November

Wow, November just flew by, didn't it?!

In the past month we have been super busy, I have completely neglected my blog and honestly haven't even taken many pictures. But hopefully this post will give you a little catch-up on what we've been up to.

 

We went to this cool Fairy Village exhibit - there were tons of these really cool miniature Fairy houses ... simply amazing!

 

My husband, Brother-in-law and I all ran in an Adventure Race. It was 3.2 miles with 10 obstacles along the way. It was SUPER hard, I did fine with the obstacles, but the hills were killer. My time was 36.12 which I actually thought wasn't half bad considering the difficulty level!

This was just heading out. My Brother-in-law is in the green shirt, hubby is in the black shirt {behind the pole} and I am in the hot pink top.

 

We raked and played in TONS of leaves!!

 

We survived Hurricane Sandy! YAY! Praise God we only lost power for a day as many others lost it much longer. This is a beach near us with the road completely covered in sand about a FOOT deep!

 

I went for a girl's night out to play BINGO! It was so much fun! {No, we didn't win.}

 

Hope had her last soccer game of the season and the team had a little celebration picnic.

 

I voted!!

 

Another fun night out with girlfriends AND our husbands at an Oldies Dance - oh my gosh, too much fun, I need to do this sort of thing more often. Good fun, tons of laughter and good exercise too!

 

We did some thrift shopping - this whole outfit including shoes was thrifted - doesn't she look cute?! She is totally into orange and grey lately. =)

 

I've seen a couple gorgeous sunsets since the time changed. Love the colors that God paints our skies with!

 

We also did a huge Youth event - it was an overnight event where middle school and high schoolers could come have food, do inflatables and games, go bowling, swimming, roller skating, etc all night long. There were about 600 kids who attended and an awesome band from England called Twelve 24 came and did a concert and gave a gospel message. I was a helper and my daughter attended for the first time - we only stayed HALF the night though ... maybe next year we'll stay the whole night.

 

My younger daughter began swimming lessons 2 nights a week.

 

My older daughter is starting basketball {they did evals already for one team and she's going to try out for another team next week.}.

 

I started working part time at my daughter's school as a monitor ... for now I'm just filling in though as a substitute as needed. I'm also exploring other options of jobs within the school.

 

And we had another parent/teacher conference - this one for my younger daughter. She is doing amazing in school and has the sweetest teacher. I am so thankful that she's made a good transition into school and that she is thriving and doing so well.

 

So that's what has kept us busy this month ... besides the regular day to day work, school, homework, housework, church service, etc!!!

 

I hope it's not another month before I get around to posting again ... with the holidays and many fun events coming up I should have lots of pictures to share soon. Hope all of you are well, say hi if you get a chance!! =)

Making Your Home a Haven - Week One

Courtney from Women Living Well is doing a little fall challenge called Making Your Home a Haven. I honestly feel that this is something I'm truly passionate about.

We have a small house. It's taken me a really long time to come to a place of contentment about my home. Some days I still long for something bigger, newer, nicer, in a different neighborhood, etc. But MOST days lately I am truly happy and content with my home.

I want my home to be a place where it is comfortable, cozy, welcoming and warm. Not too fancy so it feels stuffy or people worry about messing it up.

I can't really say I have a specific decorating style either. I used to be all into Country decor, then got away from it a little and starting adding in a mash-mash of things. I guess if I had to define my style I'd call it comfy American with a tiny eclectic mix. =)

Courtney's first challenge this week was to light a candle in your home every day and every time you pass by the flame you say a prayer for peace in your home. I want our home to be a place where peace and love reigns. I want us to love one another well, take care of each other and feel at peace with each other while here. I want this to be a safe and comfortable HAVEN for when we each get home at the end of a long day.

I love lighting candles, especially this time of year, so this challenge is a great start for me. I do need to pray more diligently for my family though.

One of our family's verses is displayed on our living room wall ... it's a great reminder of how to treat one another. It's Galatians 5:22-23  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control."

This is my living room, you can see the verse on the wall on the far right. =)

Feel free to join in on the challenge! The more the merrier!

Halloween Through the Years

I know I posted some Halloween pics just the other day, but then I went through and scanned a bunch of old pictures from years past and thought it would be fun to show them all here together in order. Starting way back in 1998 when I worked at a Casino … it was optional to dress up for work on Halloween so the first few pictures of me are from those years. {This was before I had children.}

**Sorry about the quality of some of the pictures, I had already scrapbooked most of them so I was scanning the pages and they didn’t turn out too clear.**

1998 {Farm girl}

1999 {Something About Mary}

2000 {Cow}

2001 {I had a brand new baby, just a month old, so we didn’t dress up, didn’t trick or treat, nothing. Just stayed home that year.}

2002 {Hope was Eeyore – ONE year old.}

2003 {Joy was a Doggy – 8 mos old}

{Hope was Winnie the Pooh – 2 yrs old}

{Joy fell asleep while Trick or Treating!!}

2004 {Hope was a Care Bear – 3 yrs old}

{Joy was a Bumblebee – 20 mos old}

2005 {Joy was a Monkey – 2 & 1/2 yrs old}

{Hope was Tinkerbell – 4 yrs old}

{I know this pic is blurry, but it’s so cute, I love the striped green tights Hope wore and how cute Joy looks in the monkey suit!}

2006 {Hope was a Cowgirl – 5 yrs old}

{Joy was Snow White – 3 & 1/2 yrs old}

{And I dressed up as a Cowgirl too.} =)

2007 {Both girls were Pink Poodles – Hope was 6 yrs old, Joy was 4 & 1/2 yrs old.}

2008 {My friends and I were Football players}

{The girls and their friends were Cheerleaders – Joy is 5 & 1/2 in this pic}

{Hope is 7 yrs old in this pic}

2009 {Joy was Sharpay from High School Musical – she was 6 & 1/2 yrs old}

{Hope was a Pirate – she was 8 yrs old}

{I was a Pirate, my friend Lynn was a Punk Girl and my friend Caroline was a Pirate too.}

2010 {Joy was a Donut, she WON a costume contest!! She was 7 & 1/2 yrs old}

{Hope was a Gypsy – she was 9 yrs old}

{Bob was Donald Trump and I was a Groovy Chick}

2011 {My neighbor came through with a picture for me! YAY! I forgot to take pics but my neighbor always takes one of us so here it is. Joy was a Black Cat – 8 & 1/2 yrs old, Hope was a Clown – 10  yrs old and I was a Witch, but my hat is missing in this pic}

2012 And finally this year …

{Joy was a Cowgirl – 9 & 1/2 yrs old}

          

{Hope was an Angel – 11 yrs old}

{I was the Green M&M and Bob was a creepy Fisherman}

                                  

So that’s it … Halloween through the years. I can’t believe how fast the past 11 years have gone and how much the girls have changed each year!!