Fall

I just love fall.

Don't y'all?

Not Quite WWF, But Close

 The other night over supper we were talking about wrestling.  Our eldest will be attending a wrestling workshop on Saturday to see if he might be interested in joining our wrestling team.

Caleb turns to me and challenges me to a wrestling match.  Now I have wrestled my son on many occasions but never with an audience and usually I win from tickling him.  This wasn't what he was talking about.

Next thing I know, I have changed my clothes into workout clothes, put my hair in a bun and am facing my son, crouched over, waiting for the bell to ring, with Fish Sticks screaming "Mommy! Mommy!" in the background.  I have no clue what the rules to wrestling are.  Somehow he won, but I say it was not legit.  Every time I pinned him down, My Man screamed, "Point for Mommy!" so I let him up and then My Man would scream "Point for Caleb!".  Supposedly you can earn a point from getting out of a hold, even if you are given the opportunity.  Sure wish someone had run that rule by me before I got so sweaty and "lost."

 That wasn't the best part of the night.  The best part of the night was watching my Fish Sticks wrestle.  These 2 maniac girls were cracking me up.  I knew for sure the eldest would whoop the youngest, but I was shocked.  They were like crazy, out of control.  It was totally an equal fight and their roughness, determination and perseverance had me laughing uncontrollably.  Usually these 2 Fish Sticks have free flowing tears on most days.  After seeing this wrestling match, I'm not buying those tears anymore.

 Little Man had to have a piece of big brother and was so cute and fired up to wrestle him.  Big brother was awesome in giving a point and taking a point and never letting Little Man know he was in control of things.  Love that!

 Next up, big girl and baby girl.  Liddy will never allow anyone to leave her out - not matter what the activity so she jumped right in there.  She even was quick to let her Best Buddy know when it was her turn to win the next point.

As for My Man.  He wrestled them all.  I just will have to save those photos for another post.

Gobble Gobble

 If you haven't checked out my Etsy shop in a while, please check it out.  I just added a link to it on the side bar of my blog.  I just made these really cute Thanksgiving/Fall t-shirts in youth sizes.  There are only 4 and each one is with a different color scheme.  They'd make great gifts for friends' birthdays or for your own kiddos.  You can't beat the price either.  If you want one and you are local, send me an email and save on shipping.  Check it out before they are all gone!  It's just a little way you can help support our adoption too!

Field Trip

 I'm not able to go on every field trip of my 4 GCA kids.  I try to go to one for each of them in a year, especially if it benefits my homeschooled kids too.  Since I had just gone to the 2nd grade pumpkin farm, I decided to pass on the 3rd grade trip to Ripavilla historic plantation and corn field maze.

The great thing is that 2 moms blessed me throughout the day and texted me photos of my sweet girl having fun on her field trip.  Thanks Sami and Shannon!! 

New Scientific Discovery

Little Man came to me with intensity in his eyes and a toilet paper roll to his ear.

 "MOM!!  I CAN HEAR THE OCEAN!"

Sewing Lessons

 I finally did something I've been meaning to do for a long, long time.

I taught my 3 girls to sew on a sewing machine.

They've asked me for years and I have taught them all 3 to sew by hand, but never on a machine.

There's no excuse on my part really.  I was 7 when I got my first real sewing machine.

 I set up 3 machines, cut the fabric, did the ironing and away they went. 

First it started out with lots of cries for help, lots of ripping out and lots of questions and sighs of frustration. 

But before I knew it, they were cranking out the project, engines humming fast.

They all loved it.

I will save what they sewed for another post because I have an auction-fund-raising-idea running around in my head.

 Sadly my eldest daughter deleted the photo of her at the machine because she deemed it "not flattering."  Guess we've entered that stage.

But I had to take this photo because it's special to me.  This is my Mimi Blair's sewing machine. She taught me to sew on it when I was 7.  It's very special to me and I borrowed it from my mom when my 2 machines were being serviced last month.  The smell of it alone brings me back to her country house in Ball Ground, GA in the guest room where she kept it.  One of my favorite things to do was to rummage through her sewing boxes of notions, threads, ribbons, rick rack and buttons.  She always gave me tons of nick knacks with fabric to create things while I was at her house.  It was so special to teach my daughters on the very same machine. 

Mom, I might have a hard time returning this Singer to you.  She's taken me back to a very sweet place.

Bye-Bye Bees

 I have some really sad news.  Our bees are dying and there's nothing we can do about it.

We had heard that beekeeping was a dying art and we can see why.  It's not easy and the start up is expensive. 

 In spite of this bad news, we got a little "happy" from God.  We had listed a saw on Craigslist to help raise funds for our adoption.  It had been listed 2 weeks and we had not gotten a single call about it.  My Man had called me one day to tell me the sad news:  he was pretty sure we didn't have a queen in either hive and he was pretty sure that we had some disease in the hives.  He didn't know who to call or what to do to see if there was hope for our bees.  Two days later I get a call about our saw from a guy who lives close by and is a professional beekeeper.  He needed the saw to build bee boxes.  He travels around, helping folks like us with their bee problems and educating people about beekeeping. 

PTL was all I could say.  God had smiled on us and showed us that He cared about our bee problems.

My Man, being the wise guy he is, made a deal with the professional beekeeper.  He gets the saw in exchange for several on site bee lessons for us.  We both won.

He came out for a visit and sure enough, the only wax-consuming moth in the world had attacked our hives and it was only a matter of time before they would all die.  And we have no queens.

But we are not quitters and are ready to do what it takes to give it our best shot at beekeeping. 

Our addiction to their honey is motivating us!

My First Mother's Day Out

We made a fall craft.

 When I was pregnant with my firstborn, I remember several, seasoned moms asking me if I had enrolled my unborn child into the Mother's Day Out program, seeing as there was a waiting list.  I thought this was a crazy question.  I didn't even have my precious baby to hold yet and they were ready for me to send him off to daycare?  I've yet to do a Mother's Day Out program for several reasons, but this year is my first and it's ideal!

My 2 good friends from GCA made a proposal to me that we take turns keeping our 5 little ones every Monday, giving us all a day off 2 out of 3 Mondays.  It sounded heavenly.

These kiddos are so much fun - 3 three year olds and 2 five year olds.  They have a blast together each Monday and I grocery shop alone, clean house, file papers, cook and much more without interruptions on my day off.  I might even have lunch with a friend one Monday or do something I haven't done in years.  The sky is the limit.

We took a nature hike, collected nuts, took a Mule ride and learned a fall song.

My 5 year olds (Can you believe Josiah is 6 months older?)

And my 3 year olds

Now I'm a fan of THIS KIND of Mother's Day Out.

Caught in the Act

School activities keep us on the road much more than we are used to. 

My 2 homeschool Fish Sticks catch their naps here and there in the van.

They are in complete denial about this and think I'm crazy every time I ask, "So how was your nap?"

"Nap?  Nap?  We didn't nap!"

Now there's proof.  There's no question about the truth!  How's that neck feeling, kiddos?

Finishing Up FootballI

I love this photo of Coach Dallas instructing Caleb but hate that my camera focused on the beautiful fall trees instead.

 My Man and I have thoroughly enjoyed football season this year.  As I told you, this is our first year for football at GCA.  We have an incredible coaching staff who not only teach our boys to fight and win but to build their character to become more Christ-like.  Our first game, we got stomped.  Almost every game since then, we have blown out our competition.  Right now we are 6 and 1 and have a tournament next week to wrap up the season.

 My friend told me during one of the games that when we have such a high score and our opponents have not scored, it makes her feel sad for the other team.  I told her it didn't make me sad because that meant that 2nd string got to play and for the Fish Fam, that is good.  Here are some photos of Caleb (23) from our game at Sewanee that we took on Tuesday.

Character!  Courage! Fight!

Tea Party

This week the girls in 3rd grade had a special lunch.  They got to dress up (outside of school uniforms) for a tea party with their teacher.  They each brought a baby doll and another mom had special teas and cakes for them.  They talked about what it means to be a good friend and a sister in Christ.  They each took turns wearing the tiara as each girl in the class said encouraging words to the one with the tiara. 

It was a special time and a great reminder to little girls about the importance of showing kindness and becoming more Christ-like in their relationships.

Stepping Up to the Challenge

Those of you who know my family know that my little Leah is like dynamite....explosives in a small package.  My mom told me years ago in her toddler years as she was trying to encourage me that Leah will be my Fish Stick who will live in Papua New Guinea alone and bring the Gospel to a remote tribe.  Well, at times this can be a challenge to me as her mother, but at other times, it sure makes me proud.

Our cross country team is small and there's just a few kids in each division.  Leah is one of a few from our school running 1 mile for the 3rd and 4th graders.  Recently it was suggested that if a couple kids would move up and run the mile and a half with the 5th and 6th graders, then we would have a chance at placing.  Leah didn't flinch to take on the challenge.  She had never run 1 and a half miles, but I was so proud of her for taking this on, especially after her thoughts after the first meet. As we pulled into the school parking lot for the 2nd meet she instantly felt like she might vomit from her jitters.  She did awesome and was just a few people behind her big sis, who happens to be a fairly fast runner.  Leah had even stopped to walk twice. 

With Daddy's pep talk about staying the course without walking, she has huge potential. 

With this kind of spit fire, I can't wait to see what God has in store for her one day.  Watch out Papua New Guinea!!

Pumpkin Farm

Josiah playing with farm tractors inside one of the barns.

 Almost every year that we have lived here, we have visited the pumpkin farm down the road in the fall.  They continue to improve their farm with new things:  animals, exhibits, barn games, & activities.  It's so fun to go, learn, pick pumpkins and let the kids play.  Last year we went with Leah's class for their field trip and this year we got to go with Ruth's class.

Ruth dressed in an apron to play Farmer's Market.

Learning about crops and farm animals.

J and L playing in dried corn.

R. playing in wheat kernels.

The 2nd grade with their awesome teacher, who happened to grow up on this pumpkin farm.

My Fish Sticks in the pumpkin patch.

Mini - Me

5th Grade - Sorry for the lack of professional look to this photo.  That would be a result of my lack of high-techiness.

Found hanging in AB's closet

Not only does my eldest daughter favor me in looks, but reading this poster she made on her wall is proof that we would have made really good buddies if she had been in my 6th grade class in 1983.

What's in Your Backpack?

Meet Leah's backpack, one week after I cleaned it out.

My Man said this is the result of my family genes.

(he helped my brother clean and organize his room when he was a teenager)

I like to think of her as eclectic....

rock collection, hair bows, lace skirt, stickers, spray painted noodles, frogs,....

A little bit country....a little bit rock-n-roll (straight from Donny & Marie).

This is not the only stash she keeps.

After this, I recorded "Hoarders" tv show and made her watch it....again.

Pray for her husband.

Last Weekend on the Lake in 2012

This will be my last lake post of the year and it's almost 1 month after it actually happened but I didn't want to exclude it.

In mid September we hosted a family at the lake house with us who work at our school and serve our family and the many families at our school.  Nurse Amy takes care of all the boo-boos at GCA (in addition to many other things) and was right there on the spot last year when AB had a concussion at school.  Her husband, although his full time job is a PA, volunteers at our school at most sporting events ready to assist medically.  Being an adoptive family themselves, he generously gave all 8 of us physicals for our home study process, saving us several hundred dollars.

We appreciate this family so much and the ways that they serve the body of Christ.  It was our pleasure to take them out on the lake for their first time ever to try things out on the water and just have lots of fun.

 Our girls, Leah and Sarah, are in the same class together and had a great time on the knee board.

 AB and Livia are also in the same class.  We were so impressed with everyone of them trying new things and having success on the water.

 Caleb proved to be a great teacher on the water, coaching them on how to get up and stay up.  

He can't resist showing off a little.

 Sarah and Leah

 Livia, AB, Emma

 Caleb helping Sarah get up on the starter skis.

 And of course the tube ride was the most popular.

I think Little Man has picked up on some of the "show off" from big brother.  Ride 'em cowboy!

It was perfect weather and a great time to get to know friends better, spend time on the water, learn new things, and in a small way show an extra special family how much they are appreciated for sharing their gifts and serving others.