Trick-or-Treat

We just had the best Halloween ever!

tuckered out

We have never had this happen at our house - my kids are like the Energizer Bunny...they keep going & going & going. . . Well, apparently today's activities pooped this girl out! Voting at 8am, breakfast at Chick fil-a, school, lunch with friends, pumpkin carving, large dirt hill playing, grocery shopping, bath-time and finally dinner - dessert proved to be too much!

Yes, We Can!

We are the change we've been waiting for!

Sir Amy Lee

Tonight as I was putting Sir Amy Lee to bed he told me... "I love you more than all the people in the world love God..." That's a lot of love!

Come on...

You've made me do it...I'm having to call you girls out...Katie, Kara - and I'm sure there are a few others out there who have blogs but aren't being forthright with the goodies! You know I'm nosey, I want to know what's going on in your lives too! Vietnam...Atlanta...and I know there are other places out there too!

Come on...share the love!

School Pictures

Here are my kiddies school pictures - whatta ya think? Pretty darn good photographer wouldn't you say...

hotties...

Will you hold it against me if I tell you that I had never tailgated until this past Saturday? What fun! I'm sure it's even more fun without 2 kids under four running around... Truthfully, we all had a great time! We've actually planned another one - I know I should start slowly, but when you begin at nearly 40 you don't have much tailgating time left...

*and can I just say dayum...my hair is short!

pumpkinlicious

I'm milkin' the pumpkin farm for all it's worth...

bunny love

She closed her eyes, snuggled up close and breathed in all that was this bunny!

The boy

We had the best time this past Monday visiting a Pumpkin Farm. I'm tellin' you it was the best money we've spent in a long time! Not only were there pumpkins to pick from the field, a tractor full of hay to ride, but also a little petting zoo, a hay loft to jump from, a hay maze, roasted corn on the cob, yummy pumpkin pie & several large bins of corn for kids (all sizes) to play in! We're definitely going back next year, especially since we have a whole year to start saving for it...

A funny from my boy... Today we were in the car and he told me that Madison is no longer his girlfriend. Swear to you these were his words... "she broke up with me." Again, do I have to remind you that he's FOUR freakin' years old?

Also, yesterday he asked his dad if we had "PBSkids dot org?"
his Dad said "I believe so"
he said "no, I mean PBS kids dot org backslash"

Seriously, we need advice!!

Home again, home again...jiggety jig!

We just returned home after a 5 day trip to my parents house... We had a pretty good time! Really enjoyed spending time with my Mom, Dad & sister Jamie. The man of our house ran a 15k race on Saturday and we all went to watch him cross the finish line in pretty good time! I'll post more later from our awesome time at the pumpkin patch - it deserves its own blog, if not more!

peace out!

MIA

We left town for a few days, I know I should have warned you but I hate goodbyes... We are at my 'rents house visiting with my father who is home visiting from Iraq and for my Mom's birthday which was today.

The other day Lou & I went with my sister Jamie to purchase her wedding gown. Lou enjoyed herself - playing around those beautiful gowns. I tried not to think about the day we go shopping for her wedding dress - let's hope it's in 25+ years...

Saturday Soccer

Getting ready for a corner kick. He looks so serious...

More CPT'ers

We were fortunate to have Carol Rose over for lunch yesterday. Carol is a co-director for CPT. The kids adored her!

I'm sorry to say that Carol had to witness the need for more non-violent training at our house... You'd think Amy-Lee could find a better time than her visit to pretend to handcuff Lou and put her in the back of the squad car, all the while holding her head and saying "get in the back & watch your head..." Someone, anyone, please tell me how a kid whose tv exposure is limited to Dora the Explorer, Diego and other G rated movies comes up with these ideas???

Small World

A few years ago, right before the Iraq war started, I kept up with an organization called Christian Peacekeepers Team (CPT). CPT is a group of volunteers who "get in the way of violence. CPT intervenes in situations of violence." So, there they were, a team of CPT'ers who were getting in the way of a start of a war. I kept up with their daily website updates, reading about their days, their frustrations and fears. There was one young man, Scott who wrote several updates.

Fast forward a little over a year later - the husband & I were in Columbus for the annual SOA watch. We were having dinner at a local diner that was packed full of folks from all over the country (and world) who were also taking part in the SOA rally. At dinner I notice a guy who was the center of conversation & I recognized him as the young man from the CPT group in Iraq. I felt as if I had had a brush with a celebrity...

Fast forward even further - 3 days ago...the CPT steering committee is meeting here in our little town & we've been asked to host a couple of people in our home for the duration of the meeting. Friday night we were invited to join the whole group for a fellowship of sorts, food, stories of peace initiatives and music. Guess who I meet? That's right...Scott! He's now a seminary student at Ilif in Colorado & still active with CPT. Pretty cool, huh?

One more...

I need a day like this...