LOL

Pumpkin Village

A while back, Mama Jo and John treated us to a morning at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens to see the beautiful Pumpkin Village. There were pumpkins everywhere! (Side note: Most of them came from the little town of Floydada, TX. That’s where we bought this pumpkin last year.)

 

 

Mama Jo wanted some of the “Photo Shoot Pose” Action.

Photo Shoot

While I was de-cluttering our closets, Hannah decided to have a fashion show. One man’s trash is another little girl’s treasure…

Hannah, say “cheese!”

Now show me a surprised face:

Now look nervous…

Excited…

Cold…

Think about something…

And give me one more good pose…

And that’s a wrap.

Oh yeah…afterwards, she thought she needed lipstick.

She was very proud of herself.

Happy Halloween!

We spent Sunday afternoon on the back porch carving and decorating pumpkins. My friend gave Hannah this book for Halloween and she has been so excited about carving a pumpkin.

Daddy’s pumpkin:

Hannah’s pumpkin:

We were enjoying the weather so much that we decided to bring dinner outside.

Scott built this little patio so we were able to enjoy a warm fire.

Hannah liked warming her hands.

Tonight we went trick-or-treating with the kids. Guess what Hannah wanted to be? A princess of course!

I found this cute lion outfit for brother and decided they could be….

Beauty and the Beast!

Oooops.

Hannah loved “wick-or-weating” and socializing with all the neighbors.

Nathan just enjoyed the ride.

We told her she could pick out two pieces of candy for tonight. It didn’t take her long to decide.

Happy Halloween!

Double Take

Hannah’s Boo-Boo and Mommy’s Lesson

A few weeks ago, while pitching a fit in the parking lot after bible study, Hannah went limp noodle and because I was still holding her hand…her elbow popped out of the socket (I didn’t know that at the time). She started screaming and holding her arm. It was not my proudest moment…ever. I had Nathan on one hip, Hannah flailing around on the ground and lots of ladies with their well-behaved children looking at me. Not to mention, Scott was out of town. Lord help me.

The doctor said she had Nursemaid’s elbow (that was another blow…I felt like an abusive parent) and that it was an easy fix. Well, three doctor’s visits and one sling later they finally got it back in place. Just to be transparent, I cried a lot those two days. I was mad. I was tired. I was angry. I didn’t feel like a good mom. I mean, my husband was gone for two days and I was a mess! Shouldn’t I be able to handle this? Isn’t this my job? And for some reason I felt like my problems were too small to take to the Lord. I felt like with all the other horrible things going on in the world, my day to day “troubles” were too insignificant for God’s promises. When I read… “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest,” for the first time in my life I felt as though those promises weren’t for me. Aren’t they for the people who are really hurting? Who have real problems?

A friend gently pointed me to truth. Yes, those promises are for them…but they are for me too. God put me here just for this. He put me here in my family to learn these lessons. These are my trials. And those are my promises. So I will cling to Him. I will cling to his goodness. And I will be thankful for this season of something a sweet friend calls sanctification through motherhood.

Family Time

Aunt Anne came in for a visit a few weeks ago and we enjoyed a nice day at the zoo and then some quality down time at the house.

She makes the best cookies!