September and October Birthdays

 Emma our youngest daughter keeps us on our toes. We can't decide if she is keeping us young or making us age faster. She is full of energy, life and personality. She recently turned 3. Below our some pictures of our celebrations.

She made out with the presents!

showing a little of her personality

She had her cake picked out months ahead of time

Good to have both my bro's and families here to celebrate.

Caleb also turned 15 in October. Here are some pics from his celebrations. He got two since we were in Kansas City for his actual birthday and then we invited the family over when we got back.

When we were with Jacob we also celebrated with him for his birthday, but unfortunately he was on his own for his actual birthday. 

Trip to Kansas City and Mississippi

 We were grateful for some time away during the kids fall break to go and see Levi and Alanna in Kansas City and Jacob in Mississippi. They are all doing well as you can see in some pics below. We had a fun time although it was a lot of driving.

Levi got some lovings from his sisters

This was the highlight of the trip! Luke got to ride in Levi's space car. He combined Jake's job with Space Force and Levi's job with security on campus and called the police car the space car.

Of course the girls had to get in it too!

We celebrated Jake's bday while we were there

Jake and Ben did some hiking in Mississippi

This is in Levi and Alanna's apartment.

We played some games of course

Lots of snuggle bug hugs for Jake as Emma calls them.

The house where we stayed in Mississippi was a 100 year old home.

It was nice to have Uncle Dan come over and see us too. They only live about an 1 hr or so from where we were.

Trip to San Antonio - Jake's Space Force BMT Graduation

 We had a great trip to San Antonio last week to celebrate Jacob's graduation from BMT (Basic Military Training). He did a great job and finished strong. It was great to spend some time with him and hear all about his experience. It was challenging but he did well. He is now in Keesler AFB doing his technical training. His job is satellite communications. 

Jennifer was so ready to see her son and give him a hug!

I am glad that Levi could meet us there too! It was good to spend time with him too. 

This was the first day we got to see him where he had his coin ceremony and then and special pinning ceremony afterwards where he gave Jennifer and I Space force pins.

Jake and his grandparents.

Jake marching. I think this was his least favorite part of BMT. The second day was a parade where they marched in front of us and then had a pass and review with the higher ranking officials. It is amazing how they can transform these young men and women into airmen and guardians in just 7 1/2 weeks. We are so proud of Jacob!

My cousing Aaron is in the Air Force and is stationed where Jake did his BMT so we met him and his wife Amanda for lunch when we arrived and then he came over for the graduation ceremony on the second day.

All the active duty and veterans in the group. Tony served in the Navy, Ben in the Air Force.

The whole group

The boys went down to the Alamo and river walk one evening after we took Jake back to base.

This was the coin ceremony where Jake is receiving his Space Force coin from his Military Training Instructor.

We are grateful we could go and celebrate with Jacob. It was very hot there but it was so great to be with Jacob!

 

Jennifer's Birthday, First Day of School, and Fun Stuff

 It has been a busy season for us. But we have managed to sneak in some fun stuff, had some firsts and celebrated Jennifer. 

Grace and Sofia started school this week. Grace is in Kindergarten and Sofia is in 1st grade.

We were trying to sell/buy home to allow them to start school at new school but we were not able to do that so unfortunately they will only go to school here for about 6-8 weeks and have to change schools.

Sofia didn't want to take her pic here.

The boys started school too but no pics ;-) They are doing highschool online. Joel with the same programs he has been doing (he has about 1 1/2 years left and Caleb started with an online school here in Indiana. They both wanted to go to a brick and mortar high school but that hasn't been possible since we have not yet moved to where we will be more permanently.

We got one last fun day in at the Children's musuem the day before school started.