Mid Week

Monday night, I told Big Daddy - Tomorrow will be one of those Tuesdays, that is like a Monday, but you're cramming 2 days worth of stuff into one day.  So, a double Monday.

And boy did it live up!

It was one of those days where I had to almost pump myself up for certain hours - like the hours between 3:15 and 6:00, where we had to be at - basketball practice/ ballet/ community chorus/ and bible study (at our house) all within the same 3 hours!  Whew!

So glad we have things like Operation Christmas Child to keep us grounded.  And remind us that the stresses of 'our' world, are so little and small compared to the stresses of those living in poverty around the globe.

 ML picked out this reindeer for her Operation Christmas Child box.  ML loves stuffed animals, so she was determined that the little girl who receives the box she packed would have one to love, even if it cost a little bit more of her allowance money.

This is drop off week for Operation Christmas Child!  Just go to their website {HERE} and type in your zip code to find a drop off location near you!
It's so easy to pack up a box of love.  A bar of soap, a toothbrush, a few small toys, and some school supplies and you have brought the meaning of Christmas to a child.  Hope you'll pack up a box too!

Veterans Day Weekend

Woo Hoo!!!!  A 3 day weekend!  It's a cold, rainy, rainy, rainy Veteran's Day (observed) here and our Veterans Day parade has been canceled, which makes us sad.  The kids and I really love making a "Thank you!" poster and holding it at the parade each year.  So I guess this blog shout out will have to do:

To those who serve, those who have served, To those who have given the ultimate sacrifice and to those who let them go - our deepest thanks.

It was an eventful end of the week/ weekend around here!

Thursday was JR's football banquet.  He looked so handsome!

 And ML looked beautiful as always.....

 Look how grown up these boys look!

We had a great speaker at the banquet and I was so proud of how well the boys all sat and listened...... and look at them sitting together as a team!  They did that all on their own.

Well, I really enjoyed the ENTIRE 12 hours we had 'off' from sports!  Ha! Football banquet Thursday night, Basketball practice Friday.  :-)

Saturday night was Miss A's 21st birthday party!

We can't believe it.  Miss A was our first ever babysitter.  And, I'm pretty sure it was just yesterday we were celebrating her 16th birthday!

Sunday the small group girls got together to make Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. (The deadline is fast approaching!  Going to try to put together the ones with the kids today.)

 And of course, there was some baking involved.  We made chocolate chip cookies with Oreos inside.  Yummo!

Dinner out with the fam and that's a wrap on our weekend thus far!

So much to be thankful for.  Thank you Veterans!!!

Just a Whole Lot of Normal

Not too much going on here!  Just taking the kids to school and doing the usual.

Yesterday I went to the polls (hope you did too!) and ran into a sweet friend:

Target has all of their Halloween 70% off so I stocked up on some window decorations for a special trip we'll be taking next October with my family....... bet you can't guess where!  Ha!

I was so excited about these battery operated window decorations that suction cup to the window.  I think they will look awesome hanging in our hotel room windows next fall. 

I took this video and texted it to my sister.

 This is my first attempt at posting a video.  Hope it works out!

Weekend Recovery

We have had a nice relaxing weekend - so nice after all the busy-ness of the past week!  Friday night, we all 4 sat down to dinner at home as a family (a rarity in this house these days!) and had a family movie night.  

Saturday we had a birthday party and a few things to do, but most exciting was JR's first performance with the local Community Children's Choir!  

 They preformed a little Christmas music at a local Christmas Shopping event - which so okay by me because for some reason - this year - I am so ready for Christmas!  :-)

JR did a great job!  

We are so lucky to be in the chorus with some friends JR has known since he was just a little guy:

Great fun!  Hope you had a great weekend too!

Halloween 2012

As usual, Halloween night flew by and I got far too few pictures!

But I did make it a point to take some pictures of the kids before the party started.  It was hard to get a good picture of my Tom Sawyer and Minnie Mouse!  

 First the sun was in their eyes.

 Then I wasn't thrilled with this pic.

 We finally got the 'winner' by the side of the house!

 I can't believe I don't have any pictures, but the D- family triplets were there!!!  And they were so adorable.  Above, my dad is feeding one of them before they go trick or treating.

 So much fun to have dinner with our family and friends before trick or treating!

 This year, we started a new tradition!  Big Daddy got his trailer from work, and we filled it up with hay bales and took all the kids on a hay ride to trick or treat.  It was so much fun!

My kids and neighbors declared it the 'best Halloween ever.'

We made it home for one more pic with my dad.

And then it was time to crash from our candy high.  Hope your Halloween was wonderful too!