Happy Halloween and off to Hawaii!

Just a quick post because we are super busy around here today. We are leaving for Hawaii in the morning! It has taken a lot of prayer and effort, but we are all going. I am finally getting excited. I don't like to fly, so I have been anxious over the trip, but God has really been working on me. We are going to the national C12 conference with my mom and dad, and both of my sisters and their husbands. Please pray that this week will be a special time of fun and fellowship with our family. It is a huge blessing to be able to go.

This weekend we were able to celebrate Halloween a little early. We had our church Fall Festival on Saturday and Aubrey and Mallory had a great time. They both dressed up and were just precious. This year Aubrey is a knight and he is such a cute knight. If he needed to rescue a princess, she would just love it! Last night we went over to Amy and Keith's house for trick or treating and a birthday party for Hal. Their neighborhood trick or treats early, so that was a special treat for us. D. took the Gator over and we drove through the neighborhood. Since their neighborhood is hilly, it was extra nice. Here are our knight and our owl. Precious, don't ya think?

In honor of the upcoming weekend and national election here is what I have to say:

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Beat Those Dawgs Senseless!

(Isn't she the cutest UF cheerleader ever?)

And.............

I tried to take a picture of a business in town that says, "Save Our Country Vote McCain/Palin Nobama" but I couldn't do it while driving. I'm sure you and the other drivers are glad to hear that.

Have a great week! I'll post when we're back from Hawaii!

pumpkin patch perfection

Each year we go to a pumpkin farm near here. It is one of my favorite days of the year. The people who own it are sweet Christian people. It is just a fun time of being outside and enjoying the sights and smells of fall as they always have some type of pumpkin goodie baking while we are there. We have gone every year since Aubrey was born. This year we went with some friends from church. The weather was absolutely perfect. Here are a few pictures from our day. (I'm leaving out those of Aubrey throwing up in the car while Mallory screamed for 30 minutes straight on the way there. You can thank me later for sparing you!)

The best shot we could get of everyone. Too much for the kids to look at!

Mallory loved, loved, loved the pumpkins and the wood chips!

Here are the talking pumpkins who tell us we plant the seed, but God brings the sun and the rain to make the pumpkins grow. This is at a pumpkin house during the hay ride. Really sweet.

Mallory was anxious to try out her new pumpkin.

Aubrey's favorite part each year is the old tractor the kids can climb on and ride. My Deere boy!

We ended the day with a picnic lunch on the creek bank. Of course the boys had to get in the creek. It's just what they do.

Another blessing!

Just wanted to update everyone on Mallory's appointment today. We went to physical therapy and the therapist told us that Mallory is fine, just tiny. She said that she feels Mallory will be walking before too long. So, another prayer answered! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers! And this is what happens when Daddy does the hair brushing after baths. Baby mohawks!

Blessings

We are so blessed. All of us. Sometimes it's easier to see God's blessings than others. I am doing the Beth Moore Bible Study, Stepping Up right now. One of the things she talks about is how we need to look up and not down. When we look up we see God and receive the blessings He has for us. It has been a good reminder for me. I need to remember to look up at God and not at my circumstances. To illustrate, our leader threw pennies on the floor and taped dollars to the ceiling. It was interesting to see who noticed what. Great illustration that the little stuff is down and the big blessings are up. Anyway, this has been a week of looking at my blessings for me. I had a great time with my Bible Study group. I am leading a discussion group, and all of the ladies were so great about sharing and being open. They were such an encouragement to me. Then I had my MOPS meeting and we had a great time. I love all the MOPS moms. We have such a sweet group of moms. I am so blessed to be a part of the organization.

This weekend we just had fun family time. Friday night D. and I went to the local corn maze with our Sunday School class. It was just for adults and you have to use flashlights b/c it is dark out there in the corn. It was fun "grown-up" time. Saturday we just had a lazy day at home being together. My favorite kind of day, scrapping and watching football. Fortunately the Gators and the Jackets both won, so that made it even better. Today we had a great time. After church we all took a little nap then we headed over to the local farm where we went to the corn maze. Aubrey has been wanting to ride a pony for a long time. He wanted to at the Big Red Apple Festival and they didn't have any! So, we told him we would find somewhere to ride one. We got out there and the weather was perfect. Aubrey had a blast riding the pony. When the lady came over to check on him he said, "I can do this all by myself!" He didn't want anyone to walk with him. I was a little worried, but he did great. He smiled the whole time. It was so cute. Then he and D. played with the apple slingshots, and Aubrey went down the culvert pipe slide. We all went on the hay ride and picked apples before we left. Just a fun day being together. Days like this are so perfect.

Our children are growing up. Aubrey came out of pre-school on Friday and told me, "I have a new girlfriend!" (We never knew he had an old one.) Anyway, all weekend we have heard about this girlfriend. He even told the babysitter on Friday night that they "were going to be together forever". I mean really, I knew someday this would start, but at 4? It's just more than a mom's heart can handle sometimes! Mallory has started cruising this weekend, so that is one more blessing. We are going to physical therapy tomorrow because the dr. was concerned that she isn't walking yet, but I think she is going to be fine. I think she is just taking her time. Please pray that is the case. I'll update later this week on that.

Have a great week and remember to look up! I'm leaving you with a picture I took from our house the other night. Georgia sunsets are beautiful!

Fun days

This week we had some fun days. My friend Jill and I took our kids to the Greenville Zoo. I affectionately call the Greenville Zoo "Noah's Ark" because it basically has 2 of every animal. It is the perfect size for children Aubrey's age because it isn't so big. It also has a great park/playground at the front entrance. We visited the zoo last June. I was extremely pregnant and it was extremely hot. It didn't make for a fun visit. So we went back this week and had so much fun. The weather was perfect and all of us had a great time. After the zoo we went to visit Jenny, my best friend since high school, at the school where she teaches. I hadn't seen her in about a year, so it was good to see her. All in all, a really fun day.

I have also been so creatively inspired lately by the fall weather and the scrapbooking class I'm taking. Jill and I share a subscription to a monthly scrapbooking kit The Scarlet Lime It is fabulous, but this month one of the kits was for a fall/Halloween garland. We got all the papers, embellishments, etc to make it and we could personalize it to fit what we wanted. I made mine this week and had such a good time. It says Happy Halloween and I hung it in the kitchen window. Aubrey and I also made some pumpkin bread, which I love and Mallory can eat because it doesn't have milk in it! Yeah! I am looking forward to making and baking more this week. I'm trying to stay at home more because of the gas situation. In our county, the gas shortage is pretty bad. Most of the stations are completely out of gas and when they get it, the lines are around the block. I'm doing my part to help this week by being a homebody! Rats! (:

Love to all my girls!

Happy National Women's Friendship Day to you! I am so blessed to have sweet women friends who inspire me, laugh with me, challenge me and encourage me. So I want to thank all of you for being my friend and loving me! As we say in the south, "Thank Y'all!" I love you all, near and far. Both of my sisters are my best friends and I don't get to see them much, so Leah and Beth, here's a long distance hug and kiss from me!

I had been wanting to do a layout about my MOPS group because I love it so much, so in honor of the holiday, and with inspiration from my scrapbooking class Red Letter Days, I did this layout on my MOPS group. It was inspired by page 123 of Elizabeth Dillow's book, The Scrapbooker's Almanac, which talks about National Women's Friendship Day. MOPS has been such a blessing to my life. When they asked me to join last year, I wasn't sure if I would like it. So I said I would join, but I asked if I could get a refund on my money if I didn't. They said sure, knowing that wouldn't happen, and it didn't. I love my MOPS group so much. It has been a blessing sent from God to encourage me and love on me. I have made many friends from it, and now I am the Co-Creative Activities Director with my sweet friend Nancy. It's amazing!

All my girls out there, I love you! Have a happy day!

P.S. - Jennifer, there's a new layout on the slide show! I knew you would want to know! (:

Thursday Things

I realized a couple of things in the past day or so. The first is, I'm getting old. I know physically I don't look old, but I can't sleep in anymore!!! That is such an old person thing. I never could believe it when older people would say, "I just can't sleep late!" Well, I'm there. I can't sleep much past 7:30 these days. Last night I was up with Mallory for an hour and a half so I was going to sleep in a little this morning. Nope, at 7:15 I was wide awake! I realize I'm not ready for the AARP, but it is truly amazing to me that I can't sleep in anymore.

The other thing I realized is that almost every week I say, "This has been such a crazy week!" I don't like my life to be so busy, but it definitely is at times. So, I'm going to work on that as much as I can. This week and weekend in particular, we have lots going on (actually I do) so I am really busy, but I'm planning on having a slower week next week. Say a prayer.

Fun things!

First, I found this website on another blog I visit. It is so fun. You put in your name and it tells you how many other people in the US have the same name. There are 233 people with my name, 427 with D.'s name, 12 people with Aubrey's name, and 5 people with Mallory's name. How cool is that? Anyway, go check it out. You may be surprised! Here it is: Names

The next fun thing is that a friend from high school found me and she and her family are medical missionaries in Paraguay. That is so neat! Her blog is really cool because she shows a lot of pictures of the people and the country. I have added her blog to my favorites next door, so go visit and say hi to Amy McKissick, formerly Amy Crittenden.

Last fun thing for you scrappers is that I start an online class today! Yippee! I am doing the class Red Letter Days with Elizabeth Dillow on Big Picture Scrapbooking I am so looking forward to it. Elizabeth's book was so great that I know I will love her class.

And to finish, I am putting a couple of pictures (actually a bunch b/c my sister Leah says I don't post enough pics) I like just because I feel like a post without pictures is incomplete. Have a wonderful weekend!

This is one girl who hates to be told no! Can you tell? This was the first time Mallory pulled herself up. It was on our dog gate!

Aubrey enjoying his ice cream at Chick Fil A. Also, I'm sure everyone in the US knows that if you turn in the toy in your happy meal at Chick Fil A you can get an ice cream, but I just learned that so Aubrey was enjoying it.

Aubrey in his booster looking so cool with his glasses in his shirt.

Here's Aubrey pretending to shoot the slingshot with the statue. He has been interested in slingshots since we read about David and Goliath.