AMAZING!!!!!

Doesn't God paint a pretty picture?

This was taken outside from our back deck. Sorry about all the ugly houses and cars - but God does a better job anyway...

It was much better in person. There was red, pink, green, yellow and blue showing. It was awesome...Thank you, Elyse, for pointing this out to us - much better than the football game...

11TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Elyse was so excited to have her birthday this year. We kept telling her that she didn't turn 11 until 7:28 p.m. She didn't buy that. November 23rd is her birthday and it doesn't matter what time it is (so she says). While dinner was cooking, we let her open her present.


Elyse's choice for her birthday dinner was: Bulgogi, cheese dip with tortilla chips, Little Debbie brownies, Cookie Dough ice cream, and root beer to drink. It was way too much food! But that was her choices.

Just a side note: Since I am sick, I could only tolerate one piece of meat, 1/2 a brownie, one scoop of ice cream and two inches of root beer. It really hurt going down. I go to the doctor this morning, hopefully, I will get some relief.

Back to Elyse's special day: We got her a series of books. She LOVES books. We can't keep enough of them in her hands.

Happy 11th Birthday, Elyse!!!!!

PROJECT DONE!!!!!

Since we moved Zachary downstairs, I wanted to rearrange Elyse's room. It badly needed cleaning plus purging. I finally took the plunge and did it!

Eight hours later...did you read what I typed...EIGHT HOURS LATER, I am done with E's room. I threw out three bags of garbage, one HUGE box of garbage, three shoes boxes without any shoes in them, and one huge broken toy.

Here is part of her clean room:

Here is the rest: The culprit of messing up the room in the first place is peaking in - she wasn't allowed in the room while I cleaned because I was purging ruthlessly. She wouldn't like to see what I threw out - she keeps everything. Behind the door is several shelves. It hides a great deal of her things.

Notice the nasty white bookshelf that we took out of a neighbor's garbage. We plan on sanding it and painting it. Betsey graciously offered to help Elyse paint it. Glad it isn't me!

Now we have plenty of floor space to sleep grandchildren on during Thanksgiving weekend. That is if it stays clean!

NEW UNIFORMS!!!!!

Zachary has started a homeschool basketball team in Gurnee (about 20 minutes away). He has had two practices already and loves it. He is very sore! Even riding his bike over 13 miles a day didn't prepare him for basketball practice. He is on the 12 & under team. His friend, Chatham, is on the 14 & under team. Chatham turned 13 in August, Zachary doesn't turn 13 until February, and the cut-off was September 1. Zachary enjoys his team and is meeting new friends. Some of the boys are from Vernon Hills. We will have to find out who and start carpooling with them. If Zachary hits it off with them, that will be a new friends for him and he can ride his bike to their house - since he covers all of Vernon Hills by bike now. When the boys tried on their uniforms, they all got to laughing. They are about eight years old. Which means they are a little on the short side - not the style of the day. Zachary's team is the HRK Eagles (in case you can't read it).

Elyse doesn't get any hand-me-downs anymore. Each new season, we have to go shopping. Betsey has been a big help in that department - they wear the same size (oh joy!). If it fits Betsey and she likes it, Elyse will like it. Saves me lots of shopping time (which I hate doing). Thanks, Betsey! Zachary is #34 (they didn't have #7). Here is a new skirt we bought Elyse on the clearance rack. It was the ONLY skirt in the store. Thankfully she liked it, it fit, and it was dirt cheap.

Soon we will have basketball games to post about.