Catching Up

After almost three months of both of our mothers being in and out of the hospital (Jay's mom with a broken hip, and mine with a nasty bacterial infection and something else going on with her muscles that we're stilling waiting for a diagnosis for) I am finally trying to catch up on our blog. Both moms are now home and finally recuperating! You don't want to see pictures of all that. :)

Here's a picture of Jacob's buddies from his birthday party in October. We've had a fun tradition for years of hiding paper bags across the street in the park with each name on it with their party favors in their bag. This year included cool sunglasses courtesy of Dad. They were a hit.

Jay and Jacob and I got away on a sunny day for a canoe trip down the Maquoketa River by Monticello . It's a fun place to canoe, it took about three hours, the leaves were turning, and it's not very deep. Next year we would like to go with a bunch of families and stop and play in the water and cook out. Mark your calendars! Thanks for the canoe too Kains!








At the end of October we went to Hickory Hill Park to grill out. We didn't have long, the sun was setting quickly, but we found a nice spot to light the little weber and grill brats. It was one of those spontaneous moments that made a nice time.




Blake took advantage of Thanksgiving break to borrow a scooter from a friend of his going out of town. He goes back and forth to his dorm on it and can park it easier than a car. Jacob went with him one day holding on for dear life and Mom praying as they rode off down the street.

Once again this year, we helped run the relay center for Operation Christmas Child. The guys helped load the cartons that had the shoeboxes full of toys, school supplies, etc. onto the semis that go to Minneapolis the week of Thanksgiving. We collected about 1400 shoeboxes that will eventually be part of several million around the world to some of the most disadvantaged kids anywhere. Hopefully you got to be a part of it this year. Check out http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ for more about this great ministry.

Well, that's it. Hopefully the next posts won't take so long. I guess we did do quite a few things this fall, more than I realized.