Dizzy-ing

Luke has officially mastered walking, running, walking backwards, climbing, dancing and now...drum roll please...SPINNING!!

mmmmm mmmmm good

A few weeks ago I ventured into the world of pie baking.

Until I took this brave leap, I had "baker's block", as I like to call it. There are certain things that I have never tried to make, simply because I have never done it and am not confident that they will turn out. I had never made a pie crust and had convinced myself that it would be a flop! One evening I had been shopping in Meijer and found a glass pie plate for $1.99. The week before I had seen them, but they cost $5.00. I wanted to buy it but thought there were many more important things that $5.00 could go towards. Well, when I saw them for a mere $1.99 I thought it was time to conquer this crazy fear of "the crust." I was amazed at the results of my attempt! A delicious apple pie, and a very happy hubby! I foresee many more pies in my family's future!

What was I thinking?

This morning I had the fantastic idea of making sugar cut-out cookies with my kids. You see, Thanksgiving is approaching, and I'm starting to get that warm, fuzzy holiday feeling at times. So, I thought this would be a way of doing something kind of festive, without really doing something Christmas-y too early. Doesn't that sound fun to you?

My goal was also to accomplish some educational goals. Kara is learning her shapes right now, so I thought it would be fun for her to be able to cut shapes out of the dough and then get to eat them later. What better way is there to learn your shapes? And, of course Luke and Ellie would enjoy the whole adventure too, right? We would make wonderful memories for years to come! Well, it took the WHOLE morning, and the twins cried nearly the entire time. The house was basically destroyed by the time we were finished, not to mention flour EVERYWHERE which tends to happen when a three year old is baking. What made me think that they would be OK with stopping at just one, or two, or in Luke's case three cookies? They knew there were more, and I could not distract them from this fact. At times I just laughed, and a few times I nearly cried. They were out of control! There were a few positives to this fiasco. Kara behaved marvelously. She tried to help me by logically explaining the situation to Luke and Ellie. She told them they would get tummy aches if they ate any more and that cookies were just once in a while treats since they are not very healthy for us. She had one cookie, and asked for no more. Phew!! This was a highlight! And, I suppose, God was supplying more opportunities for me to train Luke and Ellie's little hearts.

The drama is over. The cookies are safely put out of sight, and now it's just the "normal" chaos taking place with my three little cherubs :)

What a Wonderful Month

Apple picking at Crane's

Kara and Grandma Gerth on the first day of RALLY

Luke taking a walk with Grandpa and Grandma Gerth


Ellie and Grandma hanging out on the boat!



Kara helping Grandpa pick tomatoes in the garden

I can't believe that September has come to an end! This past month was a blast for the Gerth family! It all began with apple picking with friends, which we will hopefully do much more of before the end of fall. I love apple picking, and all things fall, especially when done with friends! This was just the beginning. We spent a week in Minnesota with Ben's family, which is always wonderful. The kids had a great time reconnecting with Grandma and Grandpa Gerth and their Minnesota aunts and uncles. Ben was able to attend a men's retreat with his dad, brother and brother-in-law while the kids and I stayed back at Ben's parent's place and had "girl-time" (with Luke of course! He wasn't quite old enough for the men's retreat :) Kara is still talking about girl-time and how much fun she had stamping with Grandma! Kara was able to attend a special pre -school class (RALLY) that Ben's mom teaches once a week. She was Grandma's special helper, which was a very important roll! Kara also got to help Grandpa pick veggies from their amazing garden, visit Grandma when she was working at the library, make cookies with Grandma, and we all went on a boat ride. Ben's Grandpa and Grandma Gerth were even visiting, so we were able to spend time with them. All this and more made for a wonderful visit with family!

On the way home from Minnesota, we stopped in Wisconsin to visit with some friends from Moody for a few days. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and LAUGHTER! God has blessed us with such wonderful relationships, and it was so refreshing to spend time with these dear friends and their beautiful children.

To end this blessed month, Ben and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Some dear friends of ours graciously moved their family into our house for 3 days to care for our children so that we could spend our anniversary, kid-free, in Chicago. We LOVE Chicago!! Ben and I met at Moody, so all of our dating took place in Chicago. We went to Shedd's Aquarium, rode the bus, rode the "L", ate out, walked along the lake, went to coffee, visited Moody and walked and walked and walked all around the city to many of our most memorable spots. It was amazing!

What a wonderful month, and fall has just begun!