The Busy Blessings of October

Time keeps getting away from me. I am still in a little bit of shock that we have a 6 & 7 year old. We went to Newhope to see the family a couple of weeks ago. Alex was out of town. He went to a Creed concert with some friends from high school and had a "boys weekend". I loaded up the girls that Friday and we went to spend the weekend with Nana and Poppa.

My cousin, Tricia, had her little girls first birthday party. We got to see a lot of our family and had a great time. Ayla was adorable and Tricia did a great job making Ayla's birthday cake!

Someone couldn't be still for the picture.

The girls had a great time playing with their cousins. We all don't get to see one another enough.

We also had a family get together Saturday night for the girls' birthday for the family that didn't get to make it to the bowling party.

We had a cookie cake and it was delicious. The girls got more  birthday gifts. They are so rotten.

We really enjoyed spending time with everyone and had a great family weekend.

My battery died on my camera at that point but we also had family potluck on Sunday after church.

This past week I was on call for the first time with my job. Being on call pretty much means that I have the on call phone and if anyone calls into the DHS Hotline after hours between 4:30 pm and 8:00 am, the call goes to me. I am required to go out on some calls and could possibly have to take children into foster care. Call lasts from Tuesday to Tuesday and my call ended today. It was a nervous week for me but thank goodness it wasn't bad this time. We stayed close to home this weekend due to me being on call. We picked up some groceries and ran around Little Rock a little bit on Saturday. All of us girls wore our boots. I think Makayla's match her personality.

Abi and KayKay were out of school yesterday and today. Our good friend's daughter (who is also our good friend), Megan, babysat for us yesterday and Alex's mom came up and kept them today. They have had a pretty good week. All three girls had dental check ups yesterday morning at 7:00 and they all got a good report (for once!!! No follow up visit!!). Abi has a couple of weak teeth and was prescribed flouride like KayKay, but overall it went well.  Now that Abi and KayKay are going back to school tomorrow, we got a call around 3:00 this afternoon that Olivia had a stomach virus at daycare. I picked her up early and it looks like we will be spending our day trying to get better tomorrow. This has been a rough season for sickness.

I forgot to mention that Abigail and Olivia have both been on field trips to a pumpkin patch. This was Olivia's first field trip. I am working on getting some pictures from Mrs. Lisa to post from Olivia's trip. She brought home a big ol' pumpkin and Abi brought home a tiny pumpkin. It was funny to see which child brought home the bigger pumpkin.

Birthday Bash!

What a fun weekend!!!

Abi and KayKay had their big birthdays at Enterprise Lanes in Benton (which I am annoyed with, but we won't damper the fun spirit of the blog). Thank you to everyone that came! We enjoyed having all of you there.

Makayla chose a Spongebob theme this year.

And Abigail wanted Ladybugs.

We saw lots of great friends at the party too.

The girls had a great weekend and had lots of fun. Thanks again to everyone.See you soon!

Braggy Blog

On October 6, 2003, Alex took a trip to Hot Springs with his friend Ryan. We were both in college at Henderson and I lived in the Bamajawa Apartments. I had wanted to go to Hot Springs with Alex but he insisted that it was a trip for him and Ryan. So, I decided to plan a trip to Hot Springs on my own. My cousin and best friend, Brent, and I went to Hot Springs together. We got back to my apartment later that evening and Alex came over later. My apartment was really really small. The kitchen and living room were all one room and there were little accordian doors between the living room and bedroom. Alex took me into my bedroom and shut the little door. Brent was watching tv in the living room. Alex sat me on my bed and got on one knee. He then asked me to marry him. I was stunned, and sat there quietly for too long apparently. He said, "Aren't you going to say anything?" And I said...."Did you ask my Daddy??" Alex let out a long sigh and eventually I said yes (obviously).  Alex then explained that he had just came back from the jewelry store in Hot Springs and the ring was 'burning a hole in his pocket". He hadn't planned on asking me that way but he couldn't wait.

Alex and I are approaching our 5 year wedding anniversary.  One evening a few weeks ago, Brent was at our house visiting and Alex took me into the bedroom. He sat me down and got on one knee. He pulled out a ring box and asked me to marry him again. Tears came to my eyes. Not because of the beauty of the ring (I love it though) but because he had planned it out. Brent was in the next room (with our children this time) and he it was incredibly thoughtful. So, I appropriately answered, "Did you ask my Daddy??" 

It was probably the sweetest thing he has done for me since we have been married. He has done a lot of sweet things, but the thoughtfulness meant so much to me. That is why this is my "braggy blog". I had to share this story that means so much to me.

Gettin' Into the Fall Spirit!

Caramel Apples! Yum! ...and messy.

My mom used to buy those flat caramel rounds for us to make caramel apples when we were kids. I guess I am continuing the tradition and we made some Friday night. The girls had a really hard time eating them but it was fun.

Makayla's top two teeth have still not grown in yet, so this was quiet a challenge. I finally just cut the apples up for them.

Nana and Poppa spent a week in Branson. We got to meet them for supper Friday evening and Nana brought the girls chocolate dipped marshamallows. I know, it looks like all we do is feed our kids sugar. But the girls really liked those too.

We made these neat scary hands today. I saw an article in Cookie Magazine ( my favorite mag) on how to make them. They are full of cocoa candy corn. Now we have creepy candy  hands on our front door!

I LOVE October! We have so many things to celebrate this month. Kay Kay's birthday is October 17th and Abi's is October 19th. Alex and I have an anniversary on the 15th (5 years!) and the girls came to live with us on October 26th. We also like Halloween. We have lots of adventures planned for October and I hope we have time to fit them all in. Have a great week!