Saturday, October 7, 2023

Fall Fun!

 Fall has finally arrived! Today was our first really cool day of the season. I loved being able to wear a sweater again after such a blazing hot summer!

We've enjoyed several visits with Archer and his family. I love being close enough to babysit when needed! We even had another sleepover last night so his mom and dad could have an anniversary date night. Even though he was feeling bad with a cold, he was SO good! After supper, we went to Atwood's (his favorite store), then drove around looking for deer. The cooler temperatures had them out in force. Archer loved seeing all of them (daddies, mommas and babies!). Today when Rick and Amber came back to get him, we took him out to a pumpkin patch west of town. He rode the pony (for about 30 seconds), played in a corn tub with a dump truck, and played kickball with all of us. He would have enjoyed it even more if he'd felt better, but it was fun, and we got some cute pictures.


He had a blowout while shopping, so that's why he's pantless!



Shepherd's 9th birthday was this week, so last weekend we drove to Paris to celebrate with him. I made some Black Panther cookies to take. (The kids always expect some kind of cookies from Granny.)  It was great to visit with all of them and celebrate Shepherd. I kind of neglected the other kids more than usual because I was holding Rosie as much as I could. She is such a sweet baby! Only getting to see her every couple of months makes me feel like I'm missing out on so much. So I soaked in as much time with her as I could! I can see so much of Stephen in her. We really enjoyed our visit!


The weekend before we went to Paris, we took Nam out for the day. We took him out to eat lunch, then went to Hobby Lobby to shop for rockets. When Stephen was young, he loved shooting rockets with his dad. We figured Nam was about the right age to start. He loved it! We bought a 3-pack and put together one. Then we all went out to the soccer fields to shoot it off. He and his dad have since shot the other two. I love it when the rocket blasts off. Nam gets SO excited and whoops SO loud! I imagine we'll be doing many more over the coming months and years.

Dennis has almost finished our bedroom. The walls are textured and painted. He hung the light fixture and put in all of the electrical outlets and switches today (instead of accompanying us to the pumpkin patch).  I've made some curtains, which we should be able to hang soon. Dennis has to do the window sills and crown molding next week before our carpet is installed on Friday. Then we can move back into our bedroom! He'll still need to build the sliding barn door, (that will separate the bathroom and bedroom) but there's no hurry for that. After the carpet is installed, baseboards will go down, and we'll be through! Whoop! We are SO ready to have this remodel behind us!

I am currently working on a winter rag quilt for me. It is 3 layers of flannel, so it is very soft and warm. I'll switch it out with my fall quilt when the weather starts getting cold in December. I already had made a snowman rag pillow last year, so I just needed one more pillow cover to go with it. I'd seen examples of people making chenille quilts and was very intrigued. I didn't want a whole quilt, so I decided to do my second pillow cover using the technique. I can't wait to see how it turns out. 

We have a short get-away planned for the end of the month. We've been saying for months that as soon as the house was finished, we were going SOMEWHERE!. We don't really have time for a big trip right now, so we'll just head up to Broken Bow for a few nights. It will be nice just to get away and relax for a little bit. We'll try to take a REAL vacation next spring. We haven't decided where yet, but we are still wanting to go back and do the Blue Ridge Parkway drive. So that may be our destination. I also am planning on going on a Caribbean cruise with Diane and a few others the end of January. I'm really looking forward to that! It will be my first. Dennis isn't the least bit interested in going, so he'll stay home. He has a couple of hunting trips planned for this fall that he won drawings for (state park hunts). 

Well, that's what's been going on around here. I hope all of you are enjoying these nice fall days. Take care and be kind!

Ps 116:7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
 (NKJV)