Company like Crazy

Today is a longer than normal Monday as we're all adjusting to an emptier house and "normal" routine again. The last four days have been so filled with fun family and friends that today seems, well...., dull. This past Thursday evening Nate's youngest sister, Joanna, came over to visit for her fall break from MLC. She's spent up to a week with us several times in the past years so even in a new house she feels right at home with us. (She didn't even complain about the lack of guest room! :) On Friday afternoon, after a morning of bagel munching (by us all), coffee sipping (by Joanna), and caramel corn baking (by all of us), Tammy, Nate's sister-in-law, stopped in for an afternoon visit. She was in the neighborhood for a wedding and couldn't resist the lure of niece/nephews tender affection. It was also a great excuse to eat that fresh caramel corn. Saturday Joanna and I managed to escape the house without children in tow and spent a few hours at the outlet mall hunting for bargains (we found exactly 3). Then for dinner on Saturday evening Nate's brother, Michael, came over to get his fill of us and some soup too (and maybe join his wife for that wedding). We all joked that it was odd to have that many Smiths together without it being a major holiday or wedding.

Sunday since all the biologically related Smiths were at or heading to their respective homes and we hadn't had our fill we headed down to Jefferson, WI to see some SD Smiths. A former student of Nate's was giving an organ concert and since his parents had driven 830 miles to hear him we drove the 70 to see all of them. It was again nice to see some of our SD friends again.

After all that in four days it's easy to see how today was kind of dull around here. Hopefully tomorrow picks up again. :)

Twin Day

Here at Martin Luther we just finished the fall "Spirit Week" which is pretty much a junior version of homecoming week. Evan enjoyed all the dress-up days with "backwards day" being his favorite. Tuesday was "twin day" and since there are only five boys in the kindergarten class and not wanting anyone to be left out they were all "twins." The week previous I took the top picture of the boys and then created the shirt that they're wearing in the bottom picture (one boy was sick and the other left early so only three made the picture). They all got a kick out of wearing a picture of themselves and they were one of the biggest groups of "twins".

Saturday on the Bridge

Here in Oshkosh one of the five bridges in town has been rebuilt and is nearly ready to be reopened. On Saturday the 11th there were some minor festivities along with a dedication ceremony at which the mayor and the governor spoke. None of that will really be remembered by Evan, Hans, and Lydia since it was over shadowed by the fact that they got to lay on the bridge and watch the boats through the steel grate pass underneath it. They were so animated about it and enjoyed themselves so greatly that they attracted the attention of not only the locals but also a reporter from the newspaper. I'm not sure if the link is still there but you can check at www.thenorthwestern.com under the "Wisconsin St. Bridge Dedication". If not the first picture is about the same as the one the photographer took. The boys also really enjoyed getting to try their hand at playing the drums that a local business has set up as part of the day. It all provided a good excuse to be outside on a spectacular fall weekend.

Passing Through

Little did we know that there would be easy ties from to western SD to northeastern WI. Now that we know we're delighted. This past week two dear friends of our family were in the neighborhood and stopped for dinner and the evening. Before we left SD the deal had been struck that they would visit in the fall with them springing for pizza if I'd make dessert. Papa Johns and taffy apple cheesecake pie were thoroughly enjoyed by all. The kids were beyond excited which was displayed repeatedly throughout the visit. Pastor and Mary were enjoying some leisure time visiting parents and family in WI so we appreciate them taking time to pop in at our house. It's our hope that now that they know where we live they'll visit again. :)

1) Pastor reading the kids a bedtime story.

2) Visiting.

3) Mary playing Hungry Hippo with the kids while waiting for the pizza man.