Happy Halloween

Well folks, this Halloween was a little different. We were a house divided...we had one kid getting candy while the other decided to hand out candy.  My heart was a little sad but we all still had a great evening.  We ate a yummy dinner of mummies (hot dogs wrapped with cresent rolls), eye balls (grapes), witches bones (mac n cheese) and witch fingers (buggles) before heading out.  We did a block or two as a family.  Then Andy, Caroline and Ansley came home while Maggie and I hit a few more blocks.

Maggie decided after about 45 minutes of walking, she was finished trick or treating.  We came home and she disappeared inside.  Shortly there after, she came out in her unicorn onesie.  She was officially finished...until her friends Mica and Zoe got home from soccer and were ready to trick or treat.  She had a shocked look on her face.  Then she said "Hey!  Can I be a unicorn this time?"  And off we went.  I was SO proud of her.  She walked around the neighborhood with her friends but only went to houses that she hadn't been to for candy.  

While it looked different, I think everyone had fun!  While Maggie was a little disappointed she couldn't keep a few more pieces of candy, she was excited for the pieces she did get to keep as well as the money she got paid for her pound of candy!  This isn't an easy holiday to work around sugar issues but we made it and I am SO proud of her really trying to make better choices!!

 

Fall Fun at School

 Maggie's class has been learning about bats for the last few weeks.  This week as a fun activity, they did all things bats and Halloween.  One of the activities was sensory boxes. The students had to reach their hands in and try to figure out what they were touching.  Spider legs (pipe cleaners), worms (spaghetti noodles), eyeballs (peeled grapes) and vampire teeth (candy corn).  I was so thankful Mrs. K sent me this picture.  Maggie is loving 2nd grade and we are so thankful!

Room on the Broom

Today was the character parade at Maggie's school.  Maggie chose the book "Room on the Broom."  Thankful for everyone who helped us put the costume together so that we didn't have to buy a single thing.  She looked mighty cute!

 

A little scary...

Turning 40 brings an extra gift for women...it's the age that we have to start getting annual mammograms.  Last Thursday, I had my first mammogram.  It was a piece of cake.  I was in and out of the hospital in less than 30 minutes.  I thought why do people complain, this wasn't bad at all.  Well that was until 5 days later when I got a call saying that there was some things that needed clarification and I would need to come back for a diagnostic mammogram.  According to others, this is pretty typical considering it's my first and they need a good baseline for future mammograms.  I was cool with it until today.  Then I remembered the breast cancer statistics...1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer...then I really began to get nervous and sweat...and remember you can't wear deodorant the day of these things!  

So I check in and wait and wait some more.  I kindly remind the ladies that I have to leave within the hour to pick Maggie up from school.  I wait some more.  Finally they take me for the diagnostic mammogram in which they place your breast in positions you had no clue they could go.  It was more intense and more uncomfortable than the first.  Finally we are finished and I'm asked to wait in the room.  They will pull up the mammogram.  If they got what they needed I could get dressed and go home.  If I needed an ultrasound, they would ask me to grab my things and head to the next room.  At this point, I have less than 30 minutes before Maggie gets out of school.  The nurse tells me to grab my things and head to ultrasound...great!  The ultrasound is fine but my anxiety was getting the best of me.  The lady said my right breast was fine but that they needed more information on my left breast.  As she completed the ultrasound, she focused on one section for quite some time.  At this point, I'm really nervous.  I'm watch the clock knowing I'm cutting it close and I am really wishing Andy was with me!  Once she finishes, she tells me to stay on the bed and the radiologist would be in shortly.  Great, which one of my Uncle Greg's partners were going to be look at my breast????????  Not too long after, sweet Dr. P sticks his head in.  (Such a nice guy but thankfully he stays at the door)  He said "Looks great!  We will continue to monitor for any change but at this time we don't believe it's anything.  We wanted to get a good baseline just to be certain.  Now head to carline to get Maggie!" 

Shew!  What an emotional roller coaster.  Thank you Lord all was well!  But it's a reminder to make sure you get your yearly screenings.  I wondered if they found something, how long had it been there.  Moving forward, I know if they find something, it's been a year or less that it's been growing.  
 

Parent Lesson

 I remember very early on, parents of older kids said that the younger years really were the easiest.  I knew for sure they must be lying OR they toddlers were easier than mine...I mean the tantrums, the disobedience, the waking several times during the night, the crying and you have no idea why...surely this wasn't the easiest years, no way! We now that I am 13 years into it, I think they might be right.

Last week, we discovered that Caroline has been hiding something from us for almost a month...we had no clue.  My first reaction was anger.  My next reaction was heartbroken!  How could my precious, always does the right thing, 13 year be lying to us?  WHY would she do this?  Where did we go wrong?  I took on the weight of her sin and it was heavy!

Andy and I had our first, of most likely many, difficult conversations.  We heard her side...and while she had some semi valid points, she still disobeyed and therefore she had to accept the consequences for her disobedience.

Andy and I have had time to reflect his weekend.  We discussed some of her points.  Y'all as parents we want to protect our kids from this crazy world.  We want to protect them from friends who don't have the same values.  We want to protect them from the world of social media.  We want to surround them with Godly examples who will build them up and not bring them down. So my first reaction was to think, we really should have homeschooled her or sent her to private school.  That would have been the answer.  Then I remembered a parenting study that we did that said "we must allow our kids to fail while they are with us so that we can walk through it with them."  While my heart is broken, I am thankful that the Lord revealed this sin and has allowed us to walk through it with Caroline.

 Sadly Caroline only sees the good in folks.  But that doesn't mean we can protect her from everything.  And in trying to protect her she feels like she doesn't have the space to do things she wants to do.  So while we still have drawn the line on certain things, we are trying to allow her a little freedom to learn some lessons for herself.  Thankfully Andy is able to think clearly and remind me, this sin wasn't intended for me...she didn't set out to hurt either one of us...she is just a teenager trying to figure out this thing called life in middle school.  Yall pray for us...parenting in this season isn't easy but what a privilege we get to help shape these precious girls!  I know this won't be our first obstacle!  I just pray for the Lord to continue to guide us and lead us as we parent.  I pray the Lord will continue to work in her life as she tries to figure it out...she is a precious little lady with a huge heart!!  We are so thankful that we are her parents!!

Halloween Camping at Daddy Joe's

Shew!  We are home from a very fun but very exhausting camping weekend with friends!  This year we reserved 2 quads, which means 8 campers/families.  The kids always had someone to play with which was nice.  We spent 22 hours outside in the 36 hours we were there!  It was awesome!  As we pulled into the park after checking in, the BOTTOM fell out.  Thankfully it was a 2 minute downpour and was over by the time we pulled into our site.  As we were setting up, I noticed this gorgeous rainbow!  It made my heart so thankful and happy for the sweet reminder from the Lord!

The girls enjoyed hanging out with friends at the bike park after dinner.  At 8:40 they had a game of laser tag.  This was a first for Maggie but she had a wonderful time!!

Mr. Rhett set up the movie screen for the kids to watch "The Haunted Mansion."

Maggie peaked out her window at 7 AM to see friends outside.  Of course, it was time to rise and shine!! Early mornings by the fire pit make it a little nicer.

We headed to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin to carve later.  The girls humored me with this picture. 

I thought I purchased a carving set for the camper so I didn't take anything...oops.  So our kids used a marker to draw their face and then used knives from the camper to carve their pumpkin.  Thankfully nobody cut themselves to the point they needed a Band-Aid. :-)  I was super proud of myself that I allowed them to create and cut their pumpkin all on their own without any input from me!! (If you know me, then you know that was REAL hard!)

After lunch, the girls tie dyed a Jellystone Halloween t-shirt.

We played a few games, took Charlie for to the dog park and then came back for some quiet time.  It was much needed!

It was finally time to get dressed for trick or treat!  The girls were so excited!  Caroline was a butterfly and Maggie was an artist.  We walked all over that campground!  Maggie and I were exhausted and cut it short about 15 minutes early! :-)

We came home to enjoy a chili buffet and a movie.  We had about 8 different chili's/soups.  It was SO good!!!

The girls jack o lanterns at night!  They turned out so cute!!

 We had a great time and we are already looking forward to next year!!!

Caroline's 13 year old well visit

Thanks to our family having COVID last year, Caroline's well visits are now in October which drive me nuts...I prefer them being in their birthday month but what can you do?  Insurance requires at least 1 calendar year between visits.  Oh well...Everything looked great!  Dr. E asked lots of questions that she had to answer.  As most 13 year olds are, her answers were pretty short...guess they are use to it.  She is officially within 2 inches of being as tall as me...wonder how long it will take for that to happen...

• Weight: 114.8 pounds 71.9%
• Height: 65 inches (5 ft, 4 in) 86.6%
• Blood Pressure: 109/64

 

A walk in the woods

 Tonight Andy had a meeting at church.  So the girls and I headed over to Tomi Jean's to go for a nice, long, walk in the woods.  It was a gorgeous evening!  The girls even enjoyed playing on the playset together.  (Rare sister opportunity!)  After the walk, we enjoyed sitting outside catching up.  Caroline of course found a baby frog that she loved!!  

It was just what we all needed.  On our way home, as we were crossing the lake, we noticed the gorgeous moon!  While the picture we captured is beautiful, it doesn't do the actual moon justice!  It was amazing!!  So thankful that we were able to see it!!

Happy Early Birthday Peep

Tonight we celebrated Ms. Susan's birthday with dinner and cake!  Her actual birthday isn't until Thursday but tonight was the best night for us to be together.  Caroline made her a beautiful cake!  It was a great evening!

 

Neighborhood Family Movie Night

Early in our marriage and as young parents, we LOVED hosting people in our home.  We started with just friends, then the youth group, our life group and family playdates once Caroline arrived.  As the years went by, I realized my home wasn't as large as other homes, our backyard didn't have all the fun toys, my kids didn't have a playroom, my house was out of date, my furniture didn't match, etc.  We slowly quit hosting folks.  It was easier to wait for an invite somewhere else than to bring folks into our home.  About a month ago, the Lord really began to convict me of my thoughts and beliefs.  While we may not have the latest, greatest, prettiest of things, we do have a solid home, in a great neighborhood with a fenced in back yard.  The Lord even used the sweet neighborhood girls to encourage me.  The mom and I were talking and she said "I've asked the girls to invite Maggie over but they prefer your house because you have an awesome playset they can play on and climb on."  To me, I see the boards falling off, to the kids, they see adventure!

So, with all that in my heart, I decided to invite a few families over s'mores, hot chocolate and to watch "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."  Only 2 of the 4 were able to come but we had a great time.  My sweet friend Lori ordered Maggie sugar free marshmallows which I thought was so kind!  I like to keep things simple but often stress over the small stuff.  Not this time.  I dug in my holiday closet and pulled out a few things to make the table look festive and called it a day.  

It was a great evening!!  It made my heart so happy to share our backyard with friends.  We all had so much fun and are already planning our next outdoor movie!