Happy Halloween...One Last Time

Sorry. I couldn't resist. I just loved this pic of me and my girl.

Alright. Officially done with Halloween.
See ya next year.
Go Texans!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

One Fine Day

Casey is out of town. He's in Sweetwater, Texas speaking at an honest-to-goodness revival. Due to his absence, I did not go to Pilates, nor did we have our small group. So today, Tuesday, which is normally our craziest day, turned out to be a very slow, quiet, long, luxurious day. It was fabulous. It seems like everyday we have something. But today, nothing.

We took our time with breakfast.
We spent most of the morning in our pajamas, just playing and coloring and reading.
She took a long nap. And it is possible that I might have rested my eyes for a brief period, as well. I can't really say, for sure. ;)
When she finally woke up, we decided to venture out into the beautiful day.
We went to the park.
We met a new friend.
We had a quiet dinner.
We finished our day snuggling on the couch, watching It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (Always a classic!)

Now, if that was all that had happened, it would have been a wonderful day, but a little bonus landed on my doorstep this afternoon. (A little back story before I proceed - A while ago, I was talking to a close friend about the cuteness and surprising versatility of a mustard yellow ballet flat. After this conversation, I began to be convinced that my wardrobe could indeed benefit from a pair of mustard yellow ballet flats. Well, after some reading, a convicting sermon on simplicity last Sunday, and a little personal reflection, I decided that I did not, in fact, need these shoes or anything else for that matter. The subject was closed.)

So onto the story. Today, on my doorstep was this.
And inside the box, were THESE!!!!!
Gasp!!!!! Casey picked these out (with a little help from a friend ;), bought them and sent them to me! A shoe surprise! I have never received a shoe surprise before! Shoe surprises are delightful! These are by far the coolest shoes I own. Well done, Casey! ...and friend!

Casey and I were talking a few weeks ago about being more intentional with each other, being more thoughtful, going out of our way for one another. Well, with the Bible and now these, Casey is two points up. I'd better get my wifey act together here! ;) (Not that he's keeping tabs.)

To Casey...thank you AGAIN for thinking of me and making me feel so special.
I miss you.
I love you.

Oh, Braelyn!

It seems like everyday, Braelyn does something that is completely hilarious to me. Here a few of her most recent classic moments.

1. Last Tuesday, while I was at Pilates, Casey and Braelyn spent some quality time with a box of 96 crayons and a collection of coloring books that have seen better days. During the course of their artistic bonding, a certain orange crayon happen to break. As their time went on, Casey noticed that the broken tip of the crayon was missing, AND that Braelyn was rubbing her nose a lot. Hmmm? Suspicious. When I returned, Casey told me that he suspected that Braelyn had inserted the orange crayon bit into her nose. "No!" I thought, "Braelyn doesn't stick things up her nose!" Later that night, while our house was full of college students, there was still some uncertainty about whether there was actually crayon in our daughter's nose. So, I grabbed our trusty flashlight and took a peek up her little nostril. There it was. Orange crayon bit. It was like a miniature orange street cone up her nose. Oh Lord! We called our favorite Mommy M.D. and she assured us it would work its way out, but bedtime was upon us and I couldn't have orange crayon bit flying up and down my daughter's nose all night long. I grabbed some tweezers and chased her around for a bit. (Don't forget, a serious, life-changing Bible study was going on in the other room.) At first it made her giggle when I began to dig around in her nose, but then she decided that it was no longer funny and started crying, which was fine by me, cause the crayon bit started to slide down. At this point she was refusing to come near me, but I managed to persuade her to look in the mirror. There, with her own eyes she saw the tip of the orange crayon bit peeking out of her nostril. This was hilarious to both her and me, and since she was able to watch the procedure take place, I was able to extract the dangling orange crayon bit.

2. For several weeks now, Braelyn has started referring to me as "Honey," especially when I am foolishly interfering with her agenda. Some examples:
- (I told her to leave the swiffer alone.) "But, I am cleaning, Honey."
- (Time for bed.) "But, Honey, I don't want to go to bed."
- (I told her she couldn't have dessert until after dinner.) "I want a cookie, Honey."
How am I supposed to address disobedience under these freakishly cute conditions!! Huh?! HUH?!

3. This morning, Braelyn got up while it was still dark, about 6:30, and like I do every morning, I went to go get her and brought her in bed with me for a few minutes to give myself a chance to fully wake up. This morning, before returning to my bed, I made a detour to the bathroom. I warned her that the light would be bright. So, I set her down and was, um...you know... going potty and Braelyn promptly turned around, went to her room and came back with her sunglasses on. At first I thought she just felt like some early morning accessorizing, but then I realized that she was being quite practical...the light was just too bright that early in the morning. Funny girl!

My Husband...A Man of the Word

I'm not sure what day the ESV Bible people announced that they were publishing a new study Bible, but I'm pretty sure that my husband pre-ordered his on that very day with a song in his heart. For months and months, my husband waited for this Bible...a ten pound, leather-bound, mappy-happy, illustrated, commentated version of the glorious Word of God.

Early this month, it came.

And do you want to know what that man did?

He opened the box, unwrapped this phone-book of a Bible, walked over to me and handed it to me. He didn't even look inside. He gave it to me! He just GAVE it to me!

It was such a thoughtful thing to do. What a husband I have!

I've been using it now for a couple of weeks and I. LOVE. IT!!!!! If you are wanting/needing a new Bible, this one is a worthy investment.

Thanks, Casey. I love you so much.
Thank you for the way you are serving and leading our family.

It's a MRE, Folks!

Ok, so, I have a video for you. It's a little longer that I thought it would be..'bout 10 minutes. Sorry. It probably could have been cut even more, but I think the editor (my husband) thinks I am more entertaining than I actually am. :) He was super sweet do put it together for me, so I won't complain.

Anyways,I got my hands on one of those Meals Ready to Eat (MRE's). Thought I'd share it with you. So here ya go...my first Vlog.

Join Us in Prayer

I don't know this family personally, but a friend of mine asked me to add this link to my blog, and of course, I was more than happy to. Please go to the blog link below to read about little Benjamin and join me in praying for him and his family.

Benjamin, Child of God

Pumpkin Painting Craft: Round 1

We finally got started on painting our pumpkins! Over the weekend, I got 4 pumpkins, two large and two small. This afternoon, we got to work on the small pumpkins. It was so fun.

Here, I prepped our pumpkins. I sprayed mine black and I was really happy with how it came out. Braelyn chose sparkly gold, of course, but it didn't show up as much as I would have liked. I didn't want to see any orange...just gold and sparkles! I may pick up another brand of spray paint before we do our big pumpkins.

Braelyn, gettin' crafty.

And here's the finished product. I just have to add this picture because Braelyn's face is so funny. I was trying to get her to look at me and smile...but she wasn't having it. It's so funny how her eyes look everywhere except at the camera.

I might see if I can find some Halloween, or even fall-shaped sponges or stickers for Braelyn to use on her big pumpkin. The stickers we can put on before we spray paint, and then they'll leave a fun shape when we take them off. Oh, and for anyone interested doing this craft, I did spray the pumpkins with a gloss coating. Hopefully, they'll stay painted through the rest of the month!

We had so much fun. I'm excited to do some more. Those little pumpkins are so cheap, I just might have to pick up a few more! :)

More to come...

The Round Top Post...(which happens to be slightly innappropriate)

Sorry for the delay.
Here we go.

I spent the morning with my friend, Mandi. She and I stopped at a pleasant, little spot called Blue Hills, but then spent the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon at Marburger.

Here we are. I look hideous, I know. I must remember to never take my own picture.

As we were wrapping up our time at Marburger, Mandi found THE perfect wire basket. A perfect combination of fashion and function. Well done, Mandi.At around 2-ish, Brandi joined us, making our party all the merrier. I was, however quite jealous of her sundress and cowboy boots. So quintessentially Round Top!
Regarding my purchases...I was looking for one of those giant wine jugs, preferably with a label or in its wire basket. I did find several that I loved, however, they were pretty pricey. I will have you know, that I negotiated the price for all legitimate prospects. I was very proud of myself about that. Anyways, when Casey gave me my budget for the day, he said if I see an item and feel like I am going to DIE if I don't have it, then I can buy it, otherwise, let's save it and use the money for um...more necessary things. I assured him that if Round Top is anything, it is necessary. Nonetheless, I wanted to honor my husband's request, and although I negotiated just about all the jugs into the acceptable (not preferable) price range, I did not feel like I was going to DIE without them. (BTW, we were making lots of "jugs" jokes, so feel free to laugh if I use the word jugs...it's just funny.) So, on to Warrenton.

By the time we hit Warrenton, it was getting pretty late, our feet were tired, and it's just so darn big and there's so much stuff, you're almost worn out before you begin. But, we made our way through a good section of it. As our feet were telling us that the day was done, to my delight I saw a booth with one lonesome wine jug. It was not the most beautiful one I had seen that day, but the price definitely was! Super cheap, compared to what I saw at Marburger. Sold!

Back at home with my jug...and a lavender bundle.
Maybe this is why girls started wearing boots to Round Top. I am thinking of making a shirt for the Spring show...Round Top: If your feet ain't dirty, you ain't shoppin' hard enough!
So this is where my jug is now. See it back there? (Oh, Erin... I painted that blue basket red. What do ya think?)
But I also, considered this. Thoughts?
I went back the next day with my parents and Braelyn (what was I thinking?! DO NOT TAKE TODDLERS OR CHILDREN OF ANY AGE TO ROUND TOP!!!!) and I saw a booth that had a great collection of jugs at really reasonable prices. I think I will find that dealer in the Spring and pick up one or two more in different shapes and sizes. Maybe once I get a nice little collection going, I'll splurge on a beautiful, dark green, labeled, wire basketed wine jug. I'll just have a table of jugs! (I feel like Michael Scott.) But I think I made a good choice for now. It's my training jug! HA! (ok...no more jugs jokes.)

Ladies...Mandi, Brandi...it was a pleasure.
Mom, Dad...we'll have to do it again.
Braelyn...I love you...a lot. I don't think Round Top is for you.

:::GASP:::

I know what Braelyn and I are doing for an art project this week!...

SO CUTE!!!!

Feeling Ambitious This Week

I have some goals this week in addition to my regular homemaking tasks. They are:

* REGISTER TO VOTE!!!!!!! The deadline is tomorrow, I do believe. Gotta do my part.

* Blogging. I have a few posts...just trapped in the ol' noggin.

* I want to go back and watch the convention speeches. I watched Palin's last night. She's a little firecracker. I think I like this broad. (If she becomes our VP then I will stop referring to her as a broad, but until then...;). I also need to watch the VP debate. Lots of politics this week.

* I want to finalize my Christmas gift ideas. I'm quite conflicted on this issue. I would love to do all homemade gifts, but 1. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do yet, and 2. I don't want my gifts to look like a home-ec project. If I make something, I want it to be perfect and I just don't know that I can do that at this point...not with only 2 and a half months to go.  Or, if I decide against homemade gift ideas, I need to start thinking about other options. Ugh...gift giving. It's exhausting to me. I mean...I like to give gifts, but I agonize. You understand.

* I have a craft project idea. I think it'll be pretty simple and won't cost a lot of money. I usually talk myself out of things like this, but I want to give it a shot. I'll let you know how it goes. (If it turns out cute, maybe that'll help me out with the previous goal. That would be fabulous!)

* Finish Northanger Abby. I'm almost done...I just haven't been picking it up as often as I should. Honestly, it may be my least favorite Austen novel. I like it. I just don't love it.

* To watch the Texans game next Sunday and not feel like punching someone in the face. Did anyone see that trainwreck today?!!! Oh my goodness...put me in a bad mood for the entire afternoon. Grrr!!!

I think that's it. It's gonna be a busy week.

Hope you guys have a great week.

If you're not registered to vote...GO DO IT.  TOMORROW!