HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We have so much to thank the Lord for!

Pics From the Past Week

The girls in their Thanksgiving dresses. They look like candy corn. They are suppose to have their initials monogrammed on the white part, but that is a LONG story of why they are not.

Our church had a father/son campout this past weekend. Aaron and Asher went. Asher had so much fun. I think he felt like a big boy out there.

Asher before he left. It wasn't really that cold, but he was prepared. The boy with him is Zach.

YEAH! I helped get the tent up.
This is the clay pigeon gun. Asher got on the wrong side of the arm. He has a big bruise.

Asher skeet shooting.

Asher fishing. He caught 4 fish ALL BY HIMSELF!

Aaron and Asher

All the little guys

In the tent getting ready for bed

Asher roasting marshmellows

All the older guys

Abigail had her first guitar lesson last weekend.

Bro. Clarence from our church is giving her lessons.

Just an Update

I was doing so well at posting everyday, then.....life just keeps coming at us. It has been a whole week since my last post.

Last Friday we had a church family over for dinner. Saturday we spent the whole day visiting church members who are sick or shut -in. Monday I had the normal domestic stuff to take care of and some tutoring. Tuesday Abbie and I got FREE haircuts from a local beauty school. They did a good job, and we will be going back. I am so thankful. We both needed a haircut, but we just didn't have the extra money. Wednesday I had several errands to run and church/kid's club and play practice for church. Today I went shopping for Abbie's birthday and for a few more Christmas items. This afternoon I have tutoring and tonight we have teen club and play practice. Tomorrow I have a little more shopping to do and lots of stuff to take care of at home. Saturday I will be packing for our trip to TN next week. Sunday we have our big Thanksgiving service and fellowship at church. We will be leaving Sunday night after church on our trip to TN. It is easier to travel with the kids at night. THEY SLEEP!! It also saves us a bundle on food. We don't have to eat out all day. Aaron does well travelling at night, so don't worry.

I will have lots of pictures when we get back.

Another Slumber Party

We didn't have school on Tuesday or Wednesday, so Tuesday night we had two little girls from church come over to spend the night with our girls. We had homemade corndog muffins (cornbread muffins with chopped up hotdogs inside), mac-n-cheese, and rootbeer for dinner. The girls all played for a while. Then we had popcorn and hot chocolate while attempting to watch a movie. THEY STAYED AWAKE FOREVER!!!! Hearing all of the giggles and cheering coming from the living room was cute until about 11:45. I kept waiting and waiting for them to tire. I was so ready to go to sleep. The two little girls from church saw a side of Mrs. Rachel that they hadn't experienced yet, but they did lie down and go to sleep afterwards. :) :)

Of course, they were all up bright and early. We had pancakes and fruit for breakfast. They played Barbies while I attempted to watch the movie that I didn't get to watch the night before :). I curled all of their hair up. Then they played some more. Anyway I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

I had tutoring this afternoon. We had King's Kids tonight. We are working on our Children's Christmas Play. Overall we had a busy, but fruitful day.

No Big Deal

Today I am thankful for a good night's sleep. Ida made landfall last night. It was a very weak storm. I didn't hear a thing through the night. We do have tons of rain. We will most definitely see some flooding, but that will be the worst of it.

We do have a two day break from school now. We have today off because of the weather, and we have tomorrow off because of Veterans Day.

IDA is Coming to Town

Today is preparation day for Ida, our first gulf storm. We have brought in all of the outdoor furniture and toys. The vehicles are filled with gas. The water supply is stocked. The flashlights are ready. The phones are charged. We still have to get a radio. Hopefully Aaron is getting that now.

I just got a call from school that it is closing early. I will pick up the kids. When we get home, we will all bathe. Then I will clean out the bathtubs and fill them with water, so that if the power goes out we will have water to flush the toilets. We will eat, and then bunker down to wait out the storm.

Those of you who know me well know that I DO NOT LIKE storms like hurricanes or tornadoes. At least Ida has been downgraded to a tropical storm, but we are still projected to have up to 65 mph winds and gobs of rain. I am doing my best to remain calm so that the kids won't be any more scared than they already are. You know they hear all kinds of scary storm stories at school.

Our Visit With Kayla at PCC

Yesterday we went to visit Kayla at PCC. We took her out to eat off campus. Then we went to the Sports Center at PCC. Boy is that place amazing! It was nice when I was college age, but now it is crazy. They have sooooo many neat things in there. The kids had so much fun. We took them ice skating.

Chloe finally got the hang of it.

We met Jackie, a freshman from St. Louis, she helped Asher and Abbie around the rink.

This is a small portion of the HUGE indoor climbing wall. Look at Asher looking up. He was amazed.

Kayla with the kiddos in front of one of the small climbing walls.

The indoor volleyball courts. Upstairs around the courts is for inline skating. Behind the foggy looking glass wall in the back right of the picture is the indoor waterpark.

Here is a portion of the indoor water park. The water park has three waterslides and a wave/surfing pool.

The kids in front of one of the fake trees throughout the Sports Center Addition

We got home around 5:30. The kids were exhausted. Abbie and Justus did walk into to the house on their own, but by the time I got in they were like this in the hallway.

This is how I found the boys this morning--in my bed.

I got up to go check on the girls. At the same time this is how I found the girls--in Abbie's bed.

Church Fall Festival

Last night we had our Fall Festival at church. The kids played lots of games, ate a truck load of junk, drank liters of coke, won several prizes, and brought home gobs of candy. I had to work a booth at the Fall Festival, but someone else did take my camera around for a few minutes and get a few pictures. Some of them are blurry, but they are better than none at all.

Abbie, Hannah (Chloe's friend from school), Chloe, and BryslynnJustus got a football painted on his face. Asher fishing at the Go Fish game.

Raul walked Justus around since Aaron and I were both in a booth.
The girls doing the Cake Walk. Chloe won some cupcakes. Abbie and Hannah brought home cookies.

Look at Justus' face. He is thrilled about all of the candy in his bag.

After the festival, Chloe had a friend spend the night. I popped some popcorn, and they watched movies in the living room. There were sounds of giggling girls until about 4 something this morning. This is what the living room looks like first thing this morning.

Today we are going to Pensacola to visit Kayla at PCC. We are going to take her out to eat, go see the Lighthouse, go bowling and go ice skating at the Sports Center. There will be more pics soon.

Guess What I Saw

They do exist down here in AL. They are just few and far between. But I got a rare sighting! I am thankful I got to see some fall leaves. I took a picture just in case no one believed me. :)
Here are a couple of shots of Justus too.

Typical Day

The weather is absolutely beautiful down here right now! It is bright and sunny outside with a little breeze. The temperature is 75. It is gorgeous! I am trying to enjoy it. Unfortunately I have had a tendency here lately to be negative about the weather rather than enjoy it, because it is not very fall like. I LOVE the crisp fall air, and I have been missing it. BUT.... I need to not focus on the negative and see the positive. I am thankful that we are not freezing down here.

My praise for the day is that Justus seems to be much better! He has had a very good day. I have only heard him cough one time!!

We are doing the usual stuff around here today. I went to school. After school I went on a few hospital visits with Aaron. We grabbed a salad for lunch. I am going to go get the kids from school. Then I will get some more work done for the children's play at church. Tonight we will go to church.

Pictures That Should Already Be Posted

Justus' 2nd Birthday Dinner at O'Charley's with some friends from church. Notice that all of my kids have food hanging out of their mouths.Justus really got into the birthday cake.

At home he kept sneaking into the cupcakes and eating them. Look at how happy he is though.

However, by the time we got around to the singing at home, this is all that was left of the cupcakes--some crumbs.

Justus loves playing his new piano.

Justus opening his new preschool computer.

Later on, this is how I found these two. They had grabbed pizza without asking and decided to just lay on the couch and eat it. What were they thinking? They aren't allowed to eat in the living room. I am sure that this is the first of many more pics to come in the years ahead of my two boys on the couch eating pizza and watching t.v.

The girls in their new monogrammed church dresses.

I got a great deal on these--only $20.

The girls with their friends from church. Kirsten, Abbie, Chloe, and Bryslynn.

A week ago there was a bad accident in our neighborhood. This is the view of the helicopter from my front porch. Even though it was a tragic event, it was the neatest thing to have a helicopter land in our front yard.