Happy Halloween!

Just a few photos from our evening...have a few more places to go tomorrow night! And, for those of you that I told that Jacob was going to be Spiderman...well, he changed his mind today and decided to be a hunter! Matthew was Luke Skywalker. We had a fun night!

4-Year Old "Fact of the Day"

"There aren't any squirrels in China."

This morning when we got home from preschool Jacob & I were looking thru his papers and I was admiring a picture he made of a tree with a squirrel sitting under it. Then, Jacob informed me that..."There aren't any squirrels in China." I proceeded to ask him where he had heard that and he just said "I just know it, Mom."

Kids are just AWESOME!!!

Hunting & Other Stuff!

Our weekend started off with a fun Halloween party on Friday night...Jacob & I went while Matthew & Rob got ready for hunting. At the party we went on two hayrides, ate some yummy hotdogs & roasted marshmellows, and Jacob LOVED the tunnel! Thanks for a GREAT time, Heather and family!

Saturday morning Rob & Matthew left early to go deer hunting...it was youth weekend. They didn't see a darn thing. They went again early this morning and Matthew came home with his first kill...a squirrel! He was so excited...I think Rob will fix it for the boys for supper. I think I'll have to pass on squirrel!

Not much else going on here this weekend...we're headed to AWANA at church this evening and then over to my mom's for dessert! Should be fun...her friend, Else, and her husband, Paul, have been visiting here for 3 weeks from Germany. They are leaving tomorrow so mom wanted to have everyone over to see them before they go.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! It's gorgeous outside!

Our sweet little niece, Maria

Just wanted to share a few recent photos of Maria...she's about 11 lbs now! In the bottom photo I think she looks just like her Mama! What a sweetie!

1st Parent/Teacher Conferences of the Year

We just got home from parent/teacher conferences for both of our boys. They went great...both boys are doing great in school...Matthew in 1st grade and Jacob in pre-school. It is so funny how our boys are so totally different in a couple of areas. At Matthew's conference, we were asked to encourage Matthew to respond a bit more verbally...he's always been pretty quiet in school. Jacob, on the other hand, has "no problem wanting to answer any and every question"! Matthew is not crazy about singing and Jacob loves singing! It is so awesome how God gives each of us our own personalities and uniquenesses. Even though Matthew & Jacob are quite different in certain areas, they are both the same in so many others. For instance, they both love to play superheroes, to read and be read too, to play outside and get extremely dirty, and they both love playing at the farm. We're proud of you both, Matthew & Jacob...and we love you so, so much!

One more thing...Happy Birthday, Elizabeth (my sister)...hope you had a FANTASTIC day!

In HONOR of...

having absolutely nothing to post about...I'll just post what I'll call a "random list of 5's"!!!

1) 5 Things I LOVE about Fall:
1. Cool Weather
2. The Changing Colors of the Leaves
3. Hot Dog Roasts & Roasting Marshmellows at the Farm with my family
4. Halloween & Thanksgiving
5. Fall Decorations like pumpkins & scarecrows

2) 5 of my Favorite snacks:
1. Chocolate, chocolate & more chocolate!
2. Popcorn
3. Cookies with M&M's
4. Apples w/Caramel Dip (my mind is on FALL)
5. Cheese Doritos

3) 5 of my Worst Habits:
1. Spending WAY to much time on this computer!
2. Not drinking enough water (I'm working on that!)
3. A daily habit of not exercising (I'm working on this too!)
4. Eating too much chocolate
5. Not making our bed right after we get up...it's always made...but it might not get
done until 10 am!

4) 5 Favorite Foods:
1. Pizza
2. #17 from El Torerro's (Mexican!)
3. Spaghetti
4. Tacos
5. 8-can soup

5) 5 Places I've Been:
1. Walt Disney World (3 Times but one of those for work!)
2. Big Cedar Lodge at Branson
3. Washington D.C.
4. Las Vegas (can't count how many times...all work related!)
5. Jamaica & Cayman Islands on a Cruise

6) 5 Favorite Memories:
1. Our Wedding Day
2. Both of our boys' "birth" days
3. All vacations with my family
4. Simple things like riding 4-wheelers, bonfires at the farm, etc.
5. Any days where we are just hanging out at home doing NOTHING!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

We had a pretty calm weekend here. Rob was in the fields all day Saturday & Sunday baling our last batch of hay...I think he square-baled about a 1000 bales...he was busy! Saturday morning the boys and I headed to a few garage sales in their Aunt Cheryl's neighborhood in Cape...they found a few interesting things! After that we went to the Fire Truck Rally at Capaha park and walked around and looked at all the firetrucks, ate some yummy food and played at the play area. We then headed down to the river...I couldn't remember the last time that I took the boys down there. We just found a little spot to play right down by the river and the boys played, threw rocks, looked for "treasures"...we spent about an hour there. Matthew had his last soccer game Saturday afternoon...Matthew said they've won every game this season...I've never kept track...but he sure did! Saturday evening Rob finished up a little bit early so I took the boys out to meet him and they all took a ride on their 4-wheelers. The boys had so much fun.

Sunday was church and then AWANA that afternoon.

Hoping for a calm and uneventful week!
Becky

The FURMINATOR!!!

For those of you that know me, you know that I have a geniune love for animals...particularly cats & dogs. Our cat, Oliver, is about 9 years old...we got him from the Humane Society when he was about 6 weeks old...he was just a little furball...my friends at Southeast Hospital's Accounting department can tell you what a little cutie he was! Anyway, he has grown into a beautiful, long-haired cat...and quite honestly, one of the most beautiful cats I've ever seen (I'm a little bit biased!) His long hair is just like cotton...when you pet him the fur flies. And, he really takes care of himself...he's never had a matting problem at all. Well, when we were at the vet a couple of months ago for a checkup, the vet used the FURMINATOR on him and I was completely sold on it! When you comb him with it, it like goes down deep in the fur and pulls out all the loose stuff...and, believe me, Oliver has a lot of it! Well, that day at the vet I could not afford to purchase one since I had to pay the vet bill...but, low and behold, the other day on the Q (QVC for those of you that don't know!) they were offering one on easy pay!!! Easy pay... THE WAY TO GO! Anyway, I purchased one and it arrived TODAY! I used it on Oliver and he wasn't that impressed...but, he'll get used to it! I'm just rambling but just wanted to share that if you need a FUR ELIMINATOR...get the FURMINATOR!!!

What a BUMMER!

This past weekend Rob took our bull up to a sale in Farmington...we got what we paid for it 4 years ago so we were pleased. Anyway, he lost his cell phone up there (some guy at the sale barn found it) so I told him that Jacob and I could run up there on Monday to pick it up. Of course, I didn't mention that I happened to want to go to the scrapbook store on the way to Farmington and also the one in Perryville! Rob said that he would call at 9:30 am from someone else's phone to tell me where the sale barn was. So, Jacob and I headed north...Rob called just as we were at the St. Mary's exit and said that we didn't need to go! Several of his bosses were going to Farmington for a bid and they could pick it up. (he thought we were LEAVING at 9:30). So, I thought...BUMMER...we turned around and I wasn't too upset because I knew that we could stop in Perryville. We got to Perryville and that store is NOT OPEN on Mondays!! COMPLETE BUMMER. So, we headed to get fresh milk and then headed home! I was kind of sad!

For those of you that live around here, my nephew, Joshua, will be on the Heartland Science Lab at 5:00 pm on KFVS doing some Halloween experiements...on Wednesday of this week. Try to see it if you can!

Continued & New Prayers Needed

Just wanted to post that I received a link to a progress report of a sweet little guy, Colton Holloway...he's actually our boys' 2nd cousin (I think that's right!) He just got his traech removed and he needs prayers for a peaceful night tonight and a successful day tomorrow. The link is www.carepages.com and it will ask you to sign up and then it will ask you put it his name and there you would put: coltonltp

Also, please continue to pray for Kate Lipke...I mentioned her on an earlier post. Here is a link to her updates. www.caringbridge.org/visit/katelipke
Hope that link works...you'll need to sign up there as well, I think.

Thanks for praying...our God is an AWESME God.

Becky

Photo's from Jacob's Birthday Party

Little Halloween Project

Trying to get in the spirit of October! It's really difficult when it's in the upper 80's and low 90's! Hopefully temperatures will soon start to get a little bit cooler. Completed this little project today while Jacob was busy playing with all of his little farm animals. It was super easy and didn't take much time...I thought it turned out kind of cute. A photo of the boys will go in the middle space where the orange paper is.

SORRY!!

A BIG "sorry" goes out to my few but faithful blog readers! I vowed at the beginning of this journey of blogging that I would post every couple of days or so and now it has been almost an entire week...AGAIN. So sorry!

I feel like I'm slowly beginning to come up for air. I had a deadline this past Monday and I had lots to do to make it. Being the head room parent for Matthew's class (yes, when no one else signs up I guess I'm just a sucker!) I've also had to be the contact person for the 1st grade's auction stuff. St. Paul has a huge fundraiser auction each year and each class is asked to have an oral auction item, as well as several small "signed" items for the silent auction. My wonderful team of moms from our first grade class was just all gung-ho this year...which I LOVE...so we got together several things for our silent auction. One thing that I did was create an 8X8 album of the first grade class...it turned out really cute but has really consumed a lot of my time lately. It was really simple, actually, but time-consuming. Funny thing is...I made it and will probably bid and try to win it at the auction!

Also these past few weeks a friend of mine, not a close friend, but a friend that I've know thru MOPS and now thru St. Paul where her son and our Jacob are in pre-school together, had a sweet baby girl that has heart problems. Little Kate and her family need so many prayers right now and I've been trying to do my part. When someone goes thru something like this it really tends to put things in perspective. I've been doing so much thinking lately and just trying to be more grateful, more aware of the time I spend in prayer, and the time that I spend doing things for others...including my family. If you have a minute, please say a prayer for Baby Kate and her family...she is at Children's Hospital in St. Louis.

Rob's been busy putting hardwood down for our steps...it's coming along and looks really, really great.

Just realized I never did post pics of Jacob's birthday party...will try to do that.

Now, I'm headed to bed! Good night!