No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...

Levi was so excited about meeting his family, and he was more than ready to go!
The food spread...this was only the main coarse. There was a bread and snack table and a dessert table as well.Papa and his four daughters...Papa and his eight grandkidsPapa and his 15 great grandkids(can you tell the girls are slightly outnumbered) Levi ...ready for a picture taking session

Mia was so excited about her "curly" hair. My sister curled all the girls hair for the photo taking session. Don't you just love it?

My rowdy crew...
They all came tumbling down... Such Fun... Having daddy swing you high in the air...Again, daddy, again!

Well, I cannot believe it has been so long since I have blogged. Our life is just one big bunch if "busy"ness. We spent a lot of time before Thanksgiving preparing for our big trip to Texas. We piled on a lot of school work so that we could take off the week of Thanksgiving and just enjoy fun times with family. Brad and I also worked on a "Big" slide presentation to be shown at our family reunion/Thanksgiving. We sorted through the equivalent of 1300 family photos(Oh the memories). Brad put together a photo/music slide show that showcased our entire huge family. It turned out beautifully(if I can brag a bit). My husband is very talented, and we had a great time doing this project together; however, it took many hours of time. The kids even enjoyed watching it over and over to help us critique it. We packed and left for Texas at the beginning of last week. We got there in time to visit and enjoy family. It is always so much fun to watch my kids interact with the cousins. It is a little thing I like to refer to as "cousining". They may not see each other for months or even years, but when they are together, it is hard to seperate them.

The reunion was a lot of work on many peoples parts. My aunt organized and planned a wonderful event for the whole bunch of us. I believe with all the families present, we had 38 people in attendance. As always we had a big spread of food including way too many desserts. There was lots of cooking, laughing, dancing, singing, picture taking and lots of love. We celebrated family with the slide show presentation. There was much laughter and many tears as we took our trip down memory lane. We all loved seeing the times gone by and laughing at fashions and how much we had all changed.Perhaps the only bittersweet thing was seeing loved ones who have journeyed to heaven before us. We miss them so (my daddy, an uncle, and my dear grandmother). My dear papa was worn out by the end of it all, but he had a smile on his face and never once tired of giving out hugs. It brought a smile to my face to see him up and active at the age of almost 94. We spent the next several days enjoying fun events with all my family, and I took every opportunity I could to visit and spend time with my papa and aunt. We had a very busy,fun filled, terrific time.

Have I mentioned....

...how much I love this time of year! I love the sights, sounds, and smells. I love evergreen smells, pumpkin spice, homemade bread baking, soups cooking, turkey's roasting, and all the things of a home filled with love. I even love the chaos that this time of year holds. It is so much fun to plan and prepare for the holidays with our families and friends. I love the time when we can begin to decorate for Christmas. I love to send and GET Christmas letters and cards.It is the time of year when I can catch up with those friends that I haven't been in contact with much.I love to shop for my kids and family and friends... I love pondering over just the perfect gift to give. I love to host parties and gatherings.

... how much I love my husband! He is such a great daddy. He loves his kiddos and loves to be involved with every aspect of their little lives. He is my "taxi" driver, "doctor" taker and the "principal" of our homeschool. I love to watch the kids as they get their special time with dad. Mia and her daddy have a special date planned once every two weeks. She attends speech class, but more importantly(to her at least) is the breakfast she gets to share with her daddy. She has started making the special request that daddy take her to Panera Bread for breakfast. She is definitely "MY" girl. She and daddy brought mommy a surprise yesterday. I got the special treat of gingerbread bagels.(Thanks Ms Tami for introducing mommy to these delicious treats). Those bagels are so wonderful, and just another reason to love this time of year. Now all I need is a pumpkin spice latte from a favorite coffee shop and I am in mommy paradise!

Adding to the Craziness

Well we have added to our madness. We now are the proud owners of not one but two new pets. Nate,"the dog whisperer", decided that he would like to try his had at rabbit raising. When we went out to friends a couple of weeks ago, they were giving away a dwarf rabbit. Nate spent most of the morning charming that rabbit. He begged to take it home, so I (being the good wife that I am,haha) defered that request to his dad. He called his daddy and got permission to bring it home. The rabbit came with a large cage, so he lives outside in the barn(warm weather) and in our closed in porch(cold weather). Nate is very responsible with his pet care, and he feeds,waters,changes the cage, and loves that rabbit. He is just so great with animals.

My wonderful hubby came home the other day after visiting the "vets" office(sometimes we buy pet food there). He was as excited as a little boy telling me about this kitten he almost brought home. I reminded him that we had a cat, and that we weren't going to add more,right?!I could tell by the sparkle in his eyes that he liked this kitten. I had never seen him react to a cat in this fashion(he claims he doesn't like cats). We had to make a trip to a pet store to pick up food for our cat, a leash for the puppy, and everyone of course had to check out the kittens up for adoption. None of them were of interest. I had wanted a kitten(for me), an orange tabby(my old cat had died several years back). Today while going on an errand, we just had to stop by the "vet's" office. Brad wanted to check and see if the kitten were still there. The kitten(4 mths) was still there; it was spayed; it was free to a good home, and I just had to come see it. ...and so, we have a new kitten. She is a cutey pie(not so much in look as in personality). Her name (at least as of now) is Princess Aurora, and we call her Rorie(or "Woorie" to Mia and Levi). She and Princess Jasmine,Jazzy Cat, met this afternoon, and for now they are tolerating one another. I really think we must be insane...

Halloween Fun

Piling on the LOVE... Big Brother is such a good sport, most of the time... Tissue Paper Pumpkins
A Budding Artist...

The crew... Minnie Mouse(Mia), Snow White(Mandy), a beat up kid(Nolan...this is as gory as mom would let him get), Spiderman(Nate), Batman(Levi), and Chef (Garrett,aka. G-Baby Live)Trick or Treating on the town square(there was a huge turnout)

Drawing out Jack's design...(Can you see how tired Brad is in the background, poor guy?)

Ooehy,Gooey ...this feels funny...

Doctor at work...

Can you guess how many seeds were inside of Jack?... we have a contest every year...can you guess who won?

We had a fun time on Halloween. The kids had fun making art projects,carving pumpkins, and making pumpkin muffins. We did all these fun things as we waited for Dad and Mandy to return from her surgery. The kids were wanting to carve the pumpkin,which they named Jack(isn't that original?). They made the decision to wait so that Mandy could participate if she felt like it. Dad and Mandy arrived home in the early afternoon. Mandy rested a bit, Dad had to catch up on work,the littles took a nap, and the boys went with Mom to the store. We had to pick up a few snacks for our family fun "halloween" night. After naps, we took the kids to our town square for a trick or treat adventure. It was the first time they had done this in our town. The kids seemed to enjoy it, and there were lots of families out; however, only a few of the stores participated...maybe it was successful enough that others will catch on next year. The boys wanted to go to a fall festival at a local church, and Brad took them while mom and the littles(and a drooping Mandy) fixed the snacks. Have I mentioned what a terrific man my husband is? He was so tired from the trip that he was dragging and a bit spacy, but he stayed with us and helped make this a fun filled evening for our kids. We had snacks and treats for dinner, carved Jack, and then played a rousing game of Life until around midnight. The nice thing.... the kids slept until 9am Saturday( a very special gift for Mom). Saturday was spent cleaning up, doing the piled up laundry and switching out the summer clothes for fall/winter(not one of mom's favorite tasks). Today included church, lunch with friends, and resting...mom still has to prepare for school tomorrow... some day it will slow down won't it? It sure makes life fun, and I know that I am going to miss this someday in the not to distant future.

Out of Surgery

Mandy is out of surgery, and she did great. Brad said that she went back like a champ and was joking with the doctors right before they put her under. She was an old pro at this, and she was excited that another phase would be behind her. She is counting each of the phases down until they are complete. Looks like one more will be necessary unless the surgeon requires more. Brad and Mandy will stay the night in Little Rock so that she has more rest and recovery. Mom felt it was safer to have her close to the hospital overnight.
Thanks for all your prayers!!!

Mandy's Surgery...Phase III

Pre Surgery..

Post Surgery... Phase I
Post Surgery....PhaseII

Mandy will have Phase III of her ear surgery tomorrow. As we are trying to conserve money and resources, Brad and Mandy will go down to Little Rock , and the other kiddos and I will stay at home. I really don't like sending them off without me, but it can get rather expensive to stay in hotels(with 6 kiddos, we now have to take 2 rooms),eat out and of course the travel. The other kiddos have nothing to do as we wait at the hospital, and so, it works out better to keep them at home. We will finish this weeks school and wait anxiously for daddy's calls to update us on her progress.

Phase III of her surgery will be a day surgery; however, it will be a little more intensive. The doctor told us that they will remove some cartilage from the right ear to help build the left. This surgery will take a bit longer than the second, but not as long as Phase I. She is a bit nervous, and excited about what it will look like. She is counting down the number of surgeries until the reconstruction is complete. Would you please remember her in your prayers?...and the surgeons?

We certainly appreciate all your well wishes, thoughts, and prayers.

I'll give an update when I hear from Brad tomorrow...

More Autumn...

Can He Lift It?...Yes He Can! Oh,So Strong!!!

My Heros...!!!

Autumn Colors... some of our trees are full of color and others are just beginning to change...and others have lost all their leaves already. Usually we have a more even transformation...

Can you see the beautiful Red tree behind our house?

Brad and the big boys decided to tackle more tree trimming. We have a very old, very huge river oak in our front yard. It had a limb that was dragging the ground. Brad got out the chainsaw, and cut this (not so small) limb down. The boys got to help clear off the logs. That made for a fun Saturday morning. Saturday evening was filled with fun when our friends came over for a cook out. We were hoping for a bonfire to roast marshmallows, but it was too windy. So wegrilled hamburgers and hotdogs and microwaved the Smores for dessert.

I was in the kitchen a lot, so didn't get pictures of the crazy crew. We did have a great time just enjoying these beautiful days of fall!