Recent pics for the fam

Carter & Anna on Carter's 8th birthday

Anna & Mama on the zoo train - we love the zoo!

Anna at the zoo

Geico Cavemen

Anna and her very patient patient

This is what happens when Mom & Dad say you can have as much candy as you want on Halloween...and you take them up on it.

Choir angels

Enjoying the beautiful fall weather

Anna the warrior

City folk @ the rodeo

And that about wraps up the fall :)

Cuteness Overload

My sweet, cool friend Alyssa inspired me to get all sentimental over the cuteness of kids & pets. I had to pull out all the old albums and ooh & ahh at the pictures we've captured of our kiddos and our dog and (now relocated) cat. I also found some of Anna & Carter with my dog-in-law, Snickers (that would be John's sister's dog for those of you not versed in dog lineage). So, this is really just a shameless post of cute pics of my people...two- and four-legged.

Carter & Bailey. Friends from the start.

I don't know what to say about this pic. There's a cat on my head...there's a kid on my butt...it's cute, though, isn't it?

Bailey and Anna - a new nappin' buddy.

OOH! OOH! Here comes that dog!

Are you people seriously gonna let this kid take my bone? (This is Snickers)

Snickers & Carter

Can you see the cat? Carter cried over this cat being gone for TWO years!! (He bit people, so I don't want any comments about how mean I am for giving away the boy's cat!)

I swear I did not pose either of them! There is just somethin' about a boy & his dog!

Anna loves Snickers. I don't know if the feeling is mutual.

Bailey does love Anna, though. There is no doubt about that!

Maybe because she shares.

If your boy doesn't have a dog...maybe you should get one!

W.O. F....W.O.W!

Hello friends! I just got back from one of my favorite yearly events, the Women of Faith conference. As always, I just have to say WOW! Every year it is great, and I am so impressed that every year the same core group of incredible women make it so different...each year awesome in a different way. This year I think my favorite, most moving part was the music. Nicole C Mullen was the main singer. MAN! Was she powerful! She has such incredible faith and her music so reflects that! Her daughter sang a duet with her and was also one of the great teen dancers that performed with her. It was really inspiring! Mandisa also sang a lot. Now, if you are a fellow non-TV-watcher, I will tell you that Mandisa was an American Idol contestant a couple seasons ago. I think she made it pretty far, but I can't believe she didn't go all the way! Her voice is so perfect & beautiful, and she is a beautiful woman! Of course, she is overweight & sang gospel music, which (sadly, sadly!!) I'm sure both attributed to her not winning the show. I have to include a couple links for you (I've been on Youtube a lot tonight!) so that if you weren't able to go you can still see some beautiful-ness of the weekend. And I hope you can come with me some time. (Note: I won't be going next year because the closest show to me is on Halloween - how wrong is that? I was seriously thinking of writing WOF a letter to tell them of my discontent with the date, but I doubt they would ever change a date to such a major show and I'm sure they would never think of not doing a show just because it was HALLOWEEN!) So, here are some links...sorry I am not better with the Blogger and don't have pictures or whatever to go with my links. You will just have to trust me that it is worth it to click on them!!

First, Nicole C.
Call on Jesus

Mandisa
True Beauty

This one is really cool & answers my logistical questions for WOF
WOF time lapse

Veggies? What Veggies?

I bought a new cookbook. It is the one by Jerry Seinfeld's wife that teaches you how to hide veggies in your food so your kids get the veggies & vitamins without even knowing. Wanna know a secret? I bought the darned thing to fool myself more than my kids. If you know me at all you know I am the world's pickiest eater & I eat like a truck driver. I mean, my favorite food is fried cheese with a side of ranch! And truthfully, I will eat just about anything fried & dipped in ranch. My kids actually like most vegetables - Carter even LOVES beets & lima beans!! (For this reason we know John is his daddy!) So in this cookbook, if you haven't already heard, you puree some veggies & mix them in...supposedly undetected. Of course the book does strongly suggest also serving a regular side of veggies at meal times as well, just so your kids understand it is important to eat vegetables & they will theoretically learn to enjoy eating veggies in & of themselves (I totally agree with this point, by the way).

As for my pickiness, I really have gotten better about trying different foods (even those I have hated for years) just to make a point to my kids, and to really force myself to like good foods. And I always explain to my kids that I really hate being picky & that I am only hurting myself - I really do wish I liked more foods! And so far I have lucked out with two very good eaters. I am just not very good about 1. serving foods I myself don't like, or 2. getting all the recommended doses of veggies in each day. So I will venture on with my new little secret. I will let you know how it goes!

P.S. If you are falling short of your veggie doses, I bought the cookbook at Sams last week for 8 bucks!! It's called "Deceptively Delicious".

Who's Who

This comes from Baloney's blog. All my blogging friends, feel free to post to your blog. All you non-bloggers, you can copy the questions to an email. We always get to know each other...what about our other half?

What is your husbands name?
John...I think it's appropriate for "Little Johnny" to marry "Little Susie" don't you? You know, all the cheesy little stories, math problems & disciplinary examples teachers always give. Annoying!!



How long have you guys been married?
Nine years plus. It will be 10 next June...we have always planned on revisiting our honeymoon site (Sandals, St Lucia), but at this point I don't see that happening.



How long did you date?
Dated for a year before we got engaged, but were engaged for a year and a half because we had to plan a long-distance wedding.



How old is he?
Ahhhh...10 years older than me :) When we met he was 33 and I thought he was sooo old. Now I look back & think he was just 33 - how cute is that???


Who is taller?
I always say John met my minimum height requirement. I hold steady that I am 5'8" and John is 5'9", but he always tells me I'm only 5'7". How cruel!!


Who can sing best?
Well, neither of us can sing, but I like to pretend I can. (Sorry if you have ever sat in front of me at church!)


Who is smarter?
Well, that's a loaded question!! John is most definitely smarter at most things (especially since I have been losing brain cells at a steady pace ever since the birth of my first child), but when it comes to spelling and other language-related things, I have him there. I also like to think I am smarter when it comes to health-related topics, but he refuses to believe that.


Who does laundry?
Me. Only me. That is my choice.

Who pays the bills?
John. Only John. This is NOT his choice, but if we don't want to have our electricity turned off, it is the best choice.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
If you are facing the bed, me. Does that say something about our relationship or something??


Who mows the lawn?
I tried once...once. That's why God gave me boys!


Who cooks dinner?
Usually me. John is an excellent cook, he just doesn't do it very often anymore. I'm not a great cook, but I think I am getting better & I am starting to enjoy it more.



Who is the first to admit when they are wrong?
Seriously? John is never wrong. Oh, he'll tell you he is always wrong. But he is never really wrong.

Who kissed who first?
John kissed me. It took a while, but he did it.


Who wears the pants?
I used to think I did because I was a modern woman & blah, blah, blah, but I have learned that you can be a strong woman & let your husband be the head of the household. We make big decisions together. It is much more fun (and challenging) to lead quietly from the back seat...um, so that's my goal :)

This has been fun! I know I am blessed to have a really great husband. He does a lot around here & most of all he puts up with my crap and that's a big job!

Punkin' Patch

Well, I warned you that these posts would be out of order. I just couldn't skip the pumpkin patch pics...even though the actual experience was pretty miserable. Every year I go to the pumpkin patch, somehow forgetting that the previous year was dreadful torture. It is always sunny on pumpkin patch day, the orange sun shining ever so beautifully in its fall glory...but it is ALWAYS windy!!!

I swear "The Windy City" has got nothin on this place!! And brr that wind is cold, reminding of us of what we have in store for the next few months, I suppose. I also get a little sticker shock at the pumpkin prices & the charges for the attractions that now seem to be a pumpkin patch requirement. But, nevertheless, I get the unruly bunch dressed in some fall-ish attire & we head out. I say unruly because the pumpkin patch seems to bring out some heightened sense of spazzyness in my kids.

Why do I go??? Why do I go??? Because the little critters love it...and then we go to the grocery store and get our $2 pumpkins. And then we go home and carve them.

That's where the fun is!! I love pumpkin carving night. The kids love it, John is SO good at carving and I love to play in the pumpkin guts! (Why was there ever a time in my life that I didn't know I should be a nurse? I seem to love gross stuff!)

And I really love the picture we take on the front steps - the sweeties in their jammies and the jack-o-lanterns glowing. THAT is the best part of pumpkin patch day!!!

Ears on Fire!

Before we left for our trip my ears had been really bothering me...like I had something stuck down in there! I had always wanted to do some of those ear candles, but had never actually taken the time. But I decided that if I was ever going to clean out my ears, the time to do it was before a 12-hour flight. So I went to Akins and bought me a brand new set of ear candles. Then I had to convince my husband (who looked at me like my head was spinning around above my shoulders) to participate. I didn't think it would be safe to light something on fire & stick it in my ear on my own. We carefully followed the directions & I laid patiently on the couch as my ear got all warm & crackled & squeaked. I really wasn't 100% sure that it would work, but after it had burned down the recommended amount, John extinguished the flame & I went to check it out. Being a nurse I of course had to explore & I was totally fascinated by the guck that was in the remaining part of the candle...be very glad I spared you pictures of this (I really debated taking some pictures!). Judging by the fact that I have had no ear pain since and by the amount of guck left in the candles, I am totally convinced & now a supporter of ear candling! So...candle away!!!!

**Note: there are skeptics of this ear candling that warn against it, so I am really not pushing you to do it. I did it, I feel like it got wax out of my ears (what I saw was definitely more than the powdery stuff they dismiss in the articles that call candling a hoax) and it got rid of my ear pain. I would, however, never suggest you do this alone - have someone with you or you really might burn down your house!!