At the Pumpkin Patch

The fall decor is out. Chocolate chip pumpkin bread has been made. Pumpkin Spice Latte has been drunk (thanks, mom!). But, it's officially fall around in our house once a trip to the Pumpkin Patch has been made. Today was the perfect cool, sunny (and windy!!) day to pick our pumpkin.

holding the mini white pumpkins - my favorite!

Teeter-Totter fun

Brad Paisley concert

We were invited to attend the Brad Paisley/Blake Shelton/Jerrod Niemann concert with our friend, Beth and Stephen, last weekend.  They are actually related to Brad's wife, actress Kimberly Williams Paisley, and asked Brad to donate concert tickets, a signed album, and signed photo for our church to auction off for our church's upcoming mission trips.  How cool is that?!  Other friends of ours won the auction and we all sat together at the concert.

It was my first country music concert (I don't count sitting outside the Dean Dome and listening in what must have been a good concert for Garth Brooks back in 1992).  We parked our car and started the hike through tailgate city when I realized that I did not get the memo to wear cowgirl boots and a dress and/or jean mini skirt.  An outsider for sure!  :)

Our seats were great and we had such a fun time.  So glad Blake Shelton played song, "God Gave Me You", which was originally written and done by the talented Dave Barnes (who my brother knows).  When Brad Paisley hit the stage and the crowd went wild.  He is an incredibly talented guitarist and singer and was truly amazing to watch.  He played song after song after song - I lost count. 

Blake Shelton

Brad Paisley and his mascot

Brad at a mini stand in the middle of the crowd

He ended with "Old Alabama", which is my favorite.  Oh, it brings me back to the days of singing "Mountain Man" with my brother in our little homemade band!  Ty, wish you could have been there with me!

Jackson's Baptism

On the weekend of Jackson's baptism, the weather turned suddenly cold.  Seriously one day it was 93 degrees, and the next was a high of 66.  So... Lake Day/Baptism was a chilly one! 

Daddy and Jackson with Nate, Kate, and Jack - who all got baptized that day.

It was truly a special day!  I struggled to keep myself together.  Baptisms always bring me to happy tears, but seeing my husband baptize our son prompted such immense joy.  Jackson has wanted this day for a long time. 

We are so grateful for the family and incredible Bridge friends that came out and braved the cold to celebrate with us.  Thank you!  You each made that day even more special.

Our friend, Stephen, made a great video that I hope to add to this blog soon.

Oh how the time flies...

So, yeah... it's September. I'll try to recap our life with a few pics (only a few because I have rarely taken out the camera in the last month. oops.).

Our little no-fear guy has been very hesitant about bike riding.  I blame the fact that we live on and around big hills and I have overly stressed the importance of being careful!  At the park he did GREAT on the grass, but not on the blacktop.  We think there is a mental battle going on there.  :)

Hannah is working on getting the pedaling down.

Always the stinker... I went upstairs to change clothes and came down to this.

I've been experiement with new recipes.  This roasted chicken recipe is a new favorite!  This pic is before cooking... didn't manage to wait for the after before we dug in.  My father-in-law LOVED it.

Hannah and Rees playing with a cool toy tractor that is daddy restored.  They are such sweet buddies!

This summer our church held a bunch of Summer Kids Clubs. They were SO fun!  Mike and I led them together (with some help with parents) and got to channel our past camp days with the silly songs, games, and Bible stories. 

Jackson's team racing to build the best Armor of God.  :)

August 20th, 2011

We've prayed for this day since we have known about his existence.  Today, my son asked Jesus to come and live in his heart.
**my heart swells with JOY**

Jackson has been asking questions for months.  We've had many good conversations about God and what it means to become a Christian.  At our church's last baptism, he was upset when Daddy didn't baptize him too.  We didn't think he was quite ready at the time.  This past week he asked me on two separate occasions when he was going to be a Christian since he believed in God.
Mike and I finally were able to sit down together with him this afternoon.  We asked him some tough questions about sin, why Jesus had to die, what it means to be a Christian, why he wanted to be one, etc.  His answers were simple, yet dead-on.  He was ready.  He prayed and told God he knew he was a sinner.  He told God he believed that Jesus was His Son and he died to take away the sins and so that he could have a relationship with God.  He asked God to live in his heart and help him live a good life for Him.

This proud mama had such tears of joy.

Afterwards, he called his grandparents to share the news and ask them to come to his baptism on September 18th.

We are so proud of you, son!!  This is the beginning to a long and beautiful journey with God.

hannahisms

"Pizza Dust" = pixie dust; aka anything with glitter

"Pony Tails" = my little pony figures

"Noonals" = noodles

"I'm a Bad Guy Guwl" = I'm playing the "bad guy", but I'm a girl.

"Lion Hair" = when you take her hair down from a pony tail and it sticks out all around like a lion's mane.

Also fun tidbits...
- When the Royal Wedding was all over the TV and news, I casually showed Hannah the new princess.  Now, anytime she sees a picture of Lady Katherine she squeals with excitement.  Yesterday at the grocery store she had a fit during checkout because she wanted to "read the pwincess book" (aka a tabloid magazine with Lady Katherine on the front).

- She is the clumsiest little thing.  Trips over her own two feet all the time!

- She loves reading the Bible storybooks or watching Bible story cartoons, BUT for some reason she gets MAD when she doesn't see Jesus in them.  She has no tolerance for Old Testament stories lately!

- She wants to "Pway Tea Party" 24/7.  And playing with dolls doesn't cut it - has to be with us. Mommy is not so sure how many more times in the same day she can take it!  :)  (Incidentally, do you know how adorable it is to watch a daddy and his little girl play tea party together????)

My kids lately...

One minute my kiddos are cracking me up, the next they make me grab my head in utter dismay. Ah, parenting. It can be so hard! 

Lately Jackson's favorite phrases are "you can say that again!" and "you've got to be kidding me!". He strays into the area of sassiness and is learning the hard way on how to be respectful. He DOES, however, say "Yes, Ma'am" very well. In regards to my last post, he now gets off the bus, ignores us and bolts up the hill to beat us to the house.  Oh well.  :)  He loves first grade and can't wait to start taking spelling tests - he's weird like his dad that way. 

speaking of testing...

Lately Hannah is completely headstrong and wants to be 100% independent (wonder where she gets that from?). The battle of wills is daily, and I'm pleased to say that we are winning. I think.  :)  However, I am unsure about how much of my wits will be intact by the time she is 3.

Did I mention that she went through a spell last week of INTENTIONALLY having potty accidents to get attention or let me know she was mad at me? 

[Did I mention I am starting to find gray hairs?]

Jackson has taught Hannah how to do a somersault and she "fwips" all over the house.  When she's not doing that, she is jumping off of something or hanging off of another.  We might have a gymnast on our hands.  Her new phrases are "To the rescue!!", "Come play with me!", "I want sisstick [lipstick, aka chapstick], please!", and she's started the constant where/what/whys.

Lately even Daddy is not himself.  I came back from my trip and he had a Mac laptop.  Also, he decided to run a 5K - you know, running without a ball - and began running 2 weeks beforehand.  The race was today and he did great, beating his goal to run it under 30 min. 

So how do I make it through the chaos? Every day my darling little girl says, "I lub you, mom!" and showers me with kisses.  (And is back to being accident-free, by the way).  My sweetheart of a son has decided that telling me he loves me "to the moon and back" is too small - he now loves me "to Pluto and back".  My husband and best friend surprises me with coffee dates for much needed quality time.

But most importantly, I cling to the mercies that are new every morning!  I've needed extra doses lately!

First Day of the First Grade

On any given morning, Jackson does NOT like waking up. I went in to wake him up on Monday morning and he BOLTED out of bed and said, "I am so excited!". We met his teacher last week and she is very southern, which made me smile. We've heard only the best things about her. Fourteen of his classmates from Kindergarten are also in his class this year. His 4 closest buddies are all with him again. He is so happy about that!
To his delight, we are allowing him to ride the bus this year. What is it about seeing him get on a bus that makes him seem so BIG?? Hannah is enamored by the big yellow bus and cried to get on and go to school with Jack. She looked for him and asked about him all week.

As he stepped off the bus Monday afternoon, he yelled "Mom!" and came running to me with a big smile and bigger hug. :) He had a great day and REALLY likes his teacher. In fact, he has told me several times how pretty she is and how pretty she talks... uh-oh! A crush??

Summer Track Out - GONE!

Jackson's Summer Track out came and went in a hurry!  Playdates with buddies he doesn't see all the time, summer movies at the theater, pool trips, fun on the lake, VBS, Summer Kids Clubs, beach trip, etc.  We had slow down a bit when I got a pinched nerve and some crazy arm numbness... all better now, though.

The big finale - he and daddy had a den camp out while I was on my girlfriends' trip.  The picture above is hard to see, but Hannah started out with them... then went to bed at 8.  Daddy and Jack set out a ton of pillows and sleeping bags.  Then, they stayed up until MIDNIGHT enjoying junk food, Wii, watching movies and telling ghost stories.  The ghost stories was something Jackson had begged and begged for so Mike was creative and showed him a Andy Griffith episode where Barney got spooked.  :)  Pretty tame!  Jackson had so much fun and hasn't stopped talking about it!

Girls Weekend 2011

The Lord blessed me with incredible friends at App and I'm so grateful that we have made it a priority to stay connected post-college.  I've known these ladies for 17 years!  This year the six of us (Heather, Ashley, Rebecca, Jenny "Weez", Shannon and myself) opted to go to Charlotte for our annual trip.  We stayed at Ashley's house while her hubby and girls stayed elsewhere.

Seesturs take on the US Whitewater Center

Friday was our adventurous day, which is fitting in that these were the girls that I hiked, camped, rappelled, skied, etc with so many times in college.  We went to the US National Whitewater Center.  It was a first time for all of us and we had so much fun despite the 100+ degree weather.  We went Whitewater Rafting, did the 1,123 foot Zip Line, jumped off the 45 foot Mega Jump Free Fall, and flat water kayaked.  Friday night we ate dinner at Vida Cantina in downtown and hit Amelie's bakery (the most adorable french bakery!) for dessert and grab breakfast for the next day.  Yum!

Saturday was the girlie day! We got pedicures, shopped at Concord Mills, ate lunch at Macadoes (of course!), caught a chick-flick, and then went to the adorable Birkdale for more shopping, live music and dinner at Red Rocks.

My first pedicure.

It was too short of a weekend.  We laughed so hard we cried.  We were silly.  We sipped coffee and shared about our lives.  In a word - PERFECTION.

So grateful to my awesome husband who gladly took on the kids for the long weekend!