Halloween

It turned out to be a beautiful night for princesses and fairies to dress up and run all around. Kids look forward to this night all year long. Little “M” was Princess Belle this year and wanted to go out only with mom and dad this year which really surprised the both of us. She is really about her friends most of the time. We really did not mind we enjoyed having her all to ourselves and just walking and walking and walking did I mention that we walked. Yes, we walked probably close to 3 miles now little “M” of course did not she had a coach to ride in unlike her parent who need the exercise.

She loved the talking part when she went to the door she would just carry on conversations and tell the people in our neighborhood all kinds of stories. You can tell she is my daughter. We called it quits around 10:00 and headed home we were exhausted I am sure she would have kept going if we would have let her.

Pumpkin Carving

The night before Halloween we had a pumpkin carving contest. It was mom and “M” against Daddy. Let the carving begin. The girls decided to use a pattern of a cute face and daddy went for the free style. We had so much fun. “M” decided when she was gutting the pumpkin she was removing all the sins from the pumpkin. She told us we were making the pumpkin clean.

Later that night we washed the seeds there were hundreds and hundreds and then laid them all out to dry. We were going to attempt to roast the seeds she loves nuts and seeds sometimes we think she is a bird. We got a good recipe from the web. I have to admit this was the first pumpkin I have ever carved and I have to say it was great fun I can not wait till next year to do it again. This time it will be with two girls and many more pumpkins we will have our own patch.

Pony Days

Fall days are so much fun at school and “M” is in Pre-K and her school has such great fun activities this time of year. For Fall they do a festival, pumpkin patch trip and pony days. The kids all dress up in jeans and hats and get to ride ponies. We had a great time. I volunteer a lot in class this year I love working with the kids. I guess that is one of the gifts God gave me is working with kids I just love it especially craft time as long as I do not have to come up with the idea. “M” loves me to come into her class and help.

Also, we took a field trip to the pumpkin patch at a local church that sells pumpkins to raise money for missions. The children had a great time. They had face painting and heard pumpkin stories, but I think the best time they had was seeing who could pick up the biggest pumpkin it was quite funny to see the little arms try to hug these huge pumpkins :)

Dad took her to the Fall festival I was in Pennsylvania at a conference, but I had a little fun of my own starting Christmas shopping but I sure missed them.

Dinner and a Movie

Our girl’s mission group hosted an outreach event for all of our girls in action and their friends who do not attend our church. Miss “M” wants to be a GA so bad she can’t stand it. (she has to wait 2 more years) I take her to a lot of my events because she loves to be with mom and wants to be with the older girls (she thinks she is 10). She is a fabulous helper and the older girls just love all over her and of course she loves the attention. These events are really good for her because they teach her about serving, girls fellowship, and mom’s participating in Christian based events other than scheduled church times.

Shopping

Shopping is a bad habit of mine. I love to shop. I am a BIG bargain shopper especially since we are on the Dave Ramsey budget. Since we are almost completely debt free and China is saved and paid for I decided to go shopping for new clothes today. I have been needing to do this for some time. I am behind in styles and so on. Well I knew I need to plan and search for the sales. My two favorite places to shop are Chico's and TJ Maxx. Both have great deals. Well today Chico's had a blowout sale so I stocked up. I had the best time I have never tried on so many clothes and everything fit and looked great so guess what I bought it all. That is so not me. I guess I went a little over board but I will tell I will be in style. The best part Steve will like is I will no longer be sporting my signature color of all black. This is a change for me, but it is time for a new look he has been begging for a year now and I have taken him up on the offer.

Even though I bought a ton of stuff it was on major clearance and Anna was so sweet she gave me an additional discount. What a fun day!!!

Thankful Thursday!!!!

I am very thankful for coupons we could not have done our debt free venture without them. I have met some of the coolest moms over the past year who have taught me how to shop and I am so thankful for that. Our family has never had such a stock pile of necessities and cleaning supplies. I rarely buy generic because I do not have to because it costs less to buy name brand. Groceries our pantry is so full I have moved to the floor to store can goods and boxes. Our freezers are packed full. We eat at home every night so the food gets used up quickly and rotated. With the smarter shopping I have cut our shopping bill at least in half plus we are getting way more than we use to and I am able to stock pile and help other families even though our other resources have been low. God is good.

Wordless Wednesday!!!!

Wait and Weight

These have both been a struggle for me lately. Waiting for little “K” is getting harder as the holidays are approaching. Miss M asks daily when are we leaving for my sister I want her to come home. We tell her so do we sweetie. We will be leaving before you know it.

Weight has found a place on my hips. Over the past year I have increased in size. You know that feeling when you put your pants on and they are tight they are all tight. Since the accident, I have not felt like exercising or exerting a lot of energy well there you have it, so the weight increases. Now I have to do something. I have been on a plan for about a month to change habits and routines and it is starting to pay off. I am hoping all the extra weight plus more will be gone by the time our China wait is over. There is good news with these waits (weights) Steve has lost weight J

Pumpkin Patch

Miss “M” loves to decorate she is all about the different seasons. The other night she had her little friend Sara spend the night and we went to dinner (TGIF) and the pumpkin patch. The girls wanted to get pumpkins and decorate the house for Fall. They had a great time touching I think every pumpkin in the patch. We left the patch with 4 pumpkins 1 huge pumpkin, 3 medium ones, corn, gourds and wheat. The best part of paying for all of this is the money went to missions so I did not feel the least bit bad spending this money. The girls loved the warty pumpkin they got and we thought they were going to rub all the spots off before they got back home.

Let the decorating begin now they wanted scarecrows, flowers, hay and the whole nine yards so I knew we were going to be busy all morning on Saturday. I am so glad she loves the holidays they are my favorite time of the year.

Reunion

Each year our adoption agency does a reunion and we love to go and meet new families and catch up with old friends. This year they are holding it at a Park in Orlando FL. We are all excited to get away because we really have not been any real trips since we started our beans and rice budget. We are only going down for 3 days because I have to fly out for business for a week. The reunion party is only really one day which is Saturday. So we will have time to shop and go to Downtown Disney. The events are a lot of fun we get to meet some of the staff and the directors and I am hoping to get to meet some of the people in our YAHOO groups. We will not have time to visit Disney but we will be back in December for several days to visit the parks.

Mommy Moments

I love mommy moments :) The other day Miss M was given the greatest compliment from the staff at her school they said she had such a loving and giving heart she goes out of her way to make a shy little girl feel included. The teachers could not get her to talk tor play with anyone but M stopped playing with her regular friends and went and sat day after day with this little girl until she opened up. She would tell he stories, walk with her to the bathroom, bring her little gifts etc... Needless to say today they said the little girl has started to come out of her shell. I am so proud of M. My proud Mommy moment.