Happy Fall, Y'all!!!

The best pic at the pumpkin patch. It was very cold and windy, and I had a sleepy baby. I'm blessed to have gotten any pictures!!

It's over now!!

Carving pumpkins at our church fall festival

What are pumpkins for? Well, carving, eating, and ....giving someone a lift!

For trick or treat night, I let the girls pick out their own outfits. Anna didn't decide until the day before what she wanted to be, and Aubrey had it all planned since the first day of October. Aubrey wanted to be a cowgirl, and Anna then followed with the same idea. I wanted them to be frugal and use what we had around the house. I consider myself somewhat of an experienced mom, and I KNOW what happens during the trick or treat walking time... shoes get uncomfortable and come off (and since it's south Georgia and it's usually warm on Halloween night, one can get away with this), any hats and other accessories are torn off after the first house or two, and mouths get thirsty quickly. I brought a large bottle of water and extra shoes in the stroller. After the third house, Anna complained about her hat and boots and took them off and wore the extra shoes I brought, and Aubrey got rid of her cowboy hat and boots after about the seventh house. You see, us Moms do know what we're talking about!! Why waste money??

Yes, she insisted on the orange shirt, red bandana, and maroon hat:). The bandana actually stayed on the whole night!!!

Yeehaw!!! It's cowgirl Aubrey! What you don't see is a great big belt and rope that she tied herself!

Daniel looks like he desperately wants out!!! Oh, and Daniel did not go around as a pumpkin... the outfit was off after this picture!:) It was way too warm Halloween night, and he is very hot natured.

Till next time.. y'all take care now, ya hear!!

Let's find out!!

How many snaps does it take to get Daniel in the center of a good pumpkin picture?? (Looking at the camera, both eyes open, smiling) Hmmm.. let's find out!!

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

The world may never know.

Guess who just turned ONE??!!

He loved all the attention he received from family!!! Happy birthday sweet boy!!

Loves being held!!


Uncle Ronnie with Shepherd

Riding the barbie jeep; Sara Kate wouldn't get on until Aubrey and Anna rode with her!

Yeaaah!!

Aubrey's on the roller racer - one of me and my sister's old toys

Ashlie and Shep - great smiles!!

Shepherd is too good at pulling hair!

Hanging out - waiting on Gigi and Eric to arrive with some more food

Daniel with his Nana and Grandaddy

Daniel's first birthday cake

Singing Happy birthday

Opening lots of presents!

He loves this toy!

This is a cute picture, but Daniel is not so happy.

At this point in the party, he is saying, "It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to.....

"..cry if I want to....

"..cry if I want to!!!"


Singing Happy birthday to our little one year old! We had a great family party!

It's hard to believe that this time last year we were moving from one hospital to another with surgery ahead of us for Daniel. We've been through a lot this past year, but we have learned alot, grown a lot, and have had more opportunities to trust in our Savior. We love you, Daniel and are so thankful you are apart of our family!!

Sweet 16 and a Homecoming Dance

Ashlie turned 16 this month!! Wow, I know!! We celebrated with some friends and family. The following week was Homecoming at her school, and you should have seen some of her hairdos/outfits! One of the days was Crazy Hair Day, and for some reason, she came no where near the camera!:) They ended the week with a homecoming dance and there are some pics below of her and some friends - Josh, Amber, and Austin.

Amber's mom is an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G cake decorator!! I was thrilled when they told me they were going to make her cake. This cake was HUGE and delicious!! The bird decoration is an inside joke:)

Aubrey sending out a BIG "happy birthday" message to Ashlie

Mema and Daniel on Ash's birthday

the Homecoming Dance crew

Beautiful!!

September means BIRTHDAYS!!!!

We have LOTS of birthdays in our family in September. It has been a very busy month, and most of us have been sick on top of that! Here are our birthdays in chronological order: My mom, Dylan, Aunt Jody, my Papa, Aubrey, Tanya, cousin Rachel and Grandaddy. Now that is a lot of birthdays!! We had a party at my mom's house for her birthday, a small party for Aubrey here on the actual day of her birthday (a Tuesday) and my Grandmama threw my Grandaddy a big party at their house in Fort Valley. I did a separate post for my Grandaddy's birthday below this one. Happy birthday to all!!! And stay tuned for October....even more birthdays!!

When I brought them home from school, they immediately went and changed into Aubrey's clothes and Sarah and Aubrey had to match!:)

Sarah, Aubrey, Anna, Emily

Now that's loving some pizza!!

Sharing the same chair.. by choice of course!

sweet neighbor Abby who came later and ate with us

Aubrey wanted a rainbow cake. I forgot to take a picture of it before placing on the candles.

Happy Birthday!!!

Opening presents... this one is from Mema and Aunt Debbie - she loves it!!

And this is when the cake is the best - being eaten!

Below are pics from my mom's birthday.

Decorating Nana's cake

Don't you take my binky, Nana!

Happy birthday to Nana!!

Grandaddy's Birthday!!!

Grandaddy and me

Getting the food out because everyone's coming!!






Cousin Bob with Aunt Hilda






Grandaddy telling a story with Aunt Hilda... had something to do with them sneaking snuff away from his grandparents and them getting VERY sick!!


I warned Cara of how heavy Daniel is, but she said that he was nothing compared to her nephew


Beautiful ladies in the kitchen

Grandmama, Aunt Jody, Mama





the "Spread".... delicious!!!


All the men were special and got to sit at the dining room table. You know, even as an adult I still can't seem to ever make it to the big table!! I sat on the porch and ate with the kids

Happy 88th birthday, Grandaddy!! Below I have a video of this moment.

Cousin Cara with her boyfriend Ryan, Mama, Aunt Donna

Receiving gifts from Grandmama - thank you!!

"the best gift ever" he said... and had no clue what it was:)

Anna with her Papa

Cara and Tara

And I saved the best for last.... enjoy the video!!!!!!

Some things I noticed about a typical Grant gathering:

- Grandmama made most of the food, and it was ALL GOOD!!

- Mom and Dad were there early

- Aunt Donna and Uncle Andy were LATE

- Grandaddy kept everyone entertained with his funny stories

- Uncle Andy passed gas and almost cleared the room:)

- There was lots and lots of talking and laughter!!

I enjoyed every moment!!! Thank you Grandmama and Grandaddy for hosting us!!!

An article I read...

I have for several years now been receiving subscriptions from Family Fun Magazine. I admit that I don't always read it cover to cover because I look at the main craft ideas for the month. Yesterday I received the October issue and was excited to read and see its fall ideas for crafts.

As I was flipping through, an article about hiccups caught my attention. The title of the article is "Why We Get Hiccups". I was drawn into what it had to say because I (like others I'm sure!) hate to hiccup!! However, I was extremely disappointed in the "knowledge" that the article was imposing on me and thousands of others who have probably read it.

The first part of the article stated that if you laugh too long, eat too much or somehow irritate the nerves in the throat, you could get hiccups. Well, that part makes sense and I do agree with that. Then the article goes on to say "What happened was those nerves triggered a spasm in your diaphragm, a muscle at the bottom of your chest. According to Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish, we have our fish and amphibian ancestors to thank for this annoyance."

You have got to be kidding!!!!! Yes, you read correctly. They are telling us that our ancestors..the fish and amphibians.. are to blaim for our hiccups. I didn't know whether to laugh or get seriously angry at this teaching. This is a FAMILY magazine. My daughter who is almost 7 and loves to read could have gotten her hands on this and read it herself. It is so sad that main family magazines like this one are accepting and teaching such garbage.

The article could have simply told us what causes hiccups - laughing, overeating - but oh, no. So subtily, the article goes on to promote the theory of evolution. AND, I want you - my reader to know that there are MANY theories of evolution. You have to come up with a lot when you believe that NOTHING created EVERYTHING.

Here are some verses from the Bible: (The capitalized words are my own emphasis)
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have DOMINION OVER the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man IN HIS OWN IMAGE, in the image of God created he him; male and femal created he them."
Genesis 1: 26 -27

Not only did God create us in HIS image, He also gave us rule over all the animals. So we do not look to our "ancestors" for answers (what the article describes as fish and amphibians). God made our bodies unique. I was also thinking while typing this about the verse in the Bible that says that "laughter doeth like medicine" and how God promises to provides for our needs. Soooo.. if we are hiccupping because we have laughed too hard or eaten too much, we truly have a lot to be thankful for!!!

Oh, and another note... when I was talking to my husband about this yesterday, he happened to look at the front of the magazine cover and noticed "Disney" over the name "Family Fun". I had never realized that Disney put on this magazine. Kinda scary, huh???