My Nieces and Nephew

My mother and father in law were just up visiting from Florida this past weekend. My niece Jeannie and my brother in law Josh also came with them. We don't usually get to see each other very often and we had a wonderful time just fellowshipping with each other. While they were here Josh gave me a bunch of pictures of Beth and the kids off his laptop. Here are some recent pictures of my nieces and nephews in Pennysylvania.

Jocelyn Nicole, Jasmine Marie, Jaquelyn Faith, and Joshua David

Joshua and Jackie

Joshua (a.k.a. Bubba) He has really grown up a lot since the last time I got to see him.

Beth and Jocelyn

Jaquelyn, Jocelyn, Jasmine, and Joshua

Beth, Joshua, and Jaquelyn

Joshua, Jaquelyn, Jasmine, and Joshua

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I miss them all so much! I think about them all the time and pray for them several times everyday. I know one day this will all be over and we will get to see them again. I just pray that day will come soon.

P & P

Today I took the kids to the park for a picnic and some playing. They really enjoyed packing their lunches and taking it to the park to eat.


We planned on eating our lunch under the pavilion, but it was really cool in the shade. So, we decided to go and sit on the track in the nice, warm sun.


Joseph wastes no time when it comes to eating.


Isaac ate his piece of candy first!


Then he dug in his lunchbox for his lunch.


How do you eat


YOUR Reeses Peanut Butter Cup?


Haili is such a sweet big sister (most of the time).


Haili hanging upside down like a monkey.


Ethan really enjoyed riding down the slide on his big sister's lap.


Haili with her two of her favorite little men.

Aren't they sweet?

Haili and Nicole

Alanna's favorite thing to do at the park is swinging.

Joseph really loves swinging too.

The kids had a great time playing at the park. After we were done at the park we went over to Pam's house to pick some leaves so the kids could press them. They all helped pick the leaves and when we came home I put them in the dictionary. Then, we all loaded up and went to Wal-Mart, Cook Out, Nicole's soccer practice, and finally back home to do some scrapbooking. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to stay at home and watch my children grow up.

Staying Busy

Boy this week has really been a busy one! I have been helping a friend of mine get her bedroom ready to be painted. We had to take down the old wall border, wash the walls, and then tape everything off before we could actually start painting. Last night we finally got to start painting the walls. However, I am not going over to help today because we get to go to church tonight.

This morning Ethan had a doctor's appointment at 9 o'clock. He has been really fusy, not to mention the runny nose and tugging at his ears. He is cutting both of his top teeth right now, so I knew that was one of the reasons behind the fussiness and runny nose. And Ethan has a fetish with ears, so I wanted to make sure he didn't have an ear infection. I would feel awful if he had an ear infection and I hadn't taken him to the doctor. Well, come to find out he was starting to get an ear infection in his right ear, so his doctor put him on Amoxicillin. I am really glad that I made him an appointment before his ear infection got worse.

After we got done at the doctor's office I took the kids to Burger King to eat some breakfast. We all got out and went inside to eat. Eating inside was as much of a treat to them as eating at Burger King for breakfast because I usually just go through the drive-thru. They were all really good inside - probably because they were warned what would happen if they did not behave.

After we finished eating we headed over to Wal-Mart to have Ethan's prescription filled and grab a couple of things while we waited. We had to wait for like 45 minutes for his medicine and then we checked out and finally got to go home.

Today has been a much needed break - I even got to lay down for a few minutes while the kids watched a movie. Daniel is coming home tonight and I have to get dinner started, so that is all for now.

We had another great day at Super Church today. It was a little chilly outside and we were down a few of our lady workers due to the Ladie's Trip in the mountains, however, I think things went great. Brother Bradley preached to the older kids today and Daniel preached to the younger age group. Daniel preached a great message on listening for the still small voice of God. I don't know what Brother Bradley preached on, but I'm sure it was good. Since we were down some workers we had pizza and cupcakes for lunch. You know the kids enjoyed every bite of it.

After all of the bus kids were gone I stayed a little while longer and let my kids play outside with their friends. Here are a few pictures I took of them playing.


Alanna and Naomi



Alanna really wanted to have her picture taken today




Malachi



Isaac and Joseph



Joseph and Isaac kept touching the designs of the fish in the birdbath.



Joseph is so clumsy.....he gets it from his mother.



"Take my picture Mommy!"



Haili loves having her picture taken too, even if it is with "little sister."



Naomi, Haili, and Alanna



The kids hiding from Brother Greg behind a bush. They had all been beating up on Brother Greg after he got back from dropping the bus off at the church. I wish I had gotten pictures. It was so funny!

Not Babies Anymore

Our youngest son, Ethan, turned eight months old on the tenth of October. Time has gone by so fast since Ethan was born; I can't believe he's already sitting up, not to mention crawling, pulling up, cutting his third tooth. In the next few pictures Ethan is playing on his Jump and Spin Zebra. Even though he doesn't really jump or spin on it he loves it because of the music and lights.

When I looked at this picture it really hit me....he's not a baby anymore!

Haili is eight years old now and in the third grade. It's hard to believe that almost half of the time that we will have her at home is already gone. That's why it is so important to build a foundation for your children while they are young.

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

I pray everyday that God will help me not to fall short of raising my children exactly the way the Lord would have them to be raised. It is our responsibility as parents to train our children and to teach them the morals and values that they will take with them for the rest of their lives.

A Day in Maggie Valley

Last week my mom came to pick up my sister from my house. My family lives in Florida so we don't get to spend very much time with them. Needless to say, when she comes she wants to make the most out of her time with the grandkids. She had wanted to go to Maggie Valley the last time she was here, but the weather was terrible and we never made it out past Ashville. So, since Daniel was off last Thursday we all loaded up and headed out to Maggie Valley. It was very overcast and sprinkling when we left home, but as we got closer to the mountains everything was sunny and dry.

After we drove through the busy part of town in the center of Maggie Valley we came to a little country store with a huge lookout tower. For 50 cents per person you could walk to the top of the tower to look through the binoculars and take some pictures. So, that's exactly what we did. Although the binoculars were not very good the view was great.

This picture was taken at the bottom of the tower.


These pictures were taken from the top of the tower.

After we were done taking some pictures and doing some shopping we were ready for lunch. We stopped at a Mexican Restaurant that had really nice views, but the food was not as good as El Titanic. LOL...

After reading the menu for himself, Isaac showed me what he wanted to eat.

And so did Logan.

My mom loves gem mining, so we got some directions to Old Pressley Sapphire Mine. When we got there it was closed though. I guess we got a flyer that did not have the updated hours of operation. Oh well - I wasn't too disappointed.

We had a great time in the mountains last week. It was nice just to be able to spend the day with my husband as a family. We don't get to do that very often anymore.