Making Memories

It seems like after this school year life as I know it will change.  Big K is getting married on New Years Day and Little K will graduate from high school at the end of May.  Even our exchange student L will be going back to Germany in June.  I'm going to go from three kids in the house down to 1 during the first week and June and then 0 in August. 

God has blessed me with wonderful children who are no longer children at all but beautiful young adults.  The hour glass of life is just moving too quickly for me.  So with that said - I put the hour glass on it's side to stop time for a day.  It's fall break so the Little K and L had no school, Big K was done with classes at noon and B and I took the afternoon off from work.  We loaded up the van with jackets, hotdogs and chips and headed to Vala's Pumpkin patch for a family day of fun.

On weekends it is nothing to wait for 45 minutes for traffic to move just to get a parking spot and walk yet another who knows how far.  But on a Tuesday we were blessed with a front row parking.  

Originally when I reserved a fire pit we had about 10-15 people coming. Since plans changed and we were down to 6 they changed our location - again what another blessing.  It was beautiful and full of color.

We went to the Pig Races.

Played in the corn. 

Ate Smores.....                                          

And just acted silly.... 

And of course we had to go out to the pumpkin patch to find that PERFECT pumpkin.

 It was a wonderful day.  One I will hold dear to my heart for years to come.  Thank you Lord Jesus for the beautiful fall day, the wonderful colors, and being able to spend the time with my family.

Prom Night

Do you ever get bloggers block? Don't know if that is a word but it is for tonight. It's been kind of a weird week for me. Even though I didn't get my blog updated I have been reading and commenting on several through out the week. I love keeping up with my blogging family.

This was prom weekend and for us it was extra special because it was Sr. Prom - my baby's last high school prom :(

When I asked her to describe the day and night she simply said "amazing". Yup, that's what a mom wants to hear. Well I thought since I haven't blogged for a while I'll make it up with this post, sorry for all the pictures but they are what tell the story. Now mind you, my only part in this day was to pay for the dress and hair and oh yeah...like any good blogger I took lots of pictures. My final role in this event was to get up at 3:30 in the morning to hear all the "amazing details" before she took off to spend the rest of the night with a friend.

The day started at 7:00 for Karissa and her friend, hair appointments at 7:45 a.m. and you can't have a formal event with out going out and getting your nails done. I know she spend some time at the mall but I'm not sure for what, guess it's a teenage thing.

The girls came home in time to put their make up on and get dressed.


Notice the tiara?

Here is the back of Karissa's hairdo.













Jake felt it was his responsibility to make sure no one got in there way while they were getting ready.

















Note to self: put hoop on first, then the dress. We had quiet a laugh but we finally got the hoop tied tight enough to prevent it from sliding off as she walked.



Here's her dress.
















The forecast was for possible thunderstorms and even though it did rain in the morning, the day turned out beautiful.













Look at those dresses and how grown up they are.


Okay, may be no too grown up :)
















Off they go.........






Fast forward to midnight, prom got over and the girls came home to change into their "after prom" dresses. In my day we had one dress and it didn't look anything like what they're wearing now, but that's another story.

My husband and I finished the movie we were watching and went upstairs to get ready for bed. This is what I walked into:

Do they not realize other live in the house also?

















This was my favorite find. This dress was left out also and no one was even planning on wearing it.



















She didn't get much sleep but I give her credit, she still got through her volunteer time at the humane society.

I am thankful she had an "amazing" time as she puts it, and that God kept her safe and free of harm.

Sheryl

Run KE Run

A cold wet track and hurdles do nothing for a mother's heart.

I've seen too many kids wipe out.

KE had an invitational today involving 12 schools.

She placed 4th in the 100 yard high hurdles &

6th in the 300 yard low hurdles.

Go KE...Go KE...Go KE...

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Going down memory lane:

Going back 13 years, I walked out the front door and found KE (4) and my niece (5) involved in the following serious conversation both shaking their heads:

KE: I think it was a kitty.
Niece: No, I think it was a puppy.
KE: No, no it was a kitty.
Niece: No, it was a puppy.

I stopped and listened to them for a little bit and couldn't figure out what they were talking about. I looked out into the yard and realized what had their attention we had our yard aerated earlier that day and didn't have a chance to sweep the side walk yet.

Kids....

With graduation about 6 weeks away I'm sure I will be doing a lot more reflecting.

Sheryl

Snow Days

This has been a different Christmas season for me this year. Normally I love to go all out, make sure all the decorations are up, spend time with friends and Christmas shop. This year, not so much.

I have been in kind of a melancholy mood. There have been several events in my life lately that have contributed to this mood. The uncertainty of the economy and life in general have also contributed to this feeling and I can't seem to shake it. It's like God has me in a state of mind to ponder life as a whole.

Over the last week God has been bringing back the oddest memories. It's strange, I will smell something, hear something, or think I see something and it takes me straight back to my childhood. One of those memories for me today are snow days.

We would wait up until after the nightly news hoping that our school would be put on the list and if it wasn't we would be up first thing in the morning watching. Once our school was closed we would go back to bed. Later we would bundle up so much that we could hardly move and go out and play. Sometimes mom would have hot chocolate waiting for us when we came in.

Mom - now there's another story, while living at home I was not very close to my mom. It wasn't until I moved out that our relationship started to improve. Unfortunately mom passed away when I was 25 so we didn't have a lot of time to work on that relationship. Even though mom has been gone for 20 years I find myself thinking about her a lot this Christmas season. I haven't done that for a long time. I remember how she decorated the house for the holidays, the big feast we would have on Christmas day, (she spent hours in the kitchen) the wrapping of the gifts and all of the other things that go along with the season; I miss her.

I am sure God is preparing my head and my heart for something only He knows, so in the mean time I will enjoy the blessings He as given me, pray, and let Him be Him.

Merry Christmas and Happy Memories.

We are never alone.