Pigs and Pumpkins

Today I finished up a full week of teaching. I was lucky enough to get to accompany Kam's class on their field trip to the pig farm in Zeeland. (Actually I wasn't too thrilled about it.) We had a fun time though, and unusually beautiful weather (60's and sunny!). Here's Kamryn holding a little Wilbur.

This is the neighborhood "crew" of boys. Today they were all playing outside and decided they would put their costumes on a little early. Scott and I looked out and saw a swarm of superheroes had descended on our neighbor's lawn. It was hilarious! (Troy is the Spiderman with the muscles in the middle.)

This is Kamryn the doctor and Troy before going out.

We were invited to some friend's from church. We had supper before going out Trick or Treating.

Not to be left out, this is Katie at her party. She had to come late because of play practice. Little did we know that no one else had their costume on yet. Whoops!

Carving Pumpkins

Last night some Seminary friends came over for dinner and to carve pumpkins. We hadn't actually carved pumpkins in a couple of years. So we decided to give it a try again this year. Geoff and Ashley brought a kit with some face stencils that worked pretty well. Of course, we began adding to them and ended up with some interesting creations!

A "before" shot. (Katie is still at school practicing for the play.)

Our friends, Geoff and Ashley. Kam helps get the goop out.

Troy assists.

The finished product.

Weekend in Chicago!

Scott and I enjoyed a lovely weekend away in the Chicago area. Scott was invited back to the Palos Heights CRC for a men's prayer breakfast and to preach on Sunday morning. We had a great time seeing many dear people and just being in Chicago again. Thanks especially to Dean and Ruth for hosting us so well Saturday evening! We toured the suburb of Oak Park on Saturday afternoon. Frank Lloyd Wright built many homes in this suburb. It was fun seeing these beautiful neighborhoods in fall color.
Here are the children displaying their new Chicago t-shirts.

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I had a phone message waiting for me when we returned asking me to substitute teach all week for Kamryn's third grade teacher. Her adult son was hit by a taxi cab and killed in New York City this weekend. Please keep their family in your prayers.

A Hodgepodge of Happenings

We've been keeping extrememly busy lately. All of a sudden life just took off... Here are some highlights of the past few days.

A couple of weeks ago Kamryn, Troy, Scott and I took advantage of the beautiful fall plantings and decorations at Meijer Gardens. I guess the big pumpkins made them think of their own strength... or maybe they're just acting weird!

In our neighborhood during halloween each house gets "booed" by an unknown neighbor. After dark the doorbell rings and on the front porch is a container of treats. That family has to then do it to two other neighbors. Kamryn and Troy obviously like this tradition!
Here's an afternoon game of "three flies up". Scott was frustrating Kamryn by blocking all of her catches. Scott and I were commenting on Kamryn's outfit...long basketball shorts, t-shirt, and backwards hat. Gotta love her!
Here is a picture from last evening. We were priveledged to attend a scholarship banquet for the Seminary students and scholarship donors. It was a neat time of being able to thank those who help make it possible for Scott to be in Seminary. There is a specific family who we have been connected with and we were very honored to meet them and see how excited they were to meet and get to know us. This man is a retired minister and it was neat to hear their ministry story. I hope we can do this for another family someday...It was also amazing to see all these Seminarians dressed up. We had a great evening with our friends the Borsts too. Here are Matt and Scott in their "Sunday best!"

Interesting Conversation

This morning on the way to preschool Troy and I had an interesting conversation. We drove by a large cemetary near our house. On the grounds you can see a fancy building (not sure what exactly it is) which is white with stately pillars in the front. With the excitement of seeing the whole presidential entourage the other day fresh in his mind, Troy announced, "That's where the President lives." I told him that actually that was not the White House where the President lives. That's in Washington D.C. He said, "Well, that must be one of his stations where he can stay." I said, "No, actually that's a cemetary." Troy: "Oh yeah, where they put people in the dirt and put flowers over them." Mom: "Yes, kind of like that. They actually put them in a type of box first. (At this point I'm beginning to worry what was going through his young mind.) So, I try to redirect the conversation and say, "Yes, after we die, our bodies go in the ground, but our soul goes up to heaven to be with Jesus." Troy is quiet for a moment then says, "Yep, just like on Sponge Bob."...Looks like we have some work ahead of us!!

A Visit From the President

Today we had some excitement here. President Bush was in town. He happened to be visiting near where our kids go to school. All the school kids got out of class to get a closer view when he arrived and could see the President waving through the limo window. After school when I went to pick up Kamryn, police cars were beginning to block off roads and people were gathering along the sides of the road. We decided to join the onlookers and I just happened to have my camera with me to snap this picture as the parade of limos and important looking cars rushed by. Although we couldn't see his face, we could see his waving hand and we were all pretty excited!

The Perfect Day

Today had to be the prettiest day weatherwise that we have experienced in Michigan in a long time. It was sunny and 75 degrees with a really blue sky. The leaves on the trees are about at their color peak too. Against the blue sky, they are beautiful. After Kam's soccer game and running around looking for shoes for Katie's play this morning, we decided to visit one of the local apple orchards. Being such a nice day, the place was packed. We quickly picked out our bag of apples and three pumpkins and then took a stroll through the apple orchard. Neat times!

Volleyball Fans

Tonight we headed over to Calvin to watch our friend, Lauren De Groot, play volleyball. The team had a rough start and had to fight to pull through for the win. Lauren played great and it was fun to watch her again. We look forward to seeing more De Groots later this month. :)

Lauren and the kids after the game.
A shot during the game in the new tennis center.
Troy hot and sweaty after running around.

Brrrrrrrrr!

We have experienced a dramatic drop in temperature these last few days. We actually had to turn on the heat in the house because we were all freezing. Last week we were enjoying 80 degree temps and tonight there is a frost warning! Love that Michigan weather!! At least the sun was shining today... The kids have been asking Scott to take them golfing so this afternoon we went out to the local CRC golf course (only in GR!) to mess around a bit. The kids had a fun time, but further practice will have to wait until Spring, I'm afraid.

Tonight we decided we would attend the homecoming football game at Christian High. We had a great time with some people from our church, but had to stay quite close to keep warm. Scott also ran into James Haveman who used to teach at CVC and is now living in MI and happened to be attending the football game. It was a fun surprise!