Beth Moore Girls

Old friends...good times...new times. These are my two good Beth Moore Bible Study gals. We first study we conquered was Daniel, and then Believing God, and now I am going through a study without them, and its just not the same. Julie (middle) is moving to Bloomington next Wednesday, and Vicki (left) is finding out just how much time babies take (i.e. Mariah - far right). How our lives have changed in the few years we have known each other. These are my prayer sisters, I go to them when I need accountability, prayers or just like to share my praises. Christian sisters I think people call them. I am going to miss Julie, and I see Vicki not often enough. Life just gets so busy, there isn't enough time for what I want to do. Let's see...I could quit work? Hmmm, I sure do like my house though. Well, for now, I will be content with dinners once in awhile, lots of emails and Blog updates. I love you girls!!

Reason No. 274 Why We Can't Have A Pet

Recently Carlie has been asking (well, begging) for a pet. Conveniently, because of Jeff, Carlie and Lucy's allergies the answer has to be no. Personally, I wouldn't mind a dog around the house, but that would be one more mouth to feed, and one more thing to worry about when we go out of town.

Today while cleaning up the flower beds, raking leaves and getting things ready for Old Man Winter, we had to dig up Carlie's beloved tomato plant. I didn't really give it much thought and gave her two chores = clean up the sand box toys and dig up the tomato plant and throw it away. After a couple of rounds on the lawn mower sweeping up leaves, I notice Carlie is crying..not just small tears, but small sobs! I stop the mower and run over to her to find out what happened. Well, she is distraught because we have to dig up her tomato plant. She goes on to say how wonderful it has been all summer ("remember the salsa we made?" "remember the wonderful salads we had?"). I tried to explain to her that it was dead, and it won't grow back next summer...and promising her we would buy more next summer. That didn't do it...tears continued to come. At this point, I am trying not to laugh, because I remember the end of each summer working on the Harvester digging through old tomatoes, and wondering how Carlie ever would have survived on the farm. And then I think...what if this was a live pet? How would Carlie survive the death of a cat, or a dog, or even a fish???

Well, we ended up digging up the plant, saying a prayer of good-byes and making cookies and watching Tinkerbell. Everything seems to be fine again. Whew...the drama!

It's Starting

Wednesday is Chapel Day at Carlie's school, and the girls are required to "dress up" a bit. Carlie broke out her tall boots this Sunday for church, so I just assumed she would wear them for Chapel today. She was acting funny when I told her to put on her boots, and when I finally questioned her behavior, her response was, "what if they make fun of my boots?" My first response was, "So what, tell them they don't know fashion. Mommy things you look adorable." But then I had flashback of two pairs of corduroy pants...one pair light purple, one brown pair. I despised those corduroy pants and mom made me wear them at least once a week. How I cried, and how I was made fun of for those pants. So I made a deal with her...wear the boots, bring a pair of shoes in your back pack and if you get made fun of you can change at school. It's just shoes, right? Is the fashion peer pressure starting already? At Kindergarten? Really? And in my mind I am telling myself....just because you give into this fashion peer pressure (mommy), you don't have to give into ALL fashion peer pressure (mommy), or other peer pressure for that matter. If one mommy jumps off the bridge, doesn't make it right for this mommy.....right? Just keeping telling myself that....

Pumpkin Time!

I love this weather. I love wearing sweatshirts and being outside without sweating, mosquitoes or freezing...this is perfect weather. Today was pumpkin carving day around our house. Having two "girlie girls" the girls were very excited about the "idea" of carving pumpkins, but when it came right down to it..they were disgusted by the fact that the inside of the pumpkins were slimy and needed to be cleaned out. So daddy and I cleaned and carved two pumpkins this afternoon. After we were done, and the lids were returned, the girls were happily took over the pumpkins to show them off. So funny. As you can tell from the pictures, Carlie refused to touch anything with her hands and used two spoons the entire time, and I MADE Lucy pose for her picture, after which she almost cried because she was so mad at me. And also with Fall comes leaves around our house. And rakes, and more leaves, and more rakes, and tarp rides...yes tarp rides. Jeff started this with Carlie when she was very little, the tradition carries on. Just listen to Carlie's giggle...really, who needs Disney??

And More Hiking...

While my sister is off at Disney with heated pools and maid service (no jealously noted), we opted for free hiking at yet another local park. We tried for a longer hike today, and the girls did good up until the last 15 minutes, when Lucy wanted carried and Carlie wanted to ride on Daddy's shoulders. Our girls are just getting too big to be carried!! Where did our babies go?? The leaves were beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red and at one point Jeff and Carlie witnessed deers bouncing by. We even saw two canoe's floating down the river, and both girls expressed an interest in canoe'ing at some point. Hmmm...I think we can do that! Jeff, be prepared to get out in the ICE COLD water and portage us over the shallow points. Hee hee. He wouldn't mind being our Prince and rescuing us! I love fall time with the crunch under our feet and the crispness in the air. Too bad it is only a pathway to the white, cold yet to come :(

Fall Sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's

While we enjoyed our Mommy and Daddy weekend and Lacey enjoyed her Fall Bash, the grandkids enjoyed the Fall Sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Some of the high points of the weekend were "eating as much potato chips as they wanted," "driving the boat while Caden fished" (okay...were there life jackets??), many, many lawn mower rides through the fields, and "riding in the back of Grandpa's truck." Screech...halt....did you say, "riding in the back of Grandpa's truck??" Okay, I know as kids we did it ALL the time, in fact, when I turned 10 I could sit on the edge of the truck bed (but not until I was 10 mind you). So why did my stomach go into my throat when I thought about my precious angels doing the same? Has city life softened me so much, that the fear of riding in the back of a pick up truck makes me slightly sick? Or is it that parenting thing again? I would have to go with the latter. I informed mom and dad that next time, I'd just rather not know. And you know what...I am sure there are things that I used to do that they'd just rather not know too!

Mommy & Daddy Weekend

This weekend was my work's Fall Party or we also call it "Prom." This year
because of B&D's sponsorship with the Colts, we got private tours of Lucas Oil Stadium. And it ROCKED~! We got to go on the field, in the press box and locker rooms. I can't imagine the energy that place has on game day. Someday, Jeff and I would really like to go.

Jeff and I got ate like movie stars and enjoyed a little adult time away. We are so fortunate to not only have jobs to provide like this, but to have each other to enjoy it with.

Of course...the weekend couldn't go without "bumps" -- Lucy got sick while we were away, I got locked "IN' our hotel room, and the list goes on and on.....but we had a great time, but I think I am starting to slowly turn into my mother....because tonight I was sitting in our living room reading the paper, and I thought, "Wow, it sure does feel good to be home." That is something my mother would say!!!!

New Haven Taste

Who knew? With a sunny afternoon and absolutely no plans, we headed out for a walk in downtown New Haven. Only to find a "Taste of New Haven" going on! For a mere $2 per person we got sample 11 different kids of soups at the different businesses. It was so fun and yummy! We tasted chili, cream of broccoli (received my vote), chicken enchilada (received Jeff's vote), cream of potato and chicken noodle to name a few. It also included free face painting, bean bag tosses, apple bobbing and a fun band. We ran into one of Carlie's friends from church, who decided to join us for the afternoon. What an afternoon for having "nothing special" planned. We heard this is going to be an annual event ... mark you calendars for next year to join us!! One of the churches was videotaping questions they were asking random people. Well, you know me, I just had to jump in and be on camera (wonder where Carlie gets it from?) Here is the question....comment back with your answers. My answer to appear later this week. WHAT DO YOU THINK THERE WON'T BE IN HEAVEN?

Brrrrr.....

Is your furnace on yet? In our old house, the wood floors and the plaster walls make it seem about 10 degrees colder than normal. Last night we broke out the footie pj's. Let me just say - I love footed pj's. Not only do they look so fartin' cute on the girls, they keep them so warm on night, that I am not worred about them getting chilly. In the past, I have mentioned to Jeff that mommy would like a pair of footed flannel pj's...well, I didn't receive a ringing endorsement for that suggestion. Wonder why....