Another Friday Fun Day

Fridays seem to be our day with no plans - and I love it...especially when the weather is so nice!  Last Friday we headed out on a walk again and stopped to let the kiddos play at the playground on the way back to the house!  They had a great time - and so did I!

Katie posed for a picture before playing :) Love that she puts the hands on the hips for pictures already.  Wonder where she got that? Ha!

 Such a fun color on her!  Cutie pie :)

 There's nothing better than them walking hand in hand...so sweet!  Although I do have to remind Katie not to run - Jack is still learning!  She would be dragging him otherwise!

 And I have just about given up on trying to get cute smiling pictures of Jack (not really, don't worry) - most of him are action shots (definitely sums up this stage of his life) or of him running away from me or he is a blur of activity!  Here you can see the remnants of his eye bruise that turned into kind of looking like a black eye!  Glad that is gone - and I know there will likely be more black eyes to come considering how busy this boy is!

 Of course he is smiling!  He is carrying a stick!

 Another hand in hand picture.  And my favorite part?  Katie looks so intense (she is probably talking) and Jack is smiling (probably laughing because he is trying to run either to catch up with Katie or to get away from her)!

 Mr. GQ...or something like that :)

 Love this boy and his stars!  I still don't know if the outfit is supposed to be pajamas or an outfit, but he wore it as an outfit the whole day...and got lots of compliments! 

 He adores his big sis...so sweet!  She was making him laugh for this picture!

 And I was trying to take a picture of me and Jack - clearly I was way off with the aim of the  lens!  I do love it though - so clear of Jack's eyes...and it's like he is waving byebye!  In all likelihood, he was trying to grab the camera though :)

I am loving that we are able to get out and enjoy this beautiful fall weather before it turns too chilly!  Happy Wednesday!

The Power of Prayer

I've been meaning to post about this all day - even yesterday - but time got away from me.  If we are FB friends or if you follow me on Instagram, you've seen this picture!  This is my sweet cousin who is 27.  Today, she had a 11.5 hour surgery to remove a brain tumor.  You can read more about that situation on one of her friend's blogs here: http://thestateofbeingfree.blogspot.com/2013/10/liz-young.html?m=1.

It has truly been amazing to see so many people pray over her and for her...and for the doctors and for her family.  Amazing.  Today there was a prayer vigil - people signed up for 15 minute increments to be in constant prayer.  I can't really come up with the words to describe it - but I am in awe and overwhelmed by  people's faith and the power of prayer...and especially Liz's steadfast faith and sense of peace through all of this.

I got a text from Liz's sister about an hour ago that said this...

99.9 PERCENT OF THE TUMOR IS OUT AND SHE IS DOING WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!! ABSOLUTELY ZERO FACIAL PARALYSIS!!!!!! SHE IS AWAKE, TALKING AND DOING AMAZING!!!!! SURGEONS ARE BEYOND THRILLED WITH HOW EVERYTHING WENT!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE HIM PRAISE HIM PRAISE HIM!!!!!!!!!!

I am so thankful that the surgery went exactly how the doctors had hoped and anticipated, that there is no nerve damage, and that she is awake and doing well!

To those that prayed for her today, thank you!  And please continue to pray that there are no other effects of the surgery and that she has a speedy and complete recovery!

Titans Tailgate

What a fun weekend we had!  Yesterday, we got up and headed to church.  Afterwards, we went downtown and tailgated with friends for the Tennessee Titans game!  They have a big tailgate for all the home games and we had been wanting to go for a while - and we finally did!  The kids did great - Katie thought it was so much fun!  She really wanted to go to the game (we left after a couple hours to get home for Jack to nap and ended up watching the game on TV), so we told her we would try to go to a game sometime soon :)  Here are some pictures from the fun!

{here is a picture from the tailgate - tables set up, lots of chairs, the Titans bus, food tables, grill, flatscreen TV ... they definitely know what they are doing!}

{the whole crew!}

{Katie wanted her picture with the titans helmet cart - hilarious!}

{she had so much fun!  this is the first tailgating experience she will remember...the rest of the tailgates we go to/have ourselves has a lot to live up to!}

{and thank goodness we still had the wagon in the back of the van from the pumpkin patch - it worked perfectly to contain the dude!  Tanja liked sitting in it with him too :) he was having a blast shredding a napkin...crazy boy!}

{and they had so much fun throwing the beanbags - and climbing on the boards.}

{they couldn't get enough of all the fun!}

{Katie and I were peeking through a window of the bus - she though that was so fun...and honking the horn!}

{a picture of me and Katie with the Nashville skyline and Titans stadium behind us!}

{love this picture of Tanja + Nick!  the skyline behind them looks pretty neat - and of course it is good of them too!}

{Tanja and Katie...I didn't tell Katie that we were going to see Tanja and her family - she was beyond excited once she finally figured it out!}

{and one of me and Brad!  we accidentally matched - ha!}

{love this picture of Tanja with the kiddos!}

{and Katie wanted to take a picture - not too shabby!}

{one more of us :) - it was such a beautiful day! and it felt so good in the sunshine!}

{and it took extreme measures to keep Jack awake in the car on the way home - it was way past his typical naptime and he had been romping around a lot!  Brad made the puppet - that he named Roger Rainbow - talk with the kids the whole way home.  we were all laughing the whole way!  and the good news?  it worked!}

Unfortunately the Titans lost, but we had such a fun time tailgating!  We watched the game at home and then I headed to Bible study and Brad and the kids went to dinner with his family for his uncle's birthday!  They all came back to the house for a little bit, so I was glad that I got to see them for a little while!  What a busy, fun weekend!  And to top it all off?  Both UT and Auburn had big wins!!! YAY!!

Tradition Time: Puckett's + Gentry's

Well, we finally did it!  It's the time of year for our annual outing to eat breakfast at one of our favorite places and then head to the pumpkin patch!  And this year, some of our friends went too!  I got up this morning and ran with Katherine - so glad we did that considering the amount of food I consumed at breakfast! :)  Then we all met at Puckett's for breakfast.  Katie was so excited about Mickey pancakes!

 They always have the neatest fall decor out in front of the restaurant!  Katie looked awfully cute too :)

 We sure love Puckett's - what a fun place to go!  And we only had to wait about 10 minutes for a party of 10 people ... I'll take it!

 Then it was time to head out to Gentry's!  I checked the weather this morning and knew it'd be cool, but it said 0% chance of rain until 2pm today with hints of sunshine.  Well - it started raining on our drive out there.  Thankfully it stopped and only misted on us a little bit!  And I'm so glad we took the wagon for Jack to ride in - it was a hit with all the kiddos!

 Then it was time for the annual truck picture!  I may have to do a post this week of our truck pictures through the years - I love that they have this "prop" every year!  It makes for a great photo op for sure!  And thankfully there was a family waiting on us who acted goofy to get Jack to smile :)  It takes a village - in more than one way! Ha!

 And we waited under cover for the rest of the crew - love this picture of me and my girl!

 Olivia had the best time pushing the wagon!  She made sure that was her spot any time we were on the move!

 And then the A crew arrived!

 Katie loved the tire swing! It definitely looked like a lot of fun to me too!

 Jack was having a blast riding on the bumpy gravel in the wagon - he had a smile on his face the whole time!

 Then we headed out to the hayride area!

 Katie was excited that she was sitting at the very front :)

 K and Olivia were ready to go too!

 And a quick one of all the little ladies before we headed out to see all the cows!

 How beautiful.  I am so thankful to live in an area where this is a normal view!

 All of the cows were keeping an eye on us!  There were also some of the cutest baby cows - even one that was just born last night!

 Katie loved looking at the pigs and sheep too!  Cutie pie :)

 Avery was ready for our next adventure :)

 Just look at those pigtails!  Olivia thought the pigs were pretty neat!

 And he's on the move!  He was awfully happy to be out of the wagon!

 I absolutely LOVE this picture of these precious girls!  Katie is almost 4.5, Avery is 2.5, and Olivia is 21 months (and Jack is 16 months)!

 We tried for one with Jack in it - he wasn't having it.  He is a busy boy for sure!

 Then we made our way to the wheat and corn play area!  Katie could play there forever - and of course Jack wanted to just eat it all :)

 All the kiddos playing so nicely!

 A family picture of Dallas, K, and Olivia!  Olivia wasn't thrilled about leaving the corn play area - and was probably starting to get tired.  But it is still a cute pic!

 Good grief Katie is tall.  Sheesh.  What is that - about 46" tall?! Wow!

 And we got a cute family picture after picking out a big pumpkin and a few little pumpkins!  My favorite people :) Love this!

I love this tradition we have started - and I love that our friends wanted to come with us this year!

Want to see years' past?  Here are the links!

2009

2010

2011

2012