The Beginning of Fall

Leila turned two this month. She is learning new words and smarter than she should be. "My Daddy loves me" and "Momma says, "Buckle Up!"" are two of her famous lines.

Brothers adoring their sister. Today they had her at the bottom of a pillow pile. We will see what tomorrow brings :)

Leila's "Rella" cake

Twins?

One last sprinkler bash for the summer with our cousins!

Super sweet faces Gretta and Allison!

Johnny, Sam and Sy, who is who?

Only in Green Bay...

Gampy's Birthday party at the cabin where we shared our latest news...(see below!)

GG and Gretta, two peas in a pod!

A rainbow on the way to Marquette...so pretty!

We did some hiking and found this at the end...

Three happy hikers

Into the woods with GG and Gampy

Resting after trying to keep up with Granny!

We went to the wildlife sanctuary to feed the ducks with some great friends on a beautiful day. 

1....2.....3.....cheese!

Up North with Grandma Lo and Grandpa Jer

Gretta labeled a leaf with everyone's name and make it a part of the place setting. So creative!

One thing I love about being up north is how the kids find so much to be entertained with. Here, Gretta is showing a stick she found in the shape of antlers.

These two are inseparable.

Getting ready to cast some line!

Uh-Oh. We didn't get very far until one of the wheels fell off of the wagon. 

Sy got the first catch.

Gretta's small mouth bass

Another catch for Sy...

Sam's Rock Bass

Leila's just a catch herself :) No fish this time :)

And last but not least, here were are getting ready to hear baby #5s heart beat. So special to have everyone along!

August comes and goes!

Here's Leila getting ready for school!

Enjoying popsicles on a hot day. Our sweet neighbor Leia is between Gretta and Sy. She will be starting kindergarten soon, so we won't be seeing her as much :(

Spending the night at Grandmas (who of course has lucky charms :). Before we even poured the cereal, my exact words to Silas were, " you may have this, but you can't just pick out the marshmallows"...the power of suggestion!

Here is my dear friend Renee with their fourth baby girl Jeanette born on her due date!

The four girls plus our four and Leia. We have our very own preschool!

Leila in her element.

"Nat, did you see what's in our bedroom?" said Tim one day when he came home from work. I was wondering where I would find "artwork" after catching Leila with a black marker without a cap earlier that day. I breezed around the house, but didn't spot a thing. Thankfully, I recently received an amazon order of magic erasers! Worked like a charm for getting rid of non-washable marker.

This was definitely the softest bunny we have ever pet. These few pics are from our day at the fair in Green Bay, thanks to a prize from the library for finishing our summer reading program!

"Is that a shot??" Leila

Sy's not sure what is coming....

Power Rangers need a nap sometimes too!

Weeeeeeeeee! (sam watching me type, "thats a lot of E's!!)

While I make supper, I also find Lou in another of her elements :) This time, choosing more wisely!

Gretta and Sam in the school room at Heritage Hill. The teacher had them repeat, "Straight spines mean alert minds!" over and over. They got a good fifteen minute dose of what school was like a hundred years ago!

This was a fun game where each kid held unto two sticks and passed a hoop across from them to another player.

Practicing shorthand...high school is just around the corner!

From backpacks to the Pack and everything in between

A view from the AT somewhere in Maine

Tim and Uncle Mike took a 10 day trip hiking the Appalachian Trail. While he was gone we....

Had a Classical Conversations 3-Day seminar in preparation for school this coming year. Gretta is to the far right, singing a song about countries. Then my phone ran out of power! The boys performed a song as well! They loved making new friends and learning new games. Today in the car I heard Sam ask Gretta if she wanted to play "Fruit basket upside" for quiet time. A CC game they wont forget, and one they haven't taught me yet, but apparently like to play.

We celebrated Phil's birthday on the 9th and mine on the 14th. For Phil's, we had a yummy dinner at mom and dads, and for mine, we went out to eat for lunch and dinner- woo hoo- thank you Lo & Jer and Mom & Dad...no cooking and clean up for a day! Tim asked what I wanted before I left, and I said just a call from him. We got to talk for a few minutes as he was on top of a mountain and had found reception-  another woo hoo!

And...our newest little nephew Jaxon Gerald Gremore was born on the 16th!

 Leila held him for a long time. She loves anything to do with babies!

Sammy did a great job holding his cousin too! They were all so excited!

Our ride back home, so glad to have Tim back (did I mention I love his new look??)

If you haven't been to the Book Worm Gardens in Sheboygan, it's one of a kind :) Over 60 story books represented by kid-friendly (yes, KID FRIENDLY!) little gardens of all kinds. Here is our group of friends taking over the moss-covered rock couch, representing a story book.

Cheese!

Leila walked behind this frame and posed like a natural :)

Phil and Danielle right before the Bellin 5K....looking ready!!

Sam, Gretta and I walked to Lambeau with them after we all polished off a heavy spaghetti dinner...oops, bad timing! We watched them run the last part of the race inside the stadium which was really cool- they did awesome!

The night before the race, Tim took the older three to a movie at the stadium. After some dark rain clouds along with lightning, the movie got rained out. We ended up renting the same movie and watching it at home. Late night for them, but they loved every minute.

Did I mention we live less than a mile from the stadium? Here is a sweet tradition of the players riding kids bikes after practice. See Clay?

So humble!

Bye for now!