Happy Birthday Matt

Yesterday was Matt's birthday. I don't think I took a single picture to document the day. I am really slacking on the picture taking lately. But anyway, I was leaving the house with the kids to go eat lunch with him and I looked down, on the garage floor, and saw this. It was so tiny I thought it was an earthworm. Then I poked it with a leaf and it raised it's head up and I could see it's little tongue hissing at me. No doubt this was a gift left to us by our cat. Thanks a lot, Aubie. I wasn't sure what to do (besides take a picture so I could post on my blog about it). Then I remembered it was my sweet husband's birthday and if there is one thing he HATES in this world it is snakes. So I grabbed the spade and wacked the little snakes head off. Happy Birthday, Honey!!!

I Love Fall

I just love Fall!!! Maybe it's the beautiful colors. Maybe it's the pumpkins. Maybe it's the food - soups and hot drinks. Or maybe I love Fall because it is the end of the God forsaken season called Summer. For whatever reason, I love Fall. So here is my post to toast Fall. The below picture is for my mom. This is what you see when you look out my kitchen window. While my mom was here she said, in a few weeks you will have a beautiful view. She was right and since she isn't here to see it I thought I would post a picture. Just think, if one season can be so beautiful, what will heaven be like? I can't wait to see it.Honestly, I have been a bit surprised at how cold it has already gotten. No snow YET but we had a freeze last night and tonight it is suppose to go into the 20's. So a few nights ago we had our first fire in the fireplace and a big pot of some scrumptious (EC's favorite adjective) chili.

Did I mention that I really like Fall???

God - Our Great Provider

Sorry for another post with no picture but the only picture I could think to add to this story is one of my already big belly and who really wants to see that.....NOT ME!!! So, this is pregnancy #3 and you would think with the 2 big bags of maternity clothes that I moved here with that I would be in good shape. Well, I have taken them all out and washed and sorted. Granted I have a lot of hand-me-down clothes which I have been so thankful for BUT Sunday I am trying to find something to wear and I have nothing.....NOTHING. I realized that all my clothes are stained, very dated, stretched out, have holes in them, or are too big. I was almost in tears by the time I got to church. Being pregnant is hard enough. I get big, my skin looks like the average 13 year old's and my emotions are all over the place and now I have nothing to wear and frankly can't go buy a bunch of clothes. The very next day I get a card from my sweet Mama in the mail with money inside for maternity clothes. Being the prego that I am I immediately burst into tears. I also realized that I had not even prayed about it, just worried (which is what I do). So I decided to start praying about it. Today I get a card from a couple in my church with a gift card to a maternity store. Yes, you heard me. Our God is an awesome provider. I had not said a word to anyone (except Matt) about what I needed and yet God moved in them to provide for a need that I had. Don't you just love it when that happens? I hope this has encouraged y'all like it encouraged me.

Curtain rod

OK, let me begin by saying this is one of my very random posts but it is such a good tip, I had to share it. So does anyone out there buy those 8 ft wooden curtain rods from Bed, Bath and Beyond? You know, the ones that cost $40 to $45 dollars. I have bought several in my day. After this last move I lost all my curtain rods because leaving them was part of the sale. Well, I was watching one of my favorite shows, Designed to Sell, the other night and they said you could buy an unfinished rod at the hardware store for $10. I couldn't believe it. So I headed to Lowe's (which I could spend forever just walking around) and found the "rods" in the lumber section. They were back with the crown molding and hand rails for stairs. You can buy them in various lengths. I bought an 8 ft piece for $12. Then you can either stain it or spray paint it. That adds on another $2 to $5 depending on what you do. Is that not AWESOME!?! So, since I saved so much I decided I needed to get the word out to anyone else out there who spends WAY to much money on curtain rods.

"Christmas" Pictures

For those of you who are so lucky as to get a Christmas card from us, here is your preview. Yes, I already have gotten my Christmas card pictures made. If you are impressed, you are not nearly as impressed as I am with myself. I am that mom doing the mad scramble mid December trying desperately to snap just 1 good shot of the kids in a cute outfit in the back yard or in front of the tree. This year, being way past due for some family pictures, I decided to take them with Christmas cards in mind. I love Portrait Innovations because just when all is going bad, they some how manage to get 1 or 2 good pictures. Here were some of my favorites. Sorry the white background is not showing up good on the blog. If you want to see a larger version, just click on the picture.

Christmas CD

So EC has a CD with 2 Christmas songs on it that she needs to learn for the Christmas program at church. We have now been listening to this CD for a few weeks, 2 songs over and over and over...... you get the picture. The only thing getting me through is hearing my 2 kids sing, sometimes at the top of their lungs. One of the songs sounds like this:
Jesus, Jesus Oh what a wonderful child
Jesus, Jesus so lumpy (lowly) meek and mild......

Then Knox chimes in on the chorus:
Bory (glory), bory, bory to the newborn King

I hope I never forget these times. OK, maybe I could forget some of the things.....

Visit from my mom

I looked forward to my mom's visit for a while and now it has come and gone. We had a great time and it was wonderful having the extra help. We didn't do anything touristy except eat out a few times. Mainly we sat around and talked and played with the kids. I think it was exactly what she wanted to do. Thanks again for coming, Mom. Wish it could have been for longer.

The Andover Parade

One of my favorite things in Greenwood was the annual Christmas parade down Grand Blvd. I will probably cry the first Friday in December this year since we will not be there. But here in Andover they have what is called Greater Andover Days. It is a weekend full of activities including a parade. No, we weren't bundled up drinking hot chocolate in front of the Smith's house but it was fun just the same. We met up with the Stout family who had scored a great spot under a tree and we enjoyed the cool breeze of the morning. EC was ready and excited since she remembers the Greenwood parade and it was also one of her favorites. Knox on the other hand wasn't so sure. When the motorcycles started us off he jumped in my lap and put his hands over his ears and said "I scared." But once the parade started and he realized they were throwing candy from the floats all fear was gone. And boy do they throw a lot of candy. We came home with a big bag, Halloween came a month early as far as I'm concerned.
One of the things we always had in the Greenwood parade was a really big tractor (or whatever it was. I never was good with the names of farm equipment.) Well, we had tractors in this parade too.
But NEVER in my life have I seen a military helicopter in a parade. This picture does NOT do it justice. It was HUGE. Very impressive and definantly the highlight as far as I was concerned. And yes that is a very big gun the nice man waving is sitting behind and it didn't shoot out candy.