On the fence between Summer and Fall...

Do you know how much I love Fall?!? The weather, the colors, the smells :-) It really is my favorite season. This morning you could just feel the freshness in the air as I took Hailey to school. It made me think that that crisp Fall air might just be around the corner!! I came home and got busy bringing out the Fall decor! I just can't help myself...besides I have to enjoy it now...as soon as October starts I'm breaking out the Halloween!! :-)I redid the baker's rack in the kitchen...changed the flower arrangement, candle holders....Put some awesome smelling orange potpourri on there too.This is new for me...I've never hung anything from a chandelier like this. Do you think it looks okay?? Well, I have hung paper carrots from it at Easter :-)My mom got me the candle holders on the dinning room table. They are from Kirklands (our favorite store!)Amber, the candle smell great! Thank you!!Mom made me this wreath last year.Pumpkins on the hearth..Now heading outside! The front door wreath...My find at Hobby Lobby last week! Too cute! Fall IS my favorite :-)The little pumpkin is just for a test...I want some hay, real pumpkins as it gets closer to October. But just on the other side of the walkway it still looks like Summer!! The flowers are blooming like crazy! And I love it. I'm torn between wanting fall and enjoying the colorfulness of the blooms! The bees were even out getting a snack this morning! Jack loved watching them.Even my azaleas are blooming in the front flower bed!! I guess they are the 'all season' brand and bloom multiple times a year. It was a nice surprise.Jack helped me water everything, and I mean everything! He made mud puddles and cleaned the trees! It was lots of fun!!

So what season are you wanting...

Do you want Fall to hurry up or Summer to linger on??

Republican National Convention

Tonight I watched Sarah Palin accept her nomination to run for Vice President and her speech was great. I don't know very much about her, but I don't know very much about most of the governors or senators in our country. But after watching her tonight I feel even more confident in my decision to vote for McCain. I think it's great that our next VP could be a woman for the very first time!! I love that she is a mother as well as a career woman, and I mean mother in that she has A LOT of kids. Five of them!! My heart goes out to her and her ambition for children with special needs. Her youngest son has Down Syndrome and I have a very special cousin that is now almost a teenager that also has DS. She was the flower girl in my wedding and is such a joy to our family. It would be awesome to have such an advocate right there in the White House!! Not only for DS, but for all kinds of special needs. Her oldest son is also about to go to Iraq to serve our country next week! Darren has done 3 tours to Iraq and I have complete support for our military in what they are doing over there. Knowing that both our President and VP both have children over there would only mean that they have their best interest in mind...not just politics.

Whatever you views are I just hope you get out there and vote!! Remember what our ancestors did to give us the right to stand up and voice our opinion. And look what's happening now...we've got a woman running for the VP!! How awesome is that!

Labor Day Weekend!

How time flies when you are having fun! I can't believe this weekend is already over!! It was fast and full of fun, but I wish it could have lasted a few days longer. With friends like these...it's never enough time though....you always want just one more day to hang out :-)

We started the weekend Friday night when Amber & Aric and their kids, Sage and Noah, rolled into town. We grabbed a quick dinner and then spent a little time with Ben & Tabby and their daughter, Isabelle once they arrived. The kids got reacquainted very quickly, like they were never apart!!

Then Saturday was the baby shower!! It was at my house and my mom and Sarah helped me with the theme. We did a laundry/bath theme. So much fun!!
I used pictures of baby Noah and baby Sage....wonder what baby #3 will look like??
This was on the food table....that picture is how we all found out that Amber was expecting!! It was the best blog post ever!

On this laundry line I put two pictures of Amber 'expanding' during this pregnancy :-}

This is baby girl's name.
There are ultrasound pictures of Kirkley on either side of her name.
We started the shower with two games. Tabby was our game coordinator. The first one was good 'clean' fun. The ladies had to sort out baby girl socks in 20 seconds and whoever got the most won! However the second game wasn't so 'clean'! It was called 'Guess the Mess!' Tabby melted 5 different chocolate bars in baby diapers and they had to try to guess what type of candy bar was in each one. You could smell, taste, touch...whatever you needed to do to get the job done!!

Here's Andrea investigating her mess!
Kayla and Lauren scopeing out the dirtiness!!
Meshaun was so not going to play this, but in the end she was all in the diaper, smelling and even tasting to figure it out :-)

Then we got started on the gifts. Amber received so many cute things! That little girl is going to be covered in pink & brown! That seemed to be the color scheme of most of the gifts :-)
Sage was given a sweet little pink puppy from Ms. Jocelyn. She loved it!!
Here is my mother being a nut!! She's talking to the baby. I think Amber would only let Momma Jan do something like this to her!!

Here's all the ladies that came to the shower!

(top)L-R: Amanda, Amber, Joann, Jocelyn

(mid)L-R: Jeanette, Tabby, Sage, Sarah, Andrea, Stacia

(bottom)L-R: Dawn, Lauren, Meshaun, Kathy, Kayla (she's due in January!!)

I just love my girlfriends! They are a great source of encouragement and support. I love that we get to celebrate these wonderful times of our lives together. They are such an extension of my family and I'm blessed to have them in my life!
OMGoodness!! Look what happened to Amber!!
There must have been something in the peach tea because after about an hour this is what we all looked like :-) "Sympathy Bellies" You should have seen us running around my house looking for pillows! It was like kids on a scavenger hunt!!

After the baby shower we headed up to Macon to go to Chuck E. Cheese so the kids could have some fun!!

Hailey loved dancing in front of the video camera!

It would put her up on the big TV screen...she thought that was so cool!!
Jack was a little overwhelmed at first...did NOT like the big Chuck E.
Neato, Andrea and the Pace's eating their pizza!!
Darren watching Hailey dance....probably wondering how much trouble she's going to be when she's a teenager and wants to dance like that :-)
Sage being a 'little mommy' with the babies, Riley and Izzy!

Hailey on the clock ride!

Jack and Ralston had fun just running all around!!
Jack did talk to Chuck E. Cheese on the phone for a little while.

This was Mike's first time to Chuck's...I thought he looked pretty cool in the yellow bubble!!
Ben got in on the action too!
Here I am with two girls that look more like my kids than mine do!! Sage and Izzy's strawberry blond hair and blue eyes.... I'd take them but I think they are already spoken for!
We brought Cody with us. He goes to church with us and knows all these kids and loves them too! He's had a lot of fun and was a great help too!! This was a great 'roller coaster-ride'. I think at the end of the night Hailey and Cody used up the rest of their tokens and rode it about 10 times!!
We all went to church Sunday morning and out for lunch. (no pictures) Amber's family and Tabby's both left Sunday afternoon to head back home. We miss them already and can't wait for the next visit.