Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so thankful for my family.
And my friends.
And for moments.... like this. Just being.
Life is good and God is great.

Psalm 30:11-12

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

Happy 7th Birthday Katie Grace!

We have had a very busy past few weeks and I am regretful that I didn't get Katie's birthday post up on her birthday. So..here goes!
Yesterday, we celebrated Katie's 7th birthday!
Katie lost her first tooth on the day after her birthday last year, and has also since then gotten new glasses, and her hair cut off for locks of love. I knew her photo this year would be so different, because she has also lost 6 MORE teeth since then, and has her "big" teeth in front now. WOW, what a change she has had this year! Look at the comparison. Both of these photos were taken ON her birthdays.


(click to view larger!)

We started the day with a visit to North Point Mall...
Katie opening her gift from Mommy, Daddy, and Noah...
an AMERICAN GIRL STORE gift card!

Showing off her purchase:
With the gift card and cash she received from my mom and dad and grandmother, she was able to get:
Ta da! KITT KITTREDGE! (the depression era doll, book, and accessory kit!)

Katie and her loot in front of the store on the way out.
We went into a Sephora store to look for something and Katie told the lady that it was her birthday.
Turns out, it was the store clerks birthday also! She gave Katie a free mini lip gloss!

We had lunch at Pappsito's. It was our first time there. They make FRESH flour tortillas (you can watch them being made) and have delicious fajitas! Mmmmm!
We tried a new dessert, a surprise choice from the waiter who insisted we try it.
It was called Tres Leches, and was WONDERFUL!

Katie and Noah on the porch of the restaurant.

Beautiful seven year old Katie.

Today was another busy day. Downtown Cartersville hosted trick or treating this afternoon.
Noah was BATMAN!

Katie was Belle.

We had such a fun time yesterday and today!
Happy Birthday to my sweet seven year old girl!
I can't believe how smart, beautiful, and grown-up you are becoming!

My First Pumpkin!

I have never carved a pumpkin myself before tonight!!!! Isn't he cute?

The kids also had two small pumpkins that they worked on painting while I cleaned, scraped, and carved the big one. We all drew a picture of our pumpkins, weighed them, measured how tall and how big around they were... then we got busy decorating! (they are still working on their painted pumpkins..you have to work in layers you know! ha!)

I took ideas from Katie and Noah about how to design the eyes, nose, etc.
Noah is going to be a great pumpkin carver one day I know, because he was advising me how to make sure the triangles in the eyes and the teeth "stayed in" while I carved.
And he was right!

Katie, for some reason, really enjoyed picking out the pumpkin seeds. She is actually still working on separating all the seeds from the rest of the insides. To each their own, right?
She hasn't complained once! ha ha!

A Tree Like This One...

Have you ever sat under and looked up at tree like this one before? As I was doing that today I was thinking about many other very similar trees and similar weather days yet very different circumstances surrounding the occasion. Many different ages, stages, places, settings. I don't know, it just made me think and remember and it made me so thankful for the occasion that brought me under this tree on this very day of July 3rd, 2009.

Not too many years ago this week I was hastily putting together a wedding! If you have read the story on my blog before you know that Corey and I moved our wedding up and decided the weekend before July 7th that we were going to go ahead and get married! So, this week is a sentimental one for me even if not already because of the holiday. (Today is also the 90 day milestone in our Disney trip countdown, so you can click here to read more about that!)

This week, 8 years later, we are enjoying a sunny afternoon at the park with our two beautiful and sweet children! Here is Katie with her umbrella "to keep the sun away."

Our two kids, tree-hugging!

Goofing around...doing "absodutely nothing" (Katie's words)
That's Corey sitting under the tree.

Sweet.

Tonight, getting a ride on Daddy's back to their bedrooms for bedtime. Doesn't everyone have a picture like this? They have done this so many times, but I finally got a picture tonight. That's 111 pounds of cuteness on his back! (yeah, it only happens about once every couple of weeks! ha!)

Sweet day and priceless moments!

What we've been up to....

I don't know if you realized this, but I actually had a birthday this month.

Yesterday in fact... I actually turned 28 on the 28th of April.... oh... you already knew? Huh. I guess good news travels fast.

Last week I hosted a Thirty-One home show party for my friend, PJ, who just became a consultant. I combined it as a "birthday party" and I was able to meet a goal for orders and got to pick out $150 in FREE products for myself for my birthday!! That was an awesome gift, and I just have the best friends and family who helped me reach that goal. The company really does have cute products, so I have some really nice things coming that I will be sure to post when they arrive.

Hmmmm....well other than that... we have actually been very busy!!!!!!

Our latest breaking news is that Katie lost her FOURTH tooth on Monday night! That makes four teeth in 6 months...and two more loose even now! What a cutie!


I missed out on posting several things while I was in the midst of my self-promoting countdown. The biggest project was spring cleaning, which included a makeover for Katie's room. She now has storage room for all her "stuff" and a new reading/writing area under her princess curtain/tent. She loves it. This collage shows her in her reading nook right before bed and as soon as she woke up the next morning. It is really a big girl room now!


This past Saturday we actually went to the park and enjoyed some family time! Corey had just got back into town after being gone for ELEVEN days! So, we spent the day just hanging out together. You can click on any of these collages to see it BIG!


Noah also finished up his soccer class. We love these sports classes for 4 year olds. He will be too old for them soon. It teaches them the basics of different sports. He is taking the t-ball class now. Katie has declared this to be her last semester of ballet. She wants to take music lessons next..but here are some of her in class also. In the bottom left picture, the class teacher is actually holding Noah. It was the last class and they were playing a real "game" and no one else could get to the ball before Noah, so the teacher held him so the other kids could have a turn. He thought it was so funny and it really boosted his confidence of course!



Oh yeah...there was EASTER this month too! Here are some shots from Egg Hunts at the grandparents' houses. Katie got that sleeping mask in her basket from my parents, is it not too much? ha. They also got new Bibles from Corey and me in their baskets from us.



We started out April with an Egg Hunt with the homeschool group. It was a beautiful day, we got some cute pictures!


So, yeah, I have been doing more in April than sitting around writing my answer every day. ha ha. It has been fun. Looking forward to some fun times in May, including perhaps a trip to the Georgia Renaissance Festival...Corey's birthday...Mother's Day... FUN times ahead!

Bonus: Guess the reason for the music theme this month. Winner gets a song dedication prize of my choosing :)

Fall Festivities, Part One

We hit up Broad Street in Rome this afternoon for some trick-or-treating. We had a great time. The weather was nice, there weren't big crowds, and the kids just had a blast. They got tired toward the end and a little hot, but they really enjoyed it. Katie even got to have her picture made with Snow White. She told her that she missed seeing her at Disney World! ha. (she was on our list of must-sees for our next trip!) Here are some pictures. We are taking a short rest time before our next event, the party at a friend's house tonight!