Fall Fun

Even with the craziness of unpacking and getting settled, our fall was full of fun moments.

Now that we have a front-load washer/dryer Jasper never has to let his blanket out of sight! It's better than television :-).

Dave and Carole came to visit in October. Despite it being the coldest weekend all fall, we had a great time! We finally took a break from unpacking to enjoy some of the area around us. Many towns have small festivals in the fall. This one was in a small Indiana river town (even smaller than Madison!) called Bethlehem. It was very small-town festival like. The boys loved the tractors and antique cars.

A cold day at Clifty Falls. This amazing area 5 miles from home is a state park. It is breathtaking.

Later in October was Cooper's Fall Break. Chris took a day off and we headed to Indianpolis to the Children's Museum. It was a lot more fun with my own kids than I remember it being with 60 4th graders! They were having a Star Wars exhibit that had all three of my boys jumping with excitement, drooling over the costumes and light sabers, and begging for pictures.

Here is a fall view of the lake from our house. I like the composition of this picture, but it doesn't do the colors justice. They were so vibrant!

Cooper's friend Caleb was a UPS man for Halloween. They live down a little lane and don't get any trick-or-treaters so he brought the treats to us -- inside a UPS box! How clever is that? Caleb lives just down the road and is in Cooper's class at school. They have become good buddies.

We also enjoyed some Halloween fun at the school carnival. I got to bring out the dark side and use the Darth Vader costume. The storm trooper is local law enforcement. He had quite the authentic costume!

One day I caught myself saying, "Cooper wants to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween. Maybe Jasper could be R2D2." Immediately the idea wheels in Chris's head were spinning! Nothing like a Star Wars project to get him excited!! The above photo is the result of a couple of weeks and several man hours of Chris's free time.

Once Dave and Carole had come and gone we enjoyed an unusually warm fall! We decided to take advantage one Saturday in November and hike the Heritage Trail. It is a paved trail that connects the historic downtown by the river to the "hilltop" -- about 1.4 miles at a fairly steep incline. I wanted the extra exercise so I parked the car at the bottom, then hiked the hill to find the boys. Then we all came down together. It was great. We hope to do it many, many times in the future.

This photo is proof to all that Jasper is not quite ready to make his millions in child modeling. This is what happens when he tries to pose. :-)

My three handsome boys on the trail.

At the bottom the trail parallels the former train tracks -- at one time this was the steepest railroad incline in the world.

View of the Ohio River from the trail.

We celebrated Veteran's Day by making breakfast for Chris's whole office. That evening after work Chris got decked out in his uniform so he could participate in a Eagle Scout Veteran's Day program. The project was to get a flag pole and raise a flag at the church we attended when we lived in Jeffersonville. This was the culminating event. A friend told me Chris looked "smashing" and I have to say I agree completely!

Our city's light-the-tree event was held mid-November. It seemed a bit early, but the older I get the earlier I want to get Christmas started! It was perfect -- a couple of short musical numbers, lighting up the town, then pictures with Santa. Short, sweet, simple. The historic downtown looks so magical with the Christmas lights. It literally looks like something straight out of a 50s-era film.

We also attended a desert auction/potluck dinner that was a fundraiser for another Eagle Scout project. The turkey cupcakes I made got a lot of attention. I used Karo syrup to "glue" on the eyes. The feathers are made from folding Fruit-by-the-Foot over a toothpick and then trimming them with scissors. Fun and festive at its finest!

The Goings On

Here is what's been happening with us...

Here is a great summer view of the lake. Yes, this is the view from our back yard. The boys' room, living room, kitchen nook, and Master bedroom all look out over the lake. Sure makes it easier to wake up every morning! :-)

I love my front porch! Hopefully by spring we'll find time to put together our rocking chairs. Rock on!

We finally bought a king-sized bed. And yes, it is big enough for the whole family! We usually manage to keep the boys out, but all the changes and adjusting were a little rough (on everyone!).

Jasper after a cinnamon roll. This is just here to make you smile. If this doesn't make you smile you probably have a heart of stone.

Cooper's first day of school! I have a Kindergartener -- crazy.

Closetmania! Fortunately our house was mostly move-in ready. The main job we decided to tackle before our belongings arrived was replacing the poorly designed wire shelving systems with sturdier custom closets. It took a lot of time and energy to design and install the closets. Fortunately I am now the proud owner of a table saw! And you can see the effort was well worth it. Here is a view of the Master. We also did both of the other bedroom closets, the coat closet (transformed into craft closet) and the pantry.


Move-in day! About six weeks after we arrived in Indiana our belongings arrived. 4 pizzas, a 12-pack of Coke, and 8 hours later everything was off the truck and in the house. The crew of 5 was done with their work and ours was just beginning.

Chris took the boys for an overnighter to Chicago to meet up with his brother Mark. They went to the Aquarium and Cooper practiced his karate skills in front of a Chicago skyline. I stayed home and unpacked. I was able to accomplish quite a bit without any interruptions but it sure was lonely.