Fall in MN

It's fall in MN, my favorite time of year.  The leaves have not turned yet but soon the brilliant colors will be everywhere.  Every fall I wear a sweatshirt with shorts and start to pull my coats and vests out of storage.  I love running in the cooler weather and since my car has no air conditioning, my commute has become much more pleasant.  Heidi and I already took Jackson to an apple orchard, which is a Minnesota fall tradition for most people.  You pretty much walk around and pick/eat apples but somehow it's fun.  Fall in MN is great but winter is coming and that isn't much fun.  

So far my Denver Broncos have started the season poorly with two losses in games where they played sloppy and made multiple mistakes.  I am hopeful that my boys can pull it together and make the playoffs for the first time in five years.  In other football news, I returned to Fantasy Football after a year off.  My team is terrible and I have yet to win but it is fun.

Jackson continues to grow and pick up new skills all the time.  He loves his little blanket, Lovey.  We make him leave Lovey in his crib but we will often notice that he has disappeared from the first floor, only to reappear a minute later with Lovey held behind his back.  Every day he picks up new words and his sweet little voice is the best.  The kid loves to laugh and especially loves behind held upside down by his Mama.  When I do it, he does laugh some but then points at Heidi to have her do it instead.  The kid is such a joyful child and has a sweet spirit.  Lately he has decided he does not like to eat so we hope that phase ends soon.  Hopefully baby #2 will be as easy as Jackson.

My Financial Peace University class is going well.  There are a dozen people in the class and everyone is participating fully, so that is great.  I am glad to have this opportunity.

We have tenants!

Finally, after 2 months, we have tenants again in the upper unit of our duplex.  Apparently the housing market is not just bad for sellers but also for landlords, so it took a long time to get people.  A month or so ago there were two guys who wanted to live there but their current landlords called them "the worst tenants we've ever had and no one comes close", so we passed on them.  Even though we did not want to take Section 8 (paid for by our tax dollars), we felt that we did not have much choice anymore and the family that moved in on Friday is a Section 8 tenant.  The advantage of Section 8 is that the rent is guaranteed by the government but the disadvantage is having to deal with government regulations.  When we first tried to get approved for Section 8, the inspector gave us a list of things wrong with the unit that needed to be fixed.  We thought is was super nit-picky but did everything anyway.  Now it's done and we are good for a year or so.  It was painful to see our savings account get beat up like Rocky Balboa but now we can get a break for a little while and try to save up some money again.  We are grateful for the Lord's favor to get this done.

This picture pretty much says it all.

Baby Chase #2 is due late March.  We're pretty excited.

The little guy

It's a helmet!

Jackson has learned how to impersonate his Momma when she barfs.

It was so cute we needed another picture.