Pumpkin patch, and other stuffies

We have really been enjoying the fall season, even though it has been mostly cloudy and rainy. I love this time of year, it's my favorite!

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch about two weeks ago. This was our second year to go, and we really had fun! I got some really cute pictures.























Last weekend I went with some friends to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City for a conference. Ronnie took off work and stayed with the kids. I left Thursday morning and got back Saturday night. All I can say about it is......wow. I am still processing most of what happened and what I learned, so hopefully soon I can share some of it. In the meantime, here's a cute picture of me and my friend Kim from the trip: (I was so preoccupied with everything that was going on, this was the only picture I got!)



Other than that, there hasn't really been much going on. I've been busy with Briley's school, doing my worship set on Tuesday nights and working on my music, keeping up with my other two blogs (of which I need to get my booty in gear a little bit more!) and we've started a new home group on Sunday nights with some friends from church. I'm going to be leading worship at that every other week, so I have that to plan for too. Life is great! Busy, but so fun. To leave you with, here are some cute pics I snapped last night while we were enjoying some rare nice weather. Have a great weekend!

Happenings

I wrote this last night, and am just now posting it!

I am SO loving this weather! Fall is officially here, and I am digging it. Today it has been rainy and cold all day, and we lit our first fire of the season in our fireplace. What better time to sit down and post an update?

At the beginning of September, we took a vacation for about 10 days. We didn't go anywhere, we just hung out at home and had family time. It was really nice to not have anywhere to go, and just relax.

One day we took Briley to an empty school parking lot down the road, and let her practice riding her bike. She normally does well at home, but she doesn't have a huge area to practice in. She is getting pretty good!


Isn't she such a big girl?



We took a picnic lunch, and played for a bit.





We also had a cookout at my parents house...kids played, we talked, it was a lot of fun to hang out.


Cousins!




Playing horseshoes.




Me and my hubby.


This is how Deacon plays football.

We were supposed to go to Silver Dollar City on our vacation, but it rained that day, so we ended up staying home.

We haven't done much else lately, both kids have been fighting colds off and on for the last 3 weeks. We've been spending a lot of time at home, plus trying to avoid all the flu going around! This weekend we did get out a few times, though. Friday night we took the kids to Oktoberfest. It was pretty fun, I finally got Briley to ride a pony!





They also had a huge blow up slide that she wanted to try. Look how little she looks!



They also had some guys there that were sword fighting, and jousting. They were actually pretty good! The kids weren't too fond of them, though. Deacon got pretty freaked out.







I just realized I didn't get any pictures of Deacon....he was there, I promise!

Saturday was Kids Workshop at Home Depot. This time they made a Fire House Bank.



They did this to go along with the theme for the day, it was Safety Day. Ronnie is the Safety captain at work, it's called In Focus. He put together the whole event; he had fire trucks, police cars, an ambulance was supposed to come, but they got a call and couldn't. The best part was, he got the helicopter from the hospital to come! It was pretty awesome. It landed right when I got there with the kids:



You can see Ronnie in the back holding flags. He said it was really hard to keep his balance while it was landing, the wind was so strong!



Ronnie with the pilot.

The kids were pretty excited watching it land, I think it was a bit overwhelming. It was for me! I could barely stand up, it almost knocked me over!



This picture cracks me up. Ronnie put her in the helicopter, and she would NOT smile. It was so funny.



Us in a fire truck. Again, no smile.




Ronnie and Deacon.



With both kiddos.



Deacon in a police car.

Ronnie, being the In Focus captain, got to go up with his boss in the fire truck ladder/lift to take some videos and pictures. It was really tall, maybe 4 or 5 stories high.



Getting ready







This was at the highest point...you can barely see him waving.

It was a really good day, and I was so proud of my husband! The whole event was a big success.

Well I think that's all of the updates I have. Happy Fall!

Yeah I know, it's been forever......

Ok, so I am a really horrible blogger lately. I've had so much going on, and I haven't really wanted to sit down and blog. I am way behind on posting. So this is my attempt to get caught up, and once I am current, maybe I can keep it up. (Ha!)

I'll start with some pics from the last bit of summer fun we've been having. Playing in the sprinkler was one of our favorite pass-times.

She always has to wear her sunglasses when she plays in the water; she hates it getting in her eyes!





Just watching his sister play. I love his face in this one! Look how long his hair is, this was before we cut it.



I posted a while back about Briley doing the Kid's Workshop at Home Depot with Ronnie....well she decided she wanted to paint flowers on the message board that she made. I discovered that my daughter has quite the talent for painting! (She gets that from her Father!) So Ronnie drew some flowers on it for her, and she painted them all by herself.

Posing with Daddy.



This is what Ronnie drew for her.



Doing so good!





I don't want to brag, but look how good she did! She had such a good time painting, she asks to do it almost every day.



I can't remember if I already posted about this, but Deacon has been walking for about a month now. He still crawls a lot, because it's faster, but he walks more and more every day. I haven't got any good pictures yet because he goes so fast, but he looks so cute, and he is so proud of himself. Pretty soon he will be running around and that will be the day when my world totally changes. Ha!

Preschool has been going really well with Briley. It took me a while to figure out a good time to do it without Deacon getting all up in it, so after she wakes up from nap while he is still sleeping, we do school. She loves it! As soon as she wakes up every day, she comes running in the living room, "I want to do school!" She can write almost all of her letters on her own, and we are working on her name. She is also learning the letter sounds. She picks it up pretty fast.

Last week we went with my parents and took the kids to the Washington county Fair. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but I got a few cute ones.

Here we are by the sign in front of the cow building.



Riding the carousel.



Another kiddie ride.....



Riding the teacups....if you notice, I'm on all the rides with her. That's because her daddy get's sick on carnival rides. Ha!



We also looked at all the animals, watched a tractor pull contest, and a police dog demonstration. Briley had a blast, and cried when we had to leave. So did Deacon, but that's just because my dad was feeding him ice cream and he wanted more.

Saturday was the next Kid's Workshop. This time she made a bean bag toss game. She had a lot of fun with this one!

Look at that face!



The finished product.



So I've noticed I haven't posted very much about my boy, so here are some cute pics of him.

Playing outside in the dirt. I think he was eating it!



Bathtime cuteness.



Cheese!!!



I think I'm all caught up now on pictures. We are going on vacation starting Friday the 11th through Sunday the 20th, so I will have a bunch of fun pictures to post from that. We aren't doing anything too spectacular, just hanging out. We are going to Silver Dollar City with my parents, for the first time with kids, so that should be fun.

So I guess I will head to bed now, thanks for not giving up on me. I'm still here!!

Catching up (a whole bunch!)

Briley is playing outside (it feels really good today!) and Deacon is chilling in his exersaucer watching her, so I thought I would get caught up. We've been busy!

First of all, now I get to tell you about our big project we've been working on around here! A year or so ago, Ronnie's dad bought us one of those big playset kits at Home Depot that was on clearance. It was mostly the hardware: swings, slide, bolts, screws, rockwall accessories, etc. etc. All we needed to buy was the wood. Well we have been wanting to build it for Briley for a while, but never had the money. When we refinanced our house, we got a bit of money back, so we decided to go ahead and do it. It's been quite a project! It took us about 2 weeks to finish it, mainly because we had to work on it a little bit every night when Ronnie would get home from work. Here are a few pics of the process:


All the wood!


Hard at work.


The floor.


The floor was complete, and the slide was attached. Briley wanted to try it out!


Starting the second level.


The ramp. (It will have rails on both sides, we just haven't added them yet.)


A view of the whole thing, so far.


After we added the swings.


This is after we put started putting up the safety rails.


The finished product!

Ronnie designed the whole thing, and then we built it. I say "we", I helped some. Ha! We made it big enough so we could all enjoy it. The bottom level is for the kids, the top level is big enough where Ronnie and I can sit on it, like a deck, except in the trees! We love it. We are going to add the rock climbing wall to the back, going up to the higher level, later when we have more money.

Moving along....last week was the Grape Festival here in our area, and we went with my parents and took the kids. I was really surprised that Briley wanted to ride the rides. Every time we've been to the fair, she has always freaked out and never wanted to. But this time...we couldn't get her off!!! Here are some fun pics:


I had to post a picture of my food...it was the weirdest thing. They were some kind of potato chip things...they were actually pretty good!


Deacon enjoying his food.


My cute parents.


Getting ready to board the carousel, and showing daddy her tickets. See the stormy sky? Just as we were leaving, it started pouring!











She was pretty upset when we had to leave...she just didn't understand that she couldn't keep riding and riding....

Last Saturday we had some of our good friends over for a cookout, and to try out our new playset. Briley and their kids had so much fun! I didn't get very many pictures, but here are a couple of cute ones:


Briley and two of their girls, Haddie and Jennika.


Having a blast on the swings.

Ronnie and I had a date night Wednesday..we haven't been out in forever! My parents came to watch the kids, and we went out for dinner to the Marketplace (they have a new "value" menu, two can eat for $19.99!!!!) and then we did a little bit of shopping (Plato's Closet...that place is my favorite!) and then we went to see G. I. Joe. It was really good. We had a really good time, and it was a much needed time away from the kids, just the two of us. Thanks mom and dad!!

I have some more updates, and some fun summer pics, but I need to go get some stuff done. Some of my family and friends are going to start getting together once a month for a scrapbooking night, and I have to get my stuff ready, it's tonight! I will post more later....have a great weekend!

Extreme Blog Makeovers

In case you didn't notice, my blog has been changing. It's now completely finished, and I am so happy with it! Now that it's done, I want to tell you about my friend Carla who designed my new look, and introduce you to her little boy.

This is Gavin:

He has Mastocytosis. You can read more about their family here. Carla creates blog makeovers as a way to earn money to pay for their medical expenses; (anywhere from $700.00 to $1,000.00 a month in prescription copays). When you donate in exchange for a makeover, you are providing their family with at least one medication that lasts a whole month! Pretty good cause, if you ask me. And how can you say no to that sweet little face? How about another look?



So, if you are in need, or in want, of a whole new look, contact my friend. As you can see, she does a fantastic job! Here are a few links to some others she has designed: here, and here, and here. If you want to contact Carla, I added a makeover button to my sidebar. Happy Thursday!

Kids workshop

Saturday was Ronnie's Saturday to work, and they were having their monthly Kids Workshop, so I took the kids. Ronnie had his lunch at the same time, so he got to help Briley. She had so much fun, and was so cute! This is the first one we've taken her to, and she did great.


Excited and ready to begin!


She was pretty stoked about using a hammer. And she did really well!




Screwdriver time.....




The finished product! She was so proud of herself.


Deacon watching from the sidelines. He wanted to get in on the action so bad!




Me and my little man. Had to get a shot of him in his apron too!

The rest of the weekend was good, too. At church yesterday was our first week to teach Briley's class. We had eleven 2 and 3 year olds. It went really well, actually! They were all very well behaved. Then after naps we took Briley to her friend Katherine's birthday party.

We've been working on another pretty big project around here for the last week, but it's not quite done yet. I'm not saying what it is yet, but I'll have pictures up in a few days!

Are you liking the blog look? It's almost done!!!!

Worship leading helps

I spend a lot of time working on music, searching for songs and chords, and putting sets together for when I lead worship on Tuesday nights. I've collected some really good websites and decided to share them with you, for any of you worship leaders out there. I'm going to put a list on the left column of my blog for easy access too. Just thought I would share. Enjoy!


S.O.A.R. Worship - This guy has a blog totally devoted to worship song chords. He has a lot of stuff by IHOP worship leaders, and lot's of others. Really, really good resource! A lot of the songs he has, I haven't been able to find ANYWHERE else.


IHOP-The Source - If you sign up to receive the IHOP prayer room webstream under The Source, you get free access to a lot of chord charts. They add more occasionally and I've found a lot of good ones there. Good stuff!


Rockin' With The Cross - This website has LOTS of chord charts, for piano, guitar, bass, and horn.


Total Tabs Christian - I haven't found a whole lot on this one, but it's good none the less.....and it's free!


Ultimate Guitar - This is not a Christian website primarily, but they have a LOT of praise and worship stuff. And it's also free!


Brian & Jenn Johnson - If you like these guys, this is their website, with tons of free chord charts of all (I think) of their songs! Sweet!


That's all I have for now....I'm sure I've bookmarked more than this, so I will add them as I remember. Happy singing!


PS - blog is still under construction...it's getting there!!!