Pumpkin Carving

Eli and I decided to try our hand at pumpkin carving today. I carved, he pulled out the gross stuff.

We had a lot of fun together. I was a little sad that Brice and Shelby didn't get into it this year but I know they are growing up and won't do all these things much longer. After we got finished I put the jack-o-lantern on the front porch and we lit a candle inside when it turned dark. It really looks good. We are looking forward to Halloween night. Eli is dressing as an old man. Should be fun...

Major Catch Up

We, as a family, have been so busy lately. I just haven't had the time to update the blog the way that I would like. I thought I would try to catch everyone up on all that has taken place in the last few weeks. Today Philip and I were able to spend the whole day together. We went shopping... I'm pretty sure that wasn't Philip's first choice but I had to do some things. We shopped for Christmas and a little clothes shopping. Philip's parents have given us money to go to Bangladesh this Christmas. We will be leaving after exams are over for the kids. We have lots to do to get ready for that so I wanted to get a head start on things. The weather is finally cooling off a bit and I'm loving it. I'm making taco soup tonight and planning on having some hot chocolate later.

For the most part our lives right now revolve around school projects, soccer practice, soccer games and church. Brice has started practicing with the high school team and they don't get finished until 5:30. He is playing for the rec and D2 teams and has practice for those teams during the week. Shelby and Eli have practice for their teams and games that we have to juggle. It is crazy some times. Brice will be playing in a tournament this weekend with his D2 team. It is a select tournament so it will be tough and then we find out that we will be playing in the U-17 bracket! I hope it goes well. I will try to get some pictures this weekend.

Brice and Shelby are involved with their youth group, Amplify. They meet at Davis' house on Wednesday nights. They have a lot of fun! They also volunteer at the church in various roles. Shelby loves the nursery and Brice enjoys leading the preschoolers in their worship time. I'm really proud of them.

Shelby and some of her friends from Amplify.

Brice and Baylie with Lawson. He is the son of one of the Amplify leaders.

Brice with his friends, Joshua and Bray.

Brice with Lawson.

Some of the preschoolers dancing during worship.

Brice leading the preschoolers.

Shelby in the nursery holding Mikayla. (Davis and Kathy's daughter)

Brice and Philip took on a BIG project one day last month. I decided that I wanted the big ugly bush cut down that was blocking the big ugly green box. It was huge. You can see one of the "stumps" that was left. There were 3 of them. Philip and Brice dug them all up. It looks so much better now. Thank you Philip an Brice.

Earlier this month LifeBridge had a fundraiser for a church in Canton. It was a motorcycle Yahtzee ride. Each rider had to pay for a Yahtzee game card and at different locations around town they were able to roll the dice and add their points. At the end we had lunch for them and prizes. It was very successful. I think we raised about $700. The station where we worked was my Brother-in Law's dentist office in Clinton. We had a lot of fun looking at the bikes.

Well, I think I've pretty much caught you up on things. Hopefully I can do better about updating. I'm not making any promises...

I will not survive...

...The teenage years! Last night was homecoming for Madison. Brice, Eli and Philip went to the game for a little while. Shelby and I had a girls night.(or we tried to) Shelby and I went and rented a movie and then went by the store to get cookie dough. We made our cookies, waxed our eyebrows and settled in for our movie night. As soon as we started the movie, the boys came in. Shelby said, "You guys leave again, you'll ruin it!" Oh well, the movie was still good even though we had to share it with the boys!
Brice got dressed up after the movie to go to the Homecoming dance. He didn't take a date, just went by himself. It was over at 12:00 and then there was a breakfast after it that he was not going to, or so I thought. I waiting up until about 11:45 and left the house to pick him up. You should have seen the cars lined up. I'm glad that I got there when I did or I would have been 12:30 getting him. When I got there Brice had been thinking about going to the breakfast. (it was not over until 2:00) I just kept thinking, "I could have gone to bed at 10:00". Well, he ended up going with a friend and his mom to the breakfast and getting home a little after 1:00. I waited for him on the couch and he woke me up to let me know he was home. I was thinking that I won't be able to survive those late nights every weekend when he starts dating or going out with friends. Not only do I have to think and worry about his choices but he will be driving then. Oh no!!!

Well, I feel a nap coming on this afternoon since Eli woke me up before 7:00 this morning. He has a soccer game at 10:00 and then we have several things to get ready for tomorrow and then I'm crawling back in the bed.

The fun never ends at the Thurman house...

It's All About Eli...Today Anyway

I seem to only have pictures of Eli to share. It's been awhile since my last update and I was waiting until I had more things to share. I decided I just need to go ahead and write before it's Christmas. Eli's assistant teacher at school took these pictures of him. Aren't they cute. I'm so glad she does this because I get to see him doing his school work and interacting with his friends. He looks like he is really working hard and playing hard. He has great teachers and a great class. I'm also posting some videos of Eli at one of his recent games. He is really having fun and is keeping up with his goals that he has scored. He has a piece of paper taped to the door that has the date and the number of goals scored on that particular day. I think that was Brice's idea but it is fun to see him get excited about it. Well, I have lots of laundry to do and lunch with an old friend today so I best be getting to all that.