Stone's Trace

 We spent the day as a family at a Pioneer Festival near Ligonier.  They had great activities for the girls to do.  We really enjoyed the day and the weather was perfect!

There was a Punch and Judy puppet show, do you think the girls liked it?

 They were able to make, with a little help, their very own corn husk doll. (for free)

 We got to visit the sheep and chickens and watch one sheep get shorn.  Elsewhere we saw spinning looms making the cleaned wool into yarn.

 Maria riding a wooden cow?, wearing her new feather hair piece(also free to make).

 They rode in a horse drawn wagon, which was only $1.

And Maria tested her corn maze skills.

We also had some yummy food including apple fritters and ice cream!  If you live within driving distance we highly recommend visiting next year.  It's held the weekend after Labor Day.

Also we are gearing up for more changes around here.  Larry starts his new job tomorrow at Symmetry Medical as a manufacturing specialist, we will find out all the details tomorrow at orientation.  We are truly blessed to get medical coverage that starts immediately, no wait.  Since our coverage from the church just ran out Aug. 31, we are extremely thankful.  I guess the part that gives me some dread is Larry will switch to 2nd shift once he is trained.  This means that essentially I will be a single mom during the week as he will go in at 3 and home after 11.  This is a blessing as we won't have to take Anna to the sitter, whom we love, but any extra $ is helpful in our tighter budget.  So, after the dust settles we will see how things all fit together, but I can't thank God enough for providing for us as He has in the past 3 months since moving.  He is truly God of our everything.

We have plenty to praise God for; a wonderful day as a family and looking ahead to how God is providing for our needs.

rainy mini golf

The girls have been filling a jar to earn a reward.  The reward they chose was going miniature golfing.  It was a bit rainy when we went, but we still had fun.

 matching ball and toenails and shoes.

 Maria's handiwork.

We have plenty to praise God for; happy girls!

school bound

 Mrs. Vester, Anna's preschool teacher on open house night.

 Anna, our little monkey, wearing her new monkey skirt.  She was excited to go.

 at the church ready to head in.

She had a good first day, talked about doing calendar, singing, having snack(our day!) and playing on the playground.
We have plenty to praise God for; our smart, funny, loving little girl who's growing up so quickly!

Winston's shower

 The girls getting some grub.

 Great Gramma Unger

 Aunt Michele

 GG

GG with the girls.

Off to School

 Maria's teacher Mrs. Hickman at back to school night

 checking out the classroom library

 I'm in kindergarten.

 I'm in preschool(in a month)

 Wearing her star so her teacher can find her.

 Waiting in anticipation...

 here she comes.

 No looking back.

We have plenty to praise: knowing that Maria will do well in school and make some great friends.

boating

We have these great neighbors who have wanted to take us on a boat ride for some time, tonight as Anna and I were sitting eating our popcorn dinner in the front yard (she wanted to picnic) they came over to ask us if tonight was a good night to go out.  Even though Daddy was working the girls and I decided to have a boat ride.  What a perfect night for it.  The girls loved taking a turn at the wheel too.
Tomorrow I start my new job.  Back to work after 5 years off with the girls.  I will be a Title I assistant, which is really great because I don't have the planning or any kind of grading work to lug home.  It also is just 5.5 hours a day, leaving me enough time to get Maria on the bus and get home in time for her to get off.  I have mixed feeling about going back to work, but at this point it's really necessary for me to do something that brings in some income.  And if I am going to I want to do something that I love, which is working with kids.  We had planned for some time to homeschool the girls, which obviously won't work too well this year, but we'll see what the future holds for us.  Maria really has been challenging for me to deal with lately, so I am wondering if this is God's way of placing a bit of distance between us to allow the situation to become less intense.  Maybe I can actually enjoy her more in smaller doses, rather than 24/7.  She is at a very independent stage, which challenges her mama!  It does do my heart well to know that Maria is excited for school, knows and loves to read already, and has made acquaintances with some of her classmates already through church and VBS, and one girl lives two houses down.  It is also comforting knowing that Maria has a wonderful teacher, according to everyone that we have talked to. 

Anna is equally excited about her preschool starting in a month.  She told me that she will be riding a bus, in a very adamant tone!  She did great all week at VBS, even with me as her teacher.  She played well with others, and had an overall great time.

We have plenty to praise God for; our new routine and God placing things in motion for a great year!

Mommy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow....

Okay, maybe you don't know that song, but the girls like it and I think of it every time we talk about the zoo.  I think it's Raffi, at least it's on one of his CD's.
Anyhow, we had told Anna back in may we would go to the zoo(Fort Wayne Children's) at some point for her birthday, and have her cousins go with us.  So, it finally worked out for our schedule and they were able to meet us.  We had a fun, hot, day!

 driving the jeep on a safari!

Anna actually did touch the black rat snake, Maria not so much!

 camping cousins!

 I love the giraffes

 Gotta have a picture with little poof!  That thing has been there forever.

 Anna and Everly playing peek-a-boo!

 crazy cousins!

 ah, relaxing on the log ride

 such a sweetheart!

 They had to climb on every statue in the zoo!

 Riding the train!

We also made sure to stop and meet our newest nephew/cousin.  My brother and his wife have been trying to adopt for over a year now and we are elated to welcome Winston into the family!

We have plenty to praise God for; new and not so new cousins!