Feeling very blessed...

As we stop and reflect on all the Lord has done, we have so much to be thankful for. We have our health. We have a thriving and growing family who loves the Lord, their spouses and their children. We live in a country that allows us so many privileges. We are so blessed to serve a God that is gracious and forgiving. We are blessed to have so many wonderful friends and a sweet church family! May your Thanksgiving be sweet, filled with good memories and precious time with those you love!

Glory Glory!

Wow. I have planted morning glory's in my back yard for several years. I was inspired by a dear friend, Sherri Luttrell. She has a very green thumb. I am trying too! The first year I put the seeds in the ground and they went crazy. The next year...not so much. This summer was my third attempt. The seeds popped up and began to crawl on the trellis. But, there were very few flowers. It was TOO hot and dry this summer, they just couldn't take the heat! :) But now that we are blessed with cooler days, just look what happened. When I see that out my kitchen window each morning...it sure makes getting up easier! Thank you God for the amazing colors, textures, shapes and the surprises of fall! I highly recommend these flowers! The seeds will set you back a couple of dollars at most but the dividend is quite amazing! Isn't God just the most amazing artist ever!!!

A lap of love...or maybe I should say TWO laps!

We are so blessed. We have four of the sweetest, most precious grandkids.
We recently did some family pictures and though getting four under the age of 4 to look at the camera all at the same time can be a little challenging...we love the results!!!
It is so amazing to me how quickly these little ones are growing.
So instead of a lot of words today...I think I will let the pictures say it all...these kids are CUTE!!!

My sweet little pumpkin collection

As stated in my last post, I love pumpkins. All sizes, shapes, textures, colors, etc. However, there are now three in my collection that are by far my favorites. Three years ago, Owen and Clay painted me a pumpkin at our local Pottery Place (the one in the center of the picture). Meg sweetly sat the pumpkin down, gave them some different fall colored paints and let them create! It is beautiful. Last year, they presented me with a pumpkin with three adorable handprints (pumpkin on the left) and last night they brought me the latest addition to my collection. It is also white, has three sweet but growing handprints plus a little leaf, which happens to be Miss Emma Grace's handprint! Love it!!! I can't believe how fast these little ones are growing! It reminds me of how fast our own kids grew...but this time I am trying hard to relish the moments even more! Last night we had 3 pirates show up at our door! They were the cutest pirates we have ever seen! As you can see, they love dressing up! The last picture is of Miss Emma Grace, who this year is decked out as...A Snowflake...and the sweetest little snowflake ever!!!! Happy Halloween everyone...have a fun day with your kiddos! Make fun memories and take lots of pictures!

Don't get me wrong, I love my ceramic pumpkins...but below are really my favorite punkins of all!!!
Will, Clay and Owen

Miss Emma Grace

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

I love Fall!!!
I love the cool days!
I love the changing of the leaves!
I love being able to open up the windows and smell the sweetness in the air!
I love baking with pumpkin!
I love Pumpkin Lattes! (Got to enjoy one yesterday with my sweet friend Karen...thanks for the treat!!)
I love decorating with pumpkins! Ashley started collecting pumpkins several years ago and then she started giving me pumpkins too! I have added several through the years and even have two pumpkins that my sweet grandsons have painted for me! So cute! I do believe decorating for fall has become one of my favorites! Maybe because we get to enjoy it for several months AND we have more time to reflect on the blessings surrounding us. We are so blessed! Here are a few pictures of our home...may you have time this fall to stop, reflect, enjoy the season change and hug those you love! Blessings!

Bud and Honey's little "pumpkins"

Happy Fall Everyone!
Oh, how I love this weather!
This is by far my favorite season!
And if the weather wasn't great enough...
Look who we got to be with this past weekend!
Our Four ADORABLE grandchildren!
Owen, Clay, Will and Emma are our favorite pumpkins!
It was Emma's first time to visit Bud and Honey's house.
We had lots of fun family time.
We went to the DRI Pumpkin patch, a great place for photos
AND to pick our a few pumpkins too! (We missed you David!)
Have a blessed day friends and family...
and enjoy the change of seasons!
Let us all take time to stop and thank God for ALL that he has given us!

Continuing a Tradition

First I want to say, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!! 27 years ago today, our little family was blessed by your arrival. You have been a complete joy to us every day! We love your generous spirit, your love for family and friends and most importantly your love for God.

To celebrate, I was blessed to be able to drive over and spend the day with you and Emma! We continued a tradition today! You grew up shopping (even though lots of time we just were looking), eating out and spending time together as girls! This tradition was stared and shared with you, me and Nanny (my Mom). We did this a lot! It was kind of our "special tradition". "Girl time" was anytime we got together, but some of the times, we would get up early, drive to Fort Worth, shop all day and then drive home late at night...giggling, eating junk food, singing in the car and talking non-stop all the way back to Abilene. We have so many fond memories of those days!

Today, we started writing our own memories. Oh how we wish Nanny could have been with us, but I have a feeling she was looking upon us and smiling! Smiling that we were continuing the tradition she started! Today, Ashley, Emma Grace and I went shopping, celebrated Ashley's birthday at Cheesecake Factory, Ashley shopped with her birthday money and we TALKED! It was such a sweet day for me, because it brought back so many memories of times we had with Mom, but also the fact that we have started a new chapter in our "memory book"! May we have many many more fun outings together!

Emma Grace did awesome! She mostly slept, which of course allowed her mom and I to have lots of talking time! It was a precious time and hopefully the first of many fun outings we three will share!