Happy Birthday, Mom!

I LOVE THIS FAMILY! As (slightly) crazy as they are.
Hope you had a great birthday party Mom!!

Sarah Palin

So Saturday night my dear friend Anne, her friend Dawn and my fabulous mom went to see Sarah Palin speak in Fort Wayne. What a trip! First of all I could not have been in finer company. I adore Anne and Dawn. Those girls are fun. And then there's my mom. I will never know why God chose to give me the greatest, funnest, kindest, smartest, most optimistic, patient and wonderful mom on the planet. I have never known ANYONE like my Mom. And, next to my husband, she is my best friend. I truly love my mom.

So, back to Sarah. First of all, the party kicked off with Hank Williams Jr. And had I known any of his music it would have been awesome! But hey, good times.

Then out came Sarah and her family. We were about 30 feet from the stage and right at the catwalk she came down. It was such a great time! I am praying we win this election. That any person would support a candidate who numerous times as a state senator opposed something like the Born Alive Act is beyond my understanding. Babies born alive during or after an abortion...God forgive us. Please vote in favor of LIFE on November 4th!!

How have we gotten to a point in our culture where that is even an issue...

Rainy Day Crafts

There is something about rainy days that just makes crafts with the kids even funner...

We decided today to do some sponge painted leaves and glue them onto paper bag trees. Well, Emily did just that and was satisfied and went to play with the dog. Grace however wanted to create an entire "village" and spent the next 4 hours working on it!!! She is one crafty little girl. And guess what? My baby lost her first tooth today. Pictures to come later this week. Hope you all had a beautiful rainy day too.

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Potato Creek

Another beautiful fall day yesterday. The girls and I picked up Grandpa and headed to the park to collect some pretty fall "stuff". Poor little Gracie ended up with about 7 mosquito bites on her face and arms and a thorn stuck in her eyelid!
And in case you notice the brown smudges around their mouths, those are leftovers from the Oreos Grandpa broke out in the middle of our walk.

Pumpkin Patch

What a beautiful day yesterday was. We spent it at Matthys Farm, petting some animals...including one vicious looking rooster. Well, technically we didn't pet him...we just gawked, in horror. Then we enjoyed a hay ride, which we were informed was actually a "straw" ride. Apparently hay has more green. Who'd have known.

We walked through a short little corn maze and then picked out some pumpkins and voila...I've got more pictures. I love pictures. Love them. Here are some from yesterday...

Homeschool Rollerskating

What a blast we had today! Every 3rd Friday of

each month USA hosts a skate only for home schoolers!

So we went today for the first time and the girls loved it. Emily needed help around the rink one time and then was off on her own round and round, over and over. Grace took a bit longer but eventually, after Mommy and Daddy were completely worn out, she gave it a go and did it all alone. That is until two little 4th grade girls thought she was too cute to skate alone and hung by her side the rest of the time. And this, sadly, is the only picture I got. My batteries died as soon as we got there...

On a low note, we rented Prince of Egypt from the library for "enrichment" of our Bible story for today and Emily ended up heart broken and crying after the plague killed the first born of the Egyptians. How do you explain that to a 7 year old?

2 more days...

We are slowly getting ourselves ready to go on our big family trip. Two more days till Disney World! Actually, 2 more days until we hit the road. That's right...we're driving. See, I don't fly. Can't. Won't do it. Ever. Ever. I've been plagued with a fear of flying since I was a kid and a few years back I gave it a try. Never again!!! So, I've spent the last 18 months convincing the kids how great it will be to be able to see the beautiful scenes in Kentucky, Tennessee and so forth.


We had planned to take our dog to the kennel on Saturday morning but plans changed and we had to take him today. We won't see him again until the 19th!! I can't believe that I actually miss him.

He's such a pest but...so dag gone cute!!! And I just hate the thought of him sleeping on a cold kennel floor, and not knowing why. Maybe he'll think it's because of the latest Barbie hand he gnawed off. Maybe he'll return home so remorseful that the chewing will...finally...end...