October

Elena is taking ballet again.  Anni really wishes she could be in the classroom, but has learned to satisfy her boredom by playing with Mr. Tomato head, as she calls him.  Someday she'll get it.  I hope!

I was suffering from allergies and heard that honey, in particular raw, local, honey was the "bees knees" (ha ha!) in order to cure allergies.  So, I searched far and wide (well, Facebook) and found some.  I drove all over Peoria to find it, but it was well worth it.  It tastes delicious!  I'm not sure if it helped with the allergies, but I'm going to pretend it did.

More Dairy Queen.  I think you might sense a pattern.

Our church moved buildings.  We moved into a building that hadn't been used in over a year, and as you might imagine, it was a complete mess!  For weeks, every night there were teams working frantically to ready the church for services.  One night some friends and I prepared a Middle Eastern dish for the workers.  It was so incredibly delicious!!!!  I think they all liked it.

Nate and Griffin bonding.  I think Nate fell asleep before Griffin did!

Greg & Mary gave me some pears that weren't ripening well and I turned them into pear butter.  It's quite tasty!

One day we were bored, so we drove to Starbucks for cake pops and chai tea.

And we still had time before lunch, so we headed to the zoo.  The girls were amazed at the tiger skull!

It was a crisp, cool, fall day.  We enjoyed every minute of it!

This lion was standing so protectively over its mate.  He licked her head before he bounded away.  She nipped at his butt in return!

One of their favorite animals at the zoo.

My little beauty.

On yet another fine, fall day, we went hiking with a dear friend and her kids.

The climbs were tough.

But our warriors persevered.  And were rewarded with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cookies.  Job well done!