Charlie's Baptism

On Sunday we drove into Barrington to attend my nephew, Charlie's, baptism. After the church service they had a lunch reception that was very nice. It was a great day to be with family and focus on the spiritual life of Charlie.

Tanners 2011

Tanners '11

Riding out to the orchard.

Amie, Dylan, Kylie, and Brant

We were blessed with a gorgeous fall day to spend at Tanners this year!

Jadon's Open House

I enjoyed going to Jadon's school last week to look around and learn more about what he does on a daily basis. Jadon likes school a lot and has made some nice friends in his class.

Jadon is posing here with a Gingerbread man outside his classroom. I always thought of Gingerbread people as a part of the Christmas season, but apparantly they are good for making new kindergarteners actually want to come back to school in the beginning of the year. On the first day the class made a gingerbread man, but he ran away and for the next 2 weeks the kids made traps and found evidence that he had been in the room overnight. Jadon looked forward to each day to see if he had been caught.

Labor Day Weekend

Claire(7), Charlie(4 mo.), Jadon(5), Woolfe, Leah(3), and Rachel (5)

This past weekend we went to South Haven and stayed in the artist's retreat beach house with the Pins family. It was the last hoorah of summer and we actually had 2 hot and sunny days this year. We spent a lot of time on the beach and in the water. This was the first time we had all 5 grandkids together since Charlie's birth. He is such a sweet, good-natured baby, and I enjoyed bonding with him on this trip. On Saturday, we had a pirate party. We played "Loot" and painted pirate pictures. The kids got to dress up as pirates and play a pinata. We had lots of good meals, laughs, and family time throughout the whole weekend.

More LDW

On Sunday the weather became cool and windy, producing big waves. Flint and Brian took the kids out there to jump in and ride the waves, while the rest of us enjoyed watching from the beach. Our last evening together I had each adult decorate a wine glass with paint pens, capturing a special family memory. Everyone was a good sport about it. We had fun and made some cute glasses. Monday, we played some board games and left after lunch. Thanks Mom and Dad for a special weekend!