Just another day at the office

Much like The Office, Jason's office dresses up for Halloween. There are prizes and things, apparently. Today Jason is reprising his role as Bob Ross. If you don't know who this is, you really missed a treat.
Here he is this morning putting his finishing touches on a painting in our house (yeah, right):

And here we are at a party in 2006 as Bob Ross and a Happy Tree (again, if you didn't see this show, you don't get it... and you just had to see it).
So, I'm curious how your day is going, Jason. Please do tell.

And as for The Office last night, was anyone else confused about the costumes? Was the show all supposed to be on one day? They all started out in costumes, then some weren't in costumes, then they were again. It was just a little odd. Which is why I like the show, but I was just a little lost there.
Was I the only one?

Happy Halloween!

It's finally happening...

I don't want to say that I hate it when this happens. It actually makes my world a tad bit easier (and my biceps a tad bit weaker), but I guess it's finally here.

His preferred mode of transportation is still crawling. And he'll probably take a few weeks to get the hang of it, but we can't put off the inevitable anymore (I have to quit pushing him down now). I hope you enjoy my sweet little angel baby slowly morphing from a baby and into a toddler. I'm trying to hang on to every minute of it.

I caved

But it was so worth it!

"Fall Carnival"- the New Halloween

My little guys in their matching outfits on Sunday morning.

This is the best picture I could get- out of about 10!

I have issues with calling Halloween or Trick or Treating anything other than that, but so many churches have taken up the cause of anti-Halloween while still getting the good stuff (candy and costumes) in.

That's where "trunk or treat" came in to play- you line up a bunch of trunks (cars and trucks) and people pass out candy to the line of kids that come by. Where's the adventure in that? You don't have to guess whether or not to eat the questionable candy from the sketchy old man who handed you (what could be) Easter candy. And you don't learn the proper etiquette of waiting a second after another group has just hit up a house for your turn. You barely have to even say trick or treat. They just hand out candy and smile at you.

Our kids will have no concept of that scary house that you kind of want to go to because you heard they had good candy, but you're a little bit scared, so you decide that a Butterfinger isn't worth it and just keep walking. I don't even know if they'll learn about the slobber that accumulates from trying to breath/ talk inside a plastic Wonder Woman mask with a flimsy piece of elastic string stretching it across the back of your head. Now everything is trustworthy and in the daylight- dang it.

I guess being over protective is okay for my 3 and 1 year olds.

I understand why people want to take the devil out of Halloween and return it to a fun carnival-ish type atmosphere. I'm all for dressing up as Spidey and not Satan or some scary varmint, so I guess I can get on that bandwagon.

I HATE being scared. (Surprised- okay, scared- not okay.) I have only gone to a haunted house once- in high school- with a CHURCH youth group. I couldn't wait to get out. Ugh. I cringe and look away when we even cruise by scaryness on the tv. The sound of that music from Unsolved Mysteries makes my skin crawl. I have never seen those scary movies that every else has seen, and I'm okay with it! Look how normal I am (twitch, twitch)!

Our church had "Fall Carnival" this Sunday afternoon. It was truly a big carnival with trunk or treat, BBQ dinner, inflatable slides and bounce houses, games (all with Jesus- identified names: e.g. Hole in "Holy" One- okay I'm making that one up, but they were in that same vein), prizes and many, many sweaty kids. It was wonderful. Nice, safe, perfect weather and a lot of fun. :-)

Harris was a Tiger and hung out in the stoller for most of the time. We let him crawl around inside some and he was a cute little Tiger. He even kept his ears on.Don't ask me why Jason and I feel compelled to dress up, but we do. I threw together a last minute Rubix cube (super easy, but ask me if you want to know how) and Jason was so proud he could still fit into his flight suit from working at Space Camp 9-10 years ago. Owen has a couple of outfits (all bought at consignment sales) and he chose to be a dragon for this event. Here is the front of his cute little dragon:And here is the back:Owen was put to shame, though, by his friend Hannah Grace who came as their shared favorite hero, Buzz Lightyear. Debbi, her mommy, somehow found this outfit and I am questioning whether or not to forgive her. Look at Owen's admiration. To be emotionally drop-kicked like that- and by a GIRL, no less! I think he managed to get over it, though.

We have 3 more Halloween events, believe it or not. We've got Trunk or Treating at Jason's parents church on Friday night, a family party on Saturday afternoon and an adult party on Saturday night. You'll have to keep posted to see what the Dunhams will show up as next!

On the Road Again

Okay, I'm going to demystify work travel for you. In case you don't travel, here's a breakdown of my normal travel day.

Midnight last night: Look at itenerary one more time and realize that my flight leaves at 6:25 instead of 8:37. I'd been looking at the time my connection flight LANDS in Charlotte. Thank the Good Lord that I looked at it again, but that left me with FOUR HOURS to sleep!

4:00 am: Wake up with eyes completely pasted shut and stumble into the shower.

5:00 am: Leave for the airport

5:30 am: Super happy to find great parking at Huntsville International in the parking decks vs. the back lot!

5:40 am: Check in and have to pay $40 for checking 2 bags. What is this world coming to? (They also charged $2 for drinks on the planes! This was US Air in case you're wondering.)

5:45 am: Find breakfast #1 at the airport and cave in and buy coffee. I usually don't drink coffee. I prefer a chai latte, but they don't have that. The lady makes me something special and the other men in line are laughing at with me because I kept asking her questions about the concoction she was whipping up for me. It was drinkable and not completely yucky, so I didn't care!
6:25 am: Take off for Charlotte, NC (nobody next to me in the seats) and see the MOST AMAZING sunrise I think I've ever seen. The sun was absolutely red and streaking! Wow! It was awesome. Like the brush strokes of God. OK- a little too poetic there, but I was thinking that in my early morning haze.

6:45 am: Fall asleep on plane despite the coffee.

8:50 am (eastern time): Land in Charlotte and go in search of breakfast #2 because it feels like I have just woken up again.

9:30- 11:00 am: Read book sitting alone in the airport while drinking Starbucks Chai and eating a scone. Starbucks Chai definitely better than crazy concoction from 5:00 am, but still not Angel's Island- the best in Huntsville!

11:20 am: Board 2nd flight to Orlando on a huge plane. Read book and don't even talk to the person next to me (quite unlike me- surely I'm very tired). Then I fall asleep again. Movement knocks me out.

1:00 pm: Land in Orlando and start the trek to find my bags.

1:30 pm: Decide to get rental car first because bags are not coming. Turned out to be a great decision. Bags arrived right when I got back to the belt- thingy.

2:00 pm: Make it to car with bags in tow and am delightfully surprised at my "2 door economy car"!

But, still starving despite 2 breakfasts.

2:30 pm: Get Wendy's en route to hotel. My weakness is a #7 combo (homestyle chicken-that's right- fried)- always with only ketchup, pickles, lettuce and mayo. I ate every single fry (always with honey mustard) and drank every bit of fully loaded Coke. How's that for nutrition?

3:00 pm: Find hotel and start to unload and find boxes to get ready for show. A nice man at the hotel takes my four boxes to my booth at the show! Then he finds me (as I was fishing through my wallet for a tip for him) and tells me that the hotel charges $5/ box for delivery! He literally took them 100 feet!!! Needless to say, I quit fishing for a tip. Apparently, he's getting paid well!

4:00 pm: Finish setting up for show and go up to room do a little work, then crash while watching the Olsen twins on Oprah. I hate it when I fall asleep and actually want to see something!

5:45 pm: Came down to lobby for free wi-fi. It costs $10.95 a day in the room! Isn't that crazy?

I'm probably going to go get dinner by myself and go to bed early so I can get up and be perky and fun tomorrow. I ambitously even packed work out clothes. (These will be needed to make up for 2:30 pm.)

And I forgot to mention that I've also been on the phone/ been e-mailing most of the day intermittantly for work. This is the life, huh?

Now, when I worked at the Space Center and traveled ALL THE TIME, it was REALLY exhausting. I travel on a plane about 2 x a year now, so I'm trying to look at this as a nice little respite.

I miss my boys, though. All 3 of them.

Since (until midnight) I thought that I would be at home this morning to pick out the kids clothes, I didn't lay any out for them last night. I asked Jason what he dressed them in this morning and he said he just got clothes from the clean laundry baskets. I washed all their clothes before I left, so that means he sent them to pre-school in clothes that they had already worn once this week! He said that he knew that, but that those clothes were a sure bet because he knew they fit and that I approved of them. How can you argue with that logic? I hope their teachers know that I'm out of town. The kids are out of school tomorrow because of parent teacher conferences (I have ours rescheduled for next week). Jason is taking the day off and says that he might be brave enough to take them to a museum... or at least the train table at Barnes and Noble.

Here are some pics Jason just sent me from dinner. Looks like Harris is eating peas and Owen is eating broccoli?? Way to go, Superdad!!Alright, I'm going to try to stay awake for my favorite indulgence tonight, but with the Eastern time against me, I don't know if I'll make it. How do people live on this side of the country?

Thankfully I'll be headed back to a normal time zone and regular life on Saturday!

Ollie's 3 year stats

Back to the doctor today. This was for Ollie's 3 year check up. I know that his birthday was 2 months ago, but apparently when you call around the actual birthday to make an appointment, the best they can do is 2 months later. (When the kids are sick are there are shots that need to be given by a certain time they get in really quickly, though.)

Ollie is 41 inches tall- 3 ' 5"- 97% on the growth chart

weighs 47 pounds- yes, that's right- greater than 99%- which is a nicer way to say, "off the chart"

And the doctor said he is the size of an average 5 year old.

I think he's right on track since last year Dr. Patz told us he was the size of an average 4 year old.

Here is my big man at his end of the year soccer party. He was so proud of his trophy!

And little Henry went with us today since he's been waking up from nap screaming the past couple of days. I don't know what his deal is, but I was secretly hoping it was an ear infection so that it would be something. You know what I mean? Thankfully, I guess, it was nothing. I think this is about the 5th time in his short life that I've paid my $25 co-pay to have him checked for an ear infection. Ollie had several that we didn't know about and caused hearing issues and speech delays, so I'm a little gun-shy. Better safe than sorry, I guess. Apparently he has a molar coming in that causing him some pain, so that's probably the reason.

Here's my little man with his first taste of cotton candy this Saturday.
I'm off to sunny Orlando for a few days. I've got to attend/ speak at a conference there and unfortunately won't get out of the hotel, most likely. Hopefully I'll be able to update the bloggy blog, but if not, I'll be sure to post some pictures of mis-matched children and pizza for dinner from my absence. Just kidding, Jas. You are a wonderful daddy. I'm sure there will nothing but organic salads and home made soups eaten here while I'm gone...

Knock, Knock. Who's There? Jehovah's Witnesses...

I guess you're thinking, "Jehovah's Witnesses who?", right?

First of all, let me tell you that I'm a good Suuthun girl. I learned at my momma's knee that you shouldn't discuss religion or politics in polite company. But, since I know most of y'all aren't all that polite, I'm making an exception.

Today, while I was cleaning my house (supposed to be working, but my home is my office, so I rationalized that I was cleaning my office), I heard the door bell ring. Usually it's FedEx or UPS, so I just went about my biness. But, then I heard knocking, so I went to see who it was. It was a man and a woman with big smiles. I talked through the glass door at first and then opened the door to take their tract. I only talked to the woman. Here's the convo:

Me: Hello.
JW: Hi. We're just talking to the people in your neighborhood about Jesus today.
Me: Thanks. We're Christians.
JW: Yes, most people in this neighborhood are (this should be assuring to me, but she says it in a way that makes me a little uncomfortable), but we've got some more information that could be of interest to you.
Me: What church are you with?
JW: JW
Me: Oh, well we're Methodists and pretty active, strong and confident in our faith.
JW: Well take a look at this and look up some of these verses listed. I think you'll find some great information in the Bible.
Me: Thanks.

Door close.

OK, so here are my issues.
I've never known what to say to people who knock at your door trying to tell you about their religion. Most of the time, I know that I don't agree with them. Not because they are going door to door (can anybody say Great Commission?), but because religions that do this are different than mine. I wish I had some apologetic training. I've taken a couple of courses about different religions, but I don't have that info committed to memory (I've had 2 kids in the past 3 years and have traded show-and-tell guidelines, shoe sizes and bottle schedules in my memory for the subtle differences in the Buddism and Taoism religions). Maybe I should have actually gone to Campus Outreach in college instead of making fun of it. Maybe that would have drilled some info in me about how to defend Jesus. One of my many college regrets...

Next, in the "What Would Jesus Do" thought process, He would probably invite them in and talk extensively about God, Himself, etc. I have always, ALWAYS closed the door. I had a friend who said her husband talked with them and asked them to come back later and they did and had a long conversation. He listened politely and then explained his position. I think they just agreed to disagree. My gut reaction is to be offended (Can't they SEE my church magnet on my car in the driveway?? They've got no business here! I'm taken!). Why is that? It's totally not what Jesus would do.

Finally, as I referred to earlier, should I be doing what they're doing? It always makes me question what I'm doing daily to further God's kingdom. This lady is going door to door. Now, I don't agree with what she's selling (I really like Christmas- even if Jesus was born around 5 A.D.), but at least she's out there getting after it. And if she's the only one out there, then that means she might get more people on her side than I will on my side. Hmph. I know that your life is your witness, but my witness today was scrubbing tubs and toilets. Do it all to the glory of God, right?

So, all you preachers out there (I know you're out there- Kim, Sherill), what should us nice, house- cleaning Methodists say?

And, everybody else, what do you do when folks are knocking on your door selling a way to God that you don't agree with (I hate ending a sentence with a preposition)?

Did I mention that I had just taken off my sweater to scrub and only had on a cami, jeans and a dripping sponge in my hand? I think the JWs might have gotten a new idea or two about us crazy Methodists...
And then after she saw this:

She called child protection services. They pulled my poison control center records, so I'm history.

Hands On Truck Day

First of all, thanks to all of you for making me better about the Poison Control Center- so glad you've all called them, too!


Saturday was Hands On Truck Day at Sci-Quest. I am on the board at Ollie's pre-school and my position this year is community fundraising. So, we partnered with Sci-Quest to do this program. Since we are all about hands-on learning (and we have a bunch of families with small kids), then we made good partners! I talked about this earlier and it does take several months a little while to plan, but was totally worth it. It was a fundraiser for our school so we sold lunch, t-shirts had face painting, balloons, etc. It turned out to be a beautiful day and I am so thankful to God for that! Literally, I had been praying over October 18th for several months. If it had been raining the whole thing would have been cancelled! WOOHOO! It was beautiful (very windy and cold, but I'm not complaining)!! There were plenty of trucks there: firetrucks, concrete mixers, hum-vee, bucket trucks, SWAT van, school bus, moving van, street sweeper, 18 wheeler- about 30 trucks.

Ollie had a great time and was jumping up and down- the WHOLE time. He was so excited. It was hard to get a picture of him standing still!
Here's a picture that is kind of scary to think about if you flash forward a few years:

And little H-man hanging out:
Ollie driving the firetruck (a white one- there was a red one there, too):

And my favorite- a cute little dalmation puppy that the firemen brought. You gotta love that little hat!
So, all and all, a good time had by all. I heard a lot of compliments, so that made me feel good. I need to write some thank you notes and have a wrap up meeting, but then it will be DONE! Speaking of thank you notes, I am still working on those for Henry's birthday, too, so family- know that they are coming. I was just a little tied up with this event this week- no more 'scuses.

Hope you had a fun weekend!

1-800-222-1222

Does that number ring a bell? It should if you have kids. It's the Poison Control Center.

Ollie CLIMBED up on top of the changing table in the living room (at least 3 1/2 feet tall) and decided to use the hand sanitizer up there and then lick his hands. I peeked around the corner while I was cooking dinner and he had it all over him and had his hands IN HIS MOUTH!!!

Has anybody else read those scary e-mails where the child licks the smallest amount of hand sanitizer and dies??

Well, I called Poison Control and went through this whole rigamarole. She was getting so much information from me and part of me was thinking, please don't report me to DHR and the other part was thinking, my child could be dying and your asking my child's weight!!! (I realize that's important, but I just wanted to know something to do right away.)

So, after the quiz (including the amount that he had ingested- how am I supposed to know that?? If I would have seen him and been able to measure it then I would have STOPPED HIM!), she told me to give him some water and a snack. I was supposed to be looking for signs of drowsiness or dizziness (like not being able to walk straight). She was actually very nice after the formalities and said she'd call me back in an hour.

Sure enough, she called back right in an hour and said if he hadn't experienced any symptoms in that hour (which he hadn't), then he was fine. Whew! Thank goodness!

Now, what am I supposed to do with my little climbing monkey? I think that changing table could have fallen on him which would have been much more harmful. And now we have to hide that great hand sanitizer that we stole in massive quantities from the hospital when Henry was born (that's right- it's lasted us at least a year).

Geesh. Always an adventure around here. Sometimes I might like a nice boring night.

Halloween Candy

I bought it WAY too early this year. I thought that it would be nice to have some candy for all those people who were visiting this weekend. I even bought a cute little ghost dish at Target. But all those people left and all the stinkin' candy is STILL here. I think the ghost is laughing at me now. Ugh.

I got my favorites: a bag of the square caramel things (although they taste more plastic-y than they did when I was a child), a bag of mixed candy corn and a mixed bag of snickers, twix, dark milky way and regular milky way. Who can walk past that every day? I might as well just stick them in my back pocket because that's where they'll permanently affix, but instead I shove them down my throat. And I tell myself that it's a reward. I don't know why I don't know by now that it's a punishment. I only remember that when I'm jumping into my jeans in the morning.

Here's my thought process: "I made it through the morning without one piece, so I can have just one piece after lunch. Well, that's just the tiniest little twix I ever did see, so I think 2 would be appropriate for a proper reward."

Et cetera. You get the point.

And I forgot that I also bought those caramel Hershey's kisses. Can you tell I love caramel? I took those to our youth group Sunday night, though, so most of those were eaten... by me... and I let the kids have a few.

So, when is the best time to buy Halloween candy? I don't think they run out of candy near Halloween, do they? The aisles are overflowing with those orange and black crates full of yumminess.

What is your favorite candy? And is there one that you would put back in the bag for your sister (or brother)? And didn't you hate it when people gave you things like apples and raisins? Who were those people, anyway? Do you buy "good" candy for other kids? Or the cheapie mix with the breakable smartie- wanna-bes and suckers that fall off the stick? There's a reason that package is $4.00 and the others are $7.

Fess up. What are your Halloween candy indulgences?

I made it through this post without a piece of candy, so I'd better go back upstairs and get a treat!

Henry's First Day at MSH

I can't believe it's finally here! A HUGE day for mommy! The kiddos have to be 12 months old to get into the program at our pre-school and Henry has finally made it.
HENRY AND OLLIE ARE AT THE SAME PRE-SCHOOL!!! PRAISE THE LORD!! I can't tell you how nice it is to have one place, one code to enter the building, one school newsletter, one set of school pictures, lunch guidelines, etc. Not to mention the driving time (was 45 min- now 20) and gas!!

Here is a picture of Henry on his first morning on Monday:

OK- I know this picture isn't impressive, but it's outside agaist the wall- not a very photogenic place. But each classroom has it's own playground, so this is the young toddler playground (there is a beautiful garden on the other side of that fence).

This is a much better picture of the area. I took this on Ollie's birthday when I stayed late to help with the celebration. This is Ollie's playground (adjacent to Henry's) and those aren't clouds in the background, those are the mountains. It's really beautiful!

And just for kicks, here's a picture of Ollie on his first day at MSH. I put them in the same shirt on purpose- a good luck charm, I guess.

And if you think they might look alike, here is a picture of both of them on their first birthday.

You'll definitely be able to tell they're brothers!

Today (Tuesday), I took Henry into his classroom first and Ollie pitched a fit when we left for his bro-ver. "Where Henry??" (not so cute in a whiny voice). Anyway, it was semi-sweet and he was concerned that we were just LEAVING him somewhere! Ollie's teachers told him that he could go visit him during the day if he wanted to. He didn't- I'm sure he forgot all about him- but he did ask where he was as soon as he saw me. Apparently in Ollie's mind he is a permanent fixture on my hip!

Henry is adjusting well and loves his teachers and new friends. Hoorah!! Mommy has a tiny bit more of sanity! I'll take every ounce I can get!

Hide and Seek

Guess where I found Ollie??

Whirlwind Saturday

We had to cram a lot of things in on Saturday. First (at 8:00 am to be precise), I met Melissa at her studio to take in studio birthday shots of Harris. She has done all our shots and is amazing. I'll be sure to post a link to Harris's pics when I get them.

Then the rest of the family met us there at 8:30. When Owen was one, we decided to do pictures with us and both sets of grandparents. I don't have a picture with both my grandparents and always thought that would be neat, so now it's a mandatory thing on the first birthday. (Feel free to borrow that idea- we've loved it!). So, this year we all wore black shirts and blue jeans. Here are a few shots from the "shoot". I don't want to give too much away because this is totally our Christmas card, too! (I'll combine anything.)

Moving the sofa out to the middle of the woods:

Many a grandparent available to hold children! It was so nice!Then, Harris and I left to go home for his nap and for my cooking of lunch. The rest of the family went to Owen's soccer game. Jason said it was a black out for his soccer team.

Here is my table decor that I was a little proud of. I got the gourds at Target (I think) and just sliced a space in them for the namecards. I got the pumpkin stamp and ink, placecards and sparkly gourd picks that I placed on top of the napkin at Hobby Lobby. Then I finally found some orange placemats and matching napkins at Bed, Bath & Beyond (they were seasonal- up at the front).

So, lunch for 15 was served! I ordered bread bowls from Publix (just order 1 lb. loaves of bread at the bakery and then cut open the top and dig out most of the bread- great for snacking!) and served chili (recipe on the side bar) and a big salad. Of course we had birthday cake (from Publix) for dessert and Harris loved his! He was literally in elbow deep!

Owen had a great time playing with our nephew Gavin who is 6. Owen thinks he is SO cool! He calls him "Gaffin". Pretty cute. You like how we put the kids near the wine rack?? Only the best for our children...Then Harris got to play with all his birthday toys. This isn't one of them, but I am pretty proud that he is riding it! It was one of Owen's presents on his first birthday...Harris did get a Pottery Barn Kids chair that his Nana and Grandpa have given all their grandchildren. He loves it and was sitting in it again tonight!I refused to take off the cute birthday outfit for pictures even though it was clearly smeared with icing. So, we all collapsed that afternoon and didn't do anything until Sunday after nap time! Really!! We were all in pjs all day! It was wonderful to recover!!

Henry's One Year Stats

Look at this noggin'. It's big, but it's pretty cute!

Before I forget them, here are Henry's one year stats from our trip to the doc today:

25 lbs, 12 oz.- 85th %

31 in - 87th %

?mm head circumference- something in the 40's- 90th %

Ollie was never on the actual chart, so I know that Henry is a bit smaller than Ollie was, but he is super healthy! Praise the Lord!

And our poor little guy got 5 shots today (one was his second dose of the flu shot). It's always so hard holding them down for those. You know they have special shot people and the doctor is never in the room when they give the shots? It's so that the kids don't associate the shot with the doctor. Did anyone ever think that the kid might associate the shot with the mom pinning him down??? Just an idea.

Alright, off to clean my house- which I'm sure I'll be doing most of the day tomorrow, too. My mom and dad, my sister and nephew and all Jason's family (4 adults, 1 teenager and 2 babies) are all coming over for lunch on Saturday. We're having chili in bread bowls. I'll have to share my easy chili recipe. It's from Southern Living, so you know it's good, but this one is actually really easy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HENRY!

Henry is ONE today!! Holy Cow! When did that happen??

We had a wonderfully normal and fun day today. It rained most of the morning and Becca is babysitting for us this week while the kids are out of school for fall break. Ollie loves her (and all teenage girls) and I do, too (not the teenage girl part)! She and Cooper (our regular babysitter) are good friends and Cooper is out of town, so I'm so glad Becca could help all this week.

After Jason got home today we went to the park since it finally dried up after lunch.
Here's my big one year old swinging- his favorite thing:

Here's his 33 year old daddy being an idiot fun-loving, as usual, with his superman swinging.
How can you not love these cuties?
Alright, it's confession time. Here is Henry LEGALLY facing forward in his car seat. He has been ILLEGALLY facing forward in his car seat for six weeks since our trip to Kentucky at the end of August. It's so different with your second child. I always said it wouldn't be... but it is.
And then cake after dinner, of course! This is leftover cake from Ollie's birthday (in the freezer, people, of course). Refer to the last statement about your second child if you are thinking that you would never do such a thing.
We will have Henry's real party on Saturday with all our family in town. I promise I'll get him his own cake then.

I haven't posted a video in a while, so here is a fun one of us singing to Henry tonight after dinner. Be sure to listen to the dog howling and you can't miss Ollie.

Happy Birthday, Henry! You are a precious child of God and we are so thankful to have you in our lives!!

Where does your story be in?

I love Hobby Lobby. If you don't have one in your town, well, you should move. It's that simple.

At Hobby Lobby, they have all kinds of decor, baskets, frames, floral, etc... They also have weekly sales on about every other thing and then they have a sale on the other portions the next week. This week wall decor is on sale and I found the cutest vinyl wall sayings that you can apply yourself. A girl at my table on my Emmaus walk sold this stuff, so I learned more about it, then. But, these were already done for you and looked so great (and did I mention they were 50% off?)! I wish I had space over my kids' beds (both have windows and curtains) because they have awesome sayings/ quotes/ Bible verses for kids' rooms.

It is NOT easy to put up, but I was so proud of myself to get it up there evenly. This morning, I walked downstairs to find this:

So, Home is where our story be ins... what about yours?

We have laughed so hard at this all day. I mentioned several times that I'm going to take off the u and r in your so it would say, "the place yo story be ins". Kind of like a Toyota truck that just says "yo".

I'm just glad I didn't step on the "g" that was on the floor this morning. I glued it up there tonight. I'm sure the next owners of this home will be thrilled.

You'd think I'd be Super Mom for this...

In my spare time (I hope you're laughing), I'm working with a group to put together Hands-On Truck Day at Sci-Quest this year. So, we had a photo shoot on Monday morning and guess who's kids get in photo shoots? The kids of the mommies who are doing all the work!

Here are my 2 little future fireman:


Ollie talked about the firetruck ALL day yesterday and they got to play on it for about 30 minutes, so it was a lot of fun for them.


The reason that this didn't get posted last night is because I got sucked into watching the real supermom:

I can't put my finger on it, but I am ENTHRALLED with the Duggar family. You can't really click there for more photos, but you can click here for their website with all their info. Apparently the Duggars now have a 30 minute show on TLC. Does happy even describe my joy? NO!!
I have watched and TiVoed every show that they have and they are just great. I don't aspire to have that many children, but I love their story and I love learning how they do it.

They are super fundamental Christians and all their children are very well rounded for being in the spotlight for so long. She homeschools all 17 of her children and has one more on the way! I don't even completely agree with all their interpretations of Christian faith (long hair and skirts only for girls, no kissing until your wedding day, etc), but I do appreciate them and how well they represent themselves. I love seeing Godly people on TV- even if they are to this extreme.

I do think people will make fun of them, but it's a positive show on TV, so their can't be too much wrong with it. It's along the lines of John and Kate plus 8 (another of my favorites), but much more wholesome- John and Kate are more realistic to my actual life... with only 2 children! This past sentence struck through in 2009 when no one would want to claim their lives similar to J & K.

Which is Scarier?

The baby or the pumpkin?