Well...

Well what? Well, there just has not been much of anything going on this week. We are trying to settle back in to normal family life! I have almost gotten all of the laundry done from Craig's trip - whoo-hoo! Yes, we did eat our elk steaks on Monday night and I have say - they were yummy! Yesterday, Tyler and I had a huge PJ day and I let him veg in front of the television for way too long. We even napped together on the couch. It was a most lazy day!

Friday night we are doing our annual Halloween get together with the H's. Every year we go to the same restaurant and have dinner and then come back to our house, turn out all of the lights at the front of our house and hide from the trick-or-treaters! Yea, it is terrible I know. Just for the record, for all of you out there who trick or treat I think it is awesome! Craig and I didn't grow up trick or treating and just have chosen not to celebrate that day. We celebrate fall with fall festivals and carnivals and pumpkin patches, but we don't trick or treat. That doesn't mean that we think bad of those of you who do - to each their own! Sometimes I wish that we did do it only because now we have so many friends in the neighborhood whose houses we could go to, but... it is just not for us I guess! I hope everyone will be extremely careful on Friday night. Our neighborhood gets crazy as I'm sure most do with traffic and everything. I can't wait to see everyone's blogs with all of the cute costumes and stuff!

I think this coming Saturday is our last Saturday that we don't have anything planned at least until the end of November so we are going to try to just hang out around the house and probably work on the back splash. I'm also due to get Gertrude back on Saturday. I have not seen our sweet embroidery machine in a month - one long, blissful month! Honestly, I'm ready to get back at it - I have missed it!

I'm still reading the Karen Kingsbury books! I'm reading the redemption series and book 1 was semi-depressing, book 2 was great, book 3 - ugh, don't even get me started. I hit a wall about half way through the book because I looked ahead and found out about something that I didn't want to know and wasn't expecting and it ticked me off! Tonight I think I have pushed through that part and now I'm into it again. She deals with such real life issues - where are my roses and rainbows Karen????

Fire Station

Before we left for Tennessee this past Friday Tyler has his field trip to the fire station. It was so much fun! I have to tell you - I've never been to the fire station and I think I was just impressed if not more impressed than Tyler was. We got to see the training room, their "bedrooms", the trucks, the kitchen, and we got to see one of the guys go down the pole. Plus we learned tons about response time and how the 911 calls go and all of that - it was very interesting. I got lots of great pictures, but I'm only posting one because most of the ones that I have have pictures of other kids too and I want to be respectful of the fact that there may be parents out there who don't want their kids faces plastered on my blog! Here is my boy in his fireman's hat - he has played with it like crazy since Friday!

Never Say Never

That's right - never say never. I told ya'll I am a city girl. I have always told Craig that there is no need for him to hunt because I will never cook anything that he might bring home. Well, let me tell ya'll - he brought home 121 POUNDS of meat yesterday and I will be cooking it. Has anyone looked at the price of meat in the grocery store lately? I will be cooking it. Of course now that I have seen the pictures and heard the details it might be a little harder to eat it but I am determined to do this. I mean people eat fresh kill all the time right?

Obviously we made it home safe and sound last night. I drove the whole way home since Craig had only had about two hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. We had great weather to travel in and the kids were very good. Friday's trip up to Tennessee was stressful with the wind and the rain and all the traffic but, even still, God gave me peace and we had a safe trip. My dad got to visit with the kids over the weekend and that was fun.

I'm posting some pictures from Craig's trip. I am only posting one picture of him with a dead animal so you have full warning if you don't want to look - it is not gross though!



Can you tell it was cold there on this day? Craig says that that was not the norm for the week though. He said it was pretty warm, but on this day they got a little sprinkling of snow and it was COLD!


Here is my man with his first kill of the week! That's all I'm going to say about that!

This is where they called home for the week. That had quite the setup. Can you see the "outhouse" off in the background on the right? Like I said, they had quite the setup!

This was a sign that was posted at kind of the "entrance" to where their campsite was. This is where they picked up their horses. Craig thought it was too funny not to take a picture of. Now that I know that they didn't actually see any snakes, I think it is kind of funny too!

Is God's country beautiful or what?

On the Road Again

Well, tomorrow begins the downhill slide of this journey we have been on! Me and the moms and the kids leave for Tennessee tomorrow to collect my husband and take mom and Ruth back home. What fun we have had! They have worn me out with all this shopping, but it is a good kind of worn out:) We now all have our Christmas shopping almost done, we are mostly outfitted for winter, and it has just been a blast! We have played Skip-Bo with Kayla every night while they have been here and I think my mother has won EVERY game! Tonight I introduced my mother to The Diary of a Mad Black Woman movie - she has been enlightened! What a great movie - love it! Ruth has sewn and sewn and sewn some more and my mother has told more Mustard stories than she ever realized she knew. Since I was little my mother has made up these stories about a dog named Mustard - they are too funny and my children LOVE them! It has been quite a week and a half!

I still have not heard from my husband. I know ya'll are tired of hearing me say this, but that is too bad,I'm gonna say it again - I miss him like crazy! I can't wait to see if he actually makes it home with a beard. I can't wait to hear all the stories. I hope he has a set of horns the size of Texas with him as long as he doesn't hang them over my mantle in my living room. They will pack up camp tomorrow and head back into town to clean up and spend the night so I should hear from him tomorrow. Yea!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

WhooooHOOOOOO!!!!

Just received word today that my freezer will be fully stocked with meat for the next several months! Craig has never hunted since we have been married so this will be a new experience for me. His dad called Ruth today and let her know that they had taken some of the "meat" to town for processing when they delivered one of Craig's cousins to the airport. Apparently last night Craig shot a mule deer and while he and his cousin went to "dress" that his uncle radioed and said they were chasing two "cows"(female elk) over the mountain. So, Craig and his cousin grabbed their guns and they got both of them about 10 minutes after Craig shot the first deer! They then spent the next two to three hours trying to get those things dressed and on the horses and hauled out of the woods - did I mention that it was raining and hailing in the midst of all of this??? I'm getting such an education. If I haven't told you before - I'm a city girl, all the way. Love my bed, my air conditioner, WalMart, etc. I asked Craig's dad if the "cow" had horns. How was I supposed to know that female elk do NOT have horns. Ruth was sweet enough to explain it all to me and I feel much more informed now! She has been through this once before when Ron went a couple of years ago. He still has the chance to shoot a "bull" elk, but once he gets that I think he is done. They only allow one per license. I can't wait to talk to him - I know he is excited! This is day three of not talking to him, so I was glad to hear from my father-in-law today. I miss him like crazy. It is the weirdest thing - we have never gone without talking to each other for three days. But I know he is safe and that he is having a blast, so that makes it easier. I can't wait to share pictures with all of you when he gets home! Now, I will have you know that they were all having fried elk liver and onions for dinner tonight. That makes me want to vomit, but, hey, whatever! I don't do liver. I mean you might as well fry up it's eyeballs for goodness sake. Gross. How big is an elk's liver anyway?

Fall Festival

We had a great time at our Fall Festival last night! Here are some pictures of the kids on some of the rides that they had!

Kackleberry Farm

Instead of a sand box they had a "corn" box filled with actual corn. This was supposed to be an attraction for the younger kids but you can see that my kiddos loved it!


Yes, Grandma did join the kids on the world's largest pillow and lived to tell about it.






I'm really not sure why Tyler is pouting in this picture - maybe it is because he was wondering if we were ever going to find our way out of the corn maze!




My baby hit almost a dead on bull's eye. You should have heard the people clapping for her. I was so proud - she gets all of her talent from me! Maybe she should be out in Colorado hunting elk with her daddy!


The kids had a great time feeding grass to this little guy. He looks like he is about to eat Tyler for lunch, but he was eating grass out of the other little boy's hand that is standing next to Tyler.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!!

Monkey Joe's

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!!

Kayla's Play:

Almost a Week

It has been almost a full week since my hubby left. I've talked to him a couple of times and he sounds like he is having a great time! I didn't talk to him yesterday so I will probably hear from him tonight. I talked to him on Saturday night and it had been their first day out to hunt. It was about the same temperature there as it was here, so he says we need to pray for a snow storm in the mountains to bring the elk down out of the woods. When it is warm they travel to higher ground. I guess when you have that much fur/hide and you are that huge you would travel wherever you could be coolest too! So, we'll see. It is supposed to get down in the teens there this week so that should definitely cool things off. It also looked like they might be getting either rain or snow today and tomorrow.

The kids and I and the moms spent a full weekend out and about. Friday we went to Monkey Joes and got groceries. Saturday we went to Kackleberry Farm. The kids had a blast. It really was a fun day. The weather was beautiful! Grandma jumped on the World's Largest Pillow with the kids and they thought that was great. We did the Corn Maze and I lived to tell about it! I'm extremely claustrophobic and I hate stuff like that. I hate feeling like I'm trapped with no way out. But, it was only three phases and we made it through with minimal panic! Yesterday was church and then our Fall Festival last night. The kids always love that. Today I think we are all worn out! I'm at work this morning and the moms are at home hanging out. We have more shopping to do this afternoon and tomorrow! Hopefully I will have time to post pictures later this afternoon! Have a great Monday!

Day Three

My husband has been gone for three days! I miss him like crazy. Never have we been in a situation where we have not been able to talk to each other at least once a day. I'm sure many of you are thinking that I'm spoiled and I am. I love my husband to pieces and my friends all laugh at me if we go out of town together, because I talked to him 2-3 times a day. What can I say? I love him! I haven't talked to him today and that makes me sad!:( I know he is having a great time though. Tomorrow the season opens and I'm so excited for him that I can't stand it! Hopefully we will be able to talk sometime this weekend!

Today was a better day around here. I didn't get stopped by the police for anything and I didn't run into anything! We took the kids to Monkey Joes this morning for a couple of hours and they had a blast! We got some lunch and then went grocery/Christmas shopping. My Christmas shopping is coming along very well and I have knocked out a lot this week. Tonight we just hung out and played cards and mom and I did some scrapbooking. I'm still a year behind but maybe over the next week I will get caught up a little bit.

Tomorrow we are off to a nearby farm/pumpkin patch. My mil wanted to take the kids to a pumpkin patch and this place has it all. It should be a lot of fun! I got some great pictures of the kids today and will try to do the same tomorrow. By the beginning of next week I should have lots of pics to post!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Not Good

Well, I was thinking of entitling this entry "Crap", but I didn't want to offend anyone! Crap pretty much sums up the major moments of this day. Let me give you the good news first. First of all we went shopping today at Hamricks. My Moms love them some Hamricks, plus they usually have great deals on kids clothes. So, I proudly bribed my children with fun things if they would be patient and let us shop. They did fabulous; I was extremely proud of them. I managed to get Tyler to stay in the cart for most of the time and he occupied himself quite well. He also tried to run around the dressing rooms half naked, but, hey, he's four, what do you expect? Everybody got at least one thing new, took a trip to the Dollar Store to reward exceptional behavior, did a little Taco Bell for lunch, and a little Brusters for dessert. Okay, that's the good news. Now, let me tell you the rest...

So, on our way to Hamricks I got pulled over. Yep, by a police officer complete with lights, etc.etc. When I looked down and saw I was going about 15 miles per hour OVER the speed limit and then looked up and saw him, I thought, "crap", I'm busted. So he pulls me over, I handed the man an EXPIRED insurance card. Crap. I had the updated one in my wallet, but he never asked for it. Tyler wants to know if I'm going to jail. Crap. Kayla wants to know if I'm getting a ticket. So, he comes back to my car and offers me two WARNINGS, one for the speeding, one for handing him the wrong insurance card. Thank You Jesus! Can I tell ya'll that I really wanted to cry that I was getting off so easy? Can I also tell you how badly I did not want get a ticket or have to tell my husband that I got a ticket? Shew, one crisis over with.

Well, then we hit Brusters when we get back to town and we are enjoying our wonderful ice cream and all is right with the world. Until I backed into a guard rail. Crap. Yea, it made one of those really nasty sounds and you know it is just NOT going to be pretty. Well, it wasn't. However, I have a very sweet friend whose husband came over tonight and looked at it and told me it was just scratched and most of it could be polished out, but the back light cover was going to have to be replaced - I busted out the lense over the back up lights. So, I bit the bullet and told Craig when he called tonight. He is so sweet - he said, I'm sorry you had a bad day. Then he proceeded to tell me that he won't be talking to us much because he has no cell phone service out there. Crap again. He was using his cousin's phone - at least someone has service! Anyhow, they made it there safe and sound sometime this morning. When I talked to him this morning they were in Steamboat Springs! And they were passing a hot springs pool as we were talking. He said the scenery had been absolutely beautiful since the sun had come up. Tonight they were at the camp site and had everything set up and had bought groceries and all of that. Tomorrow they go to get the horses and I think they finish getting their licenses and all of that. He sounds like he is having a great time!

We have lots of fun stuff planned with the kids for the weekend so hopefully I will have lots of pictures to post come Monday. I'm having a great time with the Moms and the kids are enjoying their Grandmas! It's so nice to have them both here at the same time.

We did it

Well, my husband is in Tennessee with his dad. His cousin was supposed to arrive there sometime last night as well. I'm not sure what time they are leaving today, but they have a 20 hour drive ahead of them to get to Colorado. They will be some tired folks by the time they get there sometime tomorrow morning. I pray that they will have cell phone service there so that we can talk every day but I'm not sure about that. We'll deal with it if there's not! The kids did well with him leaving. Kayla got a little teary-eyed, but she understands much better than Tyler that her daddy is not going to be here for the next two weeks.

I managed to drive us all the way to Dalton without mishap. Thank You Lord! We had dinner, switched luggage around, and then me and the moms and the kids headed back to Georgia. For those of you who don't know, Craig and I's parents are good friends and have been since before we started dating and it sure does make it nice for holidays and times like this. I had a bit of an anxiety attack coming back through Atlanta. Yikes! I'm not looking forward to the return trip to Tennessee next week. It is all a little nerve wracking for me. Craig always does all the driving when we go out of town so I'm just not used to driving long distances like that. I think I would have been fine except that it was just getting dark when we got back to Atlanta and there were red lights and headlights EVERYWHERE!!! Actually, about five minutes after getting back on the interstate from Dalton, we came to a stop and sat in traffic for about an hour due to an accident. It was a LONG trip home. The kids didn't get into bed until 10:00, which is late for them, so, hopefully, they will not be too tired and cranky today!

Me and the Moms are off to start shopping today. We are hitting the fabric store. My mil is going to do some sewing for me while she is here! She is so crafty! After the fabric store, it is anyone's guess as to where we will end up!

Who Dun It?

Alright people, who forgot to sign their name to the last comment left on the last blog entry I wrote about the book? Come on - work with me. In follow up to that post, please let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed that book by Karen K. and it WAS the first book in the Redemption series. I was telling a friend yesterday, the crazy person that lent me the book in the first place(hehehe), that when I finally sit down to read a book I like it to be completely mindless. I want butterflies and roses - you know what I mean. Karen's books just are not like that. Yes, they have a great message and yes, they are so very real life, but you gotta admit they are heavy. If you have read a Time to Dance please tell me you can see what I mean. I mean the whole book is about this couple that is about to get divorced only they're waiting for the kids to make it through these milestones before they break the news to them. You have to admit that is heavy reading and I stand by my opinion that that was the most depressing book I have ever read next to a non-christian book about a husband who had an affair with his wife's best friend. That one was so incredibly depressing and ungodly that I didn't even read the whole thing. Again, that is not to say that Karen K. does not present an awesome message of hope and salvation, just that her books are often very heavy! Remember, opinions are like belly buttons... you know the rest.

Ho Hum

So, it has been a dreary and slightly chilly Saturday. I have had my doors open all day and the breeze has been wonderful. I have spent the majority of the day working on some AWANA stuff and reading a book. A friend of mine gave me this Karen Kingsbury book to read and I got hooked. Now I have to tell you that I am not a huge fan of Karen K. I find her books to be dark, burdensome, and slightly depressing. However, with that being said, I also found that this book was good, it made me cry, though, because it was also sad. So, I have mixed feelings about her - she is a great author but I have to gear myself up for her books!

So, what has happened since my last post? Hhhmm, oh yes - Kayla's play! What fun! She did an awesome job on her solo and I would desperately love to upload it on my blog, but it is too big of a file, so, you will just have to settle for pictures! Which will hopefully get posted soon, like maybe even tonight! Anyway, the play was all music from the 1900's, I think from 1920 through 1990 - it really was one of her best and most fun plays.

Friday I ran like a mad woman. I worked for a little while and then managed to run a multitude of errands before picking Tyler up from school. Last night we went to Cracker Barrell and then to WalMart for some stuff I needed for AWANA, then home for more reading!

Today has just been very ho-hum. I finally got showered and then put on a clean pair of PJ's to finish the day out in. It has definitely been a lazy and very relaxing day. The kids have played outside, Craig has been packing some stuff for his trip and he is actually right now hanging part of the tile back splash in the kitchen! Yea! More home improvement excitement!

We leave Tuesday to go and meet the parents and I will trade Craig for my two moms! I'm definitely not excited that he is leaving, but if he has to go then I'm glad that both moms are coming for the next week and a half. We are going to shop until we can't move and then shop some more! My mom is coming armed and ready to do Christmas shopping! Ruth is going to do some sewing for me and we are all going to entertain the kids. I'm so excited! I better get off of here and see about getting a couple of kids ready for bed! Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend.

Love in the Fourth Grade

As promised yesterday, I'm doing a post soley dedicated to Kayla's love life or lack thereof. Now, before I start this I'm giving you all full warning that I am bound to hop on a soap box or two before this is over with so you may want to stop reading now!

I am not a fan of encouraging my children to "like" someone of the opposite sex. Kayla has "liked" one boy at our church who is a great kid and I have encouraged her that WHEN it is time to start looking for someone to date that this boy would have the qualities that she should look for. However, now is not the time to be all about boys and "oh, he's so cute", yadddaayaddayah! I figure all of that will come long before I am ready but I'm going to fight it off for as long as I can. Apparently other parents of children in the fourth grade do NOT encourage this same kind of attitude and outlook in their children. In light of that please let me say to them --"please encourage your little boys to like/love someone other than my daughter because I am NOT ready for that". Kayla had a little boy tell her the other day that he has loved her since the first day of third grade. I may have mentioned that in a previous post, but the saga has continued since that day last week. I asked Kayla what she said or did when he told her this and she said basically that she made ugly faces and said "eww". Love it! I told her that in the future it would be okay for her to simply say "thank you" and move on. So yesterday she comes home and I think it is the same boy that said that he liked her because she was pretty, smart, and funny. How nice! Thank you little boy.

I do have to tell ya'll one thing though. One of the boys that likes her? His last name is Pickleseimer. I'm sorry - if your last name is Pickleseimer and you are reading this please know that I am not laughing at you but with you because you gotta know that your last name is darn funny. I'm probably going to get struck by an ugly stick for even bringing this up, but I just had to. I do NOT encourage my kids to laugh about peoples names nor do I encourage them to make fun of people's name, but, in all honestly when Kayla told me his last name I could not help but laugh. I think it was the way she said it which I am NOT going to try to describe for you.

Do you know that next year my child has a fifth grade dance at school??? All I have to say about that is.... Crap, I don't think I'm gonna be ready for that either. Do you also know that she will be 10 years old in August and I started shaving my legs when I was 10. Do you know that she is already starting to ask when she can shave her legs? Do you know that she puts lip gloss on now when she gets ready in the morning? Do you know that I make her wipe it right back off? I'm seriously thinking about locking her in the house until she is at least 50!

Anything but Lazy

This has been one of those days that you are so glad to see end and you are too tired to move, but so glad because it means that your life will be better tomorrow. Is anybody with me? I started off the morning by getting all of my AWANA stuff ready for Sunday. Then I went into laundry and cleaning and laundry, and more laundry. We barely missed another encounter with Churchill Family Naked Day. I think I stopped counting at 8 loads. That is so embarrassing! I'm going to start making everyone wear their clothes at least three times before they are allowed to throw them in the dirty clothes basket! Once the house was cleaned I planted flowers and bulbs for spring - yes, in the dirt on my hands and knees with dry grass pricking me and bugs, lots of ugly bugs. There was one spider that I saw that was big enough to eat my hand; thankfully my husband saw him and rescued me by beating him to death with the shovel. Can you feel the love people? I think God intentionally gave things like spiders, roaches and flies a very short life span because He knew that they were too ugly to live very long! Along with all of that I also managed to make a huge batch of chex mix complete with Halloween colored M&M's(they are really cool colors!) and three, count them, three batches of muffins. My husband and I have watched our show that we watch weekly - NCIS - love it! I watched enough of the presidential debate to make me want to vomit!

In the midst of this busy day Tyler backed into the french doors and took a chunk out of his heel. It broke my heart. We had to have Halloween colored M&M's as the magic medicine to take the sting away. It didn't work, but he sure did enjoy those M&M's! Then we read books and I rocked him to sleep. He doesn't nap any more these days unless I rock him. I managed to sleep for about 1/2 hour too in the chair with him. That was nice!

Kayla came home with news of a boy who likes her because she is pretty, funny, and smart. More on fourth grade love to come in a completely different post - trust me it deserves it's own!

Aahhhh... I think I will sleep well tonight!

My Sweet Boy

You know there is just something about boys, isn't there? I have to tell ya'll what Tyler just said to me. He just got up and came in my room and I was just finishing getting dressed. I have bought some new clothes recently and they are kind of different from what I normally wear - I'm trying to branch out. Anyway, you ladies know that it is so easy to feel kind of self-conscious. Tyler walks in and the first words out of his mouth were:

"Whoa, mom, you look gorgeous in those clothes - I love them!"

OOhhhh! It melts my heart!

Lazy Days

Good Monday morning! Hope everyone had a pleasant weekend. I must confess that I did next to nothing this weekend. Shame, shame! A friend mentioned her struggle with laziness yesterday and I have to admit that I am right there. I have absolutely no desire to do anything. What is up with that? It is fall - can't you feel the freshness in the air? Why don't I feel like doing anything? Well, it could be that I didn't walk at all for about a week and a half. Yikes! I was back up and at it again this morning and am hoping that this will give me the energy that I have been missing.

This weekend was a trial in parenting for me. I'm begging God for patience and a slowness to anger. That's all I'm going to say about that.

We had a great time at our progressive dinner on Friday night. It was such a fun time of fellowship and fun! We have so many new people in our Sunday School class and I hope it was a good time for them to connect and get to know some people.

I'm off of Graceful Designs for the whole month of October and am wondering what in the world I am going to do with myself all month! I'm so used to being busy with that that it will seem strange to not have that this month. Go Holly!

Craig leaves a week from tomorrow for his hunting trip. We have been planning for this for so long that it seems incredibly strange that it is almost here now! My mom is now talking about maybe coming down with my mother-in-law to spend that week and a half with us. I hope she will. They have had another devastating loss in their church this weekend as another friend has passed away. Their church has been through so much in this past year. We have gone to church there since I was 10 and in all of those years I think only one church member has died. Now they have lost several in the past year and they are young people mostly. I'm talking 40's here not 80's or 90's. It has been so sad so please lift them and their church up in prayer if they cross your mind.

And now for another stirring and somewhat scary episode of Not Me Monday!

I did not sneeze and almost pee in my pants. I'm much too young to be considering a bladder tack!

I did not go to the wrong school to surprise my daughter for lunch - hello? I know which school she goes to and I also know that she is not at that school on Wednesdays because she is at Horizons!

I did not feed my children carrots while I ate a bag of cookies.

I did not tie my children's hands to one another in hopes that they would learn to work together and get along better.

I did not walk around WalMart and countless other grocery stores with my zipper down on Friday, that would have been much too embarassing!

I did not holler at the television while watching the Michigan game on Saturday.

I did not put my laundry and ironing off for another week!

Confusion and Other Stuff

Well, the past weekend has been an upheaval of emotion. It started with the Fireproof movie Friday night Wow, can I just tell you that you MUST go and see this movie. Almost every blog that I read has said something about it over the last week so I won't spend a ton of time on it, but GO! It led Craig and I to some great conversation about priorities and the direction of where our family is going and where we want it to go. It has led to many changes for me this week just trying to make my priorities line up with what God wants them to look like. So it has been several days of praying and thinking and trying to rearrange things in our life so we are, first of all, in line with God's will, and, second of all, so that our family runs smoother. That has been our weekend and the first part of this week.

In honor of Shannon's Not Me Mondays, I do have a few things to post, even though it is not Monday, so here goes:

I did NOT have to wash clothes more than once after leaving them in the washer too long. That would be disgusting and what would people think about my housekeeping abilities.

I did NOT cry like a baby in Ruby Tuesday over my blondie and ice cream last week.

I did NOT take credit for my spring flowers still being alive after the whole summer when I knew that had it not been for my husband watering them they would be dead.

I did NOT choose to sleep in over walking in the morning - do you think I have no discipline???

I did NOT put off doing my ironing again for the second week in a row - that would be just plain lazy.

I did decorate my house for fall yesterday. I love, love, love to decorate for the holidays and Tyler was in such a rush yesterday to get "those fall decorations" out. He has cracked up this week over some of the scarecrows and stuff in our neighborhood. It's so fun to see the holidays through the eyes of a four year old.

This weekend we have a Sunday School progressive dinner on Friday night. I'm looking forward to the fun and fellowship that that will bring. I can't remember if Michigan plays this Saturday but if they do you will find us once again parked in front of the television hollering at the screen. Our boys pulled out a major upset this past week and about gave Craig and I a heart attach in the process. Go Blue! I'm loving college football this year. It has been so much fun to watch with Craig even though I have to stop him several times during the game to ask him to explain something to me:).

Speaking of my wonderful husband, he leaves for his hunting trip in just a couple of weeks. I hate when he is gone. I will miss him like crazy, but am so excited that he and his dad are getting to spend this time together. I'm so excited that my mother-in-law will be coming down to spend those almost two weeks with us. She is going to do some sewing for me and hopefully we will get to do some shopping and have some fun with the kids while they are on fall break.

Well, I'm doing this at work (shame, shame, shame) so I better get off of here and try to find something to do.

Oh, one more thing -- my mom's birthday is today and she is turning 60 and now pushing 61! Happy Birthday Mom! I love you! Wish I was there so I could take you to lunch!