HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENNY

Happy birthday, brother! I know he doesn't read my blog but I wanted to give a shout out to my big brother. He is 43 years old today!!!

We have always gotten along really well. He is really smart but not a know it all and will go with the flow so I think that helps. He has always included me in the fun with his friends so that makes for some good times too!

This pic is made this summer at his friends house. It is the annual Forth of July shoot out. We had heard about it and whined about it until we got invited this year. It was a lot of fun, and we hope to go back next year! This is Jeff, his best friend from high school that he still sees VERY often. Jeff's daughter, Kenny, Joe and Pop at the stand.

GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT

With Mom's inspiration (and Halloween around the corner) I thought I would look at some old photos. With 3 kids, I have quite a few. I was really good for a couple of years and have them boxed and labeled. Then life took over and I don't have anything organized for the last 5 years. Lucky for me I was able to find this quick and painless. Thought you might enjoy these as much as we did! This was made from the Family Fun magazine suggestion. It was really cute and easy to do!
Straight from the pumpkin patch!
My little devil. He looks sweet enough, don't let that fool you!
Any one want to play cowboy and Indians???!!!
You can tell my boy likes to be daring. Way past the cowboy stage!

SPOOKTACULAR VIEW

Just thought you might enjoy some Halloween decorations that we viewed this weekend. Pretty cool stuff. There were sooo many more, too many to photograph but each one unique.



Naomi was always the first to jump at a photo opportunity. Levi was too busy being silly, moving on to the next. Which is your favorite? Mine is the one with the peacock feathers!

SWEET LITTLE PUNKIN FACE

Since Mamaw and Papaw grew pumpkins this year, and our wonderful trip to the pumpkin patch. We just HAD to do some painting. We are saving the big one for carving closer to Halloween but we had a great time with these. Since all my kids have had art classes I chose to purchase only the 3 primary colors and black and white. At home we found some glitter tubes and a few others but we had fun mixing and layering the paint. We all started with one but some of us ended up painting two. Mixed colored stem.
This was his second. It had several sides with lots of character.
Self expression.
Levi took the pic. You never know how they are going to turn out!
The whole family. The ones that she painted are beside her. They started out one color and ended up like this. Very creative!

NEW MOTTO

I have one of my clients to thank for these words of wisdom. She is a mother and a grandmother and still willing to learn, and share. While talking about children one day she came to me with the words of wisdom.

"We are not raising children, we are raising adults."

WOW! How simple, yet profound. I have felt like that, but never put it in those simple words. I love hearing the thoughts and ideas of others. With her permission, I share with you all her message.

SCARY SITUATION

We have been hearing about the drought all summer long. In the paper today they are putting numbers behind the message. How many days left before the lakes dry up. In Atlanta the number is approximately 100. That is unthinkable, three months to come up with a solution.

Water is something we have always taken for granted. You turn the faucet on and water comes out. You go to the store and purchase water, no problem. We all need it to live. Thankfully it is raining here, and as much as I love the sun I hope to see a few days of nice steady rain. This is something to definitely pray about.

Hitting close to home.
There are several ponds on the farm.
In the 10 years I have seen them, this is the worst. You can see how dry it is from the edge. The tracks on the right are made from turtles that moved when the water receded.
This was once a big pond. It dried up slowly at first as you can see by the ring and now it is gone.
They just HAD to get a closer look.

OUT AT THE FARM

With another beautiful day upon us we could not resist a trip to the farm. Of course I forgot my camera! That is why you only get to see one pic, and it was made a year ago about this time but still beautiful. Looking at all my pics I have taken, I think you will be seeing a few more. (Something to look forward to, and that doesn't even include ones that need to be scanned!!)

I mention my camera only because we had SO MANY awesome things to photograph. When we got there Mamaw and Papaw were working on the outhouse (this has been a long time coming). The kids were so excited! They can't WAIT to use it!!! They had also put up a tire swing for the kids which would have been a great pic. So we did a little to help them, went for a walk around the lake and decided to take off to the woods. We figured they could get more work done without the kids hanging around.

So I was already kicking myself for not bringing my camera when we find a turtle in the woods. The kids were having a great time, with a lot of the leaves already on the ground we had lots to look at. We found really cool turkey feathers, another turtle, a baby chipmunk and a SNAKE! Kicking myself even more. I couldn't stand it, we were on our way back to M and P so we HAD to take the snake to show (since we didn't have a pic). I don't think Mamaw even looked at it, but that's when I got my phone and captured the moment. I could stand it no longer. Then I look over and Naomi is in the outhouse (without sides) sitting on the pot. "Take a picture!" So I got one of her too. These may or may not show up in the future. When I put her to bed she requested it with a star over he nakedness (there wasn't any to see) but time will tell.

We had a wonderful, beautiful day. I just had to share it (sorry about the heavy use of parentheses).

WELCOME TO FALL

We finally got some fall weather just the other day. So, with Halloween just around the corner the school decided a trip to the pumpkin patch was in order. This was our first time to visit this one and I was quite impressed! We spent 3 hours there and could have spend more, time permitting. The weather was cloudy with a little rain but that blew over, and the fun began. The place we went to was actually an apple orchard that had a pumpkin patch. It made it a little more interesting in the fact that we got to tour the plant and see how the apples were processed and cider was made. Look at those pumpkins!
Nice big play area.

This is only half of it. They had a petting zoo for an extra fee that we did not get to see. Couldn't resist the display.
Take her out, and the animal comes out in her!

TOXIC WARNING!!!

DO NOT EAT STRAWBERRIES!!!!

Despite the protest of more than 50 scientists the USDA approved use of a new HIGHLY TOXIC FUMIGANT, mainly for strawberry fields.

In a letter sent last month 54 scientist, mostly chemist warned that pregnant women and the fetus, children, elderly, farm workers and other people living near application sites would be at serious risk.

EPA said that they evaluated the risk of methyl iodide and decided to approve its use for one year, imposing restrictions such as buffer zones in an effort to protect farm workers and neighbors.

NOW, I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I DON'T WANT TO EAT ANYTHING THAT SCIENTIST DISAPPROVE OF THAT MUCH. With so much sickness in the world why would they approve of this???!!!!

I KNOW, I've been slackin'

It has been a week since I posted and I have no other excuse than I have been lazy. There, I said it. You know me, I have a lot to say, so everyday I think I'm going to write about this or that and then I get home and think, I'll do it later. Apparently, this is later, and it is nothing like what I have thought about posting through the week.

Still, I thought you might enjoy a quick post with some recent views. These are taken at my house and the farm. Love this, with the clear blue background and vibrant colors.
Just in time for Halloween.
I'm sure the frog was surprised! Found out back of our home. It makes me feel like we've been doing something right with our landscape.
Beautiful! I love the little slice of moon, the subtle colors in the sky. We had just left the deer stand area and pulled out to this view.

THANK YOU

This is a little late, but I just wanted to say thank you to my brother and Dad for all their hard work. We couldn't have done everything we have without them. Mostly electrical, but the list also includes carpentry, cement removal and install, roofing and I'm sure there is more, but too much to list. They know how much they have helped and I hope they know how much it is appreciated. From the looks of it, it is all foreign to me. The latest project. Working on the unit in the building.
Foreign, foreign, foreign.
I hear they work pretty good together.

THE DEER STAND and a few dog impersonators

This is going to be Joe's new home for a few days this winter. For some reason he is excited about it. After seeing the finished product, I'm not sure why. It must be the fact that he can get away from the messy house and wild kids, find peace in the woods and forget about all of his responsibilities for a while. For a moment there it was sounding pretty good to me too, but I think I need more than a little bench in a tree. It took longer than I thought it would to put up. He had the bench already assembled when we went into the woods so all we had to do was put the ladder together and strap it to the tree. That was harder than I thought it would be too, we could have used another set of hands. The kids were great though, they entertained themselves and Levi took pics when I told him to. I had to document this for future blackmail. See the black arm in the background around the 2nd step down on the ladder? I am holding on to two strings that are keeping it next to the tree. (That was the hard part).
Just to show you how high up it really was. It was hard to get a good perspective.
The kids entertaining themselves.
Taking turns. Aren't I a good mom? It's not a rope, so why not let them put the cord around their necks?? (Just kidding, I did stress the fact that it could kill them and not to do it anymore).
They were ready to eat dinner and spend the night. The messy house with no crazy kids sounds better all the time. Ya'll have a good time.

EVENING WITH THE STARS

This was it! We look totally posed in the pic, but it is what it is. Thank you all so much for your advise on the dress. It felt sooo good, and I got a TON of compliments on it!

Of course, I can't tell you about the fundraiser without telling you the whole story.

It all started last Sunday. Once the weather turned cooler, we were itching to get out to the farm. Joe had a deer stand that he wanted to put up, so we thought we would go out there for a couple of hours. That turned into 9:00, which meant we had bust a move to get things done for the next day. Once a month I work extra and it just so happened it fell on this Monday. Long, but OK. I had also committed myself to work everyday last week. Which would have been OK too, but the weather had turned cold the weekend before and I was freaking out that I would be cold on the big night. I felt like I need to find an alternative to the outfit I had picked out. I know it sounds crazy, but my night would be ruined if I was cold, and I get cold EASY! So I took every opportunity to do a quick pass through the stores that I thought might have something different that I could work with between work and picking up kids. There was also a big meeting I had to attend for Elijah in the mix. And to top it all off I had volunteered to make beer cheese! Whew, that wore me out just saying it!!

Fast forward to Fri. (ha ha) Work, pick up younger kids (Joe has to get Elijah because he has a choral festival to attend). Get to school, Naomi has her hand over her eye, said that mulch had gotten in it. I look at it, she is crying, red, swollen the whole bit. Not to worry, we already had an appointment with the Doc for Levi's yearly check up. We go home, I flush it out, Naomi's crying holding her eye. By the time we get to the docs it feels better but looks terrible. He checks her out and confirms she is OK. Now off to help with the set up that started at 3 (better late than never), there was not a lot of people that showed up so I was glad we made it. The one's that did had their kids so Naomi was loving it. Levi got to stay for a little and then Joe picked him up to go to soccer. We were able to set up 50 tables and 200 chairs before we left. Do a few more things but had to be back the next morning for the real set up. Which worked OK because Elijah had to be back at the University early the next morn anyway.

Now to the big day. The weather forecast was HOT AND DRY. Perfect for the party as far as I was concerned but we still had to get through the day. Work till 1 setting up, race home, eat lunch, jump in the shower and get to the soccer game by 2. It last till 3, come home, freshen up, get concert clothes on, drop Naomi at a friends and head down to Elijah's concert. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL, I will post on that later. Pick up dinner for the boys, freshen up again and leave for the party! Did I mention about 1 I wanted to come home and lay on our tile floor like a dog after setting up? I was hot and tired. The shower really helped and I couldn't even think about slowing down then.

We got to the event and everything looked soooo good. All our hard work had payed off. There were 150 tickets sold, people everywhere, looking great smiling and having a great time. The food was awesome , we had beef tenderloin, smoked salmon, shrimp cocktail with some great sides. It felt so good to be a part of so much happiness. The silent auction went really well, we had some great things to bid on. The music was entertaining, and winning the football game put everyone in an even greater spirit. All in all, it was worth it.

I hope I didn't wear you out with the details, that's just my style (skip over the boring parts). I met and worked with some really great people. One's that I would like to get to know better, share in the friendship with our kids and branch out a little more. Our lives are always evolving, open to experience new adventures and be bless with the outcome.

Joe got a Muskie fishing trip out of the auction that he is really looking forward to. We don't know all the details but we are hoping to get to invite a few family members. We'll keep you posted on that one.

And last, it you want to check out the pics from the evening go to http://www.topsinlex.com/ and look under evening with the stars.

I NEED HELP, asap

I bought this dress at the beginning of summer and haven't touched it since, with the plan of wearing it to the big fundraiser party. Now that the party is here, I tried it on again but need some advice. The only problem is, the party is TOMORROW!!! So please let me know what you think, belt or no belt. If I don't wear the belt I will cut the belt loops off. That was my original plan but I took the pics to get a different perspective and now I JUST DON'T KNOW. Thanks for your help as time will be tight and I need an opinion other than Joe's>

TEEN'S PRAYER

I want to share the prayer that Elijah was given on the first night of confirmation meetings. I'm not sure who made it up, but it is very fitting.

Lord, help me to relax about insignificant details beginning tomorrow at 7:41:23 am MST

God, help me to consider people's feelings, even if most of them ARE hypersensitive.

Lord, help me finish every thing I start.

God, help me to take responsibility for my own actions, even though they're usually NOT my fault.

God, help me to not try and RUN everything. But, it You need some help, please feel free to ASK me!

Lord, help me to be more laid back, and help me do it EXACTLY right.

God, help me to take things more seriously, especially laughter, parties, and dancing.

God, give me patience, and I mean right NOW!

Lord, help me not be a perfectionist. (Did I spell that correctly?)

God, help me to keep my mind on one th--Look, a bird--ing at a time.

God, help me to do only what I can, and trust you for the rest. And would you mind putting that in writing?

Lord, keep me open to others' ideas, WRONG though they may be.

Lord, help me be less independent, but let me do it my way.

Lord, help me slow down andnotrushthroughwhatIdo.

Amen

FOLLOW UP TO TODAY, a week later

THE NUMBER SEVEN and the Bible.

The number seven = perfection, to explain;
the #4 represents the 4 elements which =earth
the #3 represents the trinity= the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit
You add 3+4=7, perfection

Christ spoke 7 last words before he died.

God made 7 days of the week.

There are 7 Sacraments.

There are 7 miracles in the Gospel of John.

There are 7 Virtues.

There are many references in the Bible to the #7, these are just a few. I hope to learn more in the following years as my children grow in their faith. Hopefully, I will be able to share some of it with you. I hope it was worth the wait.

A BELATED BIRTHDAY TO JOE'S BROTHER SAM

We love you! Hope you had a good one!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAX, some kids never grow up

Happy Birthday! Max is 16 today!!! I will never forget the day he was born. My sister let me come into the delivery room while he was being born! I always thought I wanted to have a baby but she made me promise that after seeing one born I wouldn't change my mind. Three kids later, I guess it didn't.

Max is an awesome kid who likes to have a good time. These are just a few of the pics I have of him. Most of them are not on my computer but these tell his story well. Enjoy. Two of a kind. Max's shirt says, Good. Fast. Cheap. Choose two. You can see what Elijah's says.
Funny boy showing us what he can do.
Apparently checking for size.
Elijah can't stand it!
These boys started out young!!!

NEW REVELATION

In today's newspaper there was an article about home buying. They clearly defined who was buying the homes by their generation. The article was interesting in the fact that it it broke down what was hot and what was not. I determined our house was in the middle, and since we only have 10 years left to pay on it, it is almost payed off! Here is what I learned.

HOT
In ground swim pools
Floor plans with open, flowing spaces
Bold colors
Granite counter tops
Wall-mounted flat-screen TVs
High-tech appliances
"Green" concepts such as high-efficiency water devices

NOT
Compartmentalized layouts
Dark paneling
Formica counter tops
Separate formal dining rooms
Large entertainment centers

So, I guess being in the middle isn't so bad when you have such a diverse generation living under one roof. According to the paper our household consist of, one baby boomer, one generation X, one generation Y, and I guess (yet to be named) two generation Z!


Since I skipped yesterday, I must get today's thought out.
GET IN BALANCE
I think that says it all. Joyce's thought is about love and God but I think we can apply this to so much more. From our inside to our outside, balance is the key. We need to find what keeps us in balance and make the point to keep that in check.

TODAY

First I would like to say Happy Birthday to Alika. I can't wait to meet you in person, I have heard so much good about you!

Next, I just watched a show on one amazing man; C. E. Babcock- a agriculture entrepreneur. He had so much to do with what we take for granted today. He came up with the idea to put tires on tractors, make the deep freeze, put labels on food, instrumental in the first food co-op stabilize the economy after the depression, and so much more. I will definitely do a little more research on him!

Last, the thought for the day. I have been reading a daily calendar from Joyce Meyer that is based on the bible. I think she has some great points and if I write them down, they stick in my brain a little better. So today's is, BE SLOW TO SPEAK-use words that speak healing to others.

Oh, I have to get this out too. Even though I don't think I will forget, at least not this time. I'm sure I have heard it before but it was drove home last night at Elijah's confirmation meeting. The #7 and the bible. FASCINATING!!! Let me know if you have heard about it before, and what you know. Then I will see if I can remember all the facts that she told us last night.