Look what I grew!

Today we picked our first pumpkin. It was hanging on the fence and the vine looked like it was ready to snap so we picked it. She is the deepest orange color I have seen on a pumpkin. I thought the packet of seeds we bought was for Cinderella pumpkins but she does not look like a Cinderella pumpkin. Maybe we picked her too soon? Anyway, we have been showing our house quite a bit (thank you Lord) and I thought I would spruce up the front step with fall things for the people this evening and weekend that are going to come look at our little house. Don't you just love fall?

Sack or Hot?

My daughters have yet to eat a hot lunch at school so far this school year. They prefer sack this year it appears. I have been having a hard time coming up with ideas for their lunch boxes. Today, I got creative (for me anyway.) This is what daughter #2 had....

Turkey sandwich with cheese, lettuce and a tad of mustard. She wanted pickles but I only had bread and butter and she prefers dill. Wavy Lays chips, diced pears and iced animal cookies. She took a baby orange soda and a straw for her drink today. Usually she drinks water or milk but today we splurged on pop.

Daughter #1 (the picky one) took peanut butter and jelly (no surprise there), Wavy Lays and a Ding Dong. Remember when they used to be wrapped in aluminum foil? A looooooong time ago when my mama packed them for me. :) She also got treated to a little pop with a straw. She wanted no part of the diced pears. That is because they were the most healthy thing I offered! Geesh....

What kinds of variety do you or did you pack for your kiddos? I would love some suggestions. And if you had a picky one....I would love to know what you feed them! I guess no one has perished eating to many pbj sandwiches, have they?

How can this be????

My firstborn baby....my baby that I cried out to God to please please give me after three miscarriages....turned 14 years old this past week. How can that be? I remember the day my mother handed her to me after I got back to my room. You see...I had a very hard time delivering her and had to have an emergency c-section with her. She did not want to come out. AT ALL! My mama got to hand her to me for the first time. All that hard work and pain was forgotten. She was the most round faced baby I had ever seen. Cheeks cheeks cheeks! She was so alert and wide eyed. I loved her the moment I saw her.

Fast forward 14 years and here we are today. She is in 8th grade. She is musically gifted. She loves babies with a passion. She is kind and caring and sweet. She is a people watcher like her mama. She sits back and observes the situation. She would give you anything she had. She is a generous girl. She loves her kitty. She likes the Disney channel. She loves Harry Potter. She seems to have an obsession with boys at the moment. She is an honor roll student. She wants to be a "baby doctor" when she gets out of college. She loves Aeropostle clothes. She can text faster than anyone I know. She loves shoes and bags (unlike her mother.) She is singing as loud as she can right now in the bathtub to Miley..."Party in the USA." She is my first baby girl and she is all mine.

Here are some pictures of her special day.

Doing her homework before her birthday dinner. She got stuck with 5 subjects of homework on her birthday! POO POO!!

Her Nana making fried chicken for her dinner. Our tradition is that the birthday person gets to pick any meal they want for their birthday. She is like her daddy...she loves fried chicken!

And mashed potatoes with lots of butter.....

And sweet corn off the cob is a must.....

She asked for a yellow Ipod for her birthday. We had a special inscription put on the back for her to remember her day.

The silly kitty trying to get inside one of her gift bags. Doesn't his beautiful chocolate brown fur go well with pink? Hee hee....

Make a wish my special girl and blow. Mama hopes that all your dreams come true! Shoot for the stars my love....they are all yours for the taking.

Pretty pretty girl. Hope your 14th year on earth is filled with good things, good times, friends, family and lots of love. I love you to to to much!!! XOXOXOXOX

Change is a coming....

My husband and I took a little trip this past week. We drove up to Michigan for two days. This was not a vacation get away for us. Instead it was a "where do we want to move to Michigan trip." You see, my husband was offered a new job. He is very very excited about this promotion....I am too. He has been waiting years to be offered something like this. But, with this fantastic opportunity comes something that makes my heart sad. We have to re-locate inside his territory. Hence....Michigan.

I had never been to Michigan before this weekend. It is beautiful! We only had a couple days to check out an area that we were thinking about moving. We also looked at several houses and found one we really liked. It will have plenty of room for the guests we will be having after we move. I loved our drive we took to the beach. I swear we were at the ocean instead of the lake!

See what I mean? How beautiful is that!

I had to take my sandals off and put my toes in the sand. My left over suntan from this summer...hee hee.

We saw a couple light houses. Lots of boats. Lots of beautiful trees. Some were even beginning to change colors. I can not wait to drive up sometime in October. I am sure the beauty and the colors will take my breath away.

We stopped at the Cabela's store on the way home. Hubby needed to look at things he liked since I drug him through some cute little gift shops when we stopped in South Haven. It was the least I could do for him. :)



But you see, even though we had a really nice time together.....the trip was bitter sweet. How can I begin to pack up and move my life to another state? I have a wonderful, full, sweet life here in Illinois. I have 42 years of my roots growing long and deep in this place. I know that God has been preparing me for this for a few years now....to move. So, I will go. I have no idea what plans He has in store for my children, my husband or myself up there. I am excited and scared to death all at the same time. Is that possible????? We will be 4 hours and 19 minutes away from our hometown. Not bad.

I mentioned a couple of posts back that my little life was out of control at the moment. This is why. We are in the process of packing up our house and sprucing it up to sell. The stress level is high around here right now. I know that things will get better but it is going to take awhile. So, I am pulling up my boot straps (speaking of boots...I don't even own a pair and I am moving to a place with an average of 80 inches of snow a year....YIKES) and getting ready to begin a new chapter in my life. I do hope you ride along with me.