Been awhile!!

Hi all! As you can imagine, things here have been busy. Nathan wanted to help write the last post, so I typed while he talked about what he wanted to say.
Lorna arrived safe Saturday afternoon. It was like 45 degrees, so she was in for a little shock. We headed back to St. Joe to meet Chris at Lowes since he was due to get off at the same time we were arriving into town. He showed her his department and then when we got home, I started finishing supper. We had Hannah's favorite meal, meatballs and macaroni and cheese along with some veggies. We finished the night off with watching Cars. Sunday was church at 8am. Sunday school at 9:30 and lunch at Cici's after that. The church Thanksgiving dinner was that night, so when we got home after doing some playing, I told the kids we needed to lay down for an hour. Usual bedtime is 8 and since I wasnt sure how long we would be at church, I wanted to make sure they werent' too tired for school. While we were resting, Chris and his mom went out for ingredients for our items to take with to the dinner. They stopped by Goodwill and bought the kids their own christmas tree. The kids were really excited about that and spent the afternoon decorating. Lorna and I baked while Chris went across the hall to Brett's to watch the Chiefs game. We went to the church dinner and Nathan made new friends with a man named Michael who drew him a picture of a train.
Monday was taking the kids to school with Lorna. Chris had off and I was watching Abram. Since Lorna and Noel will be in Tennessee taking care of her parents all their Christmas break, she wanted to get everyone's Christmas gifts while she was here, so we could keep them here. So, we went shopping all Monday. Chris and her were having a blast. I am not a big shopper, so I kind of felt like a damper, trying to keep Abram out of breakable things and give my two cents. Abram liked Lorna, so it made a nice trip to the store overall. We picked up Hannah and then Nathan. I had prepared Heidi's chicken casserole ahead of time and we had that for supper. A regular nights schedule of stories and baths before bedtime. After the kids were asleep, it was gift wrapping time.
Tuesday, Lorna's last day with us, we went to morning storytime at the library and then she met Nathan at school for lunch. She came back to take a nap and then she, Hannah and I went back to Target to get Chris' christmas gift. She took us out to Rib Crib for supper that night. We were sad to see her go. It was really nice letting her be a regular part of our lives. Lots of good memories made. Chris took her to the airport at 5:30am Wednesday morning to fly to Oklahoma City.
I had Abram Wednesday and we played at the house. Nathan had an early out, so he got to play some with Abram before picking up Hannah. We headed home and played outside a little. Then it was inside to read a little and do our chores and recover from our visit with grandma. We opted the daily jobs while she was here, so we caught up.
Chris had to work till midnight, so we decided to eat our own Thanksgiving dinner together and then the kids and I would head to mom and dads since Chris was going to have to work all Friday and Saturday. We went to Grandma Ferdinand's friday for a dessert. Saw a lot of people I haven't seen in years. Brent and Katherine Stirtz were there with their 3 kids. Louisa is 6, Adialine is 4 and Benjamin is from China and is 18 months. My kids had a blast with them. They promised each other that they would always be friend. It made the visit really sweet.
Saturday we played outside with grandma and grandpa before heading home to eat supper with dad. We re-set the chair swing in the tree, and got the mini basketball hoop out. Dad's old wagon took the rocking fish for a ride and tree climbing, leaf pile raking and swinging.
I also helped mom a little on working on a family history book that mom is trying to re-do from Grandma's pink notebook. Some really neat stories. I am looking forward to the finished project.
When we got to St. Joe, we went to sonic for supper on our way to a surprize. Holiday park lights!!! Sunday was church again. My last sunday for the quarter. I am sad to see it over. So is Rebecca! We have volunteered to check kids in this next quarter so we can continue to see the kids. We moved about 5-7 up. We hope that will help Hawley this next quarter in there.
We played outside all afternoon since it was so nice.
Today was school again and I had Abram. He helped me grocery shop. He really was a good help. He napped as we cruised Target for some necessities. Picked up kids and watched Thomas while having a snack. Read books, and ate supper and called it a night. I have a lazy cat on my lap right now and Chris is working on his homework. That is about it.
Tomorrow is library day and Wednesday is another field trip for Hannah! Friday I go walking with Margret, so it looks to be a nice week.
Hope this finds all of you doing well and looking forward to the holiday season where we remember Christ's birthday and the meaning of all that to our salvation!
All our love!

Hi, this is Nathan

Hi! This is Nathan. We wish we were there.
I am 6 now.
This week at school in gym, my favorite center was swinging across the alligator pool. I swinged over the alligator pool 2 times. I jumped on the knot of the big, big rope hanging from the sky of the gym. That was cool!
Outside for recess we started a clubhouse in the pile of leaves. I was one of the gates and my friend Ish was the manager. We all got a turn to be the clubhouse manager.
I ate chicken nuggets with purple ice cream, bread, 2 kinds of vanilla milk, and I had carrots with honey. That was good!
Well, I need to go eat breakfast. My grandma comes today in the afternoon. Well, see ya later!
Bye!
Nathan

Wow, has it been that long!!!

I am so sorry. I started a blog a week and a half ago and wanted to post some pictures. I never finished it.
Well, so highlights of the last two weeks. Well, Halloween was the kindergarten party. I was a homeroom parent so Hannah and I went to help. I was different since our family doesnt celebrate Halloween. The school wanted to take it as a fall party where everyone came dressed as what they wanted to be when they grew up. That would be the theme. I appreciated that and that made it more a costume party than the druid celebration of death.
Anyways, Nathan wore the train engineer vest he got a couple of years ago for Christmas. Hannah put on one of her princess dresses. I was in charge of the craft and we made cat puppets. I also read the class a story about two mice sharing a pumpkin. It was a nice time.

Then the following Saturday, we all went to our first Missouri Western football game. It was a great day for it. 65 degrees for kickoff at 2pm. They were playing my sister's school, Fort Hays State University. The kids really liked it. We bought nachos and drinks. Hannah really liked the marching band. Nathan really liked the parachuters coming in with the American flag. The game was a pretty good one. Final score. MWSU- 24 FHSU-10.

Sunday our 2&3 class went to the 4&5's for the first time. It went really well. The kids liked it and the lesson fit. We were starting to talk about Abraham and how God called Abraham to move to somewhere he didn't know. Then we went down the hall and played a game and made a craft and came back to our room. Yesterday we did it again and it seems to be working really well. The first week of December, we will move the older kids in my class up and hopefully they will be ok.

I forgot to mention that Friday of that week, I went to my friend/mentor (Margaret Triplet)'s house to walk and pray. It was really cool. We walked about 2 miles and then went inside and drank some tea and prayed. We are meeting again this Friday. We are still getting to know one another, but she is such an encouragement to me as she is still a stay-at-home mom and is such a blessing to her family.

Lets see. This week in highlights, I watched Abram Wednesday and it was a really nice afternoon. Temperature about 75, so we played at Nathan's school after everyone got out. I swang and snuggled with him. My kids don't do that as much, so it is really nice. We were expecting my Uncle Dave to arrive, and called my grandma to see what was up. He decided to take a bus to Emporia, which I was kind of relieved about. We are going to have to make a special trip to see him, however. The kids had his bed all made and such.
Chris' mom will be here Saturday for her thanksgiving stay. Everyone is looking forward to that.
Chris had this past weekend off, so we spent it just hanging out , as the weather turned cold again and we had some snow flurries. Chris is working so hard on his classes. He did that most of yesterday. The kids and I colored, and played games and did some reading.
They are getting so smart.
Well, that is about it. I am hoping to post another one after this with a bunch of pictures. the one above is everybody at the game. We send all our love and I will hopefully not be so long next time.
Till then, try to find a way to encourage someone with Christ!! You will make their day.