Lemonade Stand

The other day when I came home from swim lessons with Josie, Karley, Brielle and John. Emma had a lemonade stand set up at the end of the drive way! She had been talking about doing that for awhile, but I guess has Mom's away... children will play!!

Our neighbors, Jerry, Jan and Tara, come over for a class of refreshing lemonade before it started to rain!

She was happy she made a little money that day!

Now I know why she was calling me at swim lessons asking where the lemonade mix was!!!

Family Band

Our house had been filled with lots of music lately. Connor has recently signed up for 5th grade band and is going to play the trumpet! He actually has been doing a great job of making a solid sound. This day for the family band, we have Tessa playing the piano, Connor on the trumpet and Karley strumming away on the guitar! Connor has been the leader of the band telling the other members what to play! Some days, we have Emma on the piano,and Josie tapping some drums. It's fun to watch them all play together!

Sidewalk Chalk Drawings

Saturday, September 16 Emma participated in a sidewalk chalk drawing contest. Stacy called us that morning to see if Emma would be interested in participating in it because Elly and Max were. I packed up the girls and headed down to the Bluff Street by the 4th Street Elevator. There were many different ages of artist down there. The artist had from 8-3 to complete their pictures. There was even a professional sidewalk chalk artist there also. The kids and I couldn't believe all of the wonderful art work!

When we first got there we saw Elly's drawing of a princess and castle. She ended up winning 2nd place for the 12 and under age group.

Max's drawing of a horse!

Josie doing her drawing on the side!

Karley starting her drawing of "TESSA".

Karley's finished drawing titled, "TESSA". Later that day she added more detail to her drawing!

It took Emma a little while to think of an idea of what to draw. We first walked around and looked at the other drawings. Many of the were in the upper age group. Finally, she came up with her own idea and got started!

She learned a lot from watching the other artist also.

It was neat for people to walk by and compliment her on her work! It really encouraged her to add more detail to her work!

This was the final piece of the professional artist! It took her the full day to complete it. The girls and I were there in the morning and then went home for awhile. We came back later that day with Terry and Connor to show them Emma's drawing. This drawing wasn't finished yet at that time so the kids had a fun going back and forth checking on the progress she was making!

It was a great afternoon. We also went up the 4th Street Elevator and when we came back down the group putting on the contest served a great supper for everyone also!

Heritage Days

Connor and Grant (his cousin) got an opportunity to participate in Heritage Days hosted by the Dubuque Pheasants Club. It was a full day of doing many outdoor activities. I only saw about the last hour, but Connor and the rest of the kids had a great time and learned a lot!

Here are some of the activities I saw him do:

Learning to tie a knot so the sinker stays on the fishing line

Target shooting

Learning how to Duck Hunt with dogs

Archery

Connor enjoyed his day!

Cousins Playing

Josie, Lincoln, Tessa, John, Karley, and Brielle talking about what they are going to set the table with for supper!

Making Grape Jelly

The girls and I made some homemade grape jelly the other day! They had a great time helping with smashing the grapes and getting juice out! Thanks to our neighbors, the Brandels, for the home grown grapes.

Here was the process:

Rinsing the grapes off and then pulling them apart

Josie smashing the grapes

Boiling the grapes to get more juice out of them

Karley straining the boiled grapes

Boiling the grape juice with the added sugar

After the whole process, Karley was ready for a PB & J sandwich!

I told her we had to wait until the homemade jelly was cooled and set before using it; so she got out the next best thing!

Boys Fishing Trip

Terry and Connor went up in Wisconsin for a fishing trip at Menominee River and Lake Michigan on a Guided Tour! They had a great time and caught a lot of fish. Connor had the BIG catch of the day! Connor caught all of the fish below except for the one Terry is holding himself!

20 inch Small Mouth

21 inches Baby Sturgeon

51 inch Musky

47 inch Musky

58 inches 70lbs 80 year old Sturgeon

Garage Sale

The girls hosted a garage sale the other day for Karley, Tessa and I to come shop at! They had lots of dresses, jewelry, stuffed animals, etc.

Karley trying a dress on

Karley getting her money out to pay Emma for her new dress and goodies!!

Looking for Puddles

It's always fun to walk in the rain and find puddles to walk through our jump in!

Our Thumb sucker..

Note from Emma

Here is a nice little note we found from Emma on our bed one night...

Check out my new ride!!!

Tessa has a new way of getting around these days! Who said that sleds were only for winter??? Her sisters got the sleds out and starting pulling around in it and she LOVES it! They take her for walks around the back yard! The other day Josie was pretending to be a dog and pull Tessa around!

Clothesline Tent

The girls had fun making a tent and bringing their toys outside to play!

Football Fun

Also at Tessa's birthday party there was a lot of football fun. Parents splitting up on kids teams. Kids against kids! It was a great night of playing outside!

Grandpa's catching up on what is new!!