IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!!

Tobin asked Erin to be his wife and she said "Yes!"

Here is the happy couple!

Wedding plans are in the making as I type.

Here we go again!

IKEA, BIRTHDAYS & FOOTBALL!!!!!

Grace turned 3 on November 14th. We had her second party at our house on Friday the 16th. She wanted a "brown" cake.

Caleb wasn't too sure about cake - he didn't eat but one bite.

Grace got a vanity set from Gma & Papa. We had to hide the fake nails.

Elyse does love babies. Ava is such a good baby. Doesn't she look like Papa Liabenow?

The girls getting ready for our IKEA trip. AMAZING time! Do these two look like twins or what?

Caleb loved stealing Zachary's hat. He always wore it backwards though.

The menfolk watched all the children while we were at IKEA. The little girls made leaf bouquets. They wanted to make them in the kitchen, but Dad put a stop to that (thank you!).

Zachary & Luke played catch in the backyard. Zachary needs an older brother badly!

While the girls were at IKEA, the boys watched the football game. Too bad Michigan lost, Tobin was thrilled.

Our trip to IKEA was great! Erin bought us each a cinnamon roll (you could smell them baking all day and we couldn't resist). We got some cool items. Erin and Betsey got toilet brushes (but Elyse called them lightsabers). Lacey & I both got picture frames. Emily finally got some serving dishes (no more dinner plates to serve food on).

Thanksgiving is coming up! Tobin will be here. Betsey is bringing two girls home from Grace that don't have a place to go for the holiday. We will celebrate Elyse's birthday with Uncle Jon, Aunt Nona & JC on Friday. Tim preaches at Bethel on Sunday. Erin & I will go to Honor's party on Sunday. It is a fun-filled weekend to come.

SENIOR NIGHT...AGAIN!!!!!

It was Dad's Day at Rose Hulman. So, Dad & I went (without the children, woo-hoo). Kari watched the kids until Emily arrived. That went well - all said so!

Friday night, Erin, Tobin, Dad & I went to see a play at Rose. It was a musical comedy. The acting was better than fair, but the script was horrible. We actually stayed through the whole thing even though Starbucks would have been a better place. After the play we went to Java Haute - which is similar to Starbucks. Dad & I got a motel room for the night - Erin's futon and couch are not exactly the best sleeping places. Saturday morning Dad went to a teaching seminar at Rose while Erin & I went back to her house so she could get ready for the day. We had breakfast at Erin's house.

Then came the football game. Rose against Manchester. It was also senior night. Tobin is a senior. Rose won the game. For Betsey and Erin, you should have seen the cheerleaders. Each time the team made a score, they would line up and every other girl would do a flip - one flip for each point. When the team got to 28, they decided to change from flips to jumping jacks. It was cool to watch.

Here is Tobin with his mom, Jackie, and Dad, Mike. This is before we actually met them face-to-face.

Here is another picture of them. The lady on the right carries a chicken and wears a chicken necklace. She and her friends sat two rows in front of us during the game. They were very annoying. They drank several beers and were pretty red-nosed by the end of the game.

Here is our boy in action. He is #86 (on the far side). All through the game Erin kept saying, "He is on the field...He is off the field...He is standing right there...Can't you see him?" It is hard to find someone when all you can see is red uniforms and they all look alike. I did try really hard though.

This is the place I could find him easily. At least he wasn't running around smacking people.

After the game, we went to the Bolton tailgate party. They had two kinds of soups, KFC chicken, shrimp, sandwich fixings and several desserts. Some of the Boltons live in the area, the rest came from Ohio. They are a fun bunch of people. We enjoyed meeting them and talking to them. NormaJean told me ALL about Tobin. I learned alot about him. There must have been about 25 of them there. It was good to see the support of Tobin from his family. I guess they go to all the games.

We headed back to Portage after a long two days. It was good, but tiring. When we got home, the kids told us all about their enjoyable weekend with Kari and Emily. Everything went well.

IKEA weekend is coming up. Erin & Tobin plan on being here. Betsey - you and Micah should be too!