LLH

My friend Erin at QUITO NOTES does a post from time to time called LLH (love, laugh, hate). I thought I would give it a try today since I have some cute pics to go with the love and laugh part. Here goes....

LOVE....Fall weather and all of the wonderful things that it brings such as playing in piles of leaves, walking in the woods, bonfires on a cool night, and so much more!

Snuggling with Mallory and eating popcorn while watching a good movie.

Reading stories to Mallory at bedtime!

Listening to Mallory tell me about her day as soon as she gets in the car from the pick up line at school. I am loving this because I know that one day she won't be so free with giving me detailed information about her day.

I love how God is blessing our church right now! We have a new pastor coming and we are over the moon excited about this! We love making new friends and including them in our activities.

I love my family and all that we share. There is NO PLACE I would rather be than with them! Can't imagine giving my time to anyone else than the ones I love the most!

I love that Mal's BFF from across the miles is wearing the same outfit (in a different color) on the same day as Mallory. These girls are a hoot!

HELEN



LAUGH.........Mallory has two zhu zhu pet hamsters and she is their little Mother. She carries these motorized hamsters everywhere! She informed me today that they need their own little beds to sleep in and that she wants to use her tooth fairy money to buy them each a bed.

Mallory and her classmates absolutely crack me up! They are pure entertainment! Tabitha and I helped with the Fall party for her class and we were in stitches laughing at some of the kids and the things they would say. Of course our two (Jackson and Mal) are right in there with the other class clowns. I love her classmates.

Ron and his biking buddies got sprayed by a skunk one morning recently. Their bike rides are always very eventful!

Recently my girlfriends and I watched Steel Magnolias over at Lindsay's house. Funny movie that I could watch over and over again!

Mallory with her two zhu zhu hamsters!




HATE......I hate that we start our day wearing jackets and sweaters and by lunch we could put on shorts and flip flops. Why can't we just have nice, cool, fall weather ALL DAY LONG?!
I hate for people to not be committed. We have a lazy generation who always expect others to pull their load. Very sad.
I hate when parents don't discipline their children. We need to be parents to our children....not their friends.
Lastly, I hate for parents to buy and/or do things FOR their children and not WITH them. They need your TIME....not things.

TRICK OR TREAT

What a FUN Halloween we had yesterday! We started a fun tradition last year with all of the adults and our kiddos riding a trailer so that we can all trick-or-treat together. Last night was a hoot! We had tons of fun and tons of laughter! I just can't say enough about our group! We really have a wonderful time when we are all together. We did have some of our friends who were not able to go with us due to sickness and/or being out of town and you guys were very much missed! You know who you are!
We were excited to have our new friends, the McMillan's and their two precious girls with us last night for trick or treating. Their daughters and Mallory have already hit it off so well and we are excited that they will soon be our neighbors. Their mom Jessica said that her girls were already making plans in the car on the way home last night of the fun things that they and Mallory will be soon doing together! Our church has called them to be our new pastor and they were voted in today! We are rejoicing and know that God is all over this. We really didn't know what was going on when people started leaving our church but now we see this was ALL in His plan. Those of us that stayed and fought the fight are truly seeing the blessing and we now know why we had to go through so much turmoil. God knew who would stay and who would go. The love and unity that we are now experiencing was ALL WORTH it! Thank you Lord for my loving church family. It took alot to get us to this place but we can now experience such a sweet spirit every time we enter those doors. So great to be part of what all is happening at our church! So very happy! Can't wait to get to know our pastor and his family better! So very happy that our girls hit it off and we look forward to so many fun times at church together. Mallory watched movies with Sarah and Hannah last night and they are already planning a sleepover soon! Fun fun!
Okay, back to Trick or Treating. I am only putting a few pics on this post because I took so many and didn't have time to sit and weed through them. Enjoy the ones I have posted. Mallory didn't want to be Pocohontas again and decided to wear her little witch dress. She was a beautiful witch though. All of the children had so much fun and said they couldn't wait until next year to do it again. The adults always have as much fun as the kids. We are excited to add the McMillans to our tradition. They, too, are looking forward to next year as well!










I just have to add that I used to always say I wanted three boys. God answered that prayer by giving me Jarret, Jet, and Ben. These are my close friend's sons but are just like my own. I love them as if they were mine! So so precious!!! I just love them so much!

SO FAR BEHIND.....

with blogging. I am finding it very hard to keep the blog up because life is just crazy busy around here. It takes so much time to upload pics and frankly I just haven't had the time or energy lately to do it. Also, once I put some of these photos on facebook, I sort of forget about putting them here on my blog and this is where I truly need to be putting the pics because of having it printed up in book form. I really like having pics on here to document some of the fun things we do in life.
Anyhoo, on to this blog post. I need to make this quick because we have company coming over for trick or treating tommorow evening and I need to get this house cleaned up. We started a tradition last year of having friends and their kiddos over to ride on our trailer for trick or treating. It's really alot of fun because all of the kids get to be together while trick or treating and we parents get to stay on the trailer and enjoy watching them run from house to house. Such a fun thing to do. We have added more friends this year so I know it's going to be great!
Here are a few things we have been up to lately. I am not posting all of the pics here because it would take all night! After being a homeroom mom today and helping with Mallory's school Fall party, and gym, and work, I am EXHAUSTED. I will post the party pics and a few other things we have done lately another night. Here are some pics from some other fun things we have been up to. Enjoy!

OUR CHURCH FALL FESTIVAL was a HUGE success! This was our second year to do this and it was even bigger and better than last year! I am so glad my church has made this a yearly thing now. Everyone had a wonderful time last night. I heard several comment what a fun and sweet spirit that was there among everyone. Seriously, I live in an awesome community and I dearly love the folks here. I am so proud of where I come from. We had TONS of kiddos there last night. I was just overwhelmed. I loved having all of my friends there as well. It was just a perfect Fall night of fun and fellowship. Enjoy these pics.........


Disney was the theme with my family since we recently vacationed there. Ron was Goofy, I was Cruella (yall can stop laughing now!), and Mallory was Pocohontas!

Here we are with our BFF's. We are proof that you are never too old to have FUN!




One of my very BFF's in the whole world, Sam. I lined this costume up for her because I knew she would be so darling in it and she was!

One of my babies, Marie.

Robin is an AWESOME friend and in my Mom's group. Love her !

Brandon and Ron....two awesome Godly men!

Sissy drove all the way over just to see Mallory last night. Such a special big sister!

Mal and Kryslynn being goofy. They are silly girls!

Tay and SuzieQ were in charge of the cookie decorating booth. I am thinking Taylor did more eating than assisting with decorating.

One of my BFF's, Lindsay, had to go out of town and she hated to miss the festival so she sent Emma Ann (her mom) to bring the kiddos. This is precious Jet! Love him!

Kryslynn, Mallory, and Taylea take a moment to pose in this fall scene.

Kassie and Mal.

Jackson, Mallory, and Kryslynn....close friends.

Taking a break from the festival to chat with my girlies, Jana and RObin.

These chickadees were so cute!

We have two new friends that we are SO EXCITED about! Their father is coming this Sunday in view of a call as pastor of our church. They drove over to join us last night at the festival. I just love their family! We are just really excited that we will have new kiddos in our church, community, and neighborhood. Can't wait to include them in all of the fun things we do!

THE GREAT SOUTH FAIR.......I have been going to this fair ever year since I was about 5 years old. I grew up going to this fair and I went with friends and their children even before we got Mallory. We have taken Mallory every year as well. It gets more fun every year because we always meet up with lots of friends there. This year Mallory and Abby rode all of the rides together and had a blast! Here are a few pics from a fun night at the fair!










GATTI TOWN recently opened and we have really enjoyed going with friends there to play while the adults hang out and chat. Here are some pics from one of the nights we went. One of Mallory's BFF's went with us. We LOVE Abby! She and Mallory get along SO GREAT! We met up with our sweet friends, the Davis'.







More later..........just had to check in and do a post before I got even more behind with things. Happy Fall Yall.

AWARDS DAY

Yesterday was AWARDS DAY at school and Mallory received two awards. She made all 100's and all A's! We are so proud of her. I am even more proud of another award she received that only five students received out of the entire Kindergarten class and this was the award for PERFECT BEHAVIOR. This means that her behavior tag has never been changed. I am so proud of this award. Mallory is such a well behaved student. The kids that were on honor roll were called up to the front and then they danced to the honor roll stroll. They were so cute! Ron and I enjoyed visiting with the other parents before the awards ceremony started. My BFF Mary Margaret came to see Miss Mallory get her award. It was a sweet little ceremony. So proud of ALL of the kiddos that got awards yesterday.
Last night we had our moms night out at my friend Lindsay's house. We decided to bring our kids and let them hang out and play as well while we sat in the cozy media room and chatted the night away. I am still sore today from laughing so hard. These young girls just crack me up. We were laughing so hard that three of us fell off the couch in uncontrollable laughter. I love these ladies. We all love each other's children like our own and we are genuinely happy and supportive of each other's children. So glad to have that in our parent group. I have experienced a person not being so kind in that area. So glad I am TOTALLY free from that now.
Thanks ladies for a wonderful night last night. I can't say enough how blessed I am to have SO MANY wonderful friends. You all know how much you mean to me. I am so blessed and I am reminded DAILY of just how blessed I am. My family and friends are my life and I love you all so much. Thanks for encouraging me and making me a better person. Have a great weekend everyone. We are going to the fair tonight so I am sure I will have alot of pics from that. More later. :)
P.S. I want to send a shout out to Erin and Helen to have a WONDERFUL time at the Hannah Montana concert! I know it will be a blast!



Mallory and Kailee...sweet sweet friends.


Wes (Abby's dad) just had to get in the picture. Such a kid himself!

We visited the pumpkin patch with friends this past Saturday and had a fabulous day! The weather was cool and crisp and it felt WONDERFUL outside. We ran into so many friends at the pumpkin patch and it was great just to stand around and drink hot chocolate and visit while the kids ran around and played. We just love the pumpkin patch and it is one of our favorite fall activites to do.
We packed a picnic lunch to enjoy at the pumpkin patch and it was so wonderful to be able to spread the blankets out and enjoy the beautiful scenery and weather. Mal went home with Abby for a sleepover and they had a blast playing the Wii all night. Such a fun weekend with all of the fall things we enjoyed.
Lots going on around here and I am not sure when I will blog again. I am trying to keep this up since I don't have time for scrapbooking anymore. We have too many family/friend things planned to slow down and scrapbook. I want to cherish and enjoy time with my family and I am just not going to tie myself down scrapbooking on weekends. I can't imagine having a job all week. I would NEVER want to leave my family on weekends. So, maybe after Mallory graduates high school, I can scrapbook again. HA! Too much fun to be had and I love being with my family.
Great things going on at my church. We have an exciting women's conference in November that is going to be awesome! Can't wait for this! My BFF is responsible for this and I am helping with it. In fact, we have all of our Bunco girls helping with it. More on this later.
Gotta run and iron school clothes and do my nightly routine of other things before hitting the hay. MOre later. Enjoy the pics.

What a fabulous weekend we have had! Oh my word, I am just loving this weather! Nothing like cool temps to get me in a great mood! It is truly my favorite time of year. To say that we have had the perfect weekend would be an understatement. Actually, the whole week has been pretty awesome.
Friday started off great when I picked Mallory up from school and realized she had made all 100's on her report card! Yes, that's right...straight A's! Also, since the very first day of school she has had a perfect record for her behavior. She has never had her tag changed and we are just so proud of her. So glad that she is such a great student and doing so well in school. More importantly, she LOVES school and can't wait to get there each day.
Friday night we had the Heintz's over for supper and pumpkin carving. It was such a perfect night to do this because the weather was so cool and crisp! The kids had a great time running around and playing in the back yard while we visited with our good friends. This has become a tradition for our families each year and we always look forward to it! After carving, we always put a candle in the pumpkins and go around to the front of the house for pictures with their glowing pumpkins. So fun! We ended our night of fun around midnight. Here are some pics of our very fun evening together. Enjoy!







I picked up the kids some pumpkin shaped Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They loved them. Jarret especially loved them!







Shannon was totally into the pumpkin carving. I thought she needed some decoration in her hair. ;)



These two are such sweet friends and so much like sisters. I am so glad they have each other. It is an added bonus that the parents are such great friends as well. We really have so much to be grateful for and since we are approaching Thanksgiving , I have thought alot about how truly blessed I am. Great family, great friends, great church family, great community, and just blessed beyond words.
Today our pastor was talking about how sad it is that some people are just always searching for something better when the best is right in front of them. He used the example of people that leave one church to go to another because they think the new church is better, more spiritual, nicer people, or whatever reason, are the very ones that ruin churches. He said they might be going to what they think is a perfect church but once THEY get in that church, it will no longer be perfect anymore because of THEM. The congregation really got a good laugh over this comment. It really is so true. Like our pastor said, people that flee a church when the going gets bad are always searching for something. It's the tough times that make us stronger and it is during those times that we grow closer to the Lord because we learn to depend on Him so much more. I am so thankful for all that I have been through....good and bad....I have seen God's faithfulness time and time again. I know that He is going to get me through whatever comes my way because He has been there before. So glad I have a Father to depend on and Who loves me and forgives me. So much to be thankful for.
I apologize for the lack of blogging. We are just busy LIVING and having fun. We really do have blessed lives that are so rich and full. I enjoy being WIFE and MOM and all of the blessings these roles bring. No, these roles don't define me but these roles are my PRIORITY right now and I don't take them lightly. I love that all of my friends feel the same way as I do about being a wife and mom. We all agree that there are so many things we could be doing on the weekends but our hearts are with our families and there is no place we would rather be. I want Mallory to remember me spending time with her. Ron works all week so I love the weekends when we can do things together as a family and with other families.
I love my girlfriend time too and the great thing I love about all of my girlfriend groups is that we love getting together at each others houses just hanging out and spending time together. Alot of times we bring our kids so that they can play together while we have our time. It's a win/win situation. One day when Mallory is older, I will be able to enjoy some things that I have put on the back burner. But for now, I will be Mom.
Check back soon. I will be posting pics from our fun day at the pumpkin patch. We had a wonderful fall picnic and visit to the pumpkin patch Saturday. The weather was perfect! More later. Have a blessed week everyone!

MONDAY...FUN DAY!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was Columbus Day and the kids didn't have school so my girlies and I decided to take the kids to lunch, a movie, and bowling. We spent the entire day together yesterday and had a BLAST!!!!!! After a fun lunch, we headed over to the movie theatre and got the kids all situated with their snack pack and lined up on one row while the moms sat on another row nearby. I honestly don't think we Moms looked at the movie screen even once. We chatted the ENTIRE time. Can you tell we were all starved for girlfriend time? :) I love my girl time and I must say, I have some awesome friends. I have my church girlfriends and my mom girlfriends and I just love them all! I am blessed!!!
The kids all had such a great time together yesterday. They just always have so much fun when they are together. We had a few that couldn't go with us yesterday and they were VERY MUCH missed!!!
Last night I had Bunco and as always, we have such a wonderful time. I love my Bunco babes. I always leave Bunco feeling uplifted and sore from laughter. Last night was no exception. One of our Bunco ladies is on the pastor search committee and we are very close to getting a new pastor. We are pure giddy about the possibility of this young man and his family coming to our church. More on that later. :)
Got lots coming up so I am super duper busy. Can't wait for the Fall Festival at our church. Going to be so much fun! Halloween is going to be tons of fun! Once again, Ron will get a trailer so that all of us Moms (and a few dads) and the kiddos can ride around town for trick or treating. That was so much fun last year and everyone is looking forward to it again this year. We will all come back to our house for a Halloween party.
Okay, I know there is more but I have a busy day ahead. Just wanted to pop in and post about our fun day yesterday. Have a great week!

The Crew (minus a few) (two of the boys had "bubba teeth" and their Mom wanted yall to know these aren't their real teeth...haha)

Nicole, Robin, Lindsay, Jana, Tabitha, and me. We missed you girls that couldn't make it yesterday!

Jax is giving Tate and Mal a big friendly hug! They had a blast bowling!