Happy Birthday

...to my oldest...you've turned into a fine young man...just keep the attitude in check! Teenagers...geez! He did volunteer for a few pictures over the weekend, so I shouldn't complain...too much! :)

So much to do, so little time

Has anyone else wondered WHERE the heck November went?! Granted we're only 3 weeks in, but THANKSGIVING is in 2 days! Which means it will be Christmas in 30+ days. Oh my! I have to say though, that I am about done with everything! I have a few uploads to do yet, but I am so far ahead compared to last year! And so thankful. We had a beautiful Thanksgiving Community church service the other night and I've been packing food boxes...which my boys helped deliver tonight. I am so thankful and so proud of how far we (and they) have come.

The ONE and only "good" shot of Mr Pissy Pants!

Happy Veteran's Day!

We celebrated yesterday...well, we celebrated all weekend. Starting Saturday morning with a local Hero's breakfast, followed by the parade Saturday night. The kids volunteered with me as part of Habitat to serve during the breakfast. Afterwards, we had to stop at the store for dog/cat food. Going in, there was a Veteran handing out poppies and he gave us 3. I don't typically carry cash, but happened to have some that day. Coming out of the store, we stopped and asked him if he took donations. He said always, so I gave him the cash I had. He also noticed our Habitat shirts and it turns out he was also at the Hero's breakfast. Walking away, Hunter told me he gave him his money too. I told him I was very proud of him for giving him his quarters...because he had shown me his Wisconsin quarter earlier in the day. He said "No, I gave him my dollar." They make me so proud.

The whole weekend was beautiful and daddy made plans to take his boys down the river after church. I think we need to start passing out tissues as everyone enters church from now on, because there wasn't a dry eye in that place by the time we left. We are so blessed to be a part of it. We were also blessed to hug each and every Veteran before leaving. It was awesome.

After packing their lunch, we set off. We dropped the kids and the boat and drove over to the pullout spot to leave the truck. All of an 8 minute drive, takes 3 hours on a boat. That still amazes me. Unfortunately, I had left my SD card in the computer, so all I have is a yucky cellphone picture. (Even though I have extras, I am buying more to keep several in my bag/purse while they are super cheap on black Friday!) But boy, what a great picture. One I will treasure along with daddy. I'm so glad they had such a wonderful day!

From the bridge as I was leaving. I was also given "orders" from a child to go get the ingredients of daddy's favorite pie...so that was my mission as they embarked on their mission! :)

Proof

That my kids don't always co-operate with me! All I needed was 30 minutes, start to finish, including the drive, to get the couple shots I needed. His comment was "just use last years picture"...right, that works.

I think this picture is hilarious...and may just use it on our Christmas cards! Ha! I also noticed his "hair horns"...that 'plains everything!

Treasure your time...

It flies by way to fast...

During our drive, the light was lovely...I made him stand still for 5 minutes...it about killed him... :)

Because he likes to explore! :)

Fall 2012, part 3

Just a few more to finish up fall...we're already counting the days until spring... and hoping for a warm winter!

I need to remember carrots the next time we take a drive!

I just love this barn...I've taken many pictures of it...all different.

Going to work early one morning...

Oh beautiful day...Happy Sunday! (I hope you set your clocks back or you're gonna get to church early! ;)

Fall 2012, part 2

Fall break was last Thursday/Friday. Me, being the "evil" mom, forgot to make dentist appointments that were long overdue, so they only had early appointments. Muhahaha...7:30am...20 miles from here = the little darlings are NOT happy to be getting up early on their day off! Not my problem. Actually once they were up and moving, they were fine. And it could have been worse, there were quite a few kids already there, so that means they have even EARLIER appointments! Mental note taken! :)

We took the backroads home...after I took the little darlings to the grocery store with me...geez, what a big mistake! I hate wasting a trip to town though without doing several things, so I was sorta screwed. They got donuts out of me. ;) Anyway, as we're cutting cross country, we passed several cotton fields that had been picked. Continuing on, one of them noticed a huge lake in the distance...a lake I never know was there. And you could see it moving with the wind. So we took a detour.

Turns out it was a "lake of cotton"!

We had to find a place to turn around and found this gem.

What a great couple hours boys...something I'll treasure!

Fall 2012, part 1

After such a hot, dry summer, I really didn't expect to have too much color once fall arrived. Boy was I wrong. I took a drive on 2 different days before our weather changed and the wind blew the leaves off...and boy am I glad I did.

Probably one of my favorites!

I know 3 boys that are missing this lake! Come on spring! ;)

So lovely...I'm seeing several of these blown up and hanging on my wall!