October 2016

Once we got Caleb's party out of the way and we knew we were done having a million kids run around the yard, we hauled in dirt and planted grass in the front yard.  In SC, you have to plant in the fall because if you plant it in the spring, it just burns up in the summer before its roots get deep enough. We realized that Saturday morning at about 10 am that it was a perfect day to do the yard, so we tilled it up, had dirt hauled in, raked/smoothed it all out, and had everything planted, fertilized, and covered with straw by evening.  I was pretty impressed with us. :)

We had some pretty excited kids about that truck in our yard.  Caleb put on a hardhat for good measure. 

Grandma and Grandpa arrived that evening.  They spent the whole month of October in Rock Hill!  (They rented a little house in downtown Rock Hill.)

Ben and Mike team preaching on the Kingdom in the workplace:

Visiting the pumpkin patch with the Ziebers and some friends from CC:  (It ended up being a pretty hot day... didn't feel much like fall!)

Our friend Audrey's family manages the pumpkin patch and she was working that day, so we snatched her kids and took them on the hay ride with us:

Alice and her pumpkin:

Feeding the goats:

The kids and I took a trip to MD for a VERY early Christmas since Den and Machelle were going back to Mexico at the end of October.  Ben couldn't come, but we had a good trip anyway!  It had been at least 10 years since I've been in Maryland when the leaves are changing.  They weren't at their peak yet, but they were looking pretty.

Going up Limestone...

Caleb took a library book to Grandma's house of recipes for kids to make.  He REALLY wanted to make a parfait, so Grandma helped he and Abby do just that.  Neither kid actually ate them though because "it tastes gross!"  (Evidently, tapioca pudding is not their thing.)

Pretty views:

Geese flying south:

Grandpa, Jeffrey, and some of the girls trying to sing harmony...

Caleb got a helicopter for Christmas... and Micah promptly got it stuck up a tree. :)

Micah with his Christmas goodies:

Abby with books from Grandma and a doll she got in the exchange game.  She also got a little Calico Critters bathroom set from Grandma:

Caleb with his helicopter and book from Grandma, and the big jar of candy he got in the exchange game:

Teasing Grandpa:

Visiting Kenton and Holly's 12 new puppies!

When we got back to Rock Hill, Joyce paid for all of us and the Ziebers to have a private tour of the White Home (the oldest home in Rock Hill.)  I thought it was super interesting.  Caleb was bored out of his skull and laid on the floor underneath furniture most of the time.  This was our attempt at a group picture outside:

Posing with his Essentials class in the afternoon at CC.  (I suppose this isn't the best advertisement for homeschoolers...) :)

We also got to visit the Renaissance Festival with CC and Wes and Joyce.  It ended up being packed because it was the "school day" when all the school kids are bussed in, and it was blazing hot, but we still had fun!  Within 2 minutes of being there, Abby decided to spend her "fun money" on getting her face painted. :)

One of the comedy routines we watched.  They picked our friend Carol out of the crowd to pick on. :)

Watching a jousting tournament:

King Caleb was the only one willing to wear a costume to the festival:

Puzzles together:

Learning about notes on a scale at CC:

Micah's 10th birthday!  He requested breakfast out with Dad (before Dad went to work) and lunch out with Mom.  We went to Chick Fila.  What a great kid he's turning out to be!

We spent the afternoon at the Panther's playground in Charlotte:

And then went to Sky High...Ben met us there from work and Joyce joined us too.

High ropes course:

One of the things Micah got was a Batman costume.  Caleb put it on, but it was a little big, so he called it "Fat Man"...

Beth made matching skirts for her and Abby:

More October stuff: We spent a lot of time hanging out with Wes and Joyce (especially since the Indians were in the World Series and they had cable!)  We had a home study update, went to a 40th birthday party for Mike Zieber and played a lot of volleyball... which led to us playing volleyball several more Sunday afternoons because it was so fun. :)  We took a quick "field trip" to Brattonsville too since we had a beautiful, cooler day.