Shoes

Next to the front door we have a basket.  That basket is supposed to hold everyone's shoes.  But most of the time, it is a cornucopia with shoes spilling out all around it and cluttering up the entryway.  Often times I get frustrated tripping over all those shoes and it seems like a constant chore to pick them all up several times a day.  However, the other day I looked at my pile of strewn shoes and I saw Mike's big sneakers, and Lydia's little white high heels.  There were Colton's lace up spiderman shoes that he loves and I despise.  I had my pink running shoes and I thought, 'how blessed am I to have big shoes and little shoes all over my floor.'  They are a symbol of the wonderful family I have.  We wear them here and there, we do activities together with our various shoes.  We are blessed enough to each have several pairs of good shoes.  Big strong shoes for Mike, versatile shoes for me, cute sparkly shoes for my princess and very active shoes for my active little boy.  So, for this week at least, I am not annoyed by the mess of shoes, but grateful for each person who wears them. 

Stuff

Time is flying!  Have the kids really been in school for a month and a half?  I am loving the fall weather and we have been doing lots of  fun stuff.  On Fridays before home games, the Purdue football team, cheerleaders, etc. walk across the pedestrian bridge that runs across the river.  The kids were so excited to see Purdue Pete. 

Lydia bucked up some courage and got her photo taken with some cheerleaders.  (I love how the male cheerleader is posing, but got cut out of the frame.  Poor guy)

We went to a place in Indy called Conner Prairie.  It's sort of like Nauvoo.  People are dressed up like it is 1836.  They do re-enactments and have houses and schools, and blacksmith shops that you can visit.  You can see how they made candles, wove, cooked, etc.  I love that kind of stuff and I could have honestly stayed there all day just learning, but the kids wanted to do the hands on activities and only last so long. 

Mike and Josie enjoying a quieter river area of Conner Prairie.  We are not really crowd people and we didn't know that it was a free day at Conner Prairie, so there were a ton of people there! 

Colton trying out a canoe in the indian village.  He was sad he couldn't find any real 'alien'- what he kept calling indians, but he did like the mountain man who showed how to make a real fire. 

sweetly sleeping.  Look at those cheeks. 

Lydia got to participate in a cheer clinic and then cheer at the highschool football game.  She was so excited all week to use her new pom poms to cheer at the game, and then the day of, it was cold, rainy, and miserable. She did her cheer (without pom poms because she didn't want them to get wet) and then came home. 

Lydia and Colton treating a younger sibling like all older siblings do.  Poor girl.  They were supposed to be setting the table. 

I wanted a picture of all three kids for my office.  (I've started working part time at LUM again and I love it.) 

Yesterday, after the photo of the three kiddos, I helped Lydia pull her front tooth.  I love her little toothless grin.