Thanksgiving

As I have mentioned before I can't believe it is time for Thanksgiving already! Where does the time go?! Although I am not ready for the holiday season it is once again here. I was thinking today about Thanksgiving and all the things it means to me. The best thing about the holidays is all the time with our family. I have been blessed with a wonderful family not only that I was born into but also married into. I have so many things to be thankful for I can't even think about naming them all but I will share some of the things:

*My salvation in Christ
*My wonderful hubby and 3 amazing kids
*All of my family near and far
*Amazing friends
*Freedom as an American
*Having a job that is flexible so I can be most importantly a Mom
*A loving church family

I could go on and on but I won't. I challenge all of us to reflect at Thanksgiving on what we are truly grateful for. Maybe it was a rough year, maybe it was a really easy year, no matter what kind of year it was you can always find something to be thankful for. Don't miss the opportunity to tell that loved one you are thankful for them because you never know, it might just be what they needed to hear.

Our family wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby it's cold outside....

I can't believe it is time for the holidays already! Where did the year go?! We were driving around this weekend and 2 of our radio stations that we listen to are already playing Christmas music. I have to admit although I would prefer to wait until after Thanksgiving for Christmas music I have caught myself listening from time to time. And my kids are definitely ready for the music. My hubby was making fun of me for being a scrooge about it, I just think before Thanksgiving is too early. Of course I think I am out voted :)

Tonight we had a taste of the holiday season. Our oldest is in the Madrigals at school. They sang tonight outside in an open air theater! For those of you who don't know it was 33 degrees w/the windchill about 22 degrees!! Now for me who can get cold sitting inside in 62 degrees, that is FREEZING! There was a pretty good turn out for such cold weather, of course Santa stopped by so all the kids were excited about that. The Madrigals did great and didn't sound like they were freezing. We were all bundled up w/layers, coats, gloves, hats and scarves.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner and Christmas only 5 weeks away the holiday season is here! Now we just have to make our lists and make sure to stay good because Santa always checks his list twice!

New Home

Yea our house is painted!! It took a lil longer than we expected w/the wonderful weather but it is finally done and looks great. It's like we have a new house, at least from the outside. We completely changed the colors and we love it! The painters were great and worked as hard as they could when they could. Our yard and house were a bit disheveled for a few days but that is ok. The first day they were supposed to start painting it was too windy. Then the next day it was still windy but they started because the weather the next week wasn't looking great. They ended up working half a day Fri, then had to work Sat and Sun. Monday it rained but they were able to finish up on Tuesday! Lil man had fun watching all these men outside the windows. He also helped Daddy clean the screens while we had them out since the painters cleaned the windows after the job was done. We did have one lil incident on Sat. We had a shelf in the garage that held some paint and other odds and ends. The painters were having to repair some things on that wall and were pounding pretty hard. About an hour after the ordeal my hubby went into the garage and found the shelf and fell off the wall w/everything on it including the paint. My suv was out of the garage luckily but my hubby's black car was still parked inside. There was a huge puddle of paint on the floor and his car was speckled nicely. Luckily he found it in time to get most of it off and then took it to a car wash. Needless to say it was a great mess for my hubby to clean up. Here are some pics to share.

Before

Our beautiful backyard mess

The garage mess

After!!

And if anyone needs their house painted I will give you the name of our guy. He is very nice and great to work with, and best of all does a great job!

Making do

I love to see when kids make do with what they have. They don't cause a fuss they just find something, use their imagination and make it what they want it to be. Whether it is making a box a great car or making a bunch of chairs and blankets the best fort ever, making do is good for the soul. Our lil man recently learned how to play the harmonica at his great grandparents house. Unfortunately for him we don't have one at our house. The other day he was in the bathroom w/me while I was getting ready and he got in to one of the drawers. In it was a toothbrush holder. He looked at it, put it in his mouth and this is what he got.

I think we know what we will be getting him for Christmas but shhh don't tell him :) Here is a pic of our lil man that my dad took. He has his Bad Boy Mower polo on just like all the other salesmen at the office. We think this should be the new ad for Bad Boy Mowers the best mowers around.

Loving Well

You know those people in our lives who just drive us crazy, but we still find a way to love them. Or maybe those who we should love but we don't see how we can after what they have done to someone we love or our self. And then there are those people who are so easy to love they are just such a joy! It would be easy if all we had to do was love those who love us but we are called to a higher calling, to love those who don't love us. Matt 5:43-48


This last weekend our church had a Ladies Workshop and the theme was Loving Well. It was one of Beth Moore's retreats. If you haven't done a Beth Moore Bible study I would highly recommend doing so. The retreat this weekend focused on how there are 4 different types of people in our lives and how we are called to love all of them. She named them Joy, Testy, Foe & Far. She described them as Joy - of course the easy ones to love; Testy - the ones who drive you crazy to love; Foe - the ones who make your blood boil; and the Far - the strangers. She also gave us a "Pep Talk for our Soul" 1. God is perfect love 2. Nothing can separate us from God's perfect love 3. God pours His perfect love into my imperfect heart 4. Accessed, I can love anyone through anything.


Her key verses for the weekend were 1 John 4:7-8. She talked about how when we love who we see impossible to love, that is when others can see God through us. There are some people in our lives who it is humanly impossible to love, that is why we have to call on God. We have to accept that He loves us and show that love to others. She mentioned how God won't do through us what we won't let Him do in us. We have to be willing to accept His perfect love and then we can share that love w/everyone else.

This weekend was a great retreat that gave me insight on loving well. And who the loving well is. We need to be filled w/love from the loving well; God. I would challenge all of us, myself included to not only love those who love us but love those who are more difficult to love. As Beth Moore said we need to learn to love not w/human, self seeking love, but God's love.

Principal's Honor Roll

On Thursday night our middle daughter came home to tell us that she had made Principal's honor roll. Friday afternoon they had an assembly to recognize the achievements of the 1st 9 weeks. This is her first year at having an assembly like this so she was pretty excited. Last year in the elementary school they never did anything like this so she thought this was pretty cool. She has always had good grades and have continued on so far. She received a certificate w/her picture on it and a FREE ice cream coupon for lunch. I'm pretty sure the kids were probably more excited about the FREE ice cream rather than the certificate and all. They not only recognized the Principal's Honor Roll which is all A's but also Honor Roll which is all A's and B's and also Perfect Attendance. I was surprised at the number of kids who had perfect attendance. There were more than 75. I was also glad to see so many parents there to support their kids. I think it is so important for the kids to have their parents there to support and encourage them. Although they might not say anything, it means a lot that you are there. Here are a couple of pics of our middle daughter w/her certificate. The second one is her doing her pose. Silly girl.

Tennis Banquet

At the end of the season the tennis team has a banquet to celebrate the season. Last year we weren't able to make it to it, but this year we were. Tonight we went to the high school and celebrated the girls team. We had a potluck dinner followed by an award ceremony where the coaches pass out awards the girls have earned and then the seniors give and receive gifts. It's a fun time for the girls. This year our oldest had a great year. She earned her varsity letter, a "Big" win award for being a number 7 seed and beating a number 2 seed and then making it to state. Our oldest has learned a lot this year about what it takes to play at the level she wants to compete at and we have seen a huge change in her drive to play. As a mom there are so many times that I am proud of my kids. The lil things they do, the helpful hand they lend or kind word they share. Tonight I was able to be proud of my oldest once again. She was awarded with the Tess Herndon Most Improved Player Award. Tess Herndon was actually a player back when I was in school. She was a year younger than me and my Jr year I believe it was she lost her life in a four wheeler accident. Her parents were at the banquet tonight to give the award. Our oldest was very appreciative of the award. Her name now goes on a plaque that will hang in the trophy case at school. We are so proud of all that she has accomplished this year so far. She has managed to juggle a busy tennis schedule with her school work. She is growing up so fast and becoming a wonderful, mature, young lady. Ok I am done bragging for now and will share a couple pics from the night.

Our oldest w/the plaque.

Our oldest w/a couple of her friends showing off their awards.

Football, not just for the weekends.

I will admit that football is not my favorite sport. Now I won't say that I don't watch a game and I even enjoy going to games. In fact I would rather go to a game than watch it on tv. But when it comes to sports football is not my favorite. My husband on the other hand likes football, and one of the reasons I watch it is to spend time w/him. He has spread this love to our son. If you were to ask our son if he wants to watch tv he will say "Football! Football!" It doesn't matter if it is in the middle of the week, Fri night, Sat or Sun he wants to watch Football! Now for Mommy this becomes a challenge sometimes to find a game on. Luckily we have espn and the NFL network so if I can find those channels most likely there is a game on of some sort. It is very cute though watching lil man watch the game. He will make comments like "Niiiice!" and smile really big. It is very cute watching him watch the game w/dad, I just hope he likes to watch basketball w/Mommy!

A Different Halloween

This year was a different Halloween around our house. Usually the kids dress up, we truck around to the Grandma's houses, go up and down the street and indulge in all the candy. This year it was different. Our high school was playing a football game against one of their rivals. So of course our oldest was all about the game, especially when her dad told her she was too old to go trick or treating. Even though she tried to persuade him she wasn't. Our middle daughter had a lil harder of a decision. Trick or Treat or go to the game. So after going back and forth several times, and not getting any help from her parents she finally decided on the game. So Dad and the girls went to the game while lil man and Mom stayed home to pass out candy. Lil man had not been feeling well so we decided that the game wouldn't be the best and he would be ready to leave by half time for sure.

Lil man loved passing out the candy to all the trick or treaters. He didn't want to get in his costume but he did want in his pajamas. I was a lil nervous on a couple of costumes I thought might scare him, but he never cried or anything just looked at them and kept his eye on them. All the lil kids thought he was so cute. One lil boy said, "What are you? I know the cutest lil boy." I thought it was cute. There was also a lil boy who was w/his older brother and the older one kept trying to get the younger brother to say "Trick or Treat." The older brother said, "Trick or Treat, say that" and the younger brother replied "Say that". It was pretty cute. Our middle daughter asked me what was the best costume. I told her I was a lil disappointed this year. There weren't any stand out costumes I saw. I also figured there would be a ton of trick or treaters since it was on a Friday and such nice weather. Our first trick or treater was a lil before 6p and by 8p there were hardly any kids out.

Here are a couple of pictures I thought were cute that I took last night and this morning.

Lil man watching for the trick or treaters.

2 of our kids ended up in bed w/us this morning.

Lil man got a Doodle Pro for Halloween and loves drawing on it.

I asked him to smile for Mommy and this is what I got. I'll take it!