The most wonderful time of the year...

It's here! The most wonderful time of the year! At least to me it is... I love Fall. I love everything about it: The colors, the smells, the temps, the decor, the food, the clothes, and all of the things it represents....
A time of harvest. A time of family. A time of worship.
Worship and gratefulness.  We should always find a time to worship and be grateful in every day in every season, but my heart is especially full at this time of year.   Many times I revert back to childhood and all of the excitement that this time of year used to bring! I see that excitement in my children now too, which is so fun. It is so important to have our own traditions in our family that the kids can look forward to and to make their own memories: Apple picking, leaf pile jumping, pumpkin patches, hot chocolate and wassail, spice scented candles, trick or treat costumes, chilly mornings standing on the heating vents in their Jammie's, bonfires with s'mores, and the anticipated visits with grandparents over the next few months as the holidays approach.
These are all such special things, but more and more I find myself looking to find the small things in life to celebrate. The every day things that I would normally not think twice about, but try to find a praise in and to be grateful for. One of those things is when our family gets to have quality time together....
This past weekend we went to Branson with some friends and spent some time at Dogwood Park. We all went for a about a 3 mile bike ride through the park and just took in the beauty of God's Creation. We stopped for a picnic, and took lots of pics. (Some with smiles, some not...) It's so easy to get caught up in the daily routine of school and homework, baseball, volleyball, gymnastics, and piano that we can let weeks go by without some good quality family time. God is also showing me that good quality family time doesn't mean that everyone is going to be happy, in a good mood and getting along with each other all of the time. Once I let that go.....thinking that every family outing or event should be perfect and everyone should be grateful and happy, then I was able to live in the moment that we were all together as a family, and I was able to find the Joy in my precious yet imperfect family!! So when the inevitable argument or ungrateful attitude pops up in the midst of our "quality family time", I am learning to discipline appropriately, roll with it and move on to the next thing. It's not always easy, because emotions can be a powerful and distracting thing at times, but we are ALL learning!!!
My prayer is that as they grow and think back on these memories as a family, that they will mostly remember them as sweet and fun and hopefully with fondness, love and grateful hearts.

Some of my fall decor!

Hope I can remember to water them!

Just starting to change color!

The most important!

My little indians in a teepee at Dogwood Park.

Love my Caroline's fashion statement!

Hannah and Nathan enjoying the ride from daddy!

One of the many beautiful falls in the park!

Loved this sweet little "Hope Chapel" in the park. This would be a perfect spot for a wedding!

First Day of School!

First day of school at LWA for everyone was this past Tuesday! Even Nathan is going two days a week this year. They were all so excited, and it was so sweet to see the older ones usher Nathan in the door for his first day of 2 year old preschool. I got home, walked into my quite house(very strange) and just sat there for about 5 minutes. Then, I turned on some music and started on some housework. I thought the best way to get past this kind of sad feeling of knowing that my kids are all growing up so fast was to keep busy. As I started to do the mounds of laundry and cleaning, I praised God for each child's life and for what He has planned for each one of them as they continue to grow up.... before I knew it, the three hours had flown by and it was time to pick up my little man from preschool. A few hours away to think and pray, and I felt recharged and a better mom for it. And I couldn't wait to give my little guy a really big bear hug...(the best!!!!!)
Hannah was really tired after her first full day of kindergarten, but had a very sweet smile on her face when she got in the car. Andrew thought his new teacher was "great" and the other kids all had glowing reports about their new classrooms and teachers too. Sounds like all in all it was a super first day.

My beautiful girls.....

I was going through some pics today of my older girls, and just wanted to post these couple of pics. I can not believe how much they have grown up even over the last year. Olivia, a junior and Caroline in 8th grade. Seems like it wasn't that long ago that we were approaching the "preteen" years and all of the stuff that goes along with it like hormones, growth spurts, junior misses sizes instead of kid's sizes, skin products, hair products, yes even feminine products (yes I said it) and boys, (not too much yet, thank goodness). The biggest and most important growth however that has been such a joy to watch bloom has been their spiritual walk with the Lord and what He continues to teach them and show them as they mature into these amazing and beautiful young ladies. The biggest things the Lord is teaching ME as I watch them grow,  are to love, teach and model, but then to open my hands to Him that made them and saved them, and trust that HE will teach them to fly with the wings He has given them! And to keep praying for the Holy Spirit to guide and protect them on this journey of being a Christ following teenager in a sometimes hard and crazy world! I love my girls and I am so proud of them!

Olivia, and her dear friends Maddie and Emily

Movie stars!!

Last year's homecoming

Sisterly love!

The girls with their cousin Kasey

One of my favorite pics!

Oh Baby, Baby, Baby!!!

Another one of my favorite pics!

Pretty girls!

Oliva , Caroline and their sweet friend Emily

Olivia, Caroline and family friend, Allison at her wedding shower

Forest Park!

We had an adventure this past Friday. Mark spent the day golfing with some friends, so I decided to take all of the kids to the zoo. As soon as we turned off at the exit for the zoo, I realized that this was probably the busiest day of the entire summer for the zoo and Forest Park and how wrong I was at thinking that no one would be there! We parked all the way down by the history museum because all of the streets and lots were full by the zoo. We ended up going to the history museum- which only lasted about 45 minutes because the little ones were very bored. We then decided to walk to the zoo from there. It was the most beautiful day of the summer I think- only about 79 degrees with big puffy "Toy Story" like clouds in the sky. The fountains in the park were so pretty and made for a great photo-op!! Hannah did some impromptu praising while there at the fountains! So precious! Then we made it to the zoo and saw the much awaited new sea lion habitat. Everyone had a different part of the day that was their favorite- Nathan's of course was riding the train! I think mine was the walk and just taking in the beautiful day that the Lord had blessed us with, and seeing the kids take joy in the amazing day that He had created!!
By about 2:30 we were all getting tired, so we headed out on our walk back to the history museum. I don't usually go out on these types of trips without Mark to help me with all of the kids, but Olivia and Caroline were such a big help in keeping track of everyone at the zoo!! I feel pretty good about navigating through Forest Park now too! It turned out to be a great and perfect day!

More pics from North Carolina....

What an amazing time we had with our families on our annual trip to the beach. My parents got to come down the first week and stay for the first time ever.  They loved the beach and made some great memories with the kids. It was really fun to see my mom and dad playing in the waves for the first time. They were like kids themselves! The second week Mark's parents, brother and kids came down and we had some of the calmest days with the ocean that I can ever remember since we have been going there. We also got to see some awesome storms roll in over the water. Wow! God gave us a show with some powerful wind and lightening that blew through while we were down on the beach. We are so blessed to be able to go there with our families every year. It feels really good to be back home now and get back into a regular routine again with the kids. I love being away with family, but there's no place like home!!!