Cleared for Take Off

Josiah survived his first flight on a commercial airline! The youngest Erber has finally taken flight!

Warning!

Happy Birthday!

Yup! Today sure is a special day around here! Josiah William Erber turns 12 years old!!!!! Good thing there are grandkids around here as our "baby" is not quite so much of a baby anymore! Josiah is quickly growing up into a fine young man. We love you, brother!

Simplicity

Life has been simple during the last week or so:

• Garage Sale
  Jeremy & Sara held a garage sale/yard sale/driveway sale - whatever you want to call it - this past weekend. They didn't sell everything, but they did sell some, including several larger items.
  
  
• Sunday
  On Sunday after church, we had a crowd of people back to our house as we ate, visited, and discussed plans for the Big Celebration coming up in September for our church's 10th anniversary. Food and activities were the topics of the discussions this week - I was only in on the food discussion, and are we going to feast!!
  

• Jeremy's Birthday
  Monday, the 18th, was Jeremy's birthday! Happy, happy, birthday! The cake is still waiting to be eaten as illness has postponed any get together - and there is too much there for J&S to eat without all of us! :-)
  
  
• Pickling
  On Monday we also had a group of ladies from church here for a pickling class that Jeanine & Mrs. B hosted. Everyone went home with a jar of pickles and a jar of sauerkraut that they had made during the afternoon.
  
  
• Kiddos
  Of course, now and then we have various ones of the grandchildren here for various reasons, and that always makes life fun and interesting!
  
  
• Music Lessons
  Joanna had a trial lesson with a new violin teacher this past week as well, and she seems like a very good fit for Joanna right now! So with the fall, new lessons begin!
  
  
• Wood
  Just up the road from us the road commissioner has a crew out trimming trees... just in time to supply us with some firewood for the coming winter. I know it is still only August, but once it gets cold, it's kind of late to start thinking about it. And "they" are predicting an early frost this year. Oh, and even though Jonathan & Joseph are the only ones pictured above, Josh also stopped by and lent some muscle to the job! Thanks!

Look Alike?

Cookies, Anyone?

Happy Birthday, Abbey!

Although Abbey has had birthdays for more than two decades, this was Abbey Erber's first birthday! :-) We love you, Abbey!

BTW - In that big black crock on the table is the world's best chocolate cake...

Ice Cream Social

Last night we had a couple of neighbor families over for an ice cream social! We ate ice cream, of course, but then also sang around the piano, discussed local trivia, and played a variety of fun games... of course, we had to also teach them the infamous "Cup Game." I'm afraid it will be awhile before we can have guests in the house without pulling out those cups! :-)

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. Living so close to each other we really ought to do this more often!

Summertime Potpourri

Good ol' summertime! Supposedly it's a time to relax and enjoy the sunshine, and when we've been able to handle the local mosquito population we have enjoyed the sunshine and various outdoor fun that lends itself to this time of year. But, we also manage to stay busy with a variety of other odds and ends - usually involving our dear growing family. Over the last couple of weeks, much time has been spent on Josh and Abbey's house which is quickly approaching a state of move-in-ability.

We are also drawing near to the time of year known as harvest - and some crops are already begging for attention. So we've made our first applesauce of the year (actually, Jeanine made it, but used our kitchen), and yesterday we (or rather, Sara - but again, it was in our kitchen) put up a few cases of peaches.


We don't have any pictures of it, but on Friday night a colleague of Nathan's had arranged for a group to attend a concert at Ravinia. As they had an extra ticket, N&J invited me to go along with them. We got in shortly after the gates opened and reserved a very nice little spot in the shade and enjoyed conversation and sophisticated snacks while we awaited the rest of the group. The concert was all John Williams music and was very enjoyable - and the rain and lightening that accompanied the second half of the concert were unable to dampen the fun. And 9 hours together weren't enough for Nathan, Jeanine & I to run out of conversation.


With fans blowing on high in an attempt to ward off the clouds of mosquitoes, Jonathan and Luke VH worked together on some engine conversions... but you can check that out on Jonathan's blog if you are interested in details!


Summertime is a good time of year for little people to get a little bigger! She isn't walking yet, but boy, she would sure like to be!


We've also had a few ensemble rehearsals of late. Mr. Y, Dawn B, Ethan W, Tom D, Anna VH, Joanna and Josiah are working on some pieces together - just for fun, and to share at our church's upcoming 10th Anniversary celebration.

Last night during some storms that came through, we entertained the little people (J&S were here for dinner) with some music in the living room. It started with Sara on the piano, Mom on guitar, Joseph on banjo, but things evolved from there...


Also last night, after the storms finally blew past, Jonathan and Joanna drove down the road (where there are fewer trees in the way) and grabbed a few pictures of the sky and sunset.




One last note: We've update the Liberty Day site with just a couple of details for LD'09! It will be held on March 21, 2009, at Medinah Baptist Church, Medinah, IL, and Dr. Paul Jehle will be our guest speaker!