FALL!!!

WOW! It has been a long time since I posted anything! This picture of Chris and I was taken right before we left for the St. Bernards Night of Music. We had fun getting all dressed up!

I think we look pretty good for being an old married couple!

I just love Halloween! My mom and dad were able to come down for the weekend, which made it even more fun. The boys were excited that GiGi and Papa were able to go to both of their Halloween parties at school. We went to the Fall Festival at church and then came home to do a little trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Jake and GiGi stayed home to hand out candy and Papa, Isaac and I headed out for more candy! Chris stayed at church to help clean up. I am not real sure what the character the boys are, but I think they are some kind of G.I. Joe. Storm Shadow and Snake Eye's I think?! I thought G.I. Joe's were Army people? I am a little out of the loop on this one!

Jake played flag football this year at the YMCA. He has loved it! This is the first sport that he has really gotten into and payed attention. Travis Eades, our worship minister, was his coach and two of his boys were on the team. That made it even more fun.

Landon, Jackson and Jake!

Last game and they won!!

My baby Isaac lost his first tooth! I can't believe that my youngest son is old enough to loose teeth. I have never seen a child so excited about anything. He was twitching with excitement and the tooth fairy did not disappoint!

Our new house has lots of tree's! Lots of leaves to rake!

Picture of the Day

Chris took the boys to library after school today. Can you tell?!

AR Children's Hospital

Today we had Jake's big yearly appointment at AR Children's Hospital in Little Rock. He goes every 6 months for an asthma check, but once a year we do the big one. They do blood work to check his food allergies, we do lots of breathing tests, meet with the respiratory therapist, and talk to his AWESOME allergy doctor who has saved all of our sanity.

Chris decided we needed donuts before out big outing!

Jake was a trooper and didn't even cry when they took his blood. We won't know any of his allergy results for a few weeks, but we did get some encouraging asthma news. They reduced one of his inhalers to once a day instead of twice and we are hoping in 6months they will take him off the singular. Overall, it was a good encouraging day. We know that he is still very allergic to milk because of a bad reaction at school a few weeks ago, but we are praying for lower numbers on the egg and nuts!

Dangers in the Rainforest

The 2nd grade at Jake's school is going to have a program the end of Oct. about the Rain forest. His music teacher told the students that they could write a song for the program if they wanted to. Well, Jake was all about that and begged for 2 weeks for us to help him write his song. So finally we all (including GiGi) sat down and wrote his song. I don't know if it will make it into the program, but we sure had some good laughs writing it! Jake provided all of the research and was so excited. Mrs. Wheelis, his teacher, had everyone in his class sing it because she thought it was so great!

DANGERS IN THE RAINFOREST

(The Ants Go Marching By)

By: Jake Harrell

Dangers in the Rainforest scare me,

Scare you.

Dangers in the Rainforest scare me,

Scare you.

Snakes are lurking in the trees

Looking to find something to squeeze

As they slither down they hiss

And they hiss

And they hiss

Psss, psss, psss

Dangers in the rainforest scare me,

Scare you.

Dangers in the rainforest scare me,

Scare you.

Piranhas swimming in the deep.

Looking to find fresh meat.

As they swim they gnash their teeth.

Chomp, chomp,

Chomp, chomp,

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

Dangers in the rainforest scare me,

Scare you.

Dangers in the rainforest scare me,

Scare you.

Crocodiles are sinking low

Sneaking up to bite the toe

Of a mighty black baboon

Boom, boom,

Boom, boom,

Boom, boom, boom.

BOOM!

Thankful Tuesday on Saturday

Well, I am sitting here in my pj's drinking coffee with tons of chocolate creamer in it thinking about how great life is. I think it is time to list a few blessings! (I encourage all of my fellow bloggers out there to do the same!)

1. I have great kids. I mean really great kids! Jake woke up this morning so excited to go look at his new shoe's that he got last night. He just wanted to look at them! They are low top black converse and he is pumped! Thank you Granma and Granddaddy for the $20 in the mail. Hilarious that he wanted to buy shoe's with his money!

2. I had an awesome date night with a 7 year old and a 5 year old last night. Hung out at chick-fil-a forever, just listening to them talk. I learned from Isaac that a diamond is really a rhombus and that I should not call it a diamond any more. Jake told me all about the animals of the rain forest, including the differences in their bone structure!

3. I am so thankful for our morning routine with the boys. It is such a blessing to start the day hanging around the kitchen island eating breakfast. It is completely worth waking up earlier so that I get those 20 precious minutes every day.

4. Praise the Lord that I have such a hard working husband. Probably too hard working, but still wonderful! Our preaching minister had a car wreck and is not going to be able to preach for 3-4 weeks, so Chris is filling in. No complaining, just taking it in stride. He is working 2 full time jobs for the next month and is still wonderful.

5. I have great parents. Really, really great parents! Everyone that knows them, knows how great they are! Mom came to visit last weekend and ended up staying 2 extra days because Isaac was sick. She wanted to stay so that I would not have to miss any work. What a great mom she is!

6. If you were to ask either one of my boys who their best friend was, they would both say "my brother". Blessings, Blessings, Blessings! They sleep together, eat together, play together, go to the bathroom together, etc... Pray that this stays this way for the rest of their lives!

7. The Story! Our church is doing The Story for the next 9 months. www.thestorysw.net What a great experience to be able to read through the entire Bible as a family. How wonderful that Isaac has been so excited for his new "Story Bible" that he has taken it to school almost everyday. His teacher even let him get up in front of the class and show everyone.

A few more birthday pic's

Chris' parents sent me these cute shots after the party weekend. (I can't figure out how to make them bigger though.)

Need to frame this one!

Isaac was so excited that Granma and Granddaddy were able to be here for his birthday!
Good Family Times!

1st Day of School

Well.....I am the only mom in America that forgot to take her children's picture on the first day of school. I can only be perfect 95% of the time! To say the least, it was a great first day!

Jake is in the 2nd grade at International Studies Magnet School. Mrs. Mary Wheelis is his teacher. She goes to our church and we are so thrilled! In the 2nd grade they study about South America. (1st grade was Australia) He is so excited because Chris is going in a few weeks to do a presentation on Ecuador for all of the 2nd grade students. I am trying to confidence Chris that he needs to take Jake to Ecuador sometime this school year. Still working on that! Jake's school has become a project based school so there are no desks. It always surprises me when I walk in because all of the students are sitting in groups at tables. It is a small school that has a great community. Jake is blessed to be there.

My sweet little Isaac is at Jonesboro Pre-K. He has Mrs. Sarah Horton as his teacher. Jake had her for kindergarten, but this year she decided to move down to the pre-k. I called the day she moved to request her for this year! She is wonderful and Isaac is so thrilled to have her. We decided a few years ago to go ahead and hold Isaac back one year because his birthday is Aug. 13th. This is his 2nd year at the pre-k and he looks so Huge compared to all of the other kids! They did put him in a class that has multiple 5 year olds, so that is helpful. He loves to go to school every day and never complains about anything.

Both the boys are able to take Spanish twice a week and we are looking forward to seeing how much they are able to learn over the years! My dad is actually taking a college Spanish class right now too. We might have a few interpeters for our next mission trip!

My first day at MacArthur Jr. High was 120% better than last year! It is amazing how much more confident you are after one year. I feel much more relaxed and at ease with everything. I have a great schedule and I really think that it is going to be a great year!

Maybe we will have a "3rd week of school" picture this week!

Isaac is 5!!!!

Isaac has been waiting to turn 5 since Christmas. He asked every few days if it was summer yet. He is finally 5! We had a great swimming party at our new house. Little does he know that he will have a swimming party for every birthday party he ever has from now on!





Grilled hotdogs, chips, kool-aid, cake and goggles. Does it get any better?

9 boys and 1 girl. Bless Peyton! What a gal she is!

Chris' parents were able to come for a long weekend. That made it even more special and Isaac was so excited to have them there for his big day. It was a fun birthday weekend!

Wes and Sam

The Brooks' family spent the night with us the night before they moved. The moving truck was already packed and their house was empty. The boys had a great afternoon/evening. I gave all 4 of them a bath before bed!

They are going to love me for these!

Last Vacation of the Summer!

We wanted to get away one more time before school started and before our best friends, the Brooks, moved away. So, we headed to the lake with the Brooks' and Mullins. We spent a few afternoons on the lake and lots of time laughing and eating! We had a great time, but it was bitter sweet knowing that the Brooks were moving the next week. They have been our best friends for 6 years. We have been pregnant together, had babies just 3 weeks apart, moved each other to multiple houses, took our oldest to kindergarten together, and even went back to work together. They made Jonesboro home and family to us. They will always be apart of our family and will be missed dearly.

Camp GiGi!!!

CAMP GIGI!!!

I had class the entire month of July, so my mom came and stayed with us to keep the boys. They always have so much fun and sleep so well at night.
Thank you GiGi!
You are the best and the boys love you!

She even kept the Brooks boys a few days too!

WOW!!!

Wow.....We have had a busy summer! We went to Impact, then moved, then I started school, then WOW. Not a lot of time for adjusting or relaxing, but still a pretty great summer!

Isaac is into making "cheezy" faces right now and it is driving me crazy!

I talked my mom into working at WOW. She didn't know that I signed her up to be Isaac's class teacher! We are recruiting from out-of-town now!

Jake, Wesley and Keegan making a Moses craft.

One perk to having a dad that is a minister....you get to get on the stage and sit in the go-cart!

Best Friends!



WOW was wonderful as usual and we were all completely exhausted. Would not want it any other way!