Veteran's Day Program

Franklin participated in a Veteran's Day program at school put together by the 4th and 5th graders. He was so excited and practiced his songs faithfully at home for at least a month. The program was really neat! I've heard people from my parents' generation talk about how the men who served in Vietnam were treated so poorly when they came off of the planes here in the U.S. It breaks my heart that people were so cruel. Both my father and father-in-law served in the military, as well as several of Tommie & I's grandfathers. The program not only recognized veterans, but really & truly thanked them for their service and honored them. It brought tears to everyone's eyes... I am so proud of Franklin!

Sports and Scouts

Now that flag football is over for the season, we've been working with the boys to earn more achievements for Cub Scouts. A couple of weekends ago, we worked on their Music and Chess belt loops. Last weekend, the weather was so beautiful that we decided to do some outdoor activities. We worked on the Tennis and Golf belt loops. It made for a fun, family day!

Painting, Painting and MORE Painting!

I've been keeping myself busy lately with painting. I painted a section of wall in the front living room (I still have to finish the rest of the room and connected dining room). I painted Franklin's room and got his Texas decor hung up. And, I helped my friend Patty paint ceilings in her new house, as well as a fun wall in her son's room. Patty is refurbishing a forclosure - everything from windows/doors to flooring to kitchen cabinets to light fixtures - EVERYTHING. So, I've been helping her pick out paint colors & paint whenever I can. Fun, fun!

Halloween 2009

We enjoyed trick or treating in our new neighborhood (yes, our 3rd neighborhood in 3 Halloweens!)... The good part about moving so often is that you can re-use costumes and no one notices. ha, ha The boys wore recycled costumes last year, so we tried to get more creative with homemade costumes this year. Harrison saved me the most money, because he decided to be a Cub Scout! Franklin wanted to be a Mad Scientist, so I went to thrift stores to find scrubs for him & he wore Tommie's Napoleon Dynamite wig. (This pic is from 2006... and I think that was the last time Tommie dressed up too.)Truman decided he wanted to be a spider, so I googled some ideas and we created his costume from scratch! It turned out very fun!

Here's the whole gang... Max had to go with a recycled costume again this year. Sorry, Max!

Our Japanese friends came by on Halloween evening. This was their first Halloween in the U.S. and they don't celebrate Halloween in Japan, so they were having fun getting candy & dressing up. We trick or treated some with them, before we called it a night!

Sorting through the haul... We "donated" a very stuffed grocery bag of candy to Tommie's candy bowl at work to get rid of most of it!

1st Time Carving Pumpkins

This year, we all attempted to carve pumpkins for the first time ever! Tommie & I just never had the opportunity as kids and I thought it would be way messier with the boys, so I waited until they were older to try. It was a lot of fun and not very messy at all! My biggest mistake was waiting until a few days before Halloween to get the supplies, so they were already out of pumpkin carving kits. We just used knives (you know, the old fashioned way!) and it worked out... but I can see where a carving kit would produce a much prettier carving. We even roasted the pumpkin seeds - YUM!

Dallas or Bust!

I cannot believe there is an airline ticket confirmation e-mail in my inbox. It's too good to be true! I have booked a flight to Dallas for the weekend in January (22-25). This makes me SO SO SO happy!! We moved from Dallas to Indiana in July 2008. I have only been back once (in August 2008) to get the house packed up. My heart has been longing to visit my dear, sweet friends in Dallas for quite some time. I have grieved the loss of proximity as multiple friends have had babies. (I long to kiss those sweet baby cheeks!) It is a 15 hour drive or an expensive plane ticket to get me from here to there... and I had no idea when I might be able to visit again.

Today, I saw that Southwest Airlines was having a fare sale. I still did not think it would be affordable for me to book a flight... but my heart's longing drove me to look at the airline's website anyway. I was blown away when I realized that I could fly from a major airport (a 3 hour drive from here) to Dallas for only $50 each way. My total trip with taxes & fees is only $123!!! Wow! I'm SO blessed! My wonderful husband knows how badly I've been wanting to go and he quickly agreed to purchase the plane tickets for me for Christmas (which is a BIG deal in our current budget) and to allow me a full weekend away from him & the boys (which is an even BIGGER deal with 3 active boys!). I'm pretty sure this is the best present ever!!

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

Thank you, Lord!!

This is for Julie

My friend, Julie, commented on how cold it looked here in my previous post. This pic is from last Saturday morning at the football game. My mom & I were bundled up with sweatshirts, winter coats & gloves and had frozen toes by the end of the game. When we went to the pumpkin patch in the afternoon, it had warmed up significantly. Sometimes I miss Texas, but I really love a chilly football game and a chilly hay ride. It feels like fall to me! :)