The Annual Pumpkin Carving went very well this year. The girls picked out a cat in front of a full moon for Daddy to attempt. He was unsure of his mad carving skills at first but quickly got into the swing of it. He did a fantastic job!! We saved some of the seeds for Annie to take to school for share time since that week just happened to be the letter S. A great time was had by all.

Yes, it's true! We are on the journey toward parenthood yet again. Today everything finally feels real since a doctor confirmed the good news and the ultrasound was perfect. The precious little heart was beating away at 120 beats/minute. We are not telling the girls until it's undeniable lest anything should happen. They would be devastated since they have been praying daily for a baby brother or sister. Annie wants the brother and Ella wants the sister. Mark and I are fine either way but admittedly we are thinking blue. Three sweet girls would be wonderful though. We hope you all have a wonderful evening. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare ourselves to be outnumbered.

Apples, Pumpkins and Smelly Shoes

Wow!! I'm a lazy blogger. It seems things get so busy this time of year. We have been to the Ellijay Apple Festival and Burt's Pumpkin Patch since my last blog. The weather is wonderful for fall festivities now and we have even watched Mark carve a pumpkin.

The Apple Festival was so much fun. We went with our Sunday School teacher and his family and another couple with their kids. There were fourteen of us in all. Lots of fried food, face painting and fun activities for the kids. Mark was nearly peer pressured into riding a mechanical bull but decided against it what with todays instant fame on YouTube. Cameras were primed and ready to go. Annie rode a pony and Ella talked about riding one but when it came time to mount she freaked. They enjoyed a funnel cake and hot dogs and played on a jumpy. Mark ate some sort of Louisiana dish which he said was not authentic and had a rather large hunk of chicken swimming in the broth which was unappetizing to say the least. The highlight of our trip was the marshmallow gun that all three men purchased. They and the kids spent quite a while in an open area shooting each other. I however couldn't seem to make it work. That night while Mark was watching football I decided to practice. I sneaked around the corner and nailed him right in the eye. Once we decided he was going to make it I had a nice laugh.

We made our annual trip with the Kirschner's to the pumpkin patch up in the north Georgia mountains. We all had a great time. There are so many pumpkins there it is unbelievable. The hayride is great too since you are in the mountains with all the beautiful trees.

Here is the funny story I promised my Mom: A few weeks ago at Sparks on Wednesday night Annie told me that during Bible verse time her shoe fell off. She said, "Mom, I got down to get it and I smelled it." I said, "Honey, please don't do that in public." (Thinking she did it for a laugh with her friends) and she say to me "It's okay Mom. Nobody saw me do it." I then asked her what it smelled like and she told me strawberries. (Rotten strawberries, I guess) The disturbing part of this story to me is the fact that she did this simply for her own enjoyment! What have I done?

Today Annie has Sparks and she has finished the first book already and is ready to review the entire book tonight so that she can move on. She can say all the books in the Bible and knows all the verses so we'll see. Tonight is Pastor night so she is excited to give Pastor Johnny and Mrs. Janet money. I think she thinks they are going to go on a shopping spree despite me trying to explain that they use it to tell others about Jesus.

Fall at the Anderson house

Fall has officially arrived!!! Anyone who knows me at all can attest to the fact that I will decorate at least 1 or 2 weeks early. This is my adult way to handle holidays as opposed to my pre-adult way which was to decorate 1 or 2 months ahead of time. I have made great progress over the years.

Anyway, we love fall around here. Apple pickin', cookie bakin', football watchin', the works. We tried a new apple orchard this year that was just a tad further than our usual place. Our reward was great. Huge orchard, pick enough to fill the bag you purchased and eat as many as your stomach will hold, beautiful mountain views, trees loaded with apples and many types to choose from. The girls had a ball. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the overcast cooler day. We met Uncle Tim, Aunt Mel, Davis and Claire (who had spent the night camping in the mountains) in the orchard's store and had fried apple pies and apple cider donuts. Donuts were fantabulous!!!


We are looking forward to the pumpkin patch in October.

Memory verse update: It has been awhile since I have posted the verses Annie has been learning. Since there are so many I will just write out a few.

Now we ask you, brothers, to respect who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord, and who admonish you. 1 Peter 2:17 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (This has become one of my favorite verses. This is the foundation of the Gospel. Once you believe this verse then everything else makes sense. ) And Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
Also, this week she is learning the books of the New Testament.

Ella is working on her alphabet. She is doing well and is even pointing out letters while we are out and about.

A Monday in the life of one working/stay-at-home/homeschooling mom

Well, lets see.

1. Wake up to get the kids ready for Ella's dance class.

Wait a minute....wake up? That doesn't happen. Hmmm. How do I explain this so you get the full effect? I must start on Friday.

1. Wake up on Friday around 6 -7ish. Spend the day homeschooling Annie and playing since it is one of our few days AT HOME. Take a brief nap after lunch if the kids are being cooperative. Fix dinner and out the door by 6:15pm. Work a 12 hour shift.

2. Arrive home Saturday morning about 7:45am and sleep for about 3 hours. Spend time with family in the afternoon. Get everyones things ready for Sunday morning church. Sleep a full night!

3. Wake up Sunday around 5:45am. Get everyone younger than myself ready for church. Leave the house at 7:45am. Arrive home at 11:45ish. Cook dinner. Off to bed for a nap after lunch for a few hours. Make dinner and get the kids off to Sunday night church by 5:30 and I leave the house by 6pm. Work a 12 hour shift.

4. Arrive home around 7:45. Get Ella ready for dance and Annie dressed. Make breakfast, take shower, get ready. Leave the house at 9:55. Hope for a nap after lunch.

I say all this to say that I am not really myself on Mondays. This week I praised my daughter Ella (very excitedly I might add) for being incredibly smart and finding the 2nd floor button on the elevator. Annie informed me that I showed her 2 seconds prior to that exactly where the button was. I took the girls into the men's bathroom and I'm embarrassed to say it took me way too long to realize I was in the wrong place. One would think that the urinals would be a dead giveaway.

Anyway, we make it through each week and even have fun on most days. Annie is enjoying kindergarten and has made some new friends. She learned a very important skill this week. She learned to bounce a ball. Great parents that we are in the five years she has been in our care we apparently have never taught the child how to bounce a ball. She knew how to throw it but had no clue how to bounce it. She was so proud of herself when she learned and starred at us with her face beaming. Mark and I just starred at each other thinking "How did we miss that? How did we get this far and not have covered that? What else did we miss? Can she jump?"

More silliness to come....

Sit-in or Stand off

There are few things in life that I hate more than potty training. I despise every aspect of it from the forced enthusiasm to the carpet cleaning that inevitably follows. Last night I got the brilliant idea to stage a sit-in with Ella before bath time. She was told to sit on the potty and when she went she would get to take a bath and read books before bedtime. She sat from 7pm to 9:15pm and had a pretty decent attitude for most of it. She finally went the tee-tiniest little bit just to shut us up so we let her get up. Day 2 - after two floor/chair clean-ups and two new pairs of panties I have given up for the day. She is now in a pull up and we will do our best for the remainder of the day.

The thing I take issue with here is the fact that when I was contemplating having a child, when I was pregnant, and when I had this precious newborn lying in my arms at no time did anyone even breathe a word of how horrible this task really is. No pointers were given, no words of wisdom, no assistance of any kind. Annie was trained most likely by herself (late, I might add) due to her parents lack of potty training experience and skill. I thought God would give us one easy one but wrong-o. Here we are again approaching age 3 and wondering what we do when she no longer fits in infant diapers. Depends? Why isn't there some sort of pill or spray that will fix this. Even dogs have spray to teach them where to go. We have pills for dieting, blood pressure, cholesterol, memory, depression, headaches, and overactive bladder. What about the pill for underactive bladder?

I just needed to vent some frustration today. But, I will remember that ......

1. Children are a heritage from the Lord, they are a reward from Him. Psalm 127:3
2. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phillipians 4:13
and
3. She will not go to college wearing Dora the Explorer pull ups.

Venting is complete! On to the potty!!!

Tuesdays are special

Tuesdays have become a very special day to our girls and me. We wake up early and Annie goes to math class which she loves. Then we meet Jennifer, Christopher and Caitlyn for lunch and play. This week we went to the Roswell City Park and had a picnic lunch. Everyone had a great time. Annie and Christopher even raced around the track. Annie climbed the rock wall with just a little help. Ella climbed ladder after ladder in search of a higher slide and had absolutely no fear when it came time to go down. Here are a few pictures of our day.