Fall Ball Fun!

The kids had a great time at the Fall Ball! It was a fun way to kick off Halloween week! We love this time of year, and the kids were beside themselves with excitement!! Laney is a Disney Princess, Mulan. Jude is Clifford, the Big Red Dog. Zane is Charlie Brown. (His "hat" says "Good Grief"!) The best part was seeing the kids all dressed up. They were so precious! Some of our friends had great costumes too! My kangeroo costume was much too hot to wear. Dang Alabama Halloweens. Oh well. :)

Maybe they could come every day

The gentlemen who do a fabulous job on our yard allowed Laney and me to have the quietest 30 minutes of school we've ever had. How much do you think it would cost for them to come every day???

I'm not sweating???

Why, it must be fall, finally!! YEE HOO!!! I don't much like the summer. Sure, the beach is nice, and so it the pool. Cooking out is fine, and the holidays are okay. Know what I like? COLD WEATHER!!!



Now Kathy, who last lived in Pennsylvania, tells me I don't really know what it's like to have cold weather. But I sure do love our version of it. And I'd like to sample some "real" cold one day!

So here are the reasons I LOVE cold weather:

1. I can burrow down underneath the covers.
2. I can wear jeans and pants.
3. I can be in my house and not sweat like crazy.
4. I can wear layers!
5. We can eat soup!
6. I can get chill bumps!
7. I can wear warm jammies.
8. We love to build fires, and make Smores!
9. The kids will play outside forever.
10. The kids' car seats don't "burn" them when we get in the van.
11. I can dry clothes any time of the day!
12. Same with the oven. I love to bake this time of year.
13. We can open all the curtains!
14. I can open windows!
15. I can wear my hair down.
16. We can go for walks.
17. We can go to the park.
18. The Holidays are coming!
19. The sky is so blue.
20. The kids are so adorable in their warm jammies.
21. My face isn't (as) greasy.
22. I love to breathe cold air.
23. I love frost.
24. I love how warm and cozy the house is in the winter.
25. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorites.
26. I love the leaves changing colors.
27. I love that water from the tap is cool, and not luke warm. No need for ice now!

There are more, but you get the picture. Thank you, Lord, for fall (and winter)!!!!!

Zane's new tricks

He can eat with a spoon. I won't comment on the mess. Just that he can!

He can also ride Laney's "bike." Hilarious. And precious!!!!

Hayes-me-downs

My dear, sweet, precious friend Hayes is a children's fashionista. She has an eye for beautiful kid's clothes, and makes even more fabulous clothes than you could buy. And she generously gives them away when her girls are done. Luckily Laney is just a year younger than her youngest girl. We have been blessed by clothes from Hayes for years. Allen dubbed them "Hayes-me-downs" a long time ago. Just when I pack some up to give to our friend Kathy, some new ones appear at my doorstep, as they did today! Hayes' clothes are famous with my friends, and often Laney will get stalked because of her clothes! I just wanted to thank Hayes, who literally has a heart made of gold. I've never met anyone more giving and kind with their things. She has taught me a lot about giving, and inspired me to be a giver also. Thank you, Hayes!!!

The coffee cup

My dear friend Sandi. I'm waaay to emotional right now to tell you much about her, but let's just say she's one cool chick. She's the person I so want to be. Wise, steady, careful, practical, intelligent and thoughtful. We hit it off instantly, a while ago, and she's just precious to me.



She blogged one day, about her favorite coffee cup that she had broken. She was sad. See?

http://lifeasiseeit-sandi.blogspot.com/search/label/starbucks



I immediately went to Ebay, and looked for the sweet mug, but nothing.



So I searched. For the next 3 months. I let Jennifer in on the secret, and we searched together. And we bid on and lost on some auctions. I was more determined than ever.



Finally, such a happy, silly treat. It arrived. I was really excited. I love to do silly, goofy things for Sandi.



I got two mugs, actually. The green one below, in the post about Stella the mixer, is mine. I toyed with the idea of reselling it. I'm not a huge mug person, and drink tea out of my same old cups. But then I decided that my mug reminds me of my friends. It got real special, real fast...



This post isn't about me, believe it or not. It's about a sister in Christ that inspires these acts of love. You know what I mean? Someone who means so much to you that you want to do things to make them happy? And not in a weird stalkery way, either. In case you were wondering.



I feel this way about all my friends, but this mug just came to symbolize my friends that I met at a time in my life when you weren't supposed to make friends like this. These women have been there for me in times that I wouldn't have expected them to be. I have had more fun, and shed more tears over and with my friends, and I feel so incredibly blessed to have them in my life. So I do weird things like buy flats of geraniums or mugs off Ebay in really feeble attempts to thank them for being who they are. And for being in my life. So I love you dear friends. To my ones near and far. To my ones that I talk to 3 times a day and to my ones that I talk to once a month. I love you all dearly. Thank you for taking such good care of me.



Oh, and she'll kill me, but here is the happy picture...


Allen says we look alike in this picture. Hee!!!!! :)

Laney's Baptism

Oh, it was such a joy. I prayed from the time my babies were in the womb that they would accept Christ early in life, so they wouldn't waste any time living for Him. Laney really believed a long time ago. Actually a little too early for my comfort, but I just prayed that we would know when she was really ready. She was scared of water, and of going under, so we didn't push the issue of baptism. I more focused on what salvation really is in conversation with her. I didn't want her to make a profession of faith, and not really understand what that was. I just wanted her to wait until she was ready, but she was ready soon! That was an answer to prayer. It is so precious to see how real it is to her. How simple. "Of course Jesus died for me." It's so easy for her to believe.

I love how the Message Bible puts it. In Mark 10:16, Jesus said, "Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Sometimes I get so mired down in theology, my wants and needs in church and all that goes along with this "religion" that I lose sight of what the basis for it is. God loved us with such an incredible, unfathomable love, that He literally allowed His son to be killed so we could be with Him. I never want to forget the wonder of that. Or not believe it so simply and factually. To constantly and completely thank Him for that. To worship and love Him based on Who He is and what he did for me. And my daughter.

I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from our family and friends. Grown men wept, moms went and got their children so they could witness their friend make her demonstration of faith, and every one rejoiced. It was truly what a baptism should be. I was touched by how much it meant to everyone. One of my friends said Laney glowed, and she did. She said when she came up out of the water, she wanted to burst into tears. I really think she understood exactly what she was doing. The Spirit was with her sweet, five year old self.

I want her to do what Deuteronomy 11 says: "... to love the Lord your God and serve him with all our heart and with all your soul..." I know if she does that, her life is going to be blessed. As a mother, that's all I want.

Thank you all for being so sweet and loving and caring so much about our family. I have reflected so much on how much to all mean to me and to our family. We are blessed beyond measure.
The video is coming. We have had some technical difficulties, so bear with us. We'll get it here soon!!!

Jennifer's shower invitation

Well, I think they turned out great. Sandi was so awesome in getting these designed. We had a blast doing them, too!

Most importantly, I think Jennifer really liked them!!!

I'm sorry we couldn't make one for each of you. We hope that doesn't hurt your feelings. It was just a time issue for us!!!

We are so looking forward to a wonderful shower to celebrate this precious blessing and his mama!!!

(And a big "thank you" to Kathy, for reminding me we need to be careful with our blogs, and not put personal info out there. This is a private blog, but we still need to be careful, you know?)

A new addition to the family

Her name is Stella, and isn't she beautiful?? I love her!! lol

I've wanted a mixer for a long time, but just didn't do the cooking to justify it. Now that Zane is older, and I'm doing more baking and cooking from scratch, I felt the longing again.

I asked Jennifer about hers, and she said she had a new found love for hers. (now that her's didn't have anything to do with icing...!) So I thought I would ask Santa for one for Christmas.

I was cooking dinner one night, and Jennifer called me, all excited. James had found a mixer for, are you ready for this? - $75.00. They don't even go for that on Ebay. I said, "YES!" and Jennifer brought Stella home!

James rocks. He and I are such bargain hunters at heart! It's like a male version of me!! Ho, that is just so not true. We do love yard sales, though, and love a good bargain. So THANK YOU, James, for bring Stella to me!!!

I'm cracking myself up..... :) i would also like for you to notice that the compulsive type a freak in me wanted to clean up my counters before taking this picture, but in the vein of being real, i left the mess. i want you to be proud of me! I'm going to clean it right now, though!

and there is a story about that green monster coffee cup, and it's coming...

We'd never make it up North

These are my kids. Today. The temperature is 63 degrees. Crazy kids. They are back out there now, sans the gloves, hat and scarves. Thank goodness. Uh oh. Jude just came in to get his gloves. Geeze....

Now that Fall is really here, we could finally buy our favorite fall treat. It's like crack to us. I can feel Jennifer shuddering right now, but we could eat our weight in this stuff. Luckily it's not available but such a short time. And it MUST be Brach's. Not the icky imitation stufff. Ahhhh, fall. It means candy corn....

School is going amazingly well. I'm so thankful and blessed. My girl rocks. She talks about school in the shower, in the van, at the dinner table. She reads books to Jude. She wants to help more around the house. She has all but quit watching television. Homeschooling is the bomb. Sonlight is fabulous. We are so blessed. Wait, I already said that...

Laney working on a lapbook.

Zane saying, "Hold me." This is what he does during school. And I do.

This is what Jude does during school. He's playing with his cars!!! Bless his heart. He is learing though, see? He loves math. He answers questions before Laney does. He plays with Zane too. That's pretty cute. I'm glad Jude has Zane. I'm not sure what I'll do with Zane when Jude really starts, but His grace is enough...