Until next time

These two. 

They go way back. Way back to the playgrounds of second grade. 

Best friends for for about four years now, which when you are young that's FOREVER!

In those years there has not been a single playdate. Due to language differences and such, I could never make it happen. And that made Pierce really sad. He's asked for years to play with his friend, and for years it just never happened.

But that's the past.

An early birthday present for Pierce this year was this.....

We've anticipated this day for weeks and I'm not gonna lie, I think I was just as excited as the kids. I've wanted this for Pierce for a very long time, so I was just so happy for him.


So we welcomed our friends with generous acts of kindness...

They got right to the important stuff.

SHOOT OUR FRIENDS WITH NERF GUNS.

Pierce even bought extra bullets for the event, like HUNDREDS EXTRA.

Our poor neighbors will be finding ammo for years probably.

But seeing as he's been mentally planning this for years he had it all planned out. Bring out the big guns...

And play some X-box.

While the boys were enthralled with some video madness, the littles had their own thing going on with Spider girl.

I was so glad that little brother tagged along, he's in Hope's class and they had the best time together!

 Before we knew it the hours had passed away and it was almost time for out friends to go home, but not before a treat.

Pierce asked for M&M's.

His friend has an egg allergy and he didn't want to take any chances. He was horrified that wax was getting into the M&M's, but you know I'm clever like that.

It was a simple day. But it was the best day.

For hours I just watched them play, and I was just thankful for this moment.

Until next time friends.

Pumpkin patch

You know what you have when you gather twelve children at a pumpkin patch? 

You have a goat rodeo. 

In service day off of school, and myself, and the rest of the entire county hauled it up to Jackson's Orchard.

Hope came with high expectations for fun.

But was CLUELESS that Emerson was going to join us, so her excitement at her arrival was fantastic!

Hope had no idea (actually I didn't either until like five minutes before) that Brittany invited the Emerson crew along to join us. Such a fun surprise!

Brittany is always good to include people.

Oh, and as you can see Emaline loved the slides. WHO DOESN'T?

 She also really enjoyed an ice cream cone.

AGAIN, WHO DOESN'T?

Pierce was there too, but he just runs off most of the time. Or briefly stops to do the whip, of the famous 'whip and nae nae' of course. This is mid whip..

No kidding, he breaks into that dance probably fifteen times a day.

Silly boy.

So the goat rodeo reference is something a friend of mine always says, and it cracks me up. And photographing all these kids, was definitely a goat rodeo. But in the end, it's always worth the chaos.

Now fall break is nearly over, and we are on the countdown to some important dates this month. So you know what that means? It means I might blog like 4 times this month, BOO-YAH.

I can't stain the periago, I'm wearing a boot

I guess it was around May or June that my foot started to hurt, and like any normal person I did the most responsible thing and ignored it. I chalked it up to turning the big 4-0, the move, and well, because I've always had feet that hurt. But this pain has been different, and most importantly won't ever really go away. 

So finally I broke down and went to a doctor. The diagnosis? Posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, a bone spur, and plantar fasciitis. Like I said, TURNING 40. 

And I walked out of that office in a boot. 

IN A BOOT. 

It's been a dream.

Actually the boot makes it hurt more, and I've been rebellious and took it off.

But enough about the boot.

This all happened right before the weekend we had set to stain the PERIAGO (as my sister calls it) so that meant I really couldn't help stain the pergola. Some might call that coincidence, but I call it divine intervention.

See Paul up there? Yeah, that's where he spent hours.

And this was a family event.

All hands on deck.

We started out strong.

But some of us remained strong longer than others.

These two worked so hard.

 I was so proud of Pierce, he really is a HUGE help.

And then some of brought the team down.

But I was good at filling waters, and telling them how wonderful they were.

It literally took an entire weekend.

And and it ended with a vow to never stain a periago ever again.

From my seated position on the chair I could tell them it was well worth it.

And now we enjoy it.

Family time

Yes, we are still alive. 

And even excited about life, as my staged expression shows here. 

Not long ago Jami and I were having a conversation and she said something that really stuck with me, "I think Instagram has taken the place of blogging." And that was like a lightbulb,YOU'RE RIGHT!

Over on Instagram you take a photo of the highlight of your day or weekend, throw a caption on it, and bam, here's my life. Quick and easy. So maybe that explains some of my blogging slump, that and time.

But here I am, alive and well, and intending on telling you who are chomping at the bit (HI MOMS AND DADS) some goings ons.

Spending time with family, THAT'S BEEN GOING ON.

You see how exciting we are when we're together.

Jo was here for a weekend. We managed to be a little more exciting than naps, but not by much.

Of course her visit warranted THE SELFIE STICK!

And there is only one reason I posted so many pictures of this...

Check out Paul.

HIS EXPRESSION NEVER CHANGES ONCE.

How does one do that? I have no clue.

Also, Neena and Papaw came for a visit.

It was Grandparents Day and book fair all rolled into one. Kids were so spoiled by them, but I suppose books is a good thing to go overboard on.

The kids just love seeing their family.

And I am ALWAYS thankful for family coming to see us.

Until next time!

Living life

I used to be a diligent blogger. 

USED TO BE. 

I know my family looks forward to the updates, I know they want to see what's going on in our lives, but I just can't keep up these days. 

My days are filled with work, homework, dinners, running practice, small group, clean up, attempted laundry, and somewhere in there family time. 

I suppose I could stay up really late and blog, but we all know what a diva I am if I don't get enough sleep. Ain't nobody got time for that. 

I guess I'm just saying, hang in there with me. I'm going to try my best to blog once a week, but we all know it may be once a month. 

I guess I'm just busy living life, not blogging it. 

Here's a family photo to tide you over....