Happy Thanksgiving (the day after)

 

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations."  Psalm 100.

 

So thankful for my Lord and Savior, my sweet family and dear friends.  God has truly blessed me this year and I have a lot to be thankful for.  I pray that I express my gratitude daily and never take my any "gift" for granted.

Fall Festival (i.e., more pumpkins)

I took the kids to a Fall Festival at our country club while Will was in Boston for training.  It was a little hot for October, but a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  We had a lot of fun!

 

{Well, except for when David got stung by a small bee (in his ear) and screamed loud enough to break the sound barrier.}

 

First up, pumpkin decorating.

 

 

Claire's friend Maggie.

 

 

Luke even got in on the fun.  He liked all the glue and glitter.

 

Finished pumpkins.

 

Luke spent a lot of time crawling all over the haystack/pumpkin display.  He thought it was his own personal jungle gym.

 

There was plenty of candy for the kids to make up a goody bag.

 

Claire patiently waited a really long time to have her face painted.

 

Doesn't she look thrilled.  This is the face she makes when I fix her hair in the morning.  Ha!

 

Her reward?  A horse on her cheek and a spool of cotton candy.

 

I'm not sure why we decided to put the kids IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT to take a group photo.  Maggie and Sam belong to my friend Laura.

 

Time for the hayride.  The mommies enjoyed the "tour of homes" through the very nice gated neighborhood where the club is location.

 

Another wait in a very long line produced balloon art.

 

 

There's me with the kids.  David was clearly ready to head home.  Note to self: take the group photos first before everyone is tired, moody and dirty.

My 3 little pumpkins.

Fall Service Project

Claire and I did a little service project (which counted as school for her) on Tuesday morning while the boys were at preschool.  We volunteered at a local pumpkin patch.  Not the kind we went to here, but a "wooden pallet" patch ... where you go buy pumpkins at a stand in town.

 

This pumpkin patch is the main fundraiser for a great cause: The Cooper Trooper Foundation.  This organization puts together kits for siblings of children who have cancer.  It is a great organization founded by our dear friends from Alabama, Rod & Missy Cook.  (Rod and Missy moved to Tennessee shortly after we did and Rod is Will's boss at his new job.)   They started this organization after their youngest son (of 3 boys) was diagnosed with a rare type of brain tumor.  It is such a great ministry and I was glad to be able to help out this year.

 

I took my camera and had fun practicing shooting in manual with a still subject!

 

Look at all the pumpkins ... these two photos are of opposite sides of the lot.

 

Since the local school district was out for fall break that day, Claire had lots of buddies to play with while we were working on the patch.  They were busy gathering and counting pumpkins for some larger orders that were being picked up the following day.

 

After we finished our shift, I picked up the boys and we went back to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins.

 

David wanted his picture made with this ghost cut-out ... and I just realized he has his eyes closed.

Luke sat in the wagon and drank/spilled my water.

 

Hunting for the perfect pumpkins!

 

Another big FAIL at trying to get a picture of all 3 together.

 

My sweet boys!

Halloween at the Hill House

Although I already posted a photo of my 3 little spooks, I wanted to post some more pictures from our evening of Halloween fun.

 

We have trick-or-treated with the same 3 families for the last several years. It initially started because there our no trick-or-treaters in our small neighborhood. Our friends Carey & Heather lived in a huge neighborhood with tons of houses and tons of kids (and our kids got tons of Halloween candy). So, we met at thier house for pizza and the dads took the kids out for candy and they moms stayed at the house and handed out candy. This year, Carey & Heather live in a new neighborhood is a beautiful new house. The kids got the perfect amount of candy (not too much, but enough to make them happy) and we continued our fun tradition.

 

Here are a few more photos of the kids in their costumes.

 

 

Luke was intrigued by the pumpkins all lit up!  (I had to use some scented candles because that is all I could find that would stand up in the pumpkins.  In case you were wondering, cucumber and charred pumpkin are not a great scent combination!

 

 

Our best family shot of the night. 

 

All the kids about to head out for candy.

 

Cute Strawberry Shortcake.  This girl is a mess!

 

Our neighbors ... cutest Dorothy and Scarecrow on the block.

 

 

My sweet cowboy!

 

Claire and Kate.

 

Will and Luke.

 

My sweet friends ... Beth, Krystie and Heather.  (Love the little photo bomber blue ninja in the background!)