Happy Halloween Weekend!

 brooke and brady attended a teen Halloween party...brady as a police officer and brooke as lindsey lohan.
chuck and i were lucky enough to chaperon the dance and I must say with the amount of middle school  kids there, they were all really, really, good and fun.

 the dance floor

 food and drinks table

 a little family carving time at home the following day

chuck and brady making the scariest pumpkins....

high waters...

photos by scott eveland

the lake here in Ogallala is high. hasn't been this high in years.

it's high enough on the windy days it's been splashing up on the highway

above the rocks.

so many possibilities....

i love these jars found HERE

never would i think of all the things you could do with them to decorate

like the picture above just hung for garden tool storage

or below them hung over certain celebrations...

i'm thinking about getting me a few.

breaking free with Beth Moore

if you've never done a bible study by Beth Moore, your missing out.

i'm currently doing this one breaking free and it has to be my favorite one of hers by far.

And i'm not even hardly through it yet.

it's amazing. it's life changing.

anyway today I study Isaiah and below is just a little bit that i fell in love with...

If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Isaiah 48:18 Sometimes when we finally give up trying to discover all the answers to the "whys" in our lives & decide to trust God, unexpected peace washes over us like a summer rain.

lots of homework, yes! but you will take something from it.

friendship necklaces....

i have a few necklaces that i've rec'd as gifts for birthdays, mother's day, etc.

that are very meaningful!!!

but this....this comes from the sweetest girl i know.remember the friendship necklaces you would buy for your BFF of the week

the ones where you would take one half of the necklace and then give the other half to

your very best friend. and this would show you are BFFs

brooke was at the mall this week as she had a band competition 3 hours away

and she was given some spending money for the trip. brooke is one that is

very giving(actually both my kids ended up with the trait)

anywho she came home with this necklace from claires that reads

"you & me"

she stated that this was mine to wear and she would keep the other half

for herself to wear to show it's you and me,

not as BFFs but as mother/daughter, which is bigger.

SOMEONE ONCE TOLD ME THAT IF YOUR CHILD LIKES YOU WHEN THEIR GROWING UP, THEN YOU'RE NOT DOING YOUR JOB AS A PARENT.

i believe this to be true. brooke knows i'm not her friend but her mother

there are times she dislikes me and times she thinks i dislike her

but it's working for us.

that's why this necklace made me smile
she gets that we aren't best buds forever.
we are "you and me's"
which is big, people!

pumpkin patch....

april and i took the kids to the pumpkin patch and man were they excited...running through open fields to find their pumpkin of choice...***major fist pump***

liking loving my new flower pot!

hi there doormat...

love this way of greeting company.

found it here.

have you started looking....

looking at my calendar i've noticed november is approaching rather quickly.

i've noticed holiday things being set out in the stores

and gift ideas being suggested.

have you started looking??

saw these at the company store and thought cute gift idea.

also rec'd a dELiAs book in the mail today
and started getting cute ideas for my daughter.
they have the cutest clothes



these boots are from there as well. Love, love, love them.

brooke is at that "i love the mall" stage and she has a band
meet about 3 hours away this weekend in which the band
teacher said they would make a stop at the mall for something fun.

so this morning before i leave for work brooke says
"mom u don't have to give me money for the mall"

to which i reply
"i know, you just need money for food right??"

what she really was saying or meaning in teenager language was
i need money for the mall!!!

The new, the unknown that change brings....

the husband took a new job in north platte (which is 50 miles away from where we are currently living) and i've had a lot on my mind lately. One thing on my mind is the packing and moving again, since we just moved into a new home in May and will be packing up and doing it all over again come the end of the school year.

Not to mention when we moved and got settled in our home now i swore i'd never move again

because man it's a lot of work! then life happened and my husband rec'd a offer we could not resist just a month after in our new home. Good offer, Bad timing.

my hubby has been wanting to start his new business and finally with the help of another

it has been made possible.(the help of another and the fact that God had the biggest hand in it coming to be) he will start monday and be commuting to work until the end of the kids school year. we decided it be best they finish the school year here.

the second thing on my mind is will they have/make just as good as friends as they've made here over the years of growing up. in my heart i know....Yes! Yes, they will. because they are fun, sweet, lovable children, but i still worry about this for them.

brady and his buddies holding their little friend (who is a lot shorter than the rest) in the air.

brooke and her friends having a good time on the bus ride home after a volleyball game.

brooke and ashley making bubbles and being proud of the fact they can do such a thing.

the thing is i know it will work out for them and i know it will be hard saying bye. but i look at it more as us saying "see ya around" because we are moving, yes, but just down the way and we'll be back to visit often!!

this week brings more of this.....for the kids

football in north platte with the boy
girls traveling for volleyball
(they haven't lost yet)

silliness

"The best things in life are silly"

weekend...

the hubby has guards this weekend in Wyoming (i could cry too!)

and the kids and I will leave for denver here shortly.

hopefully i get feeling better because today i've felt yucky.

but headed out anyway to go visit my brother before he heads

back east. why is it seem like every weekend i have plans my

hubby cannot join because they run the same weekend of drills.

such is life. military life anyway. happy weekend to you.

josh..

mom, aunt rosie, brother jeff (across from aunt rosie), uncle david, and brother josh

brother, josh, is flying in from Maine as we speak!! the kids and i will travel to denver on friday night to go visit him. last seen him in May pictured above. this picture was my last visit to Maine with the passing of my father. so this time it will be good to see him and the conditions are much more comfortable.

Brrr…. cold out.

thinking about putting away the Capri's and sandals.

i love fall most of all. and today it sure feels like it outside.

less days out at the park. more days wrapped up on the sofa

with a good movie, sipping your favorite warm drink.

with your favorite people.

maybe you bake on these chilly days like me.

feeling the warmth of your oven makes me happy.

we baked pumpkin muffins the other day.

i love the smell of pumpkin. the taste of pumpkin.

exhausted...

this is brady after picking him up from a sleep over at his friends.

he always returns from his friends house cranky and tired.

i'm guessing it's because he doesn't go to bed at all the night before

anyway i asked him to go in and make his bed and hadn't heard from him

in awhile....

lets just say the bed didn't get made and there was no waking him up.

tonight i feel that exhausted.....

a monday at work.

then brooke had volleyball, dance practice and choir concert.

found time to run brady to football in between

and even pick up 45 min in my bands class

muscles feel great. a sore kind of great.

wed. i look to do it again....but instead of band class

i'm trying Zumba!!!

Bullies

today in Sunday school we ended the class with kids filling out prayer cards.

we asked them how we could pray for them this week.

and silently asked them to take a minute to fill out their card and hand in into us

at the end.

while at home my husband and i read through some of these and a lot of them had

one issue in common. this one was written by a first grader.

and in my husband's class....he had 3 with similar requests

why do we bully?? i say we because i have been

guilty at times for laughing at someone with my friends when i was that age.

or guilty for just sitting back and not stepping in to help someone who i witnessed

being bullied. and when you're 33 and teaching a sunday school class and see first

hand the effects it has on a child...it's heartbreaking.

makes you want to go back to that age and try again. a do over.

interesting to know the long term affects it has on a person....

Duane Alexander said:

"being bullied is not just an unpleasant rite of passage through childhood, it's a public health problem that merits attention. people who were bullied as children are more likely to suffer from depression and low self esteem well into adulthood. and the bullies themselves are more likely to engage in criminal behavior later in life."

love this...

found this from another blog and love it.
and for the craft person that i am not
it looks like something i just might be able to accomplish.
not making any promises

i have a few bare walls that this would work great on.

i fail at most crafts so the thought of trying it,

is sometimes overwhelming.

so happy the weekend has arrived...

love how the leaves are changing

it has been a long week. i've had a cold since sunday night. missed work monday. and suffered through the rest of the week. so when four o'clock hit today i was practically running to my car to drive home as fast as possible. my hopes for the weekend are to relax and get over this cold.

(i see myself in my pajama's all weekend sipping tea.)

spending my week nights traveling....

tonight we headed to north platte again for more football. i have a head cold and was really feeling like going home to bed after work, but instead traveled about 50 miles away to brady's game. (moms never have time to be sick) but where else would i'd rather be then cheering my boy on from the sidelines. i think i need to learn more on football though. like the rules. thinking about going to the library to check out football for dummies.(if there is such a book)

weather was great for football.

brady getting ready to kick.#18

after game, team huddle

Apple Streusel Cheesecake Bars....

made these the other day for a get together at a friends house and they were a big hit.

thanks to betty crocker any way.

for those of you that wanted the recipe click on the link and print.

i love online recipes. i think my family does too.

Your Sacred Calling....

A friend of mine facebooked a blog to check out and i have. daily since.

Thanks you, Kris! I'm in love. addicted even.

so i thought it wouldn't be fair if i didn't share as well.

i mean stuff this good should be shared.

so i hope it helps you along your walk as well.

Your Sacred Calling...