Family Date

Today we had a spontaneous Family Date...lunch with Daddy at the new Mellow Mushroom at Rudolph's. Rudolph's used to be a fancy-schmancy restaurant...now it has been transformed into a very fun, very hip pizza joint. YAY, Gainesville. (sorry to see you go, Rudolph's, but now we might be able to afford to see the inside of you more often rather than admire you from outside...)

But that is not the focus of this post...

What IS the focus, is that Chloe picked out all of our outfits...and apparently lunch with Daddy requires that we dress 'to the nines.' She had my dress laying out for me on my bed, selected Daddy's dress pants and tie, and selected one of her FAVORITE dresses and even wore TIGHTS! I. Know.

So, while there was a smidge of hesitancy in both Mommy and Daddy to get all gussied up for pizza, we could not bear to disappoint Little Miss...so here we are in our Sunday best... for lunch... on a Thursday.

A Christmas Idea

I know there are a lot of great options out there for Christmas shopping with a purpose...

(and yes, I am feeling oh-so-ahead of the game that I am writing about Christmas shopping in OCTOBER)...but this is something we did as a family last year.

Last year we bought
a sewing machine, Bible tracts, a tambourine and a goat
for Christmas.

Not for ourselves but for missionaries in Asia through Gospel for Asia. (okay...somehow put the wrong address in that link...don't know how to fix it...go to www.gfa.org. k? thanks.)

Today we received the catalog for this years Christmas shopping and Chloe was SO excited! She took it to her room and immediately started thumbing through it to pick what we wanted to buy this year...

You can check out a virtual catalog at http://www.gfa.org/gift/

I have my eye on a rickshaw.

Happy Fall Y'all

A few photos from our Fall Adventures...

(thus far.) A trip to Jaemor Farm for apples for fresh applesauce...YUM!

Posin'...

Love this one.

Swoon...

"1...2...3...Run to Mama!!!"

Making Chloe's 'Nermaid' costume
(idea from Family Fun Magazine October 2009 issue)

Under the Sea Family for our Church Fall Festival
Prince Eric, Ariel, Bruce the Shark (visiting from Finding Nemo) and Athena, Ariel's Mom

(Chloe really wanted Eli to be Flounder...but Bruce was $9 at a consignment store...you do whatcha gotta do...)

My 3 Loves in the Kiddie Corn Maze
(a little surprised at how much fun they had in it!)

YAY!

Family Photo at the Pumpkin Patch...check.

Heart of Gratitude

So, I am taking the plunge...I have joined a Gratitude Community (see the box at the bottom of my page.)

I have been thinking I need to...to start counting my blessings...naming them one by one...well, because there are just so many...but my days get busy...my heart gets heavy...my thankful muscles weak...

So here we go...hoping to keep up with this...will you join me...the goal is 1,000 things to be thankful for...I have a hunch there will be many, many more...

Grateful.

001. Sunny Fall afternoons outside with my kids
002. Warm smelling candles
003. Giggles of a 5 and 2 year old.
004. Time spent with a dear friend.
005. Homemade applesauce.
006. Birds singing in my chimney.
007. A husband who calls to 'check in' throughout the day.
008. A Fall wreath hanging on my front door.
009. Pumpkins
010. Mums actually planted.

Eli's Bedtime Song

We interrupt our normal riveting program (a.k.a. Sarah's Extremely Personal and Embarrassing Diary Entries Circa 1985) to bring you this highly entertaining and precious rendition of "Praise the Lord" sung by Eli Williams in both Ga (from Ghana West Africa) and English.

Do enjoy the song in it's entirety...as there is a very strong (and keeping it real) finish.

May 14, 1987

WOW! Guess what? The 5 months have past! Mom had her baby!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!

Jamie Carol
6 lbs. 15 ounces
21 inches long
8:23 PM

Isn't it great! I've got 2 sisters!
I am excited!

But I am scared too. What will it be like to be stuck in the middle? (Who knows.)

Oh, well. Life can't get much worse.

Sarah

(bubble letters) IT'S A GIRL!


Editorial note: apparently I have always been a bit on the dramatic side..."life can't get much worse"?!?!?!?!? geesh.

March 6, 1985

Dear Diary,

Hi! My day was pretty good, nothing bad happened! Except for when C. and T. tried to get me in the tunnel of love with (heart) S. (heart). :) But of course I didn't go! See what you do is sit on a boys lap and go down the curly slide together. S T U P I D !

S. C. + S. H. TLA


(real names have been omitted to protect the innocent)

Testing, Testing...1. 2. 3...

This is a test...trying to make my pictures larger...

Meanwhile...please enjoy another picture from Chloe's Cheerleading/Littlest Pet Shop Party.