Sad day at our house :((

Yesterday was a sad day at our house. I found our beloved snapping turtle in the middle of the road and he/she had been hit. I called Jon out at the store and he came over and got it off the road into the woods. Hopefully it will survive. I'm not sure why it was headed to the woods since the pond is surrounded by trees and brush. I thought the boys were all going to start crying.

Purdue Football!!! Go Boilers Go!!!

I took Matthew, Joshua and Noah to a Purdue game last Saturday. We made it down early enough to see the band--you know, the one I marched in for 4 years all those years ago--perform at Slayter. Then walked to the stadium and watched the team warm up. I don't care what you say, you are never to old to appreciate men in tight football pants--but I digress. We had seats in the north end zone so we could see the jumbo tron as well as all the bands antics. Most of the game was pretty boring and I was tempted to leave with 5 minutes to go to avoid the rush of people leaving the game. I'm glad we didn't since the last 2 minutes of the game were the most exciting.

The AAMB marching into the stadium

A few minutes into the game, Noah says Mom, I just pulled my tooth out. I proceeded to put in my pocket to take it home for the tooth fairy that night. He seemed to think that since it was the 2nd tooth he had lost, that he should get $2 for this one. Told him it didn't work that way. He then proceeded to count the number of teeth he had left and figured out how much he would get from the tooth fairy over the next few years.

The final score. I'm glad we didn't leave early!

Matthew & Noah by the Xtra Special. Joshua was being a stinker and wouldn't get his picture taken.

The band performing at Slayter. Sure looks different from this side. If I could go back in time, it would be to my time at Purdue. But I'd only want to repeat my time in the band, not the other classes. Wonder if the band department is hiring??

Finally a picture of all three of them!! That is one big drum!

Matthew & Noah with Purdue Pete

Noah in the stadium. We have 4 tickets for the homecoming game and he was on his best behavior (for the most part) to earn one of those tickets.

Happy Anniversary to my in-laws

Yes, Ann & Steve's anniversary is the same day as ours. An easy way to remember when it is!!

13 Years Ago Today

Jon and I said "I Do". It was a beautiful fall day, perfect for a wedding. A lot of great memories from that day!! We had a nice ceremony at the church I grew up in, then took the hay wagon, pulled by one of Dad's antique tractors, back to mom & dad's for a hog roast reception. I love the pictures we have of Jon and I with the cows in the background. We are going out to dinner on Friday to celebrate since all the other nights are filled with sports practices or games. I love our life together!!!

Are You Ready for Some FOOTBALL???

The youth football season started last week. Matthew is on the "Colts". He plays offensive...?? I don't, know you'll have to ask him. All I know is that he enjoys it and I enjoy watching him even if I don't know the positions. I really miss the yellow line showing the first down and the announcer telling me everything that is going on.

Coming off the field after an offensive series

Staying hydrated. I can almost see the germs on that pvc pipe from here!!

The half-time talk. No, I didn't go down that close, I just zoomed in from the stands.

You can't really read the scoreboard, but it says Home 6, Away 0. Guess who was home. Yep, the Colts!!

The traditional handslap after the game.

Boys Boot Camp

Matthew & Jon in their "uniforms"
Joshua making a silly face. He caught me taking his picture.

Over the summer, our church had Boy's Boot Camp for the boys in the church. It was to raise them up into mighty men of God.

After their campout, they came to church in their uniform and then Jimmy Baldwin sang a song to them that he wrote for his son. I've attached the video of this song that he performed on Father's Day for his son. Please take the time to listen to the song.

Where were you 7 years ago?

I remember all to well where I was on Sept 11, 2001. I was driving home from taking Matthew and Joshua to a sitters house. I was going to be working on stuff for the antique store that day. I was 6 mos pregnant with Noah. I turned on the radio and heard the news broadcast, but was sure I had heard wrong, so as soon as I got home I turned on the tv and saw the most horrific images. I remember calling my mom and just crying. I didn't get much done that day for wanting to watch the news. I remember getting down on my knees and praying for the families who had lost loved ones. Let us never forget those who died that day and those who have served since that day protecting our freedom.

Catching up with the Wootten's

Now that the boys are back in school, I'm going to update the pictures from our different outings the past few months. Enjoy looking at our memories.

Timothy's first day of preschool

Labor Day at the lake.

Noah and his buddy Andrew with the seaweed

Don't throw that at Mommy!

Timothy practicing to become worship leader

Noah on the first day of school

Matthew on the first day of school

Boys at Joshua's birthday party.

Matthew, Joshua & Noah on the first day of school

Joshua's birthday party. Look at all those boys.

We went to the Fort Wayne Zoo.

Joshua on the first day of school

A day at Lake Michigan

Aaacckkk!! It's the sand monster

Matthew and Joshua enjoying the COLD water

All 3 enjoying the lake (Noah was at Grandma & Grandpa's)

Joshua being eaten by the lion drinking fountain

Time goes so quickly

I can not believe it is Sept 5 already. In 11 days, Jon and I will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. Wow--13 years!! Time seems to be going faster and faster every year. But I wouldn't change how our lives are now for anything. I've always said I wish the boys would have stayed little longer (and kids are growing up faster and having to face more at younger ages), but I wouldn't want them to not be where they are now.

Matthew is loving middle school. Enjoying band and was excited yesterday that he could play Ode to Joy without any mistakes. Grades of course are always an issue with him and he is pretty upset with his right now. You know how it is, a 97 just isn't good enough. Jeesh, what does he want 100?? Well with him yes! He is mad though that he has to retake all the middle school reading tests again. He passed them all last year, but he has to do it again while he is in the middle school. Hopefully by the end of this first 9 weeks he will have that done and can move on to the high school tests. So much for being a 6th grader. And what is up with 6th grade math? This is one of his questions from last week. "Write the answer to this problem in both numerical and word form" Ready?? Do you have your pen and paper?? Here it is: 20+5=??? I'm dead serious.

Joshua is enjoying being in 3rd grade and in a different school than Noah. He is excelling at spelling and is bored with the math. He is enjoying being able to check out harder books from the library. He has joined running club and is playing soccer. Up until Wed, he was also playing football, but he did not like it, so he quit. We made him do the talking to the coach. I think I influenced his decision by being upset with the program for not making sure the coach knew of his asthma, which made him upset. Then his football coach put down soccer in front of him which was the nail in the coffin because we all know how much he loves playing soccer.

Noah needs a social secretary. Today after school he is going to his friend Franklin's house. Then, his friend Andrew is spending the night with us and going to the soccer field with us tomorrow. Sunday Noah is going to his friend Ben's house. What a busy boy!! He is enjoying school, can spell with the best of them (vegetable gave him a little trouble this week), LOVES math, but is bored with the math pages he is given. I don't blame him though. I wouldn't want to have to draw a picture to add 4+1 either. Noah is enjoying his soccer season as well and has scored in both of his games so far. Hopefully this weekend will be the same.

Timothy. Well, what can I say?? He just goes along with whatever is going on. He is doing well at school. Having some trouble writing his name with a pencil, so we are working on that. Can color in the lines (finally, one of my boys who likes to color a premade picture), is doing well on letter recognition and sound recognition. But you can tell he is the youngest. He is liking soccer more and more each time he plays. At first he wasn't so sure about being on the field with that many other kids, but he is fine now.

One of these days I'll get a bunch of pictures uploaded from our summer adventures!!