Carving pumpkins, giving thanks

Our last week has been filled with fall traditions and spending precious time with family. Grandma went to the Kingdom last Friday, and we had services for her Monday and Tuesday. It was so great to see everyone and celebrate her life. The pastor's message yesterday was titled 'Giving Thanks for Nothing". We should remember to thank God that NOTHING separates us from His love. This reminded me of how grandma taught me to also be thankful for EVERYTHING! For example, when we found a parking spot, she would say "Thank you Lord for this great parking spot!" She truly knew how to be thankful in everything and for everything! We love and miss you grandma, thank you for who you are and your legacy in our family!







Tommy and Olivia carved our pumpkin this weekend! Olivia drew on it first, and then daddy helped her cut it out! We have it sitting on the front porch and the kids snuggle up in blankets right in front of the door to watch it!




While playing dress up I let Olivia play with my veil. I haven't let her play with my wedding dress yet, but won't be long I am sure. She is such a princess! SO you would thinks he would want to be a princess for halloween? Instead she wants to be a cat. Go figure.




Snuggling up!



I love fresh apples! Olivia does too, Logan on the other hand, must have some serious texture issues because he love applesauce but not the apple itself. We are off to the orchard tomorrow to get more apples! I NEVER get tired of picking fresh apples!

When will I learn???

Olivia is very busy making her birthday party invitations (birthday not until November 21st)... everyday.... new invitations... along with daily updates in her journal, and a couple updated Christmas lists. You get the picture, we spend alot of time at the table with crayons and markers doing alot of very important work. Logan loves to join us and now really loves to color too! This morning I left the room leaving a seated Logan coloring quietly. Why on earth would I think he would stay there and color until I got back? When will I learn?

Here is the before.....

And the after..... That's right! MARKER tatoo!!!!

Sidenote: Mommy confession - I found a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in the fridge. Tommy must have brought it in from the car (he took Olivia to her FAVORITE place yesterday, you all know the place right?) There was only 1 left. Could I have split it for the kids? Yes. Could I have said "Look what daddy brought for you?" and watched the excited look on their faces? Yes. But instead, this mommy, who is honestly having a very rough week, decided to sneak off and enjoy it all to myself. It was the perfect pick-me-up at the end of a long week! I will take the kids for ice cream later.... this just became an expensive indulgence. (smile)

8 Things

I got tagged by Jamie and I too am going to be able to only come up with 4 things! Thanks for the tag Jamie! This is fun!

4 Things that happened yesterday
1. Took the kids to the library
2. Went to a meeting at church
3. Skipped doing laundry
4. Tommy came home!!!

4 Favorite places to eat
1. Qudoba
2. Sullivan's
3. Puccini's
4. Eagle's Nest

4 TV shows I love to watch
1. Samantha Who?
2. 90210 (ugh, I know!)
3. Survivor
4. My Boys

4 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Spring vacation with Tommy
2. Olivia's birthday
3. Putting up our Christmas tree
4. Pacer game with Tommy tomorrow night

4 Things on my wish list
1. 7-8 passenger vehicle
2. New digital camera
3. Bigger home (someday, right now our home is perfect for us!)
4. Cruising the French Riviera

People I tag:
1. Susie
2. Kerri
3. April

What do they make these days????

I have a question and I really need feedback. How much do you pay your babysitters when you go out for the night? We have had the LUXURY of having Tommy's parents as our primary babysitters. But there are times when they are not available or times when the adults of the family want to go out for a dinner, etc. So I am curious, I know rates have gone up since I was 10, but how much? Can you all give me some ideas on what to pay someone? Thanks a bunch!

Charlie and Lola

Olivia and Logan love Charlie and Lola, a cute British cartoon. We recently rented one of the DVD's from the library, and one of the episodes is about planting a seed and watching it grow. Olivia has been so excited! She has been playing in the dirt, and we planted an apple seed and she can't wait to pick the apples (smile). I love the accents that Charlie and Lola have, too cute. I am cracking up because Olivia has picked up some of their sayings. She now pronounces the word "vase" with a short 'a'. Also, she ate an apple with her lunch and we dug out the seeds. She said "Can I put these in water and then I can look after them" I laughed right outloud, "look after them" too funny!

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch today! It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we tried to arrive early to avoid some of the crowd. The kids had a ball, we rode the little train, visited the little farm they have and walked through the pumpkin patch. Then Olivia led us on one of the trails around the pond and back to pick out apples (you don't pick them at this orchard). She also picked out a pumpkin, she and daddy are decorating it as we speak! (I can't wait to get a new camera, ours is soooo slow! By the time the camera is ready, the kids have moved on to something else!)

Good Qualities...

Today at mom's group we were encouraged to come up with adjectives to positively describe our kids. I was surprised that it took me a minute to come up with more than just, "fun", "loving" and "kind". It seems like as we go through the (sometimes long) days, the not so good qualities our kids are exhibiting can stand out more clearly than the wonderful, positive qualities. SO I am making a list for each of my kiddos and am putting it on the fridge as a CONSTANT reminder, that even if we are in the middle of a fit, I can remember the good, positive things about my precious kids.

Olivia: Creative, energetic, loving, playful, encouraging, ticklish, kind, always singing, loves to laugh, polite.

Logan: Loving, great hug-giver, courageous, spontaneous, independent, snugly, happy, funny, smart.

This is just a start, I intend to add to the list as I observe more great qualities in Olivia and Logan.

Museum, the Sweeper and "Nothing to do"

Hi all! I feel like I have been a bad blogger! We had a busy weekend, but I am back now!!!

Last night (Sunday) we attended a party hosted by National (distributor for Easley Wine) at the Children's Museum. It was so fun! Turns out it was a costume party for the kids, we didn't know, so our kids were not dressed up. Ironically, Olivia went to church in her Cinderella costume and rainbow striped tights. Had she worn that to the museum, we would have been in costume! Although, it isn't a costume for her, it is everyday attire. (These pics are from Tommy's phone, because I thought that not being in costume was not enough, so I forgot the camera too.)

I love it when Olivia volunteers to help around the house! Today she asked if she could help me vacuum, and I was happy to have the help! She vacuumed the cold air return and was ready to do more! So off to her room we went! Needless to say, her room is clean now! Yippee! (I must calm down now, in 20 minutes it will be a mess again, smile). I post about this because I want to remind you, sis, of your willingness to help. My parents did that alot as we were teenagers, "You used to LOVE to do the dishes!!!!" Guilt is a good motivator in the teen years!!!! HA!

Also, I want to add this for Logan, he LOVES the play with the sweeper! He pushes it around, watching the wheels, and when I turn it on he comes running!!!

Olivia is not ready to let go of summer. Her favorite activity right now is to play outside (during Logan's naptime, of course, because he "would mess up my stuff"). She loves to "water her plants" which entails filling bottles or cups with dirt, adding water and pretending they are plants. It was 80 degrees today so I even turned on the hose, she was a muddy mess, but had a good time!

Quote of the day:

Me: "I wonder why Logan is fussing right now"

Olivia: "I think he doesn't have anything to do, I feel like that sometimes too"

Playlist and Grandma

Not sure if anyone noticed, but my playlist is here one day and gone the next. Our speakers are currently broken so I took it off awhile ago since I can't hear it anyway, and can't really add/change things without listening.

I put it back on for today, with Healing Rain by Michael W. Smith as the first song. My mom gave Brad and I the honor of choosing a song for our Grandma M's funeral. (That way mom could just log on to hear my song) Grandma M. is not doing well, so this may be soon, it may not. I pray each day for her peace and comfort, she is such a neat lady. I feel like we JUST went through this with Grandma W. That was March, feels like yesterday. I can't believe it has been almost 7 months. I know that this is all part of life, but it stinks. I am very close to both of my grandma's and it is hard that one is gone and the other may be soon. I am so thankful for wonderful memories given to me by both of my grandma's and I am so glad that God chose me to be their granddaughter.

"Daddy knows the way to Africa, right?"

Olivia has really gotten interested in money (coins) for her piggy bank. It is a rather large piggy bank and she is feeling the need to fill it up. While at Gigi's over the weekend, she cleaned out her money jar. I told her that the brown coins (pennies) are the best and she may not want the silver ones (there were lots of quarters!). So she came home with all of her money, and she and Logan filled the piggy bank.

Olivia's need/want to fill the bank has been increasing as the days of this week have passed. After her 25th question "Mommy, do you have any money for my bank?" I said: "Let me show you something." I brought her to the computer and we logged onto the Feed the Children website. I showed her the video clips of the kids who don't have enough food, live in shacks, and often have sick mom's (mostly AIDS), I explained that they have to drink from rivers and it makes them sick, and they don't have dr's or medicine. I explained that we need to send them money so we can help them. She was all for it, when it was our (mom and dad's) money. So I further explained that God wants us to give to those in need and that she should share her money. She agreed but wanted to know how much she had to share. (I thought, ok, this is going to require lots of explanation and I prayed that God would show me how to teach her).

Over the next few days, we continued to talk about the kids from Africa. She has even asked to watch the video clips. While leaving the grocery store with our trunk full of groceries (this mommy is being reminded how blessed we are too) she wanted to talk about the kids.

Olivia: "I know what we should do for the kids in Africa"
Me: "Oh good, lets hear your idea!"
Olivia: "We should buy water at the store, not for us, but for the kids, and take it to them. Daddy can drive us, I have never been there, he knows the way to Africa, right?"

So sweet, she is "getting it", the need to help others, and at the same time, thinks her daddy can do anything. So sweet!

Yesterday was her first "test". Daddy promised to bring her a dollar after work. All he had was a $5. When she came to show me her new "dollar", this frugal mommy, said "Wow, how would you like to have 2 dollars?" So I quickly swiped her $5 for 2 $1's. Then I said "Lets remember the kids, do you want to share your money with them?" She looked at me for a minute, and finally handed over one of her dollars. (Good girl Sis!)

I am SO eternally thankful that I was born in this country with so much, and that my kids have food, clean water, clothes and health care. I have become overwhelmed many times this week as we taught Olivia about giving.

Mom shared this quote with me:

"I am astonished at the poverty of your wealth"

Mother Theresa speaking about our country.

This mommy now has a new quote:

There is just so much more that we as a nation can do for others around the world.

I believe it starts with educating not only ourselves but our children.

Wonderfully Blessed in Indianapolis