Pumpkin Patch

Last week I met my cousin and her two children and we headed out to the Pumpkin Patch in Flower Mound. I took Tobey last year and got some really good pictures. This year was just as fun and he had a blast playing with his cousins. Maison is in kindergarten this year and Tobey's idol. Every blonde haired boy we see around 5 is a Maison to Tobey. It was so cute watching Tobey trying to keep up with Maison and his little friend who came along with us. Tobey so wanted to be a big boy with them. Mackenzie is 2.5 years old and a little sweetie. She's the perfect mix of cutie pie girl and rough-n-tumble tomboy. My cousin and her family just moved to the Coppell area from Ovilla. She is more like a sister than a cousin to me. I actually lived with her and her husband the year before Rodney and I got married. They were so gracious to open their home to a poor college girl. I have really enjoyed having her a little closer to us. Our visit with the pumpkins was more chaotic than anything - trying to keep up with four wild kids. But it was still fun. We even went on a hayride. Nikki and I enjoyed that part the most. We were able to relax for a few minutes before chasing the kids around again. We were going to eat a corny dog before we left but the corny dog stand closed by the time we got to it. So rude! All was good though because we just went to Sonic instead.

This is last year at the pumpkin patch. I can't believe how much my boy has changed!

The pumpkin house is my favorite part.

Maison

Mackenzie

Tobey

Trying to keep up with the big boys!

Hayride

I think you are supposed to stand or sit in the pot but Tobey seemed to think he should straddle it like a potty

Tobey and his cuz

Ileeta's funeral was yesterday and it truly was a celebration of her life. She had the opportunity to write out the order for the service before she passed away. That is so amazing to me. Ileeta had a beautiful voice and sang with our church choir for many years. They all came together to sing at her funeral in remembrance of her. Several of her close friends got up and spoke about her, recalling funny moments over the years and just confirming what a joyous and sweet and positive person she was. The whole service really focused on celebrating her life here on earth and her new life in heaven. I am touched and lifted up and inspired by her journey here on this earth and so happy imagining her walking with Jesus by the crystal lake! I surely will miss her and her contagious smile though! 

We Believe

My heart is heavy today even as I praise the Lord for a beautiful life. A close friend of our family passed away in the middle of the night last night. My heart is heavy as I think of the loved ones she left behind but I praise God because I know she is sitting in heaven right now with a peaceful smile on her beautiful face. Miss Ileeta how we love you and we will miss you! Thank you for the legacy you have left behind. A legacy of extreme faith even in the most extreme of situations. Thank you for glorifying God with your life! This follows the news of a former church family who is also going through some very tough times. My heart goes out to Chuck and Kristi Walker and their three boys. We believe in the healing power of God and we are praying for God to restore all health to Kristi and heal her body even in the light of a grim prognosis. You can read more about their story here. Please lift them up in your prayers!

Pep talk to Self

Rodney is in Atlanta again this week and I am trying to not be miserable about it. This is the last week he has to travel their for the whole week. Thank you Lord! I have never minded his one or two nights of travel during the week. Sure I missed him but it allowed me to catch up on my shows or read into the wee hours. But I have been a big baby about the last four weeks. Which is what spurred me to drive three hours to be with him In Oklahoma City last week. He is tired of it too and hoping his schedule will slow down as the holidays approach. I much as I miss my man's company, I miss his co-parenting abilities even more especially in the evenings. We did get to spend some time together Saturday afternoon. We got up and met Rodney's mom and sister at IHOP. Tobey went home with them and Rodney and I had the whole afternoon together. We ran some errands and saw a matinee showing of The Secret Life of Bees. I just want to say how much I love my husband for going with me. He would much rather have seen one of the action flicks out but I really wanted to see this movie so he indulged me. He was practically the only guy in a theater full of women who were sniffling and using all the extra napkins they could find. (He did his own share of sniffling too) It was a really good movie. I read the book several years ago and actually thought the movie was just as good or even better. I rarely think that about novels turned into movies. It is such a tender and touching story of a little girl who finds the love she so desperately craves. But even more than that it is a story about redemption and hope and new beginnings. So good! It was an amazing cast too. I think Dakota fanning is just an amazing little actress and so very talented. I don't think Rodney was disappointed by the movie at all so ladies drag your husbands to go see it. Back to my reason for this post. I will not wallow in my misery and think of Rod thousands of miles away. Tobey and I will be productive this week. These are the things I would like to accomplish. Bear with me, I am giving myself a pep talk.

1. Spend time with the Lord everyday
2. Finish up my Bible study and make it to class this week
3. Clean the house-particularly the bathroom=)
4. Get Tobey out of the house and into the fresh air everyday
5. Do some Fall decorating around the house
6. Go pick out some pumpkins
7. Grocery shopping (Ugh!)
8. Take the dog for grooming
9. Mail out Tobey's thank-you notes for his birthday presents-they are only two months late
10. Tobey would like to see Foxy Granny this week too and go to the park (those are his requests)

Lord, I love you and I pray safekeeping over my husband while he is away this week. I pray blessings over him this week and that he will find his confidence in you. Father, I pray for productivity in my household this week. May you enable me to accomplish all that needs to be done with a spirit of joy and not of misery. I ask for peacefulness and lots and lots of grace as we approach the evening hours this week. -Amen

"You turned my wailing into dancing;you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent."
-Deuteronomy 30:11-12

"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights."
-Habakkuk 3:18-19

Traveling Companions

This week Tobey and I did some traveling with Rodney. He has been so busy with work lately that we have barely seen him. The last two weeks he was in Atlanta and this week he had to go to Oklahoma City for three days and then on to Tulsa from there. We talked about us going with him but it was last minute and we didn't know what to do with Scooter. Then my amazing mother-in-law said she would check on him for us. This all happened Sunday night while I was at work. So I came home Monday morning, slept for 4 hours, and then got up and frantically packed. We left Monday afternoon and stayed two nights in Oklahoma city with our favorite hubby and daddy. We got to our hotel outside the city around 6pm. Once we crossed over into Oklahoma it had started raining on us and when I stepped out of the car at the hotel I realized it was kind of chilly. Tobey was just wearing a pair of cotton shorts. In fact I had only packed shorts for him. I didn't expect such a drastic change in temperature only three hours from our home. There happened to be a Wal-Mart across the street and I looked really hard for a pair of pants that would fit my slender little guy and could find nothing. He has to have those pants with the adjustable waist bands. So then we drove around the city looking for a Target or Old Navy and a place to eat. I just want to say the highways and exits in Oklahoma City are frustrating and confusing. We finally found a Pei Wei and an Old Navy. So Tobey got set up with some Teriyaki and a pair of jeans and a jacket. We got back to the hotel and helped Rodney set up the conference room for his class. He was training/teaching some clients over the next two days. Tobey helped set all the parts out for the laptops and set them at each table. We then left Rod to boot up the laptops and went for a little swim. The swimming pool was inside but not heated. It was freezing so we didn't last long. The whirl pool was heated at a nice temperature so we spent most of our time in there. It was nice because we were the only ones in there. I was singing and being silly and Tobey kept telling me to stop. I guess I was embarrassing him. The next day we got up after Rodney had already left for his class. We made our way down the hall for breakfast and I thought Tobey was right behind me. But when I turned around I realized he had slipped into Rodney's classroom and I heard him yell out "Daddy". Thankfully the class had not started yet but I was quite embarrassed anyway. After we ate breakfast Tobey and I left to explore the Oklahoma Science Museum. I remember going on a field trip to this museum when I was in Elementary school growing up in Ardmore, OK.  It was called the Omniplex then and I thought it was huge and fascinating. It is still fascinating but not as large as I remembered. It was a great place to let Tobey burn off some energy and he was definitely full of energy. By the time we left three hours later I was worn out. There was a zoo next door and it crossed my mind since we still had about three hours to burn before Rodney's class was over. I asked Tobey if he wanted to go to the zoo and he said "I wanna watch moo'ee".  I was fine with that so we went back to the hotel so he could watch a movie and I could read. It was a fine arrangement if I do say so myself. When Rodney finished we drove downtown and ate dinner and then drove over to the Oklahoma National Memorial.  Neither one of us had ever seen it. It was already dark outside and the museum part was closed but the outside memorial was still open. I didn't know what to expect. I immediately teared up when I saw the chain link fences. They are covered with pictures, flowers, teddy bears, and other trinkets in remembrance of those who did not survive the Federal Building bombing of 1995.  It was terribly sad and moving. Then we walked up the ramp to enter the memorial and when we stepped through the archway my breath was taken away. It is such a beautiful scene. Stretched between two tall granite walls was the stillest body of water. At first we didn't know if it was water. It looked like a vast sheet of smooth black marble. To the right of us were small metal chairs lit up underneath with white light to mark the graves of the many that died that day.  On the left were stone steps. You could hear the sound of water falling in the distance. It was all so beautiful and peaceful. If you ever drive through Oklahoma city you have to stop and see it. It is a scene that will always stay in my head. Then we had to drive out to the airport so Rodney could pick up a rental car since he was driving on to Tulsa the next day while Tobey and I drove back home. Tobey fell asleep on the way back to the hotel and slept until 9:30am the next morning. That is very late for him. He is usually up before 8am. I knew something was wrong when he didn't stir even when I got out of bed. He finally woke up when I started making some noise but he just laid there and watched me. He didn't even bother to get up. He had a slight dry cough the day before but now it was a congested barky cough. He was sick. I had thought about doing the zoo before we headed home just to let him burn some energy before riding in the car for three hours. That was out now because he was out of energy. He didn't have a fever but he definitely did not feel good. Rodney came to check on us during one his breaks and he was worried too. So we got our stuff together and headed home. Tobey was asleep within a hour even though he had only been awake for a couple of hours and he slept all the way to Denton. It made for a peaceful drive but I was very worried about him. However, when he woke up he was a different child. He had more energy when we got home and was playing and acting normal again. He still has a nasty cough but much better today. Weird. Maybe he was just worn out. I am glad he is better though. It was sad coming home. We so enjoyed being with Rodney and it was such a blessing that we were able to accompany him on one of his trips. I don't know if I could have survived another week without him.  

At the museum Tobey got to play inside a real space shuttle!

Parties

This past weekend was the weekend of parties. Friday night we celebrated the birthday of Rodney's Memaw. We just had dinner over at his Aunt's house and hung around and chatted. Saturday morning was my friend Rebecca's baby shower. A wonderful group of ladies and myself have been planning this shower for over a month now. It turned out great I think. We had some really yummy foods. My favorites were the pistolettes and the mini tarts. Rebecca and her husband Greg were blessed with lots of love and some really awesome gifts. I didn't take any pictures but my awesome friend Julie did. I can't wait to see them and I can't wait to hold that sweet little baby boy! Sunday after church Tobey had a birthday party for one of his little friends from church. It was at Pump it Up and Tobey had a blast. Sadly we had to leave early because I needed a nap before I went into work and Rodney had a meeting at church. Tobey was not happy about it and I felt really bad for him. So we stopped at Sonic on the way home and got him his new favorite treat-a cherry sprite. Then on Monday night we went to a Bunco/birthday party at my friend Julie's house. Rodney has been out of town ALL week so Tobey came with me. Another little boy was their and they became fast friends. They were really cute together rough housing and chasing each other around. Tobey got his first black eye when he fell off the couch and hit the corner of the coffee table. Ouch! Today it has taken on a yellow green hue and looks pretty bad. Julie had homemade Chili ready for us to eat and Suzanne made a birthday cake for our friend Mindy that was delicious. It was a fun little party. I got three buncos in the first round of games which never happens. Suzanne caught up with me and I let her have the prize for most buncos since she made such a delicious cake. So we are partied out for a while but we had fun and enjoyed all the cake!

He went down the slide over and over and over

I love this picture!

Tobey and the birthday boy Colby! They are one month apart.

Tobey was so brave climbing up the steep walls.

Tobey and his new friend Marek

Mindy and the delicious cake. Happy Birthday friend!

Tobey and Marek trying their hands at Bunco