Today is a bit of a sad day for us. Miss Pearl, the one who kept the kids from the time they were four months old until they started school, died today. She had had a stroke last year around this time and never fully came back to who she was. We visited her this past summer before she left the rest home. She went to live with her family but they said she kind of gave up. It broke my heart when my Mom told me. I just told Wesley and Mikayla. They took it rather well, but Wesley actually is having a harder time. He kept saying he was going to miss "Miss Pewl"... he just can't get that /r/ sound right but it is precious when he says her name. We are shedding tears but know she had the Lord as her Savior and she is with Him now. Miss Pearl has always been a part of my life so this is hard for me, too. Her funeral will be on Tuesday.

This has been a crazy week and I am glad it is the weekend. I have more papers to grade so I'm going to close for now. We're going to watch "The Great Pumpkin" with the kids in a minute. In honor of Miss Pearl I posted the picture of her with the kids (this was their birthday party 2005 and the last one she was able to come to) and a red flower. She loved red and she loved flowers. She had as many flowers and red things in her life as possible. She is the reason my flowers stayed alive for five years. They suffer a bit now. I think of her everytime I look at them...and remember to water them. She will be missed.

10/23/06

Some last views of the ferris wheel. The fair is officially over and that makes me sad. I surely do love it and always hate when it is over. I took these the last night we were there. I thought the one of it moving was pretty neat. :) When I went out there today to get my stuff I had entered it was so sad looking. Most of the rides had already been packed up and everything. It is amazing how quickly they do all of that stuff. Anyway, this is the last ride we rode with Daddy before we left that night. It is our tradition. :)

My sweet husband is finally back home and I am glad. I surely did miss him. Yesterday the kids were so wild I thought I was going to hide under the bed, but I just put them to bed EARLY and they went right to sleep. I think they had gone beyond tired and were acting beyond goofy. :) Steve came in not long after I had put them to bed so he didn't get to see them till this morning. He hated he didn't get to see them but knew why I had put them to bed early. ha!!!

I finally gave my aunt all of her pictures from her farm. After I picked up my photo from the fair I went straight to her house and gave her the album and the photo. I think she really liked it. She was quite shocked, but I know how much that place meant to ME let alone her and her family. Her daughter was there and I was able to give her the gift I had made for her as well so it was pretty special. We toured her new home. It is beautiful and I am glad she has such a nice place to be. I am also so thankful I chose to take those pictures of her true home. They will always be close to her heart. It brought tears to my eyes when I gave it to her.

We got back news today about our fireplace. We had the chimney swift (?) come and clean the chimney today. Our flue (is that how you spell it???) is messed up and that is why it has smoked when the wind blew too hard all of these years. He said the guy that used to clean our chimney should have caught that long ago. Long story short...we can't use the fireplace as it is now. He did, however, say we could get a stove insert and use that. Now, OK, I understand but BOY was that a hard pill to swallow. I wanted to throw up...literally. As y'all know I LOVE my fireplace and the beauty it brings. I just don't know what we are going to do about it. I just need to pray and ask the Lord to guide us. It just wasn't what I was expecting to hear. BUT...when would that ever be something good to hear? We just have to make the best of it and move on. I am just glad I took that glorious picture of my wonderful fire in the fireplace last year. Don't be surprised if you see that often....

OK..enough of this. :) I need to get to bed before my eyes drop. It will be morning before I know it... Have a great one!

10/21/06

This picture is sideways...and I don't know how it became like that. lol Oh well. I just took this the other day when we were doing our fall scene. The other picture is of the same tree. I just loved the blue sky behind it. That truly is the only reason I took these pictures!! ha!! Nothing special today but I thought it was nice. :)

I am so glad it is Saturday. :) We are going back to the fair today and we are excited. It has been a busy week so we slept in a little.

Steve is out of town for the weekend... a golf weekend with some of his friends. We miss him quite a bit. Mikayla cried when she found out he was going. She likes for her whole family to be together. She and Wesley slept with me last night. It was interesting.. Wesley was all over the place and Mikayla was coughing. I got up and gave her medicine and she was able to sleep better. I didn't get a restful nights sleep, but at least they were with me. ;) Mikayla told me this morning that she wants to sleep with me again tonight because she doesn't want me to be lonely. :) How sweet is that?

Today should be a beautiful day. I need to get out tomorrow and take pictures of the fall leaves. I may get a moment to do it today, too. They will be gone if I don't do it. I saw a large spider web at school the other day with water droplets on it and didn't have my camera. It would have been neat to capture. I brought my camera back yesterday but there were no water droplets from the rain we had gotten the night before. It was more windy so I guess they dried off of it more quickly. I guess I should take my camera with me wherever I go.. just have it hanging around my neck all of the time. ha!!

Well, I am going to go get some things done before we head off to the fair. It will just be Mom, the kids and me today since my brother is out of town and Steve is gone to Myrtle Beach golfing. We'll meet Daddy there since he's working in the Milking Parlor with the dairy cows again. I can't wait to get my onion blossom, funnel cake, icecream cone and lots of other yummy stuff. :) I'll also be taking more pictures.... who would have thought of that!? Have a great day!

10/16/06

It was a more relaxed day today as I had a workday and the kids got the day off. They spent the night with Mom and Daddy last night so they wouldn't have to get up as early. I got off around lunchtime and went to the camera place to get my pictures uploaded to be developed. It was good to get that done so I'll be ready for next week!

It seems we have four new little fishies in our tank...babies, that is. Our black mollies that we thought were two girls...and were named Princess and Black Beauty... we find out are male and female! This should be interesting. My brother told me that sometimes the adults eat the babies, but so far those little stinkers have outrun them. They are cute... but I don't want a ton of those fish in the tank. lol

I am wanting to go out and take pictures of the fall leaves but haven't had a chance. They are just beginning to get nice around here and I just need the time. This house needs attention, too, but it hasn't been cleaned yet either. lol I'm going to fire that maid of ours. hee hee I just "dog paddle" with that sometimes during the school year.

Kevin's friend hung out with Mom and the kids today. He said he had a blast with them. They played and played all day long. The kids didn't even want to leave with me today so they are still with Mom for a little while longer. I don't mind since my brother and his friend are leaving for Disney in the morning. They won't be able to spend this time with him when they get back. He's a really sweet guy and we are enjoying him being here with us.

Not much else going on today. No pictures because the uploading just wouldn't cooperate today. Have a good one!

10/15/06

We've been quite busy the last few days. :) Friday was a field trip for the kids. We went to the pumpkin patch and had a blast. Yesterday we went to the State Fair all day and it was great. Today was the kids baptism.

The field trip on Friday was cold, but I was glad because of it being a hay ride and picking pumpkins. It was a fun day and I was so glad Steve and I could both go on the trip. The kids picked out their pumpkins and we'll add them to our fall stuff. :)

Yesterday was so much fun at the Fair. I LOVE the fair and everything about it. We found out my brother won second and third place on two things he entered. I won second and fourth place on my scrapbook pages but my photograph didn't win anything. I am not surprised at that and it didn't really upset me. You just never know what the judges are thinking and what they are looking for. I'll just start working on something for next year. I was excited about my scrapbook pages, though. It was neat to see I won in both categories. ;)

Today the kids were baptized. It was so special. I cried and thanked the Lord for bringing them to Him at an early age. Mikayla was SO nervous, but did fine after watching Wesley go in first. It is amazing how they can flip-flop in the nervousness/shy area. Some days I never really know which one will do what. lol Our pastor was so sweet with them and held Mikayla close after he baptized her and prayed for her. I appreciated that very much.

The kids are spending the night with Mom and Daddy tonight because I have a work day tomorrow. They were excited. My brother's best friend from Mexico is here for a visit so they were enjoying being with him, too.

Here are some "sights" from the fair and their baptism. Enjoy the pictures. Have a blessed day. :)

10/13/06

Today's picture is of our Japanese Maple. It isn't the greatest, but I thought I'd share anyway. I am now looking for the fall leaves to start showing up around here. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pretty pictures in the next couple of weeks...

Friday the 13th... I used to "dread" this day knowing something weird would happen. I know I have nothing to worry about because the Lord is always with me. I have wondered where that originated anyway... I'll need to look that up!

This week has been good, but, as always, busy. There has begun to be a crispness in the air the last couple of days and it is nice. Wesley and Mikayla had their pumpkin field trip today and it was great. I was so glad I got to go with them. It was cool, but made it nicer for picking out pumpkins and doing hay rides. :)

We are going to the Fair tomorrow and I'll get to see about my entries. I will be surprised if I win anything in the photography because there is so much out there better than mine, but it will give me a chance to see what won and work on getting better. :)

My brother's friend from out of the country is coming in tonight. We are excited to see him because it has been two years since he was able to visit. We're all going out to eat with him when he comes in from the airport. He's going to the fair with us tomorrow so this will be a new adventure for him!!

Steve took Wesley to the Tractor Pull at the Fairgrounds tonight. He was SO excited. I really hope he has a great time. I would have loved to have gone, but I truly felt this was a "guy" thing that they needed to share. :)

Well, I better scoot. This house needs a major cleaning but I don't think it will get done this weekend. Between the fair and Wesley and Mikayla getting baptized on Sunday it is already full. That doesn't count all of the other "stuff" that needs to get done. :) I know it will still be here so I don't need to worry about that.

Have a great weekend!

10/08/06

I thought I would show several pictures I took yesterday of raindrops on daylily leaves. I went outside to tell the kids to come in and when I looked down on the daylilies it was beautiful the way the raindrops clung to the leaves! I just had to run inside and get my camera. I took MANY, but these were my favorites. I hope you enjoy them.

Today was a good day. We went to church and then this afternoon I had to take Mikayla to a birthday party of one of her classmates. They got to bowl and then have a party. They seemed to really have a good time and it was fun watching the little girls interact with each other.

Steve is ironing for me right now. God bless that man. He is awesome. I have to go fold some clothes and help the kids with their verses for church in just a minute. I wanted to post my pictures first.

I has been a dreary day today. It really makes me ready for the fireplace.... I think it is raining pretty steady right now. We definitely need it.

Yesterday my brother and I took our entries to the fair. He still has a few to send in because he has to cook them, but I was able to get my photo and scrapbook pages there on the same day. It would be neat if mine won something...even a nod! lol We'll see next weekend!!!

Well, I need to go help the kids with their verses now. Time waits not for me! Have a good one!

10/06/06

WOW...I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted! Sorry... It has just been crazy, as usual. I don't have enough brain power to think a lot of days when I get home.

Here are many pictures I have taken recently. I'll scatter them throughout the post. :)

We went to the Convention and had a great time as a family at the beach. We were gone for three days. The kids and Steve had more "fun" than I did, but that was alright. It did them good to get away.

We have scheduled the kids baptism. I am excited for them. I know this is a big thing and I want them to understand it isn't the water that saves them... this is an obedient step we take when we accept the Lord as our Savior. They know they already have Jesus in their hearts. I am looking forward to it.

They are both doing beautifully in school. I am so proud of the children they are. I realize they are mine, but it is my blog so I can brag a little. :) They have had such wonderful attitudes with regards to getting up and doing what is expected of them. They are also working hard at obeying the first time and helping me so much around the house. What a blessing they are.

Another continuous blessing is my husband. I am so thankful for all he does for me. He understands all I have to accomplish and is always willing to lend a hand.

We painted pumpkins and put up our fall scene last Sunday. The kids had a lot of fun painting and then fixing the scene. I enjoyed it, too. Unfortunately, I have SO many events to scrap I am feeling further and further behind. I just feel like I am spinning my wheels in that direction a lot of times. I try to journal at night, but, again, I am so brain tired I can't think straight.

Well, enjoy the pictures. We are having our first real cool night tonight and it is nice. I am really looking forward to the fireplace soon. Have a good evening.