Upward Ends & Fall Begins...

This past weekend we played our final flag football game of the season and celebrated at the end of season celebration. Stanley juggled and shared the gospel and the kids were happy to get trophies. These were definitely participation trophies as our team was 0-8 this season, but whose keeping score really. It was our first attempt at any kind of football.

The next day was the Fall Festival and Trunk n' Treat at the Church. It was great fun and I was so grateful to just be mom at this event and get to walk around with my own kids and enjoy the games, food, hayride, puppet show, and candy. They had a great time. A BIG thank you to all the special volunteers whole pulled this whole event off. Awesome job!

A bat...

and an Army Chaplain.

Played all the games at least twice...

Milked a cow...

Made balloon animals with Dad...

Won the cake walk THREE Times!!!

Carolina Balloon Festival

Balloon Take-off!

This is what happens when I'm in charge of the camera....too many pictures to post...just saying.

Turning Six

Our youngest son wanted a "Mountain Party" for his 6th birthday. I guess having spent most of his life in Louisiana, the mountains of North Carolina are still a bit of a wonder to him.  But this was an easy party. We rented the pavilion at Bakers Mountain and invited his church Sunday School class and his friends from Kindergarten. We went on a scavenger hunt (more like a nature walk on the paved trail), dug for "gold" in the sand treasure box,  made our own trail mix and the trail mix bar, played corn hole, ate hot dogs, chips, and of course cake! We had so much fun, I only got pictures of him blowing out the candle, opening what seemed like a zillion presents, and running around in a superman cape his brother gave him. I hope he will have good memories of his party - especially since I didn't get many pictures.

Our baby lost his first tooth!

October 6, 2013

Well after a busy Sunday we were just out for a little walk with the family through the "neighborhood" at the apartments where we are currently living, when I hear a crying scream, "Mom, I lost my tooth!" I turn around to see my almost 6 year old picking his tooth up off the pavement holding a rubber ball with slobber and blood on it. I said what happened and through the tears he managed to tell me he put the ball in his mouth and his tooth just popped out! We didn't even know it was loose so this was completely unexpected. We took a quick detour to the gym to get some water and paper towels and he was fine. Dad on the other hand was a bit queasy from seeing the blood. Then he cried all the way home, "I want my tooth in!" I trying to be compassionate and hold his hand, but I was laughing so hard at the absurdity of it all I could barely breathe. Here we are with a crying 5 year old holding his mouth just like in the picture above trying to talk and cry about wanting his tooth put back in, Dad not able to even look at him because of the blood, and his older brother trying to reason with him that loosing a tooth is a completely natural part of getting older and its a good thing because you get money. I was just thankful I was there to experience it, and that my baby lost his first tooth without me having to pull it!