Reading Frenzy

As I had mentioned before, my love for reading had kinda been put on the back burner since high school. But after I read Rekindled on our vacation I decided that I should make an effort to read more. One of my best friends who went on the trip w/us had recommended the book The Five People You Meet in Heaven. After getting home I found that I actually owned that book! I had received it as a gift and since I hadn't been into reading, it was placed in a nice basket in the living room. More as decoration than anything else. So, I picked it up and read it in a weekend. It was really a good book. Yesterday I had the joy of sitting at home while we received At&t U verse. Since I couldn't get on the Internet or watch tv I decided to look through my books. I found another book that I had been given as a gift and decided to try it. It was great! I actually read the whole thing yesterday. Of course I had the luxury of not doing much else yesterday but it was great!

The book is called The Christmas Blessing by Donna VanLiere. I highly recommend this book but only to those who don't mind crying. It is a page turner, tear jerker. If you know the song Christmas Shoes about the boy who wants to buy his mother these shoes but doesn't have enough money. He tells the store that his mom is going to meet God soon and he wants her to have these shoes. The man behind him is moved by the lil boy and pays for the shoes. The boy is so excited that he rushes to his mom and is able to give her the shoes before God receives her. It is a very moving song that always brings a tear to my eye. Well, I don't know which came first the book or the song, but there is a book called The Christmas Shoes. This book is a sequel to it and tells the story of the lil boy, Nathan, now grown up and in medical school. It tells a great story and brought a few tears to my eyes I will admit.

I am not sure what book is next on the list but hopefully I will keep this up and have a few more recommendations to share. So, if you are looking for a good book to cuddle up w/next to a warm fire with a big glass of hot cocoa here are two for the picking! Enjoy!!

Family Photo Time

Our church had the congregation sign up to get their picture taken for the new directory. This year they decided to have a professional photographer come in and take the pics. They give you a free directory and 8x10. I was a lil nervous about the whole experience since last time we tried taking lil man's 1yr pics it took a while for him to warm up. I am not sure if it was because he was either w/mom or big sis but he did great. We got a great pic which was the purpose so I was happy. The photographer figured out if he put lil man's stuffed frog on his head and then sneezed making the frog fall, lil man would smile. It worked every time. The photographer and my parents, who had their pic taken right before us, said it was funny how it worked and got a smile every time. Now if we could only get him to sit through a hair cut!

Fall Festival

It's that time of year where all the ghosts and goblins come out to play. At our church every year they have a Fall Festival where the kids dress up and there are games, a haunted house and food. The kids have a lot of fun and love an excuse to get to wear there costume more than just on Halloween. Last night we spent the evening playing games and eating lots of food. Our daughters ventured into the haunted house but we kept lil man out this year. Our oldest dressed up as one of the Supremes, our middle daughter dressed up in one of my old dance costumes and called herself a Cloud Dancer. Our lil man was Bamm Bamm and a friend of ours has a lil girl that is about a week younger than lil man and she was Pebbles. Their whole family actually all dressed up as the Flintstones, but my hubby and I are party poopers and aren't big costume people. But the Flintstones looked great! And Pebbles and Bamm Bamm were so cute. It is so fun to watch all the kids in their costumes playing all the games. Our nephews were there too which was fun also. Lil man had fun this year actually playing the games. It was funny because when we were getting lil man ready to leave he didn't want his costume on at all. He screamed and kicked. Then when it was time to go to bed he didn't want to take it off. He kept saying "NO NO NO" It was so cute. I got a lil video of it.

Here are some pics of the night.

Here are our 3 kids and our middle daughter's friend.

And here are Pebbles and Bamm Bamm.

They are just so cute!!

Sisterly love

This pic is one of my favorites that was taken this last weekend at State. It shows how they really do love each other and can get along :) I remember how it was when I was young and my mom felt the same way about my sis and me. They really did get along great and our middle daughter figured out that if she didn't try to be annoying, her sister would actually let her tag along. The team, coaches and families went out to dinner Fri night and our oldest was nice enough to let her lil sis sit w/them. Of course as soon as we get in the car ride home the love was not so noticeable. "She's on my side." "Turn down your music." I thought well I guess it can't last forever. And then there was quiet....they had both fallen asleep for pretty much the remainder of the drive. Ahhh.

If you look closely in the pic our middle daughter didn't bring any shoes other than flip flops. On Sat morning it was very cold as you can tell. So, she wore her socks and flip flops. She said her feet looked like donkey feet. She was warmer though than no socks at all.

New Pics

I have some of the tennis pics from state up on my pic website. Click the link on the right and check them out.

Favorite things....

I have decided to share some of my favorite things. Today is such a dreary day outside and it reminded me of the song from The Sound of Music "My Favorite Things".

*The sound of rain
*The sound of my children laughing
*The smell of a bonfire
*Roasting hot dogs and smores over a fire
*Being outside on a cool fall night
*The beautiful color of changing leaves
*Spending time w/my girl friends
*Watching lil man discover something new
*Watching my middle daughter dance
*Listening to my oldest sing
*Jackets!

Those are just some of my favorite things especially this time of year. What are your favorite things? What is your favorite season?

And we're Back!!

What a weekend! We left Friday morning headed for the State Tournament. It rained for a lil in the morning before the tournament began and was an absolutely beautiful weekend for tennis. Our oldest played 2 really great matches and we are so proud of her. She lost both matches but learned a lot and had a lot of fun. It was a wonderful experience for her and the other girls as well. Her 1st match she played a sophomore from the KC area that had a record of 23-2. She was a great player and very talented. My hubby talked to her dad and he said all she does is play, play and play. And that definitely showed. She played in the Championship match this afternoon. We left before it started but with the 2 girls who were playing it was definitely going to be a great match! Our oldest's 2nd match was great as well until about the middle of the 2nd set. Her knee had given her some problems last year but hadn't this year until that match. She ended up losing and was so upset that her knee had to start hurting then of all times. Even with the losses she had a great experience and saw what it takes to win. We are so proud of her and all she has accomplished this year! The doubles team also lost their 1st 2 matches as well but our other singles player played awesome and placed 9th! We are so proud of all the girls who went to State. As the hosting school announced at the beginning. The fact that the girls made it that far was a huge accomplishment and something they will all remember for the rest of their lives. I don't have the pics off the camera yet but I will get pics posted soon as I do.

My hubby, middle daughter and I also had fun watching the matches. We ended up staying the night and went to dinner w/the other parents, coaches and players. It was a lot of fun. Our lil man stayed w/my wonderful sis in law and brother in law. We are so thankful and appreciative of them. We were able to watch the matches and not have to worry about lil man being loud or running all over the place. Thank you Thank you Thank you!! And of course he had more fun there w/his cousins.

Just wanted to update everyone and I will post more later. Thank you everyone for your prayers and encouragement and LOVE!!

My Sweet Hubby

I have to brag on my hubby today. Yesterday I mentioned to him an idea for Christmas for me would be an ipod. I have a mp3 player w/a lot of music on it but when I am in the car I can't listen to it. Both our daughters have one and he has one and he has a connector for the car. So, I just mentioned that it would be nice to have one. When I got home yesterday after picking up lil man to my surprise my hubby was home too. I walked into the kitchen and my hubby took lil man back to our bedroom. All of a sudden lil man came walking out w/an ipod nano. My sweet hubby had gone ahead and got me one. I asked him that he didn't have to do that and why he chose to now. He simply said because you never buy anything for yourself. Which is a fault of mine. Whenever my family gives me money for my bday or Christmas I have to promise them I will spend it on myself because normally I will spend it on the kids or hubby. It was such a nice surprise. He spent the afternoon and evening getting it all set up for me and music on it. I have to admit I have been blessed w/a wonderful hubby.

We are headed to State tomorrow morning! Pray for safe travel and play for our oldest.

Until later.....

Quick Call the Fashion Police!!

Oh wait it's just Wacky Tacky Day. It is Spirit Week at our Middle Daughter's school this week which is I think her favorite week of the year because they always have PJ day. Now if you know our middle daughter she would live in her pjs if we would let her. If we aren't going anywhere she changes into her pjs the minute she gets home. So, yesterday she enjoyed her pj pants and t-shirt. Today was Wacky Tacky Day. And I think she definitely dressed the part. You can't really see but she is wearing a brown long sleeve shirt under the pink t-shirt under the white tank top w/a blue jacket. Her favorite thing are the pink and purple socks and her high ponytail. She is a goober that is for sure but we love her just the way she is. Tomorrow is Music day where they get to bring their i-pod to school and then Friday is Team Day where you support your favorite team. It's a fun week for all the kids to let loose a lil bit.

Until later.....

Girls Night Out!!

I don't have any pictures but I still wanted to post a bit. On Saturday night myself and 8 other girls had a night out. We all had a great time, and were all glad that we did it. We started w/dinner at Johhny Carino's and finished the night off w/mini golf. Dinner was very good even though it took a long while to get it. And mini golf was fun except for the fact that there was poor lighting and some of the holes you couldn't even really tell where you were supposed to hit. But since we were just playing for fun and no one was keeping score we had fun. There were even 2 hole in ones! It was a great time for us girls to hang out and have fun. I am thinking we will do it again and not too long from now :)

Until Later.....

State or Bust!!!

Our oldest as I have mentioned plays tennis. On Tuesday she went to the Chisholm Trail League tournament and placed 3rd. She tied another teammate so they had to play at practice the next day to see who would go to regionals. Our oldest won 2 sets and advanced to Regionals which was yesterday. In the regionals tournament she placed 4th and is going to State!! We are so proud of her!!! She has accomplished so much and really grown over the last year. Her team placed 2nd in Regionals, they have 2 singles going and 1 doubles team. So we are State bound next weekend. We are so excited for her to get to experience this her sophomore year.

Past Due Post

I have got behind in my posting and I am sorry. I have things that I have wanted to post but by the time I get a free minute I just want to be lazy. So this will be a post w/lil snippets of our lives. The first pic is of our lil man and his secret. He LOVES his boots! And I mean LOVES. Last Wed he was w/his Grammy and he wore them from when he got dressed until 7:30 that night. He wanted them on and when one came off he was upset until Grammy put it back on. He took his nap in them and had no desire to take them off. This is the boy who doesn't like shoes. The only problem w/these boots is what is on them. They were given to him as a gift and it was w/good intentions so we didn't say anything and kept them, but they are JOHN DEERE! If you don't know my family sells New Holland Tractors and John Deere is a big no no around our family. So, we let our lil man live his secret at home and not on days when he goes to work w/Mommy. It is really cute though.

This pic is of our lil man playing on the window ledge. The other day my hubby had to do some yard work out front and I was busy cleaning inside. So, lil man made the best of it and played at the window by where Daddy was working outside. Since he couldn't be out there w/him, which is where he wanted to be, he at least could still see him. He is such a Daddy's boy.

Here lil man is helping Mommy at work. He loves to come to work w/me and run around checking on everyone but also likes the keyboard. So he will climb up in the chair next to me and type away on a keyboard that isn't being used right now. He thinks he is big stuff.

The other day lil man was playing in the living room when I noticed he was trying to play w/big sis's Barbie car. He was having a lil trouble understanding how he was going to fit in the car. He made a good attempt but finally settled for putting the toys in the car not himself.

We were lucky enough to get to have 3 of our nephews over last Sun night. The kids always have fun playing w/each other. Just look at them. Give them tennis balls and they are set. We also watched Veggie Tales Jonah movie. Lil man is just getting to the point where he is interested in a movie longer than 2 minutes. We had a lot of fun watching the kids.

And finally our oldest has been busy w/tennis. Her season is almost over which I think she is ready for a break. But she has had a lot of fun and learned a lot this season. We enjoy watching her get out there and play.So that catches you up on a bit of the happenings in our household. Never a dull moment w/us. But we wouldn't want it any other way.

Also, I almost forgot my hubby and I got a date night to celebrate our anniversary and we went to see Fireproof. I definitely recommend everyone to see that movie it is a great movie!

Until later......

3 years

Yesterday October 1st marked my hubby and my 3rd anniversary. In June 2005 my hubby totally surprised me and asked me to be his wife. My mom said she had to have at least 3 mos to get a wedding ready, so we gave her 3 mos. On October 1st we had a wonderful wedding rain and all. I was a nervous wreck since it was raining and our reception was outside at my parent's house. But my hubby kept telling me it would be fine and it was absolutely wonderful. The rain cleared and it was a beautiful night. It has been a fun 3 years w/many adventures for us as a couple and a family. We have been truly blessed and I look forward to many more years.

Here is a pic of us on our honeymoon in Jamaica.

Here we are in September back in Jamaica.