Playing Hookey

Yes, we are guilty as charged! We took the kids out of school and completely played hookey from school on Friday. And I can say without ANY shame or reservation...IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!

We spent tons of time walking & playing on the beach, collecting shells, playing football by the water, and playing Jenga and Disney's Scene It in the beach house. This was quality family time and some much needed R&R at its FINEST!

Can you imagine waking up every day and getting to have your coffee out on this balcony with this beautiful view!?!

It was BREATHTAKING!

Brian enjoyed his quiet time while listening to the roar of the waves and watching Micah draw cartoons on a sketchpad.

We couldn't have custom ordered a more beautiful day. There was only a slight wind and the sun shone so nicely it was the PERFECT temperature!

Since we basically had the beach to ourselves (look behind the kids in these pics, there was practically NOBODY else there!) we had our pick of tons of great shells!

Micah enjoying the view from the beachwalk

Our little "organizer" separating her collection

Treasure hunting for shells was a BLAST!

I LOVE THE BEACH!!!

Beach House

We were richly blessed to have been given the keys to a beach house owned by some friends! We left Thurs after school for Perdido Beach.

The kids both voted for dinner at the Crab Trap which was only a few doors down from the beach house. It was a wonderful meal, but even better than the food, was the conversation. I just love our dinner time talks with the family. You never know what direction they are going to take. This night, it was a series of crazy, random questions like ...
Savanna: "When you guys were on your honeymoon, did you drink all your drinks out of the same glass with two straws."
Me: "Is that what people are supposed to do on their honeymoon?"
Savanna: "I think so...Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's right."

When we got back to the condo, Micah took advantage of the super luxurious jacuzzi tub. We obviously didn't supervise the amount of bubble bath that was added to the bath!

Although there were FOUR super nice bedrooms to choose from, Savanna found the super plush sofa to curl up on. She was so warm and cozy! I love the way her little hands are curled up under her cheeks. She looks so peaceful.

I have ALWAYS loved taking pictures of them while they are sleeping.
I wonder if I will still be sneaking in their rooms when they are grown and old and trying to snag a picture!

Micah's last words before falling asleep

"THIS IS THE LIFE!"

Amen brother!

Sing Across America

Our school had to postpone the special tribute for Veteran's Day due to Hurricane Ida. Fortunately, by the time it made landfall, it was just a tropical storm with lots of wind and rain, but virtually no major damage to our area. It did give us a few extra days off of school, which meant the special Veteran's day program got bumped into this week.
All of the students assemble in the "cafetorium" :) and each grade level took turns getting on stage and singing some patriotic tunes. Micah's class is pictured above. He is on the second row on the far right.
The school had a boys vs. girls coin competition to see who could bring in the heaviest amount of money so we could sponsor one veteran on an Honor Flight. Honor Flights are a way to send our World War II Vets to Washington DC to see our nations memorials. Our school goal was to sponsor one person's Honor Flight costs which is $800.
Would you believe that we brought in $800.41?!?
Isn't the Lord AMAZING!!!
The kids really got into the competition of it all. They got to dump their change into the boy or girl buckets as they got on the stage to sing. We knew we were doing pretty well with bringing in TONS of $ when the buckets BROKE this beautiful wooden balance about halfway through the production~ YIKES!

Savanna (top row) was super excited to get to sing a song one of our friends has written called "Freedom Isn't Free". Sheila played the song on her guitar and the children sang along with her and her friend Jenny.
The song has a wonderful message reminding us all that the wonderful freedoms that we enjoy everyday in America actually aren't free. Somebody, somewhere paid the price for our freedom.
I know the song is about American freedom...but I couldn't help thinking of our freedom in Christ as well. Our freedom from sins is such a precious gift, but just like our American freedom, it wasn't free. Jesus paid it ALL for our freedom. I hope and pray everyone who reads this realizes the rich freedoms we all enjoy daily ~ both as Americans and Christians. Thank a Vet and thank the Lord for the sacrifices they have made for all of us.

Happy LATE Veteran's Day!

Early Thanksgiving

We celebrated an early Thanksgiving dinner with Brian's family
before his brother has to go out of town.Aunt Gail and Grandma supervised Brian carving the turkey.

Savanna is quite the entrepreneur!

Before we could even think about cutting the pies, she got her 5th grade fundraising box of candy bars out and began making sales. Not only did she "seize the moment", but she also wrote little bills out to anyone who didn't have the money ready immediately!

I was actually glad she thought to bring that crazy candy box. We have to sell 52 candy bars which doesn't sound terribly bad except we won't let her sell at church or door to door.

How are you supposed to unload 52 candy bars if you don't hit up your own family?

Thankfully, our family gladly supported her little candy business
right there at the Thanksgiving table.

Micah and his best buddy, Uncle Brad

After dinner, we had fun with a new hunting game that Grandma and Grandpa set up.

Can you tell how seriously Micah was taking this game? It got pretty intense!!!
I think this was Micah's way to keep Uncle Brad from going back to
New York for his next business trip.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Tire Swing

It's the simple things in life ...

Avalon

Savanna with her two BFF's, Elizabeth and Kayleigh,

ready to go into the Avalon concert last night.

We got there WAY early because there were no assigned seats ~first come, first serve. The kids wanted to sit up front which meant we spent 45 minutes in line waiting for the doors to open.

It was all worth it though because sitting on the 5th row at an Avalon concert ~ I mean, it just doesn't get much better than that!

Here's me with two of MY BFF's, Lana and Stephanie!

God has truly blessed us all with precious friends.

The girls rocked out without any reservation! It was such a beautiful thing especially when most girls their age are screaming their lungs out for the newest pop boy band ~ our girls are screaming, swaying, clapping, and jumping for Jesus! Watching them was every bit as entertaining as watching what was going on on the stage!

Operation Christmas Child

We delivered our Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes to Lifeway today. Micah was so cute because he is convinced that one of the children in the promotional poster is holding the box that he packaged last year! Who knows?!
May the Lord bless the recipients of these boxes.
May they know that someone, somewhere cares.
May they ultimately come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior through the gospel message packaged in each box.

Isn't it amazing to think that you can help make an impact on eternity by spending $15 at the Dollar Store and filling a shoebox?

This is one of my favorite holiday traditions. It helps us all come back to the spirit of true thankfulness by realizing how richly blessed we are! Lots of good teachable moments along the way too.

I love this ministry and am so thankful for Franklin Graham and his obedience to fulfill the vision the Lord gave to him 16 years ago.

Welcome Home!

Welcome Home Uncle Brad!

We were all so excited to FINALLY get to spend some time with Uncle Brad. His business trip to New York was extended to twice it's originally scheduled amount of time ~so it has been TWO months since we've gotten to see him. I was starting to get lots tearful questions like "Is Uncle Brad EVER going to come home?"

He brought lots of fun 'I love New York' and Yankees World Series Souvenirs home for the kiddos ~but the best gift of all was just having him home!

Thanks to Hurricane Ida, we have a few unexpected days off of school so we were able to stay up extra late and enjoy some family fun.

Corn Maze

A group of friends met at the Sweet Season's Farm and Corn Maze after church today for a family field trip.

I love the rules ~ especially the one that says "No Bad Language - our corn has very tender ears."

Instead of a sand box they had a CORN box. The kids had so much fun playing in it and rolling around in all the corn. Later, when we got done with the evening worship service, Micah found a piece of corn safely tucked away in his shirt pocket!

Here's most of the "gang" ready to get lost in the corn maze.Brian thought it was so funny that I would actually use the "POT-O-GOLD" before starting the maze ~ He knows I ONLY use these things in an ABSOLUTE emergency. I was afraid I would truly get lost in the corn and not be able to get to a bathroom if need be. I must say, in terms of port-a-potties, this was definitely a deluxe model. It was overall pretty clean (at least as clean as a plastic outhouse can be) and would you believe there was actually a MIRROR in this thing?
Brian, Russell, and Jeff ~ our faithful leaders in the corn maze trying to decide which way to go.

Brandon and Heath were so proud of the dried corn they found along the way.

Micah rang the bell to let everyone know that we finally found our way out.

The cow barrel train was a fun, but BUMPY ride!

Heath helped take care of baby Gage all afternoon.

Then we all headed over to the playground, corn cannon, and hayride.

All of the equipment in the playground area was just made of basic farm equipment, but the kids had the best time playing on it all afternoon!

I just love this chick! Isn't she the cutest thing ~ especially in her cheetah print flats?! Crack me up! Probably not exactly the proper footwear one needs while riding on a tractor (or running through a corn maze for that matter), but she sure looks cute!Giddy up Cowboy!