Catching Up

I've spent so much time playing

CATCH UP

since I got home from our vacation that I realized I haven't even posted about

HALLOWEEN

and pretty much anything else since October.

With our kids being "older",

Ron and I made the decision last year that we were done...

TRICK-OR-TREATING!

(poor Jacob...he's the last child!)

So instead we just stay at home and pass out candy with our neighbors and relax by a nice warm fire!

(Forgot to take a picture!)

But Katie enjoyed the night with a bunch of friends...

 but by the time they made it to "our" house she was down to Mikayla and Baylee!

She was having a "wardrobe malfunction" and was refusing to let me take her picture earlier when I had good light!

However, trying to get a 16-year old to cooperate...

wasn't any easier.

 Rachel tried to help Christopher "enjoy" the process...

but he wasn't having any of it!

 Just made me realize that once again we had made the right decision to stay home...

my kids are outgrowing Halloween!

There is a little sadness with that statement too.

Just means my kids are getting older...

boy, they grow up fast!

 So glad Rachel could get into the spirit of the day...

she made a perfect nerd pose!

Jacob wouldn't let me take any pictures either so this is all I have for this year!

Rachel also finished her Football Season of Cheer.

She is an amazing cheerleader and improved so much...

they do all kinds of stunting and her back handsprings are so close.

But the BEST thing that came out of cheer season was her

friend Sydney!

We sure love this special girl...

almost as much as we love our Rachel!

(Rachel will also cheer for basketball season...so stay tuned!)

One of the games she got to cheer at was a

VARSITY GAME

in which over 125 little girls got to cheer with them...

including our granddaughter

HAILEE!

 The support group!

 Rachel and Hailee are out there somewhere!

Hailee LOVED being a miniature RACHEL!

We will miss Football season...

and the excitement of being at all the games!

I also got to ENJOY several lunches including this one with

my BEST girls

Jamie and Deanna.

We have been doing these lunches since our oldest were only months old...over 16 years and still going strong!

Sure do LOVE these girls...as if they were my sisters!

We also spent a lunch with two of our favorite people:

Cameron and Chelsea!

Cameron had us all cracking up laughing with his best comment of the day...

"They should combine You-Tube, Twitter and Facebook and call it 'YouTwitFace'.

 Sounds like a great idea to me!

I'm also trying to "spruce" up my house with little to no money...

just because I need a little updating!

So thanks to one of the craftiest girls I know...

I received some cute fabric to make some of these adorable banners:

I started with a "little" one to go with our Packers memorabilia

and liked it so much I decided to make a BIGGER one

for our

magnet "BRAG" board.

 Ron also worked on "framing" out a couple of windows in Jacob's room but it still needs to be painted so will post a picture of that soon.

He also put some wood in place in our backyard for me to hang

Large Round Bulb lights...

for more romantic lighting for these nice, cool evenings we will be enjoying.

I just have to string the lights tomorrow and will post pictures soon!

In the meantime...

my BLOG BOOK came yesterday!

I'm absolutely in love with it!

One of my favorite pages!

It can join our other book...until I make even more!

Sorry for the long post...it was a busy end of October and a first half of November!

Teenagers

 
{Brenley, Mitch, Rachel, Chris, Sydney, Micaela, Brett, Jagen, Bailey, Brady}
Lately I have been staying up with my

TEENAGERS.

I'm either staying up because I am waiting for them to get home in time for curfew...

or I'm staying up listening to ALL the many stories

or concerns

they have with friends, boys/girls, or school.

I really LOVE that my teenagers want to TELL me everything but sometimes it hurts

to hear all their frustrations and concerns.

Or how they feel they aren't pretty enough, good looking enough, smart enough or funny enough.

How can I convince my sweet teenage children that they are ALL these things and so much more?

All I really want to do is tuck them inside each one of my arms...

where I have more LOVE for them

than anyone else

besides God Himself...

and keep them there where I know I can keep them safe

from the "crap" that surrounds them.

But that isn't part of God's plan.

So we teach them.

Love them.

Guide them.

Serve them.

Give them the tools they need to spread their wings so they can fly.

So when Rachel asked me if she could join

Christopher's group of friends

to hike the Peppersauce Caves in Tucson, AZ...

my initial thought was one of panic.

Teenage boys would be driving...and would they be safe?

Would they be careful in the cave...or would she panic when the openings got to small?

Would they have enough water?

Would they have enough light?

But I decided to replace my fears with trust.
I had to trust my teaching.

I had to trust our preparation.

I had to trust I had done enough...

so I could let them fly.

Sydney, Micaela and Chris being "cool".

 

Rachel, Sydney and Micaela showing that girls know how to get down and dirty and still be cute doing it!

I'm so glad I did because these experiences help shape our children's lives...
teaching them to be independent and strong
and capable of doing anything they put their minds too!

Teenagers=Amazingness

Blog to Book and Final Cancun Thoughts

During my normal "blogging" hours this last week...

I have been creating a

"SUPER ADORABLE"

book from all the posts on this BLOG!

WOWZA...I had no idea what I was getting myself into!

I thought it was easy as getting online...

and letting the software do its thing!

Well the software does its thing but the problem is...

it is a crazy mess...

and every page had to be edited and recreated!

At first I was annoyed by this,

however I have enjoyed the ability to create something so beautiful and to get my creative juices flowing again!

I finally finished at midnight last night...

and after 5 straight nights of going to bed at midnight...

 I'm happy to say it is only missing ONE important post!

The final post about our dream vacation to Cancun!

At first I considered skipping it since it had been so long since I last posted about it...

but in putting together my blog book I realized these were memories and pictures I didn't want to forget.

1.  We made NEW friends.

Right outside our hotel room we found these...

  A Family of Iguanas!

I only got this one in a photograph but there was a little family living in the landscape of the hotel.

We looked for them everyday...

and they didn't disappoint!

2. Rest and Relaxation or Play til you Drop?

One of the things I was most looking forward to while in Cancun was the opportunity to get some much

needed R&R.

So I thought I would be doing a lot of sitting in a beach chair,

reading a book...

and watching the kids enjoy the ocean!

I even brought a couple of books to read but every time I would lay in my chair to read...

the ocean and the waves would CALL my name!

3.  The kids and Ron chose to

Play til you DROP!

Literally from Sun Up til Sun Down Ron didn't stop!

Some mornings he would get up before anyone else to walk on the beach.

 And he was ALWAYS in the water either snorkeling or

 boogie boarding!

 4.  Photography Mayhem
I always took advantage of every opportunity no matter how corney it might be...
 to take a picture...

because I NEVER wanted us to forget one moment of this trip!

5.  A Family that Plays Together...Stays Together!

What we really needed as a family was a chance to improve family relationships and no THERAPY can provide

what spending quality time

together as a family can do!

So we planned a FAMILY barbecue afternoon...

where we grilled hamburgers,

played wiffle ball...

played pool basketball...

swam in the pool and drank VIRGIN pina colada's...

and played sand volleyball until dark.

6. Mark off another item on my BUCKET list.

I have always, always

wanted to try parasailing.

We had decided that if we got the opportunity to go...

we would jump on it

and take the kids with us!

It did not disappoint.

 Katie and I.

 Christopher and Rachel.

Jacob and Ron.

Life doesn't get any better than a view at 300 feet!

7. We are a Home Depot Orange family through and through.

Once Ron heard that Cancun had a Home Depot he knew he had to go check it out!

So we loaded on a city bus and headed downtown.

It actually took us two city buses and some walking but we found it and it was like Christmas day for Ron...

but not because we found The Home Depot,

but because we happened upon the BEST Mexican food we have ever eaten and we could smell it from the minute we stepped off the bus!

Ron was convinced right then...

right there that we were eating lunch here!

 The only problem...

there was no place to eat and it was HOT, HOT, HOT outside.

No worries...because the food was WORTH it!

Yum, Yum, Yum!

8.  There are AMAZING people everywhere.

We always felt safe in Cancun and we loved the many people we met on our excursions,

at our hotel,

our housekeepers,

our concierge,

our bus drivers,

the people on the street,

and especially our waiters and those who served us.

We especially loved our waiter on our last night in Cancun.

We decided to go to a nice buffet restaurant at our hotel to celebrate the week that was.

The food, the atmosphere, the music made it all magical.

  The people we met just made us feel

like a special little family whom they seemed to LOVE being around...

and we loved to be around them.

That's why when we crossed over our water bridge for the last time we had bittersweet feelings...

such an amazing fun-filled,

memory-filled,

joy-filled trip...

and hoping we didn't forget a single thing about it!