It's HOT!!

We have set records the last three days for heat and will probably set two more on Monday and Tuesday. We were told it was because of the hurricanes coming from the east - it has stalled our weather.  Its nice to have sunshine in fall, but man is it hot.  We even had to turn the air on!

We had visitors twice this week!
Last Sunday, Aunt Kathy and Holly came to visit for church and for lunch. It was great to just hang out and talk - and it was sunny and warm!

Our friends from MN, Dave and Ronda, were driving through to meet their family in Maine, and stopped here for lunch on Thursday. It was great to show them around and just to catch up a bit!

Last weekend was Warrior Weekend. A Homecoming of sorts. True Homecoming is during basketball season, but they have this - which really is another homecoming - during soccer.  Lots of crazy stuff goes on, including dress up days which I did not take any pictures of this year.  They had dress like a farmer day, green and white day, sports jersey day, denim day and one other one I can't remember. Anika always gets very into these things. I guess Jessica was called up to represent the 7th grade class in a dance off, and she didn't know the song, so it didn't go so well, but she did it!

Anika is SOOO excited for pep band, can you tell.  Yes, pep band for a soccer game, soccer is a BIG deal out here.

Brandon playing in the JV game before the varsity

Jessica and Maria have been making all sorts of slime. There are many different ways to make it - but they prefer to use glue, tide, shaving cream and many other random ingredients. I guess its a big deal in the 5th grade girl circles right now. Maria said girls on her soccer team buy and sell it. Whatever works.

This Saturday Jessica had a first - first cross country meet. She isn't sure she wants to be a volleyball player so for junior high she is trying both. She ran 2 miles in 17:14 so she did pretty well considering it was almost 90 and the due points were in the upper 60's!

Brandon had to ref three soccer games - Jessica was supposed to, but the cross country meet conflicted so we made Brandon do it for her. He was overjoyed at the idea of blowing a whistle at 6 year olds. It was a long morning.

And finally, Brandon had to work Saturday night, Matt was reffing, so Anika, a friend, Jessica, Maria and I went to camp to play in the lake.  Did I mention its hot here?

We love to play there - paddle board, kayak, basketball, beach volleyball, four square - always something to do!

What's New

Whenever I am asked the question 'What's new?', I'm never sure how to answer. I feel like we do the same thing most days, over and over. Not quite like Ground Hog Day, but you get the idea.
So, today, I tried to think of things that were different:
-I still got a good workout in, but being old, I twisted my ankle
-I helped mow the lawn, and Jessica finished; typically I make someone else take that job
-our ice maker broke; I feel like such a privileged white snob saying that; then the kids didn't know the word for ice cube tray - which we don't even own anymore; anyway, its back up and running again.
-Anika and Brandon had pep band for the varsity soccer game; It was Warrior Weekend, which is sort of like homecoming, except in the fall, they have their real homecoming in the winter over basketball;
-There were LOTS of fans at the girls volleyball game; lots of excitement; and even though Anika didn't play, she was the first person to jump up and cheer and encourage her teammates - which I thought was very cool! She enjoys her team, and she supports them no matter what
-Brandon's team has had 3 wins and 1 loss I believe, and he has scored 3 goals in the last two games
-Jessica now is on the middle school volleyball team and the middle school cross country team, she had her first volleyball game this week

-Last week Sunday evening, youth group started up again. Anika's group won the Amazing Race game

-There was a full cup of pop spilled at supper tonight
-Anika and Brandon played piano together, not totally unusual, but different for today

-Jessica, Maria and I went to the sunset; we don't go to the beach nearly enough, I feel like living here we should be there every night, but I also realize that just isn't possible; we went to the dog beach this time and took Midge; we all jumped in. I'm not sure we've ever gone swimming this late in September, but it was great.
-All six beds are clean, I finished today; this includes pillow case covers, all the blankets - and if you saw their beds you would know how insanely out of control my kids are on blankets, mattress pads, etc., washed inside, dried outside in the sun!
-We got our new family pictures printed, its always fun to look through the years

high fives to the parents after the game

And finally, last week we said goodbye to a dear friend at our church. She has been sick for 18 months; she lost so much weight so quickly and had several misdiagnoses.  Not many weeks ago, she finally had a CAT scan and stomach cancer which has spread everywhere was discovered. She lived a beautiful testimony of living life to the end and finding joy in the little things.  Someone told me at her funeral you couldn't know Paula without knowing her Savior.  

She had her whole funeral planned - including the catering from Lee's Chicken!

Summer ends, school begins

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly summer comes to an end, the weather changes, and just like that we are in school running around to games and practices, and trying to keep up!

All of our chrysalises have hatched to date. We are waiting on three more.  Doing better than the wild this year at least!  This is Mrs Beach hanging out at work (I took her with me), drying her wings before she is ready to fly.

Downtown Muskegon has a large 1930's theatre that is used for several things/events. There was a free historical tour so I decided to attend. It wasn't much of a tour. We sat in the seats and the guide read to us from a script, then we had a 30 minute organ concert. I did learn a few things and most of it was quite enjoyable, just not what I expected. We always laugh when people talk about Muskegon. Most sentences begin with, "Well there used to be..."  That was much of the Frauenthal history tour. It is quite a beautiful building and has been restored to its original paint, tapestries, etc.

Maria had a soccer tournament in Portage last weekend.  She is on a different team again this year which means new families and new uniforms. Why do I do this I often ask myself.  It gave Brandon the privilege of driving us there. 1.5 hours closer to the 50 he needs to get his license.

They played a game where you are both blindfolded and try hit each other with a rolled up newspaper. It was quite funny to watch.

Anika has had several volleyball tournaments and games. She doesn't play much but has seem to find a routine and work with it. She often takes stats on the tablet during the games.

The kids started school on August 29. Anika and Brandon had service days - their small groups go into the community and help with a project; Jessica had team building at a high ropes course, and Maria had a half day. Tomorrow, they start off another week back at it!

11th, 9th, 7th, 5th

They had school off Friday, so Brandon went tubing and surfing with some buddies. I don't know all the details, but I guess a friend of a friend was there - a professional surfer - and he taught Brandon a few things.  This is surfing behind a boat. The waves don't get THAT big on Lake Michigan - but we love it when they do!

Saturday we got some things done at home - including partially cleaning the house - and we hauled the kids to the Muskegon Museum of Art. There is an exhibit there of over 200 photos of many of the different tribes of Native Americans from 1910 - 1929. It was interesting for the most part. The kids sat at one table and colored while Matt and I perused. Some of the history is crazy, and sometimes its amazing to see all they could accomplish with so little - and tipis (that's how they spelled it at the musuem?) are HUGE!

Our neighbor is a sales rep for Dip N Dots, owned in West Michigan, by the West Michigan White Caps! So he gave us free tickets to the game and of course we had Dip N Dots! After the game there were fireworks and kids could run the bases. Aunt Kathy joined us for the game. The Whitecaps got beat badly, but we had plenty of fun.

And sometimes its good just to go outside and play with your dog!

Today I tried to finish cleaning the house, but ran out of hours and energy. Almost every blanket in this house has been washed this weekend and hung outside to dry. Every nook and cranny including under the couches and refrigerator has been vacuumed. Shoes have been tried on, stored or bagged up for someone else, and groceries have been gotten. Tuesdays and Thursdays are crazy around here with all four having something! On your marks, get set, go!