Fall Fun!

I love fall, it's my favorite season with the leaves changing, pumpkins, scarecrows, and all that fun stuff! Here's a little montage of some fun stuff we've done this fall, including a trip to the pumpkin patch with our sunday school class, and PumpkinFest downtown with cousin Cooper, which I hear Keith and Nicole were there, but of course I missed them! I also included some pics of feeding the ducks and Disney on Ice.

Haircuts and Hula Hoops

**UPDATE** Stephen's mom emailed me this below after she read the post about Eliza's hula-hooping skills. This cracks me up!

"Melissa, I love the haircut on Davis and Eliza's glasses. She gets
her hoola hooping skills from Gram; I can still do it. We had a Sunday
School luau back in the summer and we tried our skills at that. It was
really hilarious, but I could still do it."

Well, now we know where she gets it!

Davis got his first big-boy haircut on Thursday, and he did great. Many thanks to Hanna, my friend and cosmetologist extraordinaire. She gave him a sucker and that seemed to do the trick.
Eliza and I got cuts as well; it couldn't be a sweeter set-up, as Hanna lives down the street and cuts out of her home. The kids can play while I get my cut (which looks fabulous, I must say!).
Hanna also took this pic as I, of course, forgot my camera. What a handsome little man.


And I just had to share this of Eliza below. It just cracks me up, as you can tell by my cackling in the background. I'm not sure where she got this skill, as it is most definitely NOT inherited. I must confess, I'm a little envious, as I've wanted to be a hula-hooper my entire life, yet mastering this skill has always been just out of my grasp. Bless her heart, she practices every day, and has really gotten pretty good. It's a great lesson in perseverance. And according to my sister Heather, it's the newest fitness craze. Maybe Eliza will give me some lessons...

Blog tag!!

Yippee!! I've been tagged! I've seen these on other blogs---you tag people and ask them to tell certain things about themselves. In this case, 6 quirky things about myself. Thanks to my friend Susan for tagging me. And let me just say that Susan is really on the ball. She has some "mad skilz" when it come to time management--she works part-time as an attorney, is mom to two small (and precious!) children, sews beautiful clothes for her kids, blogs regularly, and reads lots of books. Susan, please share your secrets!! So here are my six tidbits:

• I've had several jobs over the past 17 years, including "Float Girl" at the Wave Pool (the quinessential job for a teenage girl--I worked there for 4 summers in high school), wrapping gifts at Castner Knott, summer day camp for kids, college library,a dry cleaners, waiting tables at Mozzarella's and Logans, Bath and Body Works, Old Navy, SteinMart, Sylvan Learning Center, and 5 years of teaching high school math, which included 2 years as a cheerleading sponsor. That was the worst job of them all.

• I'm an extreme bargain shopper. It absolutely kills me to think I've over-paid for something. If I make a big purchase, you can rest assured I've done hours of research to make sure we are getting the best deal for the quality. As a result of this, I am an Ebay fanatic and love to shop on "Black Friday". On Thanksgiving day, I will sit down with all the sales ads, strategizing my plan of action for the next day. Getting a bargain is my version of a runner's high.

• I love vintage things from the 60's, especially illustrations in children's books and sewing patterns. I have a new obsession over vintage Christmas ornaments, like these.

• I am politically apathetic. I will vote, but I despise the debates and am so thankful our state is not being bombarded by ads. Go ahead and judge me, I'm OK with that. I'm content in my own little world.

• I have flat feet.

• I love to label and organize. "Really??" you may ask if you've been to my house. I really do like to organize; I'm just not so great at maintaining it. I have that problem with housework, as well.

Ok, I was kind of hard up for those last two, but there it is, nonetheless. Now, I tag Tiffany S., Staci W., Brandy N., Jennifer M., Heather W. and Ann H. TAG--you're it!

Eliza's new look

Well, I guess when you have two vision-impaired parents, it's inevitable that you will need glasses as some point. We just didn't think Eliza would be getting them this early. But at her 4 year check-up, the vision screening they did showed her eyes were not quite up to snuff, so we took her to the eye doctor and turns out she has astigmatisms in both eyes, just like Stephen and me. So we picked out these two pairs and she is THRILLED. And yes, they are pink. And purple. What else for a 4-year-old little girl? You'd think it was Christmas or something, she was so excited about getting them. I'm very thankful for that. As strong-willed as she is, that was battle I did NOT want to fight.

Here is Eliza and her sweet friend Eden from school. They love matching!

And of course Davis wanted to be in on the action. He borrowed these from Mr. Potato Head.

More excitement ensued for Eliza when I made these below last week. My little mini-me loves her some charts and graphs. And structure in her day. I made these in Excel and got all but a couple of the clip art pieces from within Microsoft office. I laminated them and put them on the fridge, so she makes a smiley face with a dry-erase marker each time she completes a job. When that chart is full, she gets to go pick out a small goodie. The schedule is also great for both of us. I guess it's from my days teaching high school when my day was broken into nice 1-hour increments, but I like having that idea for us at home, too. Otherwise, I am guilty of leaving the TV on too long, or just being lazy for most of the day. And this way, Eliza can watch the clock to see when snack time is, instead of asking for food ALL day long; she usually just wants snacks out of boredom anyway. Of course we don't stick to this religiously every day, but it does give us some direction. And she consults the schedule at least 5 times a day to see what's next; even though she can't read most of the words yet, the pictures give her clues. Does anyone else use anything like this? I'd love to hear any tips!

A couple of recommendations

I'm home today with a sick Eliza; she was supposed to go to school today, and I had breakfast planned with a friend, and a relaxing, care-free day of errands. Instead, we have been curled up on the couch watching Sesame Street and other various cartoons. But that's OK. That's my job as a mom, and I love being able to comfort her when she feels bad. She came running in our room last night at 2am trying to talk with her mouth closed; thank goodness Stephen was a little more coherent than me, and he rushed her in to the bathroom where she puked on the floor. Evidently she had been HOLDING it in her mouth. Bless her heart. But we were actually grateful as that was a much easier clean-up than carpet.

So anyway, she is settled for now so I wanted to take the time to do a post.

Ok, for some reason I get a little annoyed when reading someone's blog and they say things like "you need to go out today and buy this book; it will change your life" or "you are not a productive citizen until you read this book." It's not necessarily the recommendation that bothers me, because if there is any platform in which to express your opinion, by golly, it should be your own blog. I think it is more the tone, as in "I'm obviously more educated and well-read and more informed than you are so it is my duty to enlighten you." So as I make these recommendations below, I promise it is not that place that I am coming from. In fact, I am probably the least-informed person I know. I only watch the weather portion of the local news so I'll know how to dress the next day. I prefer reading blogs to newspapers. And the presidential debates literally put me to sleep. If it's not a Comcast headline, then I don't know about it. So, please don't feel like I'm trying to "educate" anyone by recommending any books or movies. Rather, I'd rather just tell you about something that has changed me, and just might lighten your load.

• This past weekend, we saw the movie"Fireproof" , which was fantastic. Sure, the acting is a little weak at parts, but the message about marriage is wonderful. And since I'm not great at critiquing movies, Here is a good article about the movie, actually from the New York Times. And sweet Stephen surprised me with 2 copies of the accompanying book "The Love Dare", which provides 40 days worth of devotions and ideas of ways to serve your spouse. Your marriage doesn't need to be "in trouble" to benefit from the wisdom and message about marriage that God speaks through this movie and book.

• I just finished the book The Shack, and to put it simply, it changed my life. If you've ever felt that God couldn't possibly love you, that you were too small or insignificant for Him to notice you, or just ever been confused by the concept of the Trinity, then please read this book. It has been controversial, even within Christian circles, as seen in this article , but I am in the camp that found it profound. It changed my entire perception of how God views us; I've always known that God loves us, but this book shows us just how deep and lavish that love is.

And one more thing that I found especially poignant after just finishing the Shack. Aunt Amy forwarded this post about Eliza and the rainbow to a couple of friends of hers, and this is what one sweet friend had to say. I've so appreciated all the precious comments on that picture!

" And second favorite would be the rainbow shot. Before you even told us the story about your neice and not ever seeing a rainbow before, I could tell in her face how much that moment meant to both of them. I love photographs that tell more than just one story. I could see soooooo many things in that picture. First, the little girl's expression. Pure Joy in her face. Her mommy is holding her, protecting her, she's at the beach, the wind is blowing and to top it off, she gets to see a beautiful rainbow. Second, Mommy is loving her baby girl, holding her, protecting her and just absorbing the moment with her child. Third, God working in the background. Loving them, showing off some of his best work, looking over them and protecting them. Through the clouds something beautiful appeared. Isn't that how God works. When something ugly or nasty appears in our life, God shines through somehow. I love it when pictures make me say, "wow" out loud. That one did. Keep up the good work."

Alys Beach

Whew, I'm finally getting a chance to post some of our amazing beach pictures, big thanks to my talented sister-in-law Amy! BIG BIG shout out to Amy and Cliff also for having us as your guests for a few days at the incredible Alys Beach. We had a wonderful time spending time with them, and their precious boys Ellis and Owen, with lots of much-appreciated help from Gram and Papaw, too! It was good times at the beach, good eating, and relaxing by the unbelievable pool. We felt a little bit like the Clampetts walking into this pool, while schlepping all our toys and towels, complete with inflatable baby pool which we carried in a trash bag. We were a lovely sight. It was a vacation we will never forget!

Also, if you live in the Jackson, Mississippi area and are in need of a good photographer, please give Amy a call. Take a look at her blog to see more of her work---she's great!

Eliza's rainbow

For the past few months, Eliza has been a little obsessed with rainbows, and especially the fact that she had never seen one. Just a couple of weeks ago, she had me write out the words "I have never seen a rainbow" on a piece of paper so she could copy them on "signs" to put all over the house. A little strange, I thought at the time. Then last week at the beach, sweet Aunt Amy (Stephen's sister) was taking some family pictures for us one late afternoon as a storm was getting ready to roll through. We were just leaving as we could see the rain coming in the distance (a BEAUTIFUL sight in itself) when we looked up and saw this. What a BLESSING that God sent it when Amy was there to snap this shot! Eliza was so excited, and it was such a sweet moment to look at it and talk about how the rainbow was a sign of God's promises and how much He loves us. I never cease to be amazed at that thought.

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Interesting blog

We just got back from the beach, and I will post pictures as soon I get caught up with everything around here (it was FANTASTIC), but for now I'm just going to post a link to an incredible blog I've come across. Another friend had a link to it on her blog, and said it was some of the best writing she'd seen in a while (and she's a writer herself, so I knew it would be good!). Anyway, the blog itself is called "Et tu? Musings of a former atheist" and is a 31 year old devoted Catholic woman who, until 5 years ago, had never believed in God. She is an amazing writer with such an interesting perspective on things, and I must confess I'm envious of her spiritual depth---I've been a Christian for 25 years and have been in church since birth, but I'm nowhere near her spiritual maturity. And she's my age with young kids so I can really identify with her season of life. So anyway, if you have some time, sit back and read and be challenged. This is everything I love about blog-reading.

This one post blew me away, and it was featured on a "blog-zine", which shares posts from some of the best blogs out there. Here is a link to that article,"Building a House of Cards", and here is a link to her blog, "Et tu?"

Soccer and markers and labels, oh my!

We've had a lot going on lately, so here's a little catch-up on what we've been up to!

Eliza had her first soccer game on Saturday, and I have to admit, she's quite the little athlete! She gets that from her daddy, obviously. She scored 3 goals including the first 2 of the game (no goalie); however, we are having to talk with her about the "team" concept; every time someone else scored, even her own team member, she would cross her arms and pout because SHE hadn't scored it.

I think she was most excited about her Aunt KK who came home from college to see her game!

Stephen took Eliza to our local team's baseball game and she had a blast. Especially eating ice cream out of the little helmets, which was always my favorite thing to do too!

This is what happens when Mommy checks her email and Davis gets a hold of a marker. (Don't worry--it's non-toxic).

Davis thought he was big stuff when he climbed into this chair and played with the princess cash register.

To offset the princess cash register picture, Stephen took this one of Davis last week; he swears that when Davis heard the College Game Day music, he went and got his football and pulled up a chair (albeit a Cinderella chair). And all I see is a pink Belle ball. Such is the life of a second child with big sister.

Lastly, I've been labeling. My dear husband and I have a somewhat different way of "organizing". I believe in the mantra "a place for everything and everything in it's place." However, Stephen is what I call a "crammer". As long as he can see the playroom floor, he thinks it's clean; whereas I get panicky when all toy parts are not together. And for some reason, he just couldn't follow the organization system I had in my head. Probably the same reason he can't read my mind :). So I made these labels for our playroom to assist us in keeping it organized. It makes me happy to just stand and look at it.

Update on Zeke

So I stand corrected. My sister Heather informed me tonight that she distinctly remembers asking me why Zeke was no longer around, and I answered "He threw up too much. He died."

Yikes. Maybe I was a total weirdo as a child?

I do really HATE to throw up.