A Few Fun Pictures

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to the past few weeks. We've had a fun fall around here so far!

October 2 was Minte's birthday. At our house, when you wake up on your birthday morning your doorway is covered in streamers and there is a decorated table downstairs with some presents. He had seen that the week before when Bethany had her birthday, so he was excited when it was his turn!

Luke was able to take that day off and we spent a fun day at the State Fair.

One of our first stops was to take our annual photo in front of Big Tex.

But not until after we stopped at the stock show. The youth show was that day, so we watched it for awhile.
The kids had fun at all of the fun houses and rides. He LOVES roller coasters! I couldn't get a good picture while he was on one, so this was the closest thing. He smiled like this all day!
It was a very warm afternoon. We stopped by a fountain, and all of a sudden, before I knew what he was doing, he had dunked his whole head into the fountain to cool off! I mean, why else would a fountain be there? I was so dumbfounded (and obviously didn't scold him, even though I'd never let the kids put extremities, much less their heads, into the fountain.) Since I seemed to be okay with it...

Kyle took the opportunity to plunge his head in as well! Allllrighty then!

During one of our many stops for some of the great food. We ate our way through the midway!

We had a wonderful day at the fair, and he had a birthday he'll always remember!

Here are the boys at karate class. Kyle has been in karate for awhile, and when Minte got here he jumped right in. He loves it, and is doing really well!

He caught his first fish (first American fish, anyway!) recently. He received a new fishing pole for his birthday and has put it to good use already!

Soccer buddies! His friends have been so quick to welcome him at karate and soccer, and everywhere else he sees them. He already had a built in group of friends when he got here. He loves his friends very much.

Another thing he loves very much is stickers. The pictures we received from him before we met him showed the side of his bunk bed literally covered in stickers. So, it didn't surprise me one day when I found this:

Yes, this is the dog crate lovingly decorated with "Camp Rock" stickers. Zac-the-weenie-dog loves his "extreme home makeover." (The ribbons are on there from when Minte tied balloons to it as well. Too cute!)

So, recently Minte and I created a board for his room that he can put as many stickers on as he wants! He's been adding to it, little by little.

Last week we enjoyed a field trip to the symphony center. We were blessed to have my mom come with us.

The boys enjoyed the symphony very much. They DSO played some wonderful pieces and went through the history of the percussion section. We all loved it!

Grandpa just got a new boat, and the cousins were all too happy to help him take it out for a spin. They had a great day at the lake a couple of weekends ago!

Minte was so excited to tell me that Grandpa let him help drive the boat. He loved being on the water!

While they were doing that, my fun sisters-in-law, mother-in-law and nieces came over to help make Bethany a homecoming mum.

Our awesome mum committee!

I added to it a bit last week, and finally had to make myself stop. Here is the finished product. (There are some smaller charms and things on it if you want to click on the photo to make it larger.)

And this past weekend was the homecoming dance! An area homeschool association sponsored one. Here she is at her friend's house before she left with the sweet group of kids she went with.

She's so grown up! I can't believe that's our little girl!