The never ending Halloween season. . .

One of my favorite activities is my monthly garden club meeting...this month...jack-o-lanterns.

Marathon Man!

We are so proud of my sweet husband! He ran his 1st marathon this weekend & did really well! You can see his finish time in the last picture! I loved that it was ok for Amy-Lee to run with him across the finish line!

pumpkins for my pumpkins...

This weekend we made our way to Greenville & visited with Aunt Dottie, but not before picking up a couple of pumpkins for her!

Dress Rehersal

Tonight we hosted friends for a Halloween dress rehearsal party. You know one night really isn't enough time to enjoy your Halloween costume...especially when your Mom worked as hard as she did making it...not me, but Fiona, Kerri & Melina sure did!

You'll notice that there was a change in wardrobe for my little girl, she wasn't too comfortable as a witch...see that's what dress rehearsals are all about! Now bear with me, there are a bunch of cute, cute photos ahead!

1st costume...

I love this picture because it shows that even a beautiful mermaid like Abby can't take my boy's attention away!

Our 2nd fireman wasn't as thrilled to be at the party. . .

The Doctors Fuller

And finally...our sweet clown!

Burning down the house...

This was the scene at our house this a.m. as the fire department arrived to rescue us from a sizzling socket...luckily, the situation wasn't serious and we resumed breakfast shortly after this picture was taken!

school pics

Today I had the honor of taking the school portraits for the Early Learning Center. Lou & Amy-Lee also had their school portraits taken today at Montessori. Here is a take on my version of school portraits.

His Holiness. . .

This afternoon we went to see the Dalai Lama speak. It was a great crowd! One of the 1st things the Dalai Lama spoke of was parents needing to be very affectionate and loving towards their children so that they grow up warm hearted. . .

His message was inspiring, albeit a hard one for us to embody as the day progressed along with our little darling's grumpiness, tiredness, impatientness and downright toddlerness. . .I believe he did mention that it was easy for him to pass on this advice not ever having a child of his own. . .

Sunday

I don't really have anything catchy to say about today's blog... we just had a good Sunday. It was homecoming at our church and then Meghan came over this afternoon & played with the kiddies! We're so thankful to have her in our life!

Demolition...

They began tearing down our church today. The kids & their friend Jack had a great time watching the process, next up...construction of the new church!

My boy

I love this little boy so much! Last night we had a scare, it turned out to be nothing serious, just something that worried his mother, the one with an overactive imagination and a penchant for thinking the worst. This morning I took him to his wonderful pediatrician, who has a penchant for sending kids to a specialist at the drop of a heartbeat, who told me that we have NOTHING to worry about, he is fine... Thank the dear Lord! But all last night and this morning I kept thinking about what I would do if something bad happened to him or his dear sister and I couldn't stop crying, and I still can't even though I know he's healthy. My tears now are those of gratitude and relief that he is going to be fine, he is going to grow up and continue to drive me crazy. On a positive note something good did come out of this scare...it made me stop and realize how precious this little boy and his little sister are, how lucky we are to have them in our lives. It gave me the opportunity to slow down, give lots of kisses, scream less and be thankful!

My kids...

I really like this picture of my babes.

Lucy-Lou

My sweet girl!

It's beginning to look alot like Halloween. . .

My little boy has become obsessed with Halloween! We've had to decorate this year like no other year. . . he keeps saying. . . "oooh, they'll be so frightened when they see this!"

One more goodbye

Aunt Katherine was the 1st to leave on Monday!

Now we are back home & back on blog track!

Swings

After saying goodbye to everyone we all went to the neighborhood park!

Saying Goodbye

We were so lucky to have Aunt Dottie & her crew come to Mom's birthday party!

Cache!

Geocaching with Aunt Jamie

Staking the stash!

JACKPOT!

The loot!

Happy Birthday Granna!

To say that she was surprised would be an understatement! We pulled it off Girls! Good job!

Me

Another one of my self-portraits...

I'm off for a few days, don't despair it's for a good cause...my mother's _0th birthday! I'll try to post from there, but if not, know that I'll have lots to share when I return!

peace, love & happiness

Sweaty. . .

A funny. . . Although my boy is 99.9% potty trained there have been a few "accidents" at night. When these "accidents" happen he doesn't want to get out of the bed on his own, he usually calls for mama, which is our clue that he's had an "accident." Well, the other day Amy-Lee had an "accident" in the night and woke up soaking wet! His sweet daddy went in to help him up and this is the conversation that ensued. . .

Dad: It's alright, you just had an "accident."

Son: I DIDN'T HAVE AN ACCIDENT!

Dad: It's ok baby, accidents happen to everyone, we'll just go & clean you up.. .

Son: I DIDN'T HAVE AN ACCIDENT! I'm just sweaty. . .

Dad: Amy-Lee. . . it's ok to have an accident every now & then . . .

Son: Dad, I told you, I'm just sweaty, I've been laying here in bed for a long time & now I'm all sweaty. . .

Needless to say we have a new code word around here. . . sweaty. . .actually I need to go & sweat right now. . .

p.s. Yes, I know my son will hate me when he's older and this blog finds it's way back into his adult life. . .

Still flying!

Our lovely neighbors recently acquired (much to the chagrin of another attic sale customer & fellow blogger. . .) a blowup water slide. Amy Lee couldn't wait to play on this!

Homework

Here he is finishing up his sermon for tomorrow...who'd ever thunk I'd marry a preacher? Certainly not me! Funny how life turns out. . .

Goodbye

Our final phone call before Daddy-Jim leaves for Iraq...

Some cutie pies!

We met up with our friends today at the park! Could they be any cuter? I love the hair colors - there's one in every shade!

Pink!

We're pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Friends from far away. . .

Our friends Yolanda & Will are visiting from Costa Rica.