Bloggy Giveaway Carnival

Guess What?
Another Bloggy Giveaway Carnival!!

The carnival is this whole week and there are already over 600 people/blogs participating! WHOA! You should really check it out. People are only allowed to giveaway family friendly items so you shouldn't see anything dirty, and it has to be really free in order for them to participate. You are not allowed to say that someone wins something "free but they have to pay shipping" or "a % off of an item somewhere." Really Free and you do not have to have a blog account to enter most of the drawings!

SEE!!! FUN!!!

Sparkle Factor is participating in this and doing 3 giveaways so be sure to check it out.
(And if you want to do a little shopping while you are there - Go For It!)

Our Sunday Pictures

This week Hannah got to wear her beautiful Halloween Dress that she got from her Uncle Mike and Aunt Susan. It was so cute and she was so excited to wear it.

Hannah has been in a little stage the last 6 to 8 weeks about being scared of things. I am pretty sure she had a terrible dream one night about the Chick-Fil-A cow trying to get her. Anyway, so I decided to just forget about trying to explain what a witch was even though there is one on her dress and it is definitely a nice witch!! The problem with that is that everyone who saw her today before or after worship asked her what was on her dress or told her that they liked the witch on her dress. She would just give me her "huh?" look and I would tell her to tell them it was her Halloween Dress. It was so cute because then she looked so excited, like she understood what they said or something and proudly told her it was her Halloween Dress!! It was funny!

Justus, in the last 4 or 5 days has decided the times between 6am and 9am are his fussy times. That did not do well for Sunday pictures. He was a little upset that after he FINALLY got peaceful and asleep I woke him up and gave him to his sister and made him take pictures with her. (I think the last 3 series of pictures speak for themselves - Please note the location of the pacifier in each!)

Happy Lord's Day to everyone!!

The Farm

Saturday we went to a birthday party at a farm. It was so fun. I had never been to Gentry's Farm before but I can guarantee you that we will be going every year from now on if we can. Here are just some of the things we found on Saturday at Gentry's Farm that are fun!! (I took over a hundred pictures so bare with me on trying to narrow them down!)

A Pumpkin Patch

Sunflower Picking

Yummy Cake

Fun Daddys
These 2 sweet chicks love each other's Daddys so much - it is cute!

Slides

Tunnels

Good Friends

And Great Photo Ops

Thank you, Willa for inviting us to your party and introducing us to Gentry's Farm. We had SO much fun celebrating with you!

Hannah's Faces

We went to a birthday party at a farm on Saturday (more pictures of that later) and before we left I wanted to get some pictures of Hannah in her overalls and hat. We started taking pictures of all her "faces" and this is what we got....(if you make it bigger, I put what face it was on each of the pictures)
I told you we had fun with the camera this weekend!

Our Sunday Pictures

This weekend I was back to my old self... Takin' pictures left and right - It Felt Good!
We have lots of Sunday pictures and I have a few black and white this week. Hope You Enjoy!!

Spoiled

Let me tell you something that I could really get use to... Going to the Grocery Store during the week, during the day!

Love It!
Not a crazy amount of people.
Not in a rush.
Different set of employees to meet.


The Down Side:
#1 The weekend employees are a little more friendly.
(Not really a problem for me. I just kill them all with EXTRA kindness.)
#2 There are not nearly as many free sample stands.
(This is probably something I should list as a positive considering the pounds I am trying to loose.)

Let me tell you a few interesting things about my trip to the grocery store yesterday at around 11am. Since I am not in a rush, I got to really take a few extra things in.

#1
1 gallon of Gas and 1 gallon of Milk are the same price!! $2.99! That is a great price right now for my area. If your area is a whole lot better than that please don't tell me and let me have this moment!

#2
A very young girl (I am very young, myself, but she was younger than me - I would guess no more than 23) was so excited when I started down the aisle that she was on, because I had a baby carrier on my cart. She turned around and immediately asked how old my baby was and came around to look at him.

I told her he was 3 weeks and she vibrantly told me that she just found out she was expecting so she was very into looking at babies right now. Before I could say anything she promptly told me they were hoping for a boy.

I smiled big and told her congratulations and asked if this was her first. She smiled back at me and said yes. She immediately then said that it was "also HIS first, actually, so they were REALLY excited!" I was almost speachless that this is the big news of the pregnancy - that it was actually BOTH of their firsts. Even though I was practically speechless at that comment, I didn't ruin her moment (in much the same way I would rather you not ruin my moment about the gas and milk prices) and told her that was exciting and congratulations once again.

She apologized that she was so excited and I advised her it was completely OK and I thought it was OK for her to shout it from the mountain tops. She seemed relieved that her excitement was OK. I am so glad I was able to communication that the excitement was great.

I went to the next aisle with tears in my eyes for her. Pray for her, her baby, and the baby's father. I wonder if she was my opportunity for the day and I blew it. I probably should have asked her about her relationship with God. I didn't. I am, however, going to pray for this new family.

#3
The lady checking out in front of me wrote a check for her groceries. I know that is perfectly OK and I am very glad she has the right to do that if she wants but does it seem like that takes such a long time these days? A check card is so simple and so quick. One good thing about this is that I was not in a rush and she took a while since she wrote a check so we got to talk and she was a very nice lady. I suppose any time to have a little small talk with a kind stranger is OK. When was the last time you wrote a check at a store?

Be Cool!

I am trying to convince Daddy to grow some awesome sideburns so he can be

"COOL Just Like Justus!"

New Shirt!

"Look at my new shirt, Daddy!"

Last night Hannah got to wear her new special shirt, that Maw Maw and Poppa Bob gave to her, to worship. She thought she was very big in it and everyone at church told her they liked it. Even a couple of the men commented on it!!

Thank You, Maw Maw and Poppa!

On Bended Knee

Like I did with Hannah, when Justus is eating or if I am just trying to console him when he is crying I sing to him.

(I love to sing and I am really really not good at it so this is great for me, Justus can't say anything and he really doesn't know how the song is suppose to go so I always sound right on, to him!! It is great!)

What I did with Hannah and what I am doing with Justus is I just sit and go thru the Songs of Faith and Praise song book I have here at the house and sing every one that I know as I come to it. When I am finished for the moment I put the marker in and I start there and keep going thru the book the next time. It is a nice time that I have had with my children doing this.

Today I sang one that I had not sung in a while. The words especially touched me today. It is in the "Prayer" section of the book. I don't pray this way enough. Below the title is this verse: Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father.

On Bended Knee
Words and Music by Robert Gay

On bended knee I come,
With a humble heart I come;
Bowing down before Your holy throne.
Lifting holy hands to You,
As I pledge my love anew.
I worship You in spirit,
I worship You in truth;
Make my life a holy praise unto You.

On bended knee I come,
With a broken heart I come;
Bowing down before Your holy throne.
As I look upon Your face,
Show Your mercy and Your grace.
Change my life, O Holy Spirit,
Make me fresh and ever new;
Make my life a holy sacrifice to You.

Can You Believe?

Hannah saw me carrying Justus around and she told her Daddy she wanted to be carried around like that too.

This is what you get when you agree to that kind of request......

Can you believe the big one use to be the size of the little one?

Another Thought: Why is this the only family picture we have so far with our family of 4? Anyone available some time this week to come over and take a family of 4 picture for us? (the timer thing does not always work out well)

:-)