Sunday, October 30, 2011

Up To Speed

It's been over a week since I've sat down to empty photos off of my camera & string words together to show all that we've been up to lately. This poor little blog of mine has gotten left in the dust, & I'd say it's high time I get it up to speed.


{May I just add, that it's been over a week since I've touched the laundry, lifted a finger on any kind of housework or prepared a single home cooked meal? Don't feel bad, little blog. I'm slacking in all areas of my life right now.}

Here's my attempt at catching you up on a little bit of the fun we've been having:

Birthday Parties:

I will never forget that late night phone call. Jared & I were settling into bed when the phone rang & I answered to hear on the other end of the line, the quiet, shaky voice of my best friend, "I think my water just broke." Jared & I bolted out of bed & rushed out the door to meet our best friends at the hospital where we would would welcome a smushy, plump, dark headed, beautiful baby boy into the world.

And though it seems like just yesterday we celebrated the birth of that sweet little baby boy, here we are a blink later, celebrating his THIRD birthday.  They sure don't stay little, do they?

Happy Birthday, Jude!  Your life is one precious little miracle & we love you so, so, so much!
                                    --Uncle J, Aunt LaLa, & Jett Jett

p.s.--your party was really fun!




Bonfires:

I've said it before that I totally hit the jack-pot when I married my husband.  He's sweet, he's got the most positive attitude of anyone I've ever known in my life, he truly is the best husband a girl could ask for, & he's pretty darn good looking, too. I lucked out, for sure.  But there's another reason I happen to count my blessings that God gave me the husband that He did...

he's got a pretty cool extended family.

His aunt, uncle, cousins, second cousins--they're all amazing people & I am so blessed to get to be able to call them my family.

We recently joined up with them to celebrate a couple of big milestone birthdays, roast hot dogs over an open fire, & sit around a blazing bonfire, simply savoring the beautiful Fall night & the lifelong memories being made with our loved ones.

You can't beat a night like that.



Annual Halloween Get-Togethers

Every single year, once the leaves start turning & rustling to the ground, I find myself getting antsy.  I get anxious & excited, giddy & childlike--all for the annual Halloween Bash that will take place at Aunt Elaine's farm come the end of October. It's an event that rolls around every single year & every single year it's something I look forward to a little more than the last. There are games, prizes, a food table a mile long, a dessert table that'll knock your socks off, a big barn all decked out in Halloween decor, & a lady who puts so much effort into this one day that everyone goes home at the end of it all, eagerly anticipating the next one.

My great big extended family congregates in that barn reminiscing about old times {Remember pushing me off that horse when I was only nine, causing me my first & only broken arm, Uncle Kenny? Meanie!}, we pass babies & take turns spoiling them, & we send echoes of laughter booming throughout the countryside. The kids run through the woods collecting items for the scavenger hunt, they force feed Aunt Elaine's pony, Ringo, everything from carrots to chocolate chip cookies, & they end the day by eating their weight in candy. We all go home with the smell of bonfire collected in our hair & on our clothing & we're stuffed so full of hotdogs, chips, & cheese dip, that we vow we'll never eat again.

Try topping a day like that.


Trunk Or Treat:

Every year our church puts on a big shin-dig we like to call Trunk Or Treat. In the years past, Jared & I have decked ourselves out in various costumes--one year it was Peter Pan & Tinkerbell, another year we were super star soccer players. Year after year, we've had so much fun with it.  We'd back our car into a parking spot, open up our decorated trunk, & welcome little ghosts, goblins, princesses & superheroes to a helping of lollipops, chocolate bars, & sweet, sugary goodness. We always went home feeling blessed to be a part of something that gives back to our community & furthermore, promotes the Kingdom of God in a really neat way.

And while Trunk Or Treat remained the total blast it always has been, this year it was a little different for us. Instead of Jared & I dressing up in ridiculous costumes, decking our trunk out, & handing fistfuls of candy to the mass of kiddos flowing through, we were on the other end of things. For the very first time, we got to see what Trunk Or Treat looks like from a Trunk Or Treater viewpoint.  Let me just say, it was awesome.  And I think our little gnome agrees.

It took about two minutes for our little lawn ornament to realize that Trunk Or Treat rocks the catwalk. Let me first say that this was Jett's big debut in his costume & I was extremely nervous about it. Every "dress rehearsal" we had done at home had not gone well. He hated the hat, hated the beard, hated the belt, hated the stretchy bands that held the hat & beard in place...Halloween night was not looking promising. But then, once we stepped out of the car to do our Trunk or Treating, Meatball took one look around to see that every other child was sporting a costume & he suddenly thought he was "it".  From then on out he stopped everybody--strangers & friends, alike, to point out his "haaat" & "boops" {boots}.  He was so proud. And if you thought he was proud, well then, you should've seen his momma & daddy.

Then once he figured out that the bucket he was holding was getting more & more full by the minute--with candy--whoa buddy.  Talk about a happy little gnome. He figured out real quick that this dressing up for candy thing just might be right up his alley. Smart boy.



So see there? Despite my pig sty of a house, the piles of dirty laundry, the empty fridge, the lack of home cooked meals, & this poor, neglected blog, this momma is still managing to drag her nauseous self out of the house to make a few memories here & there. 

And I even managed to squish it all into one long, Up To Speed  blog post.  Go me.

Happy Halloween Eve!  More memory making tomorrow!







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