ridin' the train

More fun at the Pumpkin Patch...

Audrey-girl was ready to go solo.

('Cause she's a BIG GIRL!!)

Owo, Peanut, and Kylee preferred a little company on their rides.  Also I'm completely heartbroken to have no picture of Mason.  (Katie what were you thinking??)

I have no explanation for this.  I don't even know what's happening here.  Don't judge...It's quite possible I was coping with a leg cramp, or a foot cramp, or a body cramp.  

Or something.

Happy Trails!

little adventures

Approximately a zillion years ago we gathered to celebrate Noodle's birthday and eat kettle corn.  I had intended to post pictures at least half-a-zillion years ago but it just has. not. happened.  It's in posterity's best interest for me to get this done...

I surely don't want to look back on the fall of 2012 and feel all bad for us because we didn't have any VERY BIG FUN!

P.S. I didn't even have a camera, so these pictures are all from Katie (Thanks Kate!) and a bit all over the place.  Actually, if truth be told, there were so many pictures to choose from that I have decided to split them up.  The first pictures are way back here.

I anticipate completing this particular personally-assigned assignment someday.


What?  Someday is good, don't ya think?

Happy Tuesday :)

warm hugs and leaves raining down

So I've finished work for the moment and thought I jot down a few things before we lose power for days or weeks or the rest of our lives, depending on which TWC reporter is on at the moment.

(Did that sound a little mean and/or sarcastic?  I intended neither meanness nor sarcasm.)



Today was a great day and a weird day and also an emotional day.

Is there a better kind of day for us human types to live?  All filled up with, well, feelings?
SO BLESSED, we are.



Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
 



multicolored leaves raining down

the little "fairy" attending Sunday worship

warm hugs

fresh sheets

hot pasta on a breezy Sunday

pumpkin candles

surprises that change everything

hearing him sing

the camera that took these pictures and the friend who shared the camera

the scent of wet leaves

bundled-up baby boys

watching her in the choir

unplanned visits with them in their PJ's, and sharing my pizza, and snuggling tight

(A Thousand Gifts 1215-1228)

Happy Monday :)

redeemed

"He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I will live to enjoy the light."
Job 33:28

best laid plans

In honor of my long-awaited vacation I thought I would share a few pictures...

...of where I am not.


sigh.

I would say something like dern hurricane!, but that would be an example of some ungrateful cussin.'


So I won't. 


Instead I'll just suggest we all make a great weekend wherever we find ourselves :)

a different tradition wouldn't be the worst thing in the world

So I left the house yesterday.  

And yes, that is noteworthy.  It doesn't seem to matter where home is; I inevitably like to stay there!


That being said, as much as I like home I don't hate getting in the car and schlepping to the vicinity of the mall for a bit.  (Especially when the weather is as nice as it's been lately!)  Yesterday's big adventure involved a visit with the eye doctor with the accompanying confirmation that six years is long enough to wear the same pair of glasses.  (That's one of my specialties, you know, sticking with what I already have for approximately three years longer than I should.)


After finishing up with Doc D I headed on to Ross Dress For Less to amble around and chat with Katie and Owo on the phone for a bit while shoppers stared, and then I rounded out the day at my Happy Place, aka Target.  I might or might not have wandered around for an hour or two, looking at I-have-no-idea-what and sipping on their dependably-good fountain Pepsi on ice.  


And then I came home.  

And went to work.

And massaged my temples dramatically as I moped about my headache.


...And tucked two little boys with very good report cards into bed.

The midday calm before last year's doggone storm

I might also have deliberated with Donna about our burning question of the day, which would be this:   

Exactly what is the acceptable level of gale-force-windy-ness??  

Our long-awaited, mini-vacation is this weekend, just in time for what has apparently been dubbed "Frankenstorm."

sigh.

Can you even believe it?  Another trip and we are again considering things like The Cone of Uncertainty.  We're completely fine with rain and wind and un-beachy weather because I do not have to log into my place of employment for several days in a row which does not happen often.  

However, I am a fan of  neither beachy evacuations nor power outages. 

It's all vacation-y fun and games until the cable goes out and you can't watch 37 episodes in a row of NCIS, and then things can turn ugly in a hurry.   

We're supposed to hit the road bright and early Saturday morning, so we have another day to think about it until we can stand to think no longer.  Donna's determined to embrace the adventure, and I myself love a good story to tell the kiddies, but still, the question.   

How hard can the wind blow before we would need to hide under the bed?  


This is not a rhetorical exercise, so please feel free to share your two cents.



It's FRIDAY, y'all...let's make it a good one!

who knew?

Some day, and this is a fact, I'll get back to my mindless rambling and irrelevant observations, but apparently today is still not that day.  


Today will be more more pictures of him!  
(It can't be helped.)

 

Who knew baby boys were so very yummy?
 

...and here's what I want to know...

 

 How come you never told me?




Happy Thursday :)

hold

on pink and being four

Last Friday Kari & I loaded up Baby Peanut & headed to Carolina to attend a very important event. Noodle's veryspecial Pinkalicious birthday celebration!

It was such a sweet time filled with little girls in pink and their best bud Brandon.  

(Brandon was not in pink.)

(Owen also, not in pink.) 

Katie made all manner of adorable treats, and there was pizza and cupcakes and tasty drinks with fun straws.  And milk for the birthday girl. 

Always milk for Babygirl.  (I'm not a baby, I'm BIGGER!)

There might have been giggles and small children running around like hooligans, and pink fingernail polish and coloring sheets and snuggles.  And all manner of happy.

In other words, BIG FUN!

Thanks for the Pinkaliciously good time, Sweet Girl.  I love you :)