Family Pictures...

...yes, that word use to cause me to shudder. NOT something I looked forward to...the planning of the outfits,bribing using "positive reinforcement" to get the girls to put their outfits on, get their hair curled AND smile for the shots. That is ENOUGH to worry about...so I'm very thankful for our photographer who meets us where we are...(even if I forget an ENTIRE outfit for the baby) to take our pictures. Not to mention her extreme patience and calm attitude when half our family is in tears. Check out a sneak peek of our pics HERE. Thanks again Jen for just being so wonderful :)

If I only had a brain...

...I would have realized that sewing+4 kids=mass chaos.
But I'm SO glad I did because the results were just FUN!

Ok, I had to show you the second picture of what the table REALLY looked like BEFORE I cleared it off to make it look like one of those pictures from Martha Stewart or some really cool famous and crafty blog. I just wouldn't want to give you the impression that my house is immaculate or anything.

7 years ago, when Jared and I lived in Michigan, we were AWANA leaders and we bought these Dorothy and Scarecrow costumes to wear to the Halloween party (we thought we were HILARIOUS since we were from Kansas). I was pregnant with Emma at the time and I told Jared, "Let's keep these, because one day, we will have a family big enough to sport the WHOLE Wizard of Oz cast at Halloween". He laughed. And here we are , 7 years later.

We got invited to a costume party/birthday party in our neighborhood. What a blast we had.

My little "Toto" baby. LOVE her.

The trashy Dallas cowboy fans.

The cards.

A cute little train and his dad.

The beautiful hostess and her son (it was their birthdays...he was 32 and she turned 9...so she says....)

Thanks for an awesome party...we had SO much fun! The girls are STILL talking about it!

This is how we roll...

QUESTION: How does this mama of 4 kiddos, take a shower?

ANSWER: Throw the 3 older kids in the tub, and put the baby in the swing.
Yes, I thought that was a great answer UNTIL the baby starts screaming (the blood-curdling scream) and one of the girls tries to get out of the bathtub to get a pacifier then slips and is crying, then I get out of the shower, grab the baby, trying not to get her soapy and wet while trying to console my other child who hit her head.....
**Sigh**
Whoever said, "The days are long but the years are short", definitely knew what they were talking about.

Pumpkin Patch Fun...

Fall would have to be my favorite season...and going to the pumpkin patch is one of my favorite things to do. The girls got to go to a pumpkin patch birthday party and as you can see, they had a blast!

Kerby Pumpkin Patch is complete with a zipline, a playground, a corn maze, a spooky house, animals, and of course, LOTS of pumpkins to choose from.

We have only been able to carve 1 of 3 big pumpkins...hopefully we will get them done before Halloween. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I wrote "big pumpkin". When Ellie was almost two, we drove by someone's house and they had a big inflatable pumpkin. Ellie started screaming in excitement, "Buffukin...buffukin!!" (big pumpkin!) These people continue to display this big pumpkin every year and we laugh so hard every time we drive by it.

Ok...on a much more edifying note...I just love this devotion...who says you can't incorporate Christ into Halloween...this devotion is so awesome to do while carving your pumpkins and such another neat tool to teach your kiddos about what Jesus did for them....

Being a Christian is just like a pumpkin!

First, God picks you from the pumpkin patch and brings you in from the field. The Bible says He selects us out of the world. We are in the world, but no longer of the world.

He then washes all the “dirt” off the outside that we received from being around all the other pumpkins. All the outside influences of our former life must be cleaned up. Old things are passed away and all things become new.

Then, He carefully removes all the “yucky stuff” called “sin” out from the inside. Look at this! Yuk! He then changes us from the inside out by the Power of His Word. That’s why it is important to go the church and learn about God’s Word.

He carefully removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and fear. He replaces them with the seeds of faith, hope and love. After Jesus is invited inside, you begin to experience the changing power of God’s love in your life.

Then He carves a new smiling face. We are changed by the power of His presence in our life. We then become so grateful. It can even show on our face!

Now we are going to light this candle inside. Look! This pumpkin now reflects the light from inside out. So too, when Jesus, who is called the Son of Light, lives inside of us, He shines through our life for all to see. We can let His light reflect through us to reveal His presence. “Let your light so shine before men that they may be able to see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven.”

So you see, we Christians are really like this pumpkin! We will never be the same with Jesus inside of us!

Random Backyard fun!

The girls came running in, VERY excited, from playing outside...
"Mom, dad, there is a real hot air balloon and it is coming to land by us".
And we thought, "What great imaginations they have...always coming up with something".
They dragged us outside and to our surprise, this is what we saw....

We chased it...it was just across the street from our house.

So much random fun on a beautiful fall evening...and it DID land VERY close to our house :)