Well, I heard somewhere the Autumn doesn't officially begin (in our area, at least!) until 4:18pm. Therefore, I still have a couple of hours to get one last post up during Summer 2009! I do believe, however, that this will easily be a low-record setting year when it comes to blog upkeep on this site! Ah, well, life goes on!
That sweet little smile Grace is wearing in the picture above was due to a surprise present from Grandpa! What was it?
Hmmmm. It requires assembly - but many uncles make light work! It was partially assembled at Grandpa's house, and then delivered and the final pieces put together on site. Much to the delight of some little kiddos who were too ill to come over and play at our house that day!
Yay! A new swing set!
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Also thanks to Grandpa, we got in one more day in the pool this summer! After a couple weeks in June of wonderful pool weather, the chilly days made the thought of swimming unpleasant. But as summer drew to a close, Dad decided that we needed to get at least one more day in the pool before closing it up for the winter season. So after trying a couple of inexpensive, ingenious ideas for heating the pool, one worked.
At least, it worked well enough for three active young men to enjoy it for awhile!
Oh yes, three young men and a couple of princesses! Bella LOVES water (actually, I think Bella loves all of life and anything it brings her way!), and her oldest cousin, Caroline, is quite the little fish. So, the two of them braved the waters as well and enjoyed a final swim for Summer '09!
If I remember correctly, that last swim day was Labor Day - which was also the day that we celebrated Grandma Erber's birthday!
Happy Birthday, Grandma!
Joanna, on the other hand, didn't need the water warmed to be up for swimming! She spent the first couple of weeks of September in Naples, Florida with the Hills (Abbey's family). She had a wonderful time with Wendy and the whole family. Thanks, Hills, for including her in your vacation!
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Usually this time of year we are cooking, freezing, canning... in general, processing whatever produce comes in from our garden. This year - thanks to cool, damp weather and a highly contagious tomato disease - we have had almost no crop at all. However, using various other avenues, the Lord has blessed us with fresh produce nonetheless. A week or so ago Mrs. VanDellen spent a day with us and helped us get a bunch of strawberries in the freezer! Thank you!!
Late last week we received a phone call from someone we had never spoken to before, but with whom we had mutual friends. The Haroldson family was passing through town and as a result of that phone call they stopped by and visited for a day before traveling on! God bless your travels!
Ahhh... but with the end of summer comes a time to buckle down and focus a little more directly on our studies. This year, Caroline has started studying the piano and is making excellent progress (if a prejudiced piano instructor may say so...). She is gobbling up her music and I learned very quickly that my challenge in teaching this student was not going to be overwhelming her with her assignment each week - but giving her enough to do! Early on Sara reported that Caroline had been bored after learning her new songs so quickly and so had started practicing one of them backwards... just for something to do. :-)
I stole this picture from Dawn's Blog as I forgot to bring our camera with us this past Sunday to a "Last Picnic of Summer" that Josh and Abbey organized. You can click on the picture to see some other pictures from that event!
And that brings us to today, the first day of autumn. We just celebrated the arrival of that season by indulging in some fresh apple cider donuts! Here's to Autumn!
