Our busy life this fall

Well. If you haven't guessed, life has been pretty crazy lately.  My past few posts I wasn't able to share everything. The time in prayer, stress, talking with family, a quick trip to Leo for interviews, prepping and staging our house for sale, and on and on. It has been a lot. My poor brain has been struggling to stay on top of everything. Thankfully, things have slowed down a bit now that the decision has been made and the house is listed. 

So. What have we been up to in the last month?


My dad stopped by with a chain saw. Our tree needed trimming and he has tall ladders and no fear. 

I made the kids watch out the back door.

The ladder was resting on a dead branch.

Seriously no fear.

And then this happened.

Gideon was very excited. 

I was a little nervous. 

 In late September, I had a home study in Chicago.  It makes for a very long day, so instead of leaving both kids with my mom all day, she decided to come with.  We went to Ikea since it was near by.   I love Ikea. It's more of an experience. I don't ever really need anything, it's just fun to look at their set ups.  
The home study went well. My mom had the kids at Target. Gideon had a blast. Who knew that stores could be so much fun.  And then we headed home. 


That next day, Saturday, we went to Greg and Dianna's for a 'U of I non-potluck'. We had a great time catching up and eating wonderful food. I love that as our group has grown older, moved farther apart, and become more diverse (single, married, kids, no kids etc.), we have grown closer and more spiritually alike. 

(photo credit: Greg)

Sunday, Bob and Jenny came for church and we hosted Aurelia's first birthday party at our house. 

Things are getting wild.

Aurelia loves spaghetti 

Aurelia and Miriel :)

Somewhere in there I found the time to make Aurelia's cake:

:) :) 

Aurelia Rose's busy bee cake :)

getting a taste of cake

Aurelia really had very little interest in her cake....until we gave her a fork...

very pleased

mmm...

Post bath...poor Miriel

And then my baby turned one.  I actually think it was harder than with Gideon. I'm getting more emotional in my old age. haha. 

Gideon joined in the picture taking again...

Cheese ball

I'm ONE!

The next week we had our carpet's cleaned.  We had to move the funiture out of the living room and in to the kitchen. The kids enjoyed having the room all open. 

Cleaned carpet!

Then after an already busy day, we headed out to the Braker's for Aurelia's party with them. 

I made cupcakes

I used leftover decorations from her cake

Cupcake!

She pretty much just mashed it and didn't eat any.

That Friday evening, we went to Matt and Lena's for a cookout.

Cousins around the campfire :)

The next morning we went back for breakfast. Some of them had camped in Matt and Lena's back yard. 

:)

And that is about when we realized Gideon was getting really sick. 

We did manage to cheer him up with a combine ride though

He just kept getting sicker, coughing, whining, and a fever. We are kind of used to this by now but the doctor wanted to see him anyway. 

poor sick kid

I'm glad we went in. He got even sicker in the few hours leading up to his appointment. And, by the time we were back in the room he was really bad. They checked his oxygen levels and he was really low. Thankfully, he didn't have pneumonia and we narrowly escaped going to the hospital.  He was given steroids and more albuterol treatments. Sigh.

Steroids are awful. Gideon was super cranky. Like awful. He either was crying and clinging on me or laying on the floor groaning. Aparently that's normal. Thankfully, between that and the albuterol, her got better pretty quickly.

Aurelia got sick too. But, thankfully, unlike Gideon, her lungs never get hit as hard. So, I had a few days of dealing with two very sick kids. Sigh. 

My mom and I canned apple sauce one day.

\

So pretty and pink

My two helpers...dusting

Troy asked if Gideon wanted a tractor ride...

He did. :)

Then that Sunday we had the Braker's over for supper. 

Steven playing with Legos with Gideon

fun on the trampoline

Much book reading

and game playing

And then there was that day where we had an impromptu family gathering at the farm. We went because the vacuum repair lady was going to be there. Jenny just so happened to come over and then Matt and Jack showed up.

Aurelia loves Miriel

Playing outside

apples

:)

feeding apples to the cows

trying to get to the kitties

beautiful Johnathan apples

the chaos :)

Ahhh what a happy sight

And then one morning... Gideon told me he wanted to wear underwear. And then he went on the potty. And he stayed dry! Just in time for me to have friends over. 

The problem ...Aurelia wants a treat too 

All the boys :)

Emily and Katy came for a play date 

:)

This crazy kid.

"i'm a tiger in the jungle!"

And then we picked all of the carrots. There were so many.

And I made Gideon's birthday cake.

:)

 For Gideon's birthday we went to the Playhouse Museum.

such a cool place

trains!

And then we went to Culvers for lunch

The next day we had Gideon's birthday and cider making at the farm. 

Cousins!

apples

So many apples 

~7 bushels ??

happy birthday buddy boy

so pleased with his cake

Cider making

Aurelia wanted to help too

We made ~16?? gallons of cider. 

And it turned out really good and sweet. 

yum

Gideon's "Brave Gideon" armor he got for his birthday

Another gift

This stinker

Then we went out to see Nathan's newest nephew Connor.  We went out for supper first. 

The kids actually did great! We didn't draw too much attention and they ate their food!

It was exciting. 

baby Connor

Playing with Avery at David and Jessica's

The kids didn't have too much interest in Connor

We've had beautiful fall weather. 

I love burning bushes.

Look at these colors 

Wagon ride (with a sword)

:)

Tate got baptized last weekend.  I love sitting and listening to my 'little' cousins talk about how God has worked in their lives. 

So yah. We've been busy.  And at this point we will probably just be living moment to moment for the next few years of our lives. ha. It's exhausting but good.

In Christ

~Michelle