One year ago

I know, two posts in one day. But I was thinking this morning that we have been in this house just over one year now and there are so many things I am thankful for and I want to post my thanks for the good things God gives even though we don't need them:

• The basement- It's not a huge house but there is soooo much to be said for a basement. So often when I go from the basement to the second floor I feel like a queen in a castle. Our old house was on a slab.
• A playroom/guest room- Although there is no closet and no windows in this basement side room it's still great to have a place for guests so they don't have to sleep on an air mattress in the living room anymore. It's a lot easier to keep the kids from waking guests up now!
• Kitchen cabinets and drawers- when I was unpacking it was like getting our wedding gifts all over again, platters and appliances I hadn't seen in three years.
• A fireplace- Definitely a bonus, we love a good Sunday afternoon fire when the weather is cool.
• A linen closet- Why houses now are built without them is beyond me.
• A pantry- I love having enough space to by canned goods that I may not use that week!
• Room to grow- Again, it's not that big but we can see our family having plenty of room as long as God wants to keep us here.
• Dark/quiet nights- John and I grew up in the country so we still love to listen to the quiet night and enjoy the darkness while we sleep. (Okay, except for Friday nights during racing season when Florence speedway is open! We aren't that close so it must be really loud at the raceway!)
• A flowering yard- I think I've said this before but it's so much fun enjoying the fruit of someones labor from 20 years ago. We had so many daffodils this spring I probably cut 10 vases full without making the plants look bare.

Fun with Grammy

My mom came over Thursday to give me a little rest and to get a grand baby fix. It was wonderful and the funny thing is that we both felt rejuvenated by the time.

I got to go to the grocery store and library by myself and the whole time I had a funny feeling. I think it was a combination of thinking I was forgetting something, or the feeling you get when the kids are just to quiet they can't be up to anything good.

This will be a cabinet someday but right now the kids have just realised they fit in it. Probably not a great habit to form but it was funny the first time. Probably also not a coincidence that they were calling for Grammy to come see them, not Mommy. :-)

Yummy iced pumpkin and leaf cookies. Mostly fall colors, except the blue, John Patrick insisted on blue.

My favorites

Some friends and I went to a park on Monday to get some pictures for a local pediatric dentistry office. The dentist goes to our church and he asked me to take some shots of some kiddo' s for his walls. Here are some of my favorites of our park outing Monday.

Dr. Greenhill wants everything in black and white with the vignette border. That's why they all match. If you all want a disc of them to mess around with them yourself, I can copy them for you and bring them to church.

Thank you so much for coming out and playing with us, it was fun!!!! I have lots of pictures that are so cute and have so much potential for funny captions but I thought I better not post 25 pictures. :-)

Pumpkin Farm

We went to Benton Farms in Walton today. They had a petting zoo, hay rides and lots of other things we didn't do because I didn't think of it until 30 minutes before it closed. But we had a great time. And came home with two pumpkins for a dollar a piece, free coloring books about milk and two happy kids with pumpkin cookies in their tummies. Here is Dora and a rabbit also named Dora.

John Patrick looking over Dora's shoulder. The way he spent most of the time in the barn. He's a little more cautious than Dora with animals.

The looks when I showed them how to scoop the goop out of the pumpkins say:

Dora- "Don't bother me I'm busy." John Patrick- "You want me to touch what."

In the end John Patrick loved helping poke the eyes and other shapes out of the face and Dora was only interested in pulling the guts out. She didn't want a face on hers at all.

Great day!

This is John Patrick's new line for describing the weather.
This morning while he and Dora were playing outside and I was making lunch he came over to the screen door pushing his John Deere mower and very sweetly said, "Hey mom, great day for mowing!" :-)

(Can I just say i love blogging for the sake of remembering to tell these stories to my husband and mother. I usually say, "John Patrick did the funniest thing today.... what was that...")