So this is what you do on a lazy Saturday

Caitlin as the Halloween Queen

KATIE

RACHEL

ELLA

ABBY

EMILY

THE BEAUTY QUEENS

While Caitlin went to a halloween birthday party (as a halloween queen), Emily and Rachel had their friends Ella, Abby and Katie over to play and this is what they did on our lazy Saturday at home! Pretty cute! They played ALL afternoon!

Quirks

We all have our own little quirks right? Well, Natalie has shown us what she likes to do with her time-her own little quirk. So cute and funny. So nice and neat. Rachel used to do something similar with markers and then play with them as if they were people. Usually she was the purple one! I just love this age. :)

MEA Break-Wet and Wild!

Our 2nd annual trip to Wisconsin Dells with the Gracks and Gilbertson Families was wet and wild! There really isn't a dull moment ever when our families get together. There's always drama of some sort. We were the ones to have the drama. We left on Thursday morning with a set of brand new tires on the van. Stopped in LaCrosse for lunch and on the way back onto the freeway I tried to avoid hitting a piece of wood on the road but instead hit it. Ugh...about 5 miles down the road our tire pressure light goes on. Great. We luckily made it to Sparta only to find that two tires were punctured. Guess the wood had a nail in it and the front tire spit the wood back to the rear tire. God was definitely watching over us. We were able to get both "new" tires fixed and back on the road in less than 20 minutes and $30. I guess it was good to get the drama out of the way at the beginning of the trip, right?! We had a fabulous time at Glacier Canyon-3 waterparks and awesome rooms with an awesome king size bed. We had WAY too much food, WAY too much beer and WAY too much fun! The kids were great and loved going on all the tube slides. I had a better time this time too since I wasn't nursing a 6 month old and didn't look too ridiculous in a swimming suit. Natalie enjoyed the water and snacks. Emily was excited to have grown enough to go on the Hurricane! Rachel and Levi chased each other in the pool and Caitlin and Kylie were always off somewhere. It was nice that each of the kids had a playmate. Got lots of visiting in and not much sleep. Looking forward to next year already! Time sure flies when you're having fun! Thanks Grack and Gilbertsons for a good time!

Gleisner Benefit

Saturday, October 16th we held a benefit in honor of our family friends, the Gleinsers. Adam is battling cancer. He is only 48 years old. He has a wife JoAnna and daughter Grace who is in Emily's class and Jared who is the same age as Rachel. They have amazing faith and love and trust in the Lord, which I admire so much. The day was cool but sunny-really just perfect. We started out the day with a 9-hole best ball tourney, then had a family fun apple festival with hayrides, kids games, obstacle course, bon fire, apple pies, caramel apples, apples for sale, pumpkins, face painting, etc... It was so much fun! The kids had a blast! After the festival we had a spaghetti dinner that served around 400 people. The Gleisners are loved by ALOT of people! Everything just came together perfectly and everyone pitched in and made it a great day. We were all so happy Adam was able to join us for a while and visit. Our hearts go out to them and we pray for their family everyday. Thanks to God for all our blessings.

Fall Frenzy

We have had a beautiful fall up until the past two days. Here are some pictures of the girls playing in the leaves and being silly.

Rachel celebrates with Grandparents

Rachel was lucky enough to have two birthday parties this year. We weren't able to get everyone together the weekend of her birthday so we spread it out and held it the weekend after. As always we had a great time and great food. Rachel needed some help blowing out her candles and Natalie was able to help out. It was pretty funny. Rachel would try and she'd end up blowing upward rather than outward. While Rachel was trying and giggling, Natalie bent down and blew one out for her. We all got a laugh out of that!

St. Peter flooding

Hwy 22 S from St. Peter going to Mankato

It's a little difficult to get in and out of St. Peter these days. The flooding is amazing! Brian's commute takes him an extra 15 minutes, which isn't too bad, just a little inconvenient. Hwy 169 is closed both north and south of St. Peter. It's completely submerged right around McDonalds. Our friends the Frey's live next to McDonalds and the water came as close as 20-25 feet from their house. They said they've never seen flooding this bad before. Not exactly sure where 169 is flooded south of St. Peter but more than likely it's around the 7-mile park area. Doesn't take much to flood that area. Hwy 22 south to Mankato is also closed with water completely submerging that road as you can see in the photo.

Hwy 99 East of St. Peter is closed too. The water is right up under the bridge and the railroad tracks and road were also under water near Whiskey River. We have quite a few friends that live out that way and their detour into St. Peter takes them quite a bit out of the way. A good 25 minute drive or more. What a pain. Somehow a large log caught a cable line near the 99 bridge. The photo shows that.




Millpond is pretty much under water too. The dock where the girls fish is bearly showing, same goes for the playground equipment. There's been lots and lots of people taking pictures and documenting this historical flood. Hopefully it won't take too long for the water to recede and life to get back to normal. Pretty awesome though. :)