sunday

we had a typical sunday around here. we are looking for a new church to call home. we've finally decided to make that move from where i grew up to a new place to grow. we tried out one of the larger churches in town. a new friend of mine i met last weekend invited us to worship with her. the sermon really spoke to us both & the kiddos loved their sunday school classes. but, this church is huge! much bigger than we are used to.. i am excited to check out some other nearby places.


after that, we went to papaw's for lunch & playing & playing & work.

gracie made a beeline for her favorite thing at papaw's. big suprise.

ben, of course, wanted to ride on it right away too. but he was patient & waited his turn. it looks like it was well worth it.




gracie can't seem to get that trike to move.


her feet almost reach the pedals.


she's got a great big brother to help her out though.




papaw has the perfect yard for hide & seek.

there he is!




the kiddos always have a blast at papaw's playing outside. i loved it growing up & so do they.


just a swinging.



time for rest.

back home again

i had my first weekend away from my family. oh, how i missed them all so.

but it was an awesome experience for me & i am so thankful that i was able to go. the past weekend opened my heart to God & his love and forgiveness. this was what i was really needing at a low point in my life. what a blessing.

i'm back & ready to go tackle life with my loving family & God by our side.

giddy up

all gracie wants for christmas is a horse & a piggy.

a few sundays ago at papaw's, we got some of damaw's old, old, old toys out.



gracie got to take blaze for a ride.
she really liked old blaze.


the old trike that papaw fixed up for ben was a big hit too.


i didn't realize how shaggy mr. ben was getting. what a mop top!

they had a great time horsin' around at papaw's!

footy pj time!

it's footy pajama time!

i hated these things as a kid, but love it when my kiddos have them on. they just seem so cozy.


big brother & little sis are cuddled up & ready to watch a baby eistein dvd (they have been on a baby movie kick for some reason) & read some books.


daddio, hurry home. we don't like your late nights of work!! (but are very thankful you do it :) )

weekend at namaw & poppy's

we had a fun weekend at namaw & poppy's. daddy hung out with his buddies & momma got to hang out with the ladies saturday night. the kids went to a party at rocky & jane's, which is always a good time!
the kiddos got to play in some more leaves.
it's really fun when daddy is using the leaf blower!



the creek is always fun to throw rocks in & look for fish.



namaw helped gracie learn to throw a frisbee.

& poppy made sure to give her lots of hugs!

dear momma

this week has been a bit stressful around here. good stress (we closed on our land yea!) & some bad. yesterday, i was starting to lose my patience with the kiddos for no good reason. after folding the mountain of laundry on our bed last night, i was done & laid in bed.
ben came in with a letter he dictated to daddio for me (i know it looks like ben wrote it, but this is justin's penmanship).




i love my family.

with a little help

i tackled the rest of the leaves yesterday with the help of a neighbor & 2 kiddos. & gracie tackled a fear with the help of her big brother.


the kiddos were a big help with the yard & neighbor john brought out his leaf mower/vacuum and helped. i had to show a picture of that thing because it is so frickin cool. he did our side yard next to him & the area he did looks like we used a dyson on it, no debris in sight. he's a great neighbor to have; he has all the cool toys!


gracie has been afraid to go down the slide of our play gym. you can see her feet (with no shoes on, i know - bad mom) at the top of the slide as ben lands into the big pile of leaves.



with her brother behind her, she took the plunge.


& loved it!



check out ben's new do. he said he was finally ready for a haircut. his mommma thinks he's as handsome as ever!

walnuts

we spent last sunday at papaw's cracking walnuts & picking them out of their shell. we all had a turn sitting on the bucket, cracking the shells on the anvil.


miss gracie was quite the little walnut picker outer with her little screwdriver.

quite a bit of work, but we all had fun sitting around, working & talking.

all pap could talk about was walnut cookies & how delicious they are. so, me being the great granddaughter i am said we would.
monday (the next day) when we went to chemo, he asked if i made them yet. no.


finally, thursday night me & the kiddos went to work. i used this recipe here. pap advised the walnuts were a bit green, so i should cook them first. i microwaved them a bit to do the job.

into the oven they went & i couldn't wait to taste our results.... the flavor was wonderful but they were crunchy- not just a little, but break your tooth kinda crunchy. we took them up to pap's anyways with a warning to be careful.


yesterday, i noticed the big bag of cookies still sitting there. i asked him what was up with that. he told me i left the shells on. apparently, there are are supposed to pick shells out of the already shelled walnuts. waay to much work for me. i will stick with the cookies in the tube for now.

come on guys!

let's get it together & win the world series for papaw!


he has his sign out & everything. my grandma handmade this sign for him in '93 & suprised him with it in the yard when he got home from work. he is still so proud of it. i've had the honor of adding some of the years on the sign. i'm pretty high up on his list :).

why did the chicken cross the road??

uh, duh.. to get some halloween candy!

the other night gracie & i were looking at some of my favorite blogs & she fell in love with this little guy's chick costume.
"me bock bock" she'd say.
"no, you're a choo-choo train." i'd say.
this went on till there were tears from her.
so, me having no backbone, saturday morning, we went on a search for a clearanced chicken outfit.

thank goodness for toysrus! they had one on clearance & some free goodies for halloween. she was thrilled!

& she makes a mighty cute chick i think.

the chick head didn't last long, because people would say "oh what a cute chicken."
she said,"no, me gracie!" she wanted everyone to know who she was for sure.


we visited neighbor john first & then hit the road to lori & randy's home for their annual halloween party (& their neighborhood rocks on halloween). not just candy- but hotdogs, music, hot chocolate & lots of spooks!



ben, thank goodness was still happy to be a t-rex. his costume zipper broke, so he was being held together with safety pins. he didn't mind. darby was a warrior cat & looked cute & ferocious at the same time. daddio was a dinosaur as well (check out his dollar tree hat, what a sport) & i was a butterfly (thanks for the wings, melissa!)

trick or treating was such fun. the bigger kids were leading the way & my little chick was running as fast as she could behind them. too cute.


when we got back to lori & randy's, the kiddos barely made it into the door before they dumped out their loot.



i think the kiddos had just as much fun handing out candy as they did receiving. here is ben singing "come & get your candy at lori & randy's!!" check out his dino belly hanging out.



gracie & momma handing out the goodies.


t-rex ready to ravage the bowl of candy.

hope everyone had a spooktastic halloween! now what to do with all this candy????
p.s.happy birthday, brad!