September

Although we did lose Hope last summer, my Wednesday night Bible class has continued to thrive. When the grades bumped up, the 5th & 6th grade class gained Andy and Lassiter, twins whose parents came here from Costa Rica just before the twins' birth. They are hilarious and sweet, a super-pleasant addition to our class. Lexi is top left, and Ross is beside her. On the bottom row in the Pepsi shirt is Taylor, who brings her friends Emily (bottom L) and Katelynn (bottom L-center) with her every time she comes. This picture is the most 'normal' of the shots I took that evening, but the one below I actually like better because their personalities come through. ;) Natasha was being a fruitloop, gr.





Jeremy and Justus walked with the Boy Scouts pack in the Beaverdale Parade. It was the first time in something like 20 years that it had rained the day of this big parade.... We took umbrellas and had a great time. Justus and Brandon are walking in matching hats, front right (Brandon's jacket is zipped up.); Jeremy and Robert (Brandon's dad) are walking with the red pack banner, Jeremy in his black hoodie and Robert behind the banner.



N & J went through a phase there for a few weeks when, any time they had freetime they were playing Chickenfoot! haha ... Time to learn some new dominoes games!



In a Sunday evening church service a few weeks ago I was digging through my purse and happened upon my camera. I always want pictures of Jeremy preaching, but I hate the thought of being a distraction to someone's worship. I turned off the flash and waited 'til a reading portion, and snapped this picture; to my knowledge no one was distracted (except me, ha...).



I took this picture of my first knitting project when it was getting on toward being done. It's called the "Stockinette/Reverse Stockinette" pattern, and was enjoyable to do as a beginner, yay. Later I'll post my picture of Jeremy wearing it. ;)



Natasha's etiquette book assigned her to draw a picture of her favorite food, dinner and dessert. Jeremy and I were able to guess, from the picture, what she drew. I'll let y'all guess too, if you want, and if I think to, I'll include the answer next post. ;)



The next assignment, same opening in that book, required her to design "Rules Signs" for three of the rules of eating etiquette. The uvula!! lol!!



I took this picture because I would never think to make a dude out of rubberbands. Leave it to the girl in this house....



Here is a picture Natasha voluntarily drew of the Titan (Greek mythology) "Typhon", who is larger than the tallest mountain, his head touches the stars, he has wings, snake legs, dragon heads coming out of his arm pits, fifty snake heads on each hand (She counted, yes.), a big beard, and he breathes fire.



Here is Natasha's first abstract art. She read about abstract art in an art book.



Oh! In case some are interested, here is a picture of what my Shingles look like at the end of my fourth month with them on my body. To compare this with what they looked like at the beginning of June, click here. I remain extremely thankful that the only pain I experienced with them, though it was shockingly severe, lasted only two days. So many others get it sssso much worse!!!!!




Here are pictures of the Teen Time Jeremy and I hosted. The date for us to host this monthly event fell on Talk Like a Pirate Day, so we made it a pirate-theme party, and our activity was having the kids make their own pizzas, including the crust, a first for most of them! The feedback was that they had a great time, yay! Jeremy came up with a little competition, and whoever won would be awarded this *awesome* dollar store prize, ha.



April won.



An impromptu game of Dodgeball broke out while the pizzas were cooking. Great fun. ;) L-R on this picture goes something like this. Natasha, Jeremy, Justus (white shirt), April, Katie (yellow), Erin (or her sister Megan, on her knees), Kieran (purple), Aaron (Packers jersey).





I asked Natasha to take some pictures of the kids building their pizzas. This is what you get.... (Ellie here in Packers shirt, Erin in blue, Katie in yellow.)



Kieran here in purple (Jeremy behind him.) Across the counter, L-R, Hannah, me, Tava (TAY-vuh), Ellie.



Natasha is really frustrating me with her behavior in pictures. It's very attention-mongering, and I will be speaking to her about that. Blech. So anyway, Natasha is pictured here with Tava, and Hannah and Ellie (two of the triplets.); these three girls are AMAZINNNGLY sweet to Natasha, and include and support her at every opportunity. Wwwwwwwwonderful.



A close-up of one of the sheets of Pirate Phrases. This was part of the game Jeremy came up with.



All the sheets of pirate phrases.



Tava & Katie, 'kneading'.




Here are pictures of a little target shooting adventure we had with Tim & Dora on an uncomfortably chilly day. Dora had never shot a gun before! She had a lot to learn (and I think these pictures posted in backward order, so you'll see her shooting before you see her watching, ha). ;) There's something very serene and beautiful about the scenery there at our favorite shooting spot.