Weekending it.

These are the famous arches at UGA

downtown Athens is amazing.

this place is dangerously good.

I know he's mine, but seriously, look at those eyes.

sweet tea and two chilli dogs later...

Enjoying a frosted orange....yuck..that dirty finger is black paint and not dirt, just in case you're wondering.

No problems getting the plates clean today!

Our oldest son had basketball practice this morning, so the rest of us enjoyed downtown Athens.

I'm not gonna lie, this is one of the most awesome college towns in the South.

We walked around on North campus and about made our kids barf while we told them how we met.

..for the one hundreth time.

When we picked Luke up from practice, we headed to eat at The Varsity.

This place is kind of a "monument" in Athens...the food is perfectly and deliciously greasy. 

They are known for their frosted orange's and their chilli cheese dogs.

I managed to get down two of those dogs.

I don't think I need to wonder why I can't ever lose those stubborn few pounds.

Two chilli cheese dogs...GEEZ LOUISE.

We're heading to watch the UGA/FL game with some friends...
I'm going to refrain from talking smack about the Florida Gators, but oh, how I hope we win!
GOOOOOOOOO DAWGS!!!

This is my idea of the perfect Fall day.

What is your weekend looking like?

{thankful for}

118. downtown Athens.
119. chilli cheese dogs from The Varsity.
120. colorful trees lining the streets.
121.  weekends.
122. My new 50mm lens...LOVE IT!

Finding Balance.

                                       Source: Pinterest.

Basketball.

Piano Lessons.

Cheerleading.

Cooking lessons.

Soccer.

All State Chorus.

Band.

Horseback Riding lessons.

Violin.

Football.

Gymnastics.

Softball.

 Track & field.

Pottery.

Tap & Ballet.

Guitar lessons.

Ministry opportunities at Church.

Art Lessons.

Voice Lessons.

Wrestling.

Cross Country.

Does it ever blow your mind how many extra curricular activities are available to our kids?

It.blows.my.mind.

We live in an EXPERIENCE RICH culture, and often it's to the demise of families.

It's so hard to find the balance between giving our kids great experiences
and investing time into our relationships.
There are families who seem to do hectic schedules well, but not us.
 Our family needs time together.

We want our kids to experience things but not just for the sake of being busy.
We want to eat together as a family.
We want to have time to discuss our highs and lows together.
We don't want to spend more time going to and from than we do at home.
And, we also want to invest in other people around us.
We want to do life with my brother and his family and my parents.
We want to be intentional about spending time with dear friends.
The only way to assure that we invest in our relationships with one another and others
is to limit our kids involvement in every activity that comes our way to take part in.

It is vital that our kids understand the importance of serving others and loving others well.

We want them to witness life in other parts of the world.

We want them to have a biblical worldview.

They need to understand that life in the world doesn't look like life in America.

We don't want them to think that service is only for adults.

Thankfully, our church values this, too.

We value our kids learning different sports.

We've got two boys who are on the brink of the tween-teen years.

Let's just be honest, they need to be burning off some of that energy.

Being on a team and learning how to work with others is key in life.

It's good to value the strengths & talents of their team members.
The discipline that it takes to show up for each practice and work hard produces good character.

We value our kids participating in fine arts.

We would like for them to learn to play various instruments.

We love the idea of their minds being stretched and their creativity being ignited.

 It's important to expose them to things that they are interested in...

Knitting, Drawing, Sewing, Pottery, Painting, Cooking, etc...

These are all great things for our kids to experience, but they aren't the most important.
Our relationships are the most important,
and we have to be intentional about the time we invest in one another and others around us.

{thankful for}

114.  dinner and dessert with my parents around our dining room table.
115. time spent reading Charlotte's Web with Lydia.
116.  a phone call with my friend, Patricia.
117.  a renewed vision of what's the most important.

What Matters Most.

                            Source: Pinterest

I know it's lame of me to put this out there, but I'm sure that I'm not the only one.

Maybe someone other than me needs this reminder today...

We were created for relationships, and people don't come to your house to see your house.

They come to your house to see YOU and your family.

They don't care if everything has a place.

It doesn't matter if you have take out food for them or a gourmet meal.

So what if you serve them sweet tea in solo cups and have them wipe their mouths with paper napkins?

Our small group from church is coming over tonight.

We met about 8 weeks ago when the group started.

In other words, we are just getting to know one another.

There are seven couples in the group, and everyone but us has hosted.

We're the facilitators of the group, so I'm bummed that we're just getting a chance to host,

but, we've been in the middle of moving, so this is the first chance we've had to do it.

We've lived in this house for about three weeks, and we've worked our cans off to try to make it ours.

It's really hard to make something yours when it's not.

We're renting, remember?

We've painted every room, except for the laundry room, the sunroom and the dining room ceiling.

We've added faux wood blinds to all the windows.

And, we've exchanged a Winnie the Pooh light fixture in the FAMILY ROOM with a ceiling fan.

Yes.  You read that right.

The Laundry room is white, the sunroom is coral pink and the dining room ceiling is BLUE.

They're all getting a fresh coat of paint just as soon as we can possibly do it.

But, it won't be done before our small group arrives tonight.

The kitchen cabinets are old and dated, and I'm almost positive that they aren't even wood.

The same goes for the bathroom cabinets.

Our temptation is to worry about things that don't matter at all when we share our home with others.

I'm glad that we aren't waiting until every single thing is done before we have people over.

But, I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that I've had to tell myself a few times this week
 that the house isn't what's important.

It's the relationships, the very real friendships, that are being cultivated that matter most.

{thankful for}

111.  A home to live in.

112.  New friendships in our small group.
113. And, honestly, a new ceiling fan to replace that Winnie the Pooh light fixture.

Details make all the Difference.

                             Source: A Little Glass Box

I'm looking around at my lamp shades, and they aren't near as interesting as this one!

I'm a words girl, so this makes all the sense in the world to me.
Are any of you out there seriously questioning writing on a lampshade?

I don't know what I'll write, but I'm going for it!

{thankful for}

107. dinner with new friends.
108. forts in the backyard.
109. written words and spoken words.
110.  out of the box decorating ideas on Pinterest.

Family Rules Give Away at My Sweet Savannah

I love Fall and I want to celebrate it with a give away.

 Melaine over at MY SWEET SAVANNAH has been gracious enough to host it for me!

Go visit her and leave a comment to win one of our Family Rules Signs.

She'll give you the details so head over her way now!

{thankful for}

103. the message of Grace and truth at our church this weekend.

104.  Freshly painted bathrooms that are finally complete.

105.  2nd cups of coffee.

106. quality time with my middle child.

Fall in all its Glory

We got back this afternoon from a wonderful staff/spouse retreat on Lake Rabun.

The weather was perfectly Fall.

We ate delicious food and had the sweetest fellowship.

I can't describe how wonderful it is to be here serving in this city with these people.

I don't remember not being here, and I'm thankful to God for this opportunity.

{thankful for}

98. new friendships with people that are as authentic as they come.
99. parents who kept our kids so that we could "retreat" this weekend.
100. kids who welcomed us home with bear hugs.
101. time with my husband.
102. this time and this place.

Fall Gourd Tutorial

This is a really easy Fall craft that you can do for your home.

The sweet lady that lived next door to us years ago made mine for me, and I love it.

I've made several for friends over the years because they are so incredibly easy to make.

You need to either buy a gourd that is already dried out or buy one and dry it out.

I'm lucky enough to have a farmer's market that sells them already done.

There is a great site HERE that tells you how to do it if you need to.

I clean the gourds with a damp cloth and then put the monogram on with a sharpie marker.

You could paint it on if you want to, but the sharpie marker works great and dries immediately.

After you get the monogram finished, you use a spray can of polyurethane to spray it all over.

Easy as can be! 

Happy Fall Crafting!!!

Twenty Years Later...

1991

2011

I'd say 60 of the 309 people in our class showed up.

I've known these boys  men nearly all of my life!

He literally hasn't changed NOT ONE BIT in twenty years.

Every song from the late eighties was playing last night at our twenty year class reunion.

Let me tell you...they don't make music like that anymore.

A couple of the slow songs they played brought back memories of Friday Night Dedications.

Ever heard of those?

Every single Friday night, the local radio station let you dedicate songs.

Every teenager in the town gathered late on Friday nights and glued their ears to WCON. 

There wasn't a soul that didn't want to be loved enough to have a song dedicated to them.

Do big cities have this kind of awesomeness?

We all grew up together...some of us knowing each other since Kindergarten.

We're from a small town...

the one high school, two junior high schools, everybody knows everybody kind of town.

I'd say most people never leave, or if they do, they find their way back home after a while.

You don't go grocery shopping or to Walmart without seeing ten people you know.

And, everybody goes out to the high school on Friday nights to see the local football game.

Friday Night Lights in all it's glory.

I wouldn't trade growing up in a small town for anything in the world.

I spent most every single weekend with these people.

Small town life on the weekends is a little bit hilarious now that I'm looking back on it.

The most exciting thing we really ever did was roll yards.

If we were really feeling wild, we'd spoon and fork the yard, too.

Where have the years gone?

In some ways, it's as if no time has passed and in MORE ways, it's as if a lifetime has gone by.w

You think you know each other because you spent half your life together.

But the truth is, most of us are completely out of touch with one another's present reality.

We're all the same people, except not really.

We re-told twenty year old stories together for as long as we could, while laughing hysterically.

Then, we asked about marriage, kids and work before calling it a night and bidding farewell.

I'm glad I went.

It's good to spend a little while remembering your roots.

All of it, by God's grace, makes you who you are today.

{thankful for}
92. twenty year old stories.
93. memories of growing up in my small town.
94. laughing with old friends.
95. the home cooked meal at my parents house tonight.
96. neighbor kids from Orlando staying with us this weekend.
97. the family I came home to last night after my reunion.

A Bike Riding Super Star.

I can hardly believe that she's learned to ride her bike without training wheels.

Her daddy took them off a few weeks ago because she decided she was ready.

But, it wasn't until last Friday that she took off full speed a head with no one running behind her.

She made up her mind to do it and she did!

I went outside when she wasn't looking and snapped a few pictures of her having a blast all by herself.

When she finally noticed me, she came at me as fast as she could...so brave!

I'm totally celebrating that our baby girl is not so much a baby anymore and has completed a milestone.

But, I'd by lying if I said I wasn't just a little sad.

The last one to learn to ride a bike.....

She literally goes outside every other half hour to practice her skills.
Be still my heart.

{thankful for}
88. my girl setting her mind to learn something new and doing it.
89. the kids that lived next door to us in Orlando visiting with my kids this weekend.
90. my husband getting to camp with his buddy tonight...boy time at its best.
91. the hilarious episode of Modern Family that I'm just now watching from this week.

Adding Fall touches...

I bought some miniature pumpkins & gourds for the dough bowl on our barn table in the kitchen.

Remember when I showed you this picture that I copied from Pinterest?

The hay kind of makes it.

I brought my favorite orange owl out and put him on my grandmother's old singer sewing machine.

We have this in our kitchen under the open shelves that hold all of the white dishes.

I'll show you a picture of the whole wall later....

Max is enjoying his afternoon nap on the cozy throw that finds its home on the sofa.

I'm not sure what kind of "FALL TOUCH" this picture is, but it kind of works.

Okay, I just love my dog so much it hurts, and I look for excuses to show him to you.

I added Indian corn, hay and fall leaves and the big gourd

 to my extra large dough bowl on the sideboard in the dining room.

We used to live next to the sweetest lady in my hometown, and she made that gourd for me.

I ended up making a few for some friends, and they're really easy.

I'll try to remember to do a post on that project in the next few days....

This was also an idea that I got from Pinterest.

I loved the idea of putting a small pumpkin on each place setting in the dining room.

I am loving the bright orange up against the soft blue plates!

This has turned out to be one of my favorite nooks in the rental house.

The desk has always been in my daughter's room,

 but it doesn't fit in this house, so it's now in our family room.

I added the basket underneath with a quilt that my grandmother made us for our wedding.

Baskets and blankets kind of scream FALL to me.

This is just a close up of the basket  and the blanket.

True story...

When we first got married, we pulled the blanket out to snuggle under it, 

and we got stuck with all the hundreds of pins that my sweet grandmother forgot to take out.

It was hilarious.

Now that she is gone, this blanket means so much to me.

I love knowing that she hand stitched the whole thing just for us.

Can you tell that I love Indian corn?


These are my small attempts at adding fall around the house in the midst of this crazy move.
I'm not the only one adding touches...
God is showing up in his creation all around me!
As I type this post, I'm staring at the most glorious tree in my front yard,
and it's dripping with orange and yellow and red leaves.


{thankful for}

84.  colorful trees.
85. chilly weather.
86. the crab cake recipe from Pinterest that I'm cooking tonight.
87. our family devotion this morning.

fashion and family jewels.

I'm laying in the bed watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels while I check out fashion on Pinterest.

You know him, right?

He's the one with the freakishly long tongue in the rock band, KISS.

I love to hear someone's journey...the stories that make them who they are.

I gotta tell you, I love his story.

When you hear it, who he is kind of makes more sense.

"Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

 ~author unknown.

{thankful for}
79. the bright yellow leaves on the tree outside my bedroom window.
80. a husband who paints the kitchen while I'm gone.
81. a doctor in Montgomery who is helping me with my chronic pain.
82. kids having nerf gun wars and laughing until they nearly die from it.
83. a dog who thinks he is one of the kids.

Soup Weather is Awesome

I've got a big crock pot full of White Chicken Chili simmering.

The pumpkin spice candle is burning.

Touches of Fall are being added all over the house.

The leaves are turning and there's a cool breeze in the air.

My favorite season is arriving!

My parents are on the way to our house with our middle son, Seth.

My parents wanted to start letting my kids take turns spending a couple of nights with them. 

They love having all of them at once when they feel up for the craziness,

 but this will give them some quality time with each kid.

Seth got to sleep late, have a big breakfast, work on the land with Papa and go to a movie with Nana.

I'd say that's quality time!!!

Can I say again that we are SO glad to be back in Georgia?

{thankful for}

73. easy meals in the crock pot.
74. time around the table with family.
75. clean windows, inside and out.
76. Honey Crisp apples from Trader Joes.
77. more boxes unpacked.
78. shopping with Stephanie.