Purdue football and Grand Rapids weekend

On October 10, we went to West Lafayette to watch the Purdue/Minnesota "game" (if that's what you want to call it) :).  It was the Kids Club day and it was gorgeous.  Purdue got killed, so the game wasn't too much fun to watch.  But we had fun walking around the stadium and talking to the Bergers and Shaws.

The kids got to go down by the locker room and high five the players after the game.

 Over our Fall Break, Matt and I took a little mini vacation to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Matt got several suggestions from John on yummy restaurants in the area.  We stayed just outside the city at the Riverfront Hotel (would not really recommend this one).  The pictures online are quite different from what it actually looked like. :(  But we didn't let that ruin our fun.  We went to San Chez Tapas restaurant and the Electric Cheetah.  Both were good and had some different things on the menu.  Grand Rapids has several local breweries so Matt got to try some different beers.  We also went to the new outlet mall, which is beautiful, and the B.O.B. (big old building) that had several restaurants, bars, and a club (which didn't even open until 11...too late for these old folks!).  It was really nice to be able to spend some quality time with the hubby without any distractions.  That is so necessary and I think we often forget because day to day things just get in the way.  Thanks so much to the grandparents who watched the kiddos all weekend.  We had a blast!!

Landon is 7!

Landon turned 7 this year...craziness!!  He is a curious, fact loving, funny, sweet, competitive little (according to him he's not little) boy.  He keeps us on our toes and I'm sure I'll never keep up with him in trying to help him with his homework some day!  He is very low key and doesn't really want many things.  Which is nice most of the time, but makes it difficult for his birthday.  He decided on a Hot Wheels theme this year.

by his birth tree

 He got to open presents from us on his birthday (Friday).  He got a big indoor basketball hoop, Hot Wheels carrying case, light up football, and sweatshirt/pants.

He got to choose where we went for supper as well.

 Landon's party was the following day.  We had it from 11:30-2:00.  He invited Ethan and Micah from school.  Matt did an awesome job on the cake (as usual).  What a talented guy he is!!

 

 Landon really loved his set of flag football flags he got, so the boys had to try them out right away.  It wasn't very nice out, but that didn't stop them.

We are so grateful for this little boy that God has entrusted to us.  I pray everyday that we can teach him to be the man God desires him to be!  We love you, Landon!!

Apple Festival and Camping at Potato Creek

Well, as usual, I am a bit behind on blogging! :)  So I've got a few September pictures to upload...
We went to the Apple Festival in Nappanee one day after school (note the kids' matching shirts :)  I had mine on too so I'm sure we looked funny!).  The kids had a ball and Matt and I enjoyed the food.  The rides were $3 a piece, so the kids chose 2 each to do.  Landon picked a roller coaster (which surprised us), Em picked the trucks that go around in a circle, and they both did the giant slide.

Also in September, we went camping at Potato Creek.  We had never been camping there before.  It's really nice.  We lucked out and got a really warm weekend, but the evenings cooled down.  Emerson took most of the pictures of our trip (we didn't get many).  We went with Amos, Grace, Tyler, and Tim and Leah Magnuson.  We were all super dirty, but had a lot of fun.  Going in the fall is a little more difficult since we're working.  We definitely forgot some important things and didn't get there as early as we wanted.  But it was nice to warm up by the fire and not have to worry about mosquitoes!

Tried to get a picture of how dirty Landon was.  He had dirt smears all over his face!