We started our Halloween carving pumpkins on Thursday night. The girls were all excited to dig the guts out. I think they turned out pretty sweet.

Friday afternoon the businesses downtown Cambridge have a special Trick or Treat for the kids so the girls were so excited to go. Kylie wanted to be Hello Kitty and Karinda wanted to be Mary from Little House on the Prairie. Kylie's was so stickin cute but not so functional. She was in tears immediately because she couldn't see, even though as I was making it I asked many times. Oh well, good thing I made two Little House on the Prairie hats, I think we will have a Mary and Laura Sunday night.

In Cambridge, Life is Good

Last week we went to a beautiful property and took some pictures of the girls.

Life is good and we have been having fun with school, even though they don't think they are learning anything it has been so fun to watch their progress.

Kylies teeth have just been falling out all the time. She has 3 openings in her mouth now and it is soooo cute. The tooth fairy forgot to come one night, I think she just couldn't believe she had to return here again.

Eric just finished with his biggest shutdown ever, along with working more hours ever. :( He says we are on the upswing so I hope he is right.

We spent the last two weeks learning these ABC Bible Verses in the beginning of our day. The girls knew them so we thought we should share. I had a very different idea of how it would look but it shares the verses and definitely shares the girls personalities.

Here is the link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLc19yGju1M

A A friend loves at all times.

B Be kind to one another.

C Create in me a clean heart, Oh God.

D Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

E Even a child makes himself known by his acts.

F Fear God and keep His commandments.

G God is love.

H Hate evil and love good.

I If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

J Jesus said, "Let the children come to me."

K Keep you tongue from evil.

L Love one another.

M My son, give me your heart.

N No one can serve two masters

O O give thanks to the Lord!

P Praise the Lord.

Q Quench not the Spirit.

R Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

S Seek the Lord while He may be found.

T Teach me your way, O Lord.

U Under His wings you will find refuge.

V Verily there is a reward for the righteous.

W When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

X Extol the Lord our God.

Y You are the light of the world.

Z Zion hears and is glad.

Kylie Lost A Tooth!

Kylie woke up this morning sat at the table for a minute and then headed to the bathroom. She came back to the kitchen quite surprised, "Mom, my tooth fell out last night." Sure enough it was gone and laying in her bed! Gotta love how they loose their teeth at night, especially when I cannot do teeth.

Back to School and a little surprise!

We started back to school again after a week off. The week went well as far as school goes. Kylie really took off in her math and they did a lot of painting this week. We got a start on some new landscaping and went to another football game last night, Eric's idea this time!

They had a little surprise on Wednesday morning. I woke them up a little early and told them we had to go to McCook to pick something up for Daddy. They got ready without question and we were off to McCook. I let them watch a video so they were pretty quiet the whole way there. We arrived at the airport (which is really small) we pulled right up to the gate where the planes park and waited. We watched a UPS truck load some things into a small plane and another small plane take off, still with very few questions. I just had to tell them "the thing we have to pick up for Daddy should be here in about 5 minutes." They went on to watch their movie as I watched the horizon for the plane to come in. Somehow I missed that but spotted it as it was taxiing up to park. Kylie was more interested in watching the plane than Karinda, I waited to make sure it was the right plane and then asked them if they wanted to go see who was getting off the plane, Kylie was all over it. I actually had to tell Karinda to get out of the van. Grandma was about half way to us and then they realized it was her. "Grandmaaaaaa" and they were off running. Grandpa was there too along with two other men.

When we got back Grandma helped us with school and took us out for lunch. It was a beautiful day so we went on a bike ride and to the park. Then she helped me paint the living room a little more. After supper they played some spoons with the girls and they left the next morning but it was nice having some visitors, especially, Grandma!

Girls in their glory

Eric had a meeting in Grand Island today so we said we would tag along and see what museums and parks were in Grand Island. I did a little research and found Sturh Museum of the Prarie Pioneer. Does that seem right up the girls alley or what, "Little House" here we come.

The museum is very large and has people dressed up from the time period in the summer but we decided to see what it had to offer in the off season. The first building had a covered wagon and big exhibit ending with a kids area where they could play and dress up, it also had a "school" right by it. There were some other kids that came and played in the area too. (It always amazes me how quickly they make friends.) We never made it to the rest of the museum. Fortunately I bought a year membership and Eric said he will have more meetings in Grand Island! Maybe we can see the rest of the museum next time, and this summer we can get the full experience!

Road Trip to Omaha Zoo

When we started all this traveling my thought was to make one fun stop each trip, but the girls not sleeping didn't make that easy. On Sunday I told them if they slept in the morning in the car we could go to the zoo, and I REALLY wanted to go to the zoo. Grandma had a few words with them before we left too. Whatever was said worked because they slept through Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois! So....we got to go to the zoo.

We spent 5 hours at the zoo and didn't even get to see everything. It was a very nice zoo and an awesome time to go because the weather was perfect and it wasn't very busy. Gotta love, year round school and its week long break weeks!

We loved how awesome the tiger was, how much this ape looked like a man, we were in awe of the iguana's color's and we loved this birds "hair."

We made it just in time to see them feed the Sea Lions. They even got them to do fun things like jump and wave.

We got to see the elephant spray himself and his friend with mud, and the giraffes are just so fascinating to watch

The girls eyed the "skyfari" all day and by the end we decided to give it a try. I wasn't so sure this was a good idea with Karinda not being a big fan of heights but she said she really wanted to do it. The sights were really cool but it was a little out of my comfort zone, I just couldn't let on and Karinda said she was very glad she was brave and gave it a try!

We went through a butterfly and insect house that was very cool, we say all kinds of beautiful butterflies

We loved the aquarium, they had penguins that were very fun to watch and there was a tunnel we could walk through and the fish could swim over us.

It was fun to see the different sting rays God created. It made me laugh to think that I think of black with white polka dots as a newer trendy style, God made that style thousands of years ago. God, I love your style!

Fun Fall Week

We were back in Michigan for a week and we packed enough in that week for a month! Monday- errends and Innocademy parent meeting, Tuesday- appointments, pre-Christmas shopping with Grandma, and for dinner. Wednesday we made the annual trek to Cranes with Grandma, Aunt Kelly, Carter, and for Trey's first year of apple picking. The weather was perfect and we had a great time.

Thursday was the night of Pumpkinfest peddle pull. We went downtown after school and looked at all the "pumpkin people" we love checking these out every year. The creativity of the people that come up with all the ideas is amazing!

We painted pumpkins with Sheldon, Jaden, Gage, and Bryce.

After we ate it was time for the peddle pull. Karinda was bound and determined that she was going to beat her cousin Jaden this year. I wasn't so sure how to encourage her because it wasn't very likely, she has never had a "full pull" and Jaden wins every year. In the end she was beat by Jaden and Bret Younker but she was pleased with her effort and so was I.

Friday we went on a field trip to Art Prize and had a wonderful time (way more relaxing than last year).

At night we went for the annual hayride and hot dog roast at the Bosch's. The rain held off for the hayride and as usual we had a great time.

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Cliff's 60th birthday with grandparents and in the evening we celebrated birthday's with the Brouwers.

Saturday Eric and I got to go up north alone for the last time in a very long time (thank you mom and dad Meeuwsen). We put all the summer stuff away and got ready for winter. The bonus was the fall color was awesome. The lake level was way down, not awesome, but it was wonderful to get away for just a little while.