrew fourth. This is their third year using the Christopherus curriculum, which we love. They start a little later than everyone else and were excited to get into another school year.
Looking to take advantage of the nice Labor Day weather, Lucia decided to go for a cruise around the Rudicils’ back yard.
Today we celebrated Lucia’s baptism. Mary and Casey, her Godparents, were in town from Kansas City. Mar-Mar and BeBob were also in from Cincinnati. Lucia cooperated very well and took the entire event very seriously, as she usually does.
Today we worked our annual shift at Meals from the Heartland. Nate organized a big group of us to work two tables.
Lucia has been moving now for a few weeks. She usually moves while she is sitting up, sort of scooting around town. Lately she has also been making more progress toward crawling. She is into anything she can get her hands on, and it often ends up in her mouth.
Today we hit Ledges State Park, which is always a good time. We ran into an interesting family from Ankeny that came to the park to do some drawing. Their three kids were getting ready to head back to college and they wanted to all do something together before they left.
Mari had her first slumber party this weekend. Adrienne, from Mari’s soccer team, invited the whole team to celebrate her 8th birthday. Mari had a blast and was not ready to come home on Sunday!
Today we packed up early and hit the road. We had considered taking our time and staying somewhere for the night, but Susan and I were both tired of fitting the 6 of us in a hotel room. We made good time on the trip and returned home to new sidewalks and healthy grass.