The Weekend!

Friday morning I spent my time cleaning up the house like a mad woman. Its incredible how quickly the kids can trash this place, seriously!! At 11:30 Mom came over and we went to the school to have lunch with Brooke and Caleb. it was funny because the day before Brooke told me "youd better call Grandma and tell her to come have lunch with me!" And of course my Mom never turns her down ;) But anyway, we waited in the lunchroom FOREVER and couldn't figure out why we never did see Caleb (his lunch time is first) and finally we went back to his classroom to ask, and his teacher told us that they were eating in the classroom that day. Thank goodness we walked back there, we at least got to see him for a few minutes before his lunch was over! Then we went to see Brooke, and we got to see first-hand how strict her teacher is at lunch, those kids were QUIET! I guess she really knows what shes doing, although I still think sometimes she can be too harsh! When we left the school, Mom took Rachel and me to the Christian bookstore and I looked around for a new Bible. I got a "Women of Faith" bible, and its purple leather on the outside, and I love it! It has lots of interesting side notes, and it looked like something id really like. Mom got it for me as a gift. I am looking forward to using it as I get more into Bible study these days :)


That evening we went to a Halloween party Joanne had at her house. The kids got to wear their Halloween costumes, so they were ecstatic. Thank goodness it was pretty warm out, because Brooke's costume is pretty short and thin. We couldnt find Calebs mask that went along with his costume (he had been playing with it lately) and so he wore another mask, so he was mismatched, but oh well, of course no one cared! ;) The party was a lot of fun, we ate, had cupcakes, and the kids played and then did a craft and played Pin-the-mouth on the skeleton. Arnold ate waay too much sugar while there and was pretty hyper (hes as bad as a kid!) I thought he would complain that I dragged him to another kids' party, but he seemed to have a pretty good time too ;) Too bad Rachel wouldnt keep her hat on.. her costume is sooo cute! I loved it on her! Before we went home, Joanne and I played Singstar and we sang "Poker Face." It was hilarious because I was belting it out and everyone was making fun of me and Rachel was even crying ;) Turns out Arnold took a video of it and was begging me to post it on FB but I said no way ;)


Saturday morning I took Brooke with me to the grocery store to do our shopping. I am not a morning person at all, but turns out that early is the time to go, because the store was prety much bare, and I got in and out of there pretty quick-- gotta remember that!! Around lunch time I took the big kids to Jackie's house for her son Chris' birthday party. We all ate and then had some of the Pirates of the Carribean cake (which was so yummy by the way!) and then we stood outside and talked while the kids played. When we got home we went out and took some things by OUAC to sell, and we actually did pretty good making some extra $$$, so I was happy. And then we went to Walmart to buy some household things and snacks. You can tell I was trying to save money this week if I went to Walmart, I hate that place.. it just stresses me out bigtime!!!


Sunday we got ready and went to church. It was the last message on "The End of the World" and I really enjoyed it. Hardly anyone was at church.. they were either sick, or slept in or something!! I missed seeing all my buddies! After church we went and got some lunch real quick, then took the kids to the park. I love that is is already October and still warm enough to play outside alot! Although it looks like the weather will start really cooling down in anotherd day or two, so we'll see! And that afternoon the kids worked on coloring their face masks their Grandma had brought them home from her trip to visit Uncle Alex at his new apartment. Yesterday evening Arnold and I did a Bible Study together after we put the kids to bed. We are starting to study Psalms. So i am already getting good use out of my new Bible!!! :) :) It was a great weekend!!!

My mis-matched Transformer, Cinderella, and a Strawberry!!

Brooke and her buddy Logan, at the Halloween Party!
One of my very best friends! :)

The kids at Chris' Birthday Party

Me holding baby Ben! the cutest little bear Ive ever seen! :)

Mid-Week Randoms

~I gained two more followers! Now up to 46! Haha, i feel special :)

~Rachel has now started telling me when she needs to be changed. She will come up to me and say "IM WET!" or "CHANGE CHANGE!" Isnt that one of the signs of being ready to start potty-training? we've tried her out on the potty before but she usually just runs away screaming.. so I gave up on that!

~I saved my game pieces from Mcdonalds the other day, and I got a free Mcflurry! Score! haha! We went out for icecream the other night and I was able to cash it in and get one with M&Ms. I always pick around with Arnold and ask him what he would do if we won $$$ from the game, and he just rolls his eyes at me. Hey, its ok to dream, right?! :)

~So Brooke's Girlscout nut sales end this weekend. ive tried to get some sales, but failed miserably. I told yall I was a bad salesperson! Then Arnold took her sheet into work and came home with 9 orders! I have an awesome husband! I asked him how he did it, and he said it helps to actually see the people in person and they usually dont say no when you corner them ;) I told Brooke shed better hug her daddy and thank him when he got home, for all his help! She now has enough orders for the patches and we'll see how many more orders I can get before the weekend.. still gotta hit up the grandparents ;)

~The other night I was reading an interesting article online. I like to read (no shocker there!) and I know lots of useless trivia. but anyway! It was about the "8 most common birth defects." Did yall know that dimples are a birth defect?! Who knew?! Something about shortened facial muscles. Arnold has one, and I absolutely love it! it looks so sexy when he smiles. I was joking around with him and told him he was "defected." ;) But see? you learn something new every day!

~Brooke came home with another "frowny face" in her planner this week. She said she got it for talking at lunch. Her teacher is VERY oldschool and they have strict rules even at lunch. I think they have to whisper only and she was too loud? But anyway.. I asked her if she had to walk laps for it and she said no, because it was raining. Well thank goodness for that! Somedays I am thankful for her teacher's discipline methods, and somedays I think shes too harsh. I dont know what to think. This mom thing is harder than I ever realized!!

~I loved the "Crazy Love" book by Francis Chan so much that I decided to try another one of his books. The other day when Barnes and Noble offered a 15% off coupon online (i always get into trouble with those!!) I ordered "Forgotten God." It is supposed to be delivered today actually, and Im getting excited about reading it! In the meantime, I am reading the last in the "House of Hope" series by Neta Jackson. She is a great writer, also. Then I need to hit up my friend Jackie to read the rest of Nicholas Sparks books that I never got around to reading. She is a big fan, so has most of his collection ;)

~Tuesdays nights are bumming me out right now. They have the games on Fox right now, so that means Glee and Raising Hope wont be coming back until next month! Boooo! But I heard that Damien from GLEE PROJECT is supposed to appear on the next episode that comes on, so I cant wait to see that. He was my favorite on the show! And he won!

~I have been trying to save money this week, and I have not gone ANYWHERE. I guess it helps that its been cold and rainy, and that my friend Erika, whom I usually meet up with alot, has been busy. But that just makes me feel blah, because I get stuck in these ruts where all I want to do is sit on the computer or whatever. I like the days when Rachel and I get out of the house and stay busy. Maybe next week will be better!

~Calebs assistant teacher is pregnant! I hadnt wanted to ask her anything, just in case, but now there is an obvious baby bump and I saw her the other day in car-rider line with the infamous stand.. hands on hips, with stomach sticking out a little :) She is so cute. She is tall and thin so its taken her longer to show I guess. I wonder when shes due?! I want to buy her a baby gift! haha.. I know.. I am sick arent I? I just love babies! But i really am excited for her!! :)

Blessings!

Sunday morning we got up and got ready for church. We sat with Amy and her husband Chase this week. Erika wasnt there this week *cries!* haha. There was another great message this week on the "End of the World." I am really liking this series. We heard that the Christ Church band was going to be playing at Oktoberfest that afternoon at 1pm, so we decided to go see them after church. We picked up some lunch on the way (because we all know how expensive it can get feeding 5 people at a festival.. you can easily drop a lot of $$$!) But when we got there, we did give the kids a bag of cotton candy to share. Rachel used to be confused by that stuff but now she loves it and begs for more and more.. she's definately Arnold's kid! Anyway, we sat out on some of the bleachers and waited for the show to start. When the music started Arnold took the kids up closer and they were dancing around, it was so cute. By now I know a lot of the songs they do, so I am able to sing along by heart. I love the more modern music, that is one of the things that made us fall in love with Christ Church. You cant go in there and NOT leave smiling!


After being there for around an hour we had to go home and get the kids changed, because Arnold and I had our 2nd and last Membership class that afternoon. While we were at home I was painting Brooke's nails purple and Rachel seemed interested so I painted hers soo.. first time shes had them done! :) And Caleb asked too.. but Arnold said no way ;) Anyway, we dropped the kids off at the childcare and then went into our class. This week's class was more about the things that are expected to you when you become members. We took notes and listened to a few speakers. And we were going around the room telling a time when we felt closest to God. Arnold's was when we thought we were losing Caleb (we had a treatened miscarriage around 12 wks when I was pregnant with him) And mine was just here recently! Everything Ive been going through this past year has made me so much more closer to God its incredible. I always called myself a Christian, but wasnt really LIVING it and WALKING the walk, if you know what I mean. Now i find myself wanting to change, and live better. I smile more, have more patience with the kids and other people, work harder on my marriage, try to be a better friend, pray more, and all sorts of things like that, and all because I know God wants me to, and it brings me joy. Not trying to be all mushy, but I am serious. I am so thankful for so many things at this point in my life!!! :) :)

Now back to the class... speaking in front of the 25+ people in there was still sort of embarassing to me, but i am getting better and better at talking in front of a crowd I think. After the class they had a dinner for us. They made.. wait for it.. chicken on a bone! What are the odds of that? That id be faced with that 2 times in one week. Haha... Arnold says it was like a sign Im supposed to be eating it.. he loves it. He cut the meat off the bone for me, what a sweet husband (i felt like a kid at that moment and im sure we got a few looks, but who cares!) And then after dinner they had an icecream bar set up, with all sorts of toppings.. sprinkles, syrup, crushed oreos, nuts, cherries.. you name it! So that was delicious!!! And after we ate dinner we talked to people who worked in the areas we were interested in serving at in church. I cant quite make up my mind.. I was thinking along the lines of helping with the kids.. And the "Boxcar Babies" group which is ages birth-2yrs, because everyone knows how much I love babies! Plus, id get to be in Rachel's class some Sundays. Arnold is thinking along the lines of helping with setup/take down and cleaning, etc. More hands on stuff around the building. So we will see where the place us!


So now that we are done with the classes, we officially stand up in front of our church and become members, on Nov. 27th at the 11:00 service. I am happy they arent doing it until then, because my parents will be out of town at the end of this month, and I really want them to be there. Also, I will be Baptized!!! I am so excited about this. I was "christened" as a baby, but never baptized, so I think it will be neat to do it as an adult, in front of everyone, and proclaim the changes Im making in my life. And yes, im aware that it will be in NOV and COLD.. but thats ok with me! They have an indoor jacuzzi they are going to use, and I had the option of "sprinking" or full-on DUNKING, and im going for the dunk. I figured why not.. if im going to do it in the first place, might as well go BOLD!!! :) So on that day I plan on inviting my family and friends so they can be there with me, and hopefully my lifegroup will be there too. Hoping my video testimony goes over well too, I am planning to start working on that soon! And afterwards we will all go to lunch at Dos Amigos with everyone.. that is the plan, anyway. I am so excited about that week.. it also happens to be the week of Thanksgiving.. so that will be a fun week!! :)

3 things in life im *extremely* thankful for!!! :)

Mountain Date

Friday Arnold and I decided to go on a "date date." The older kids were of course in school, and we asked the inlaws to watch Rachel. And that morning we headed up to the mountains. We hadnt had a date in awhile, and we wanted to do something we dont do all the time, plus this time of year its BEAUTIFUL in the mountains, with all the leaves changing colors. And we couldnt have asked for nicer weather. I needed a jacket early that morning, but later on it was so warm I was fine in my short-sleeve shirt!

We drove up there with no music on most of the time.. just talking. Amazing how much you can talk about when you dont have kids in the backseat yelling, whining and singing! When we got up there we first stopped at Blowing Rock. We paid to go on the nature walk, and it was really worth it. The views were amazing, and so beautiful. And what would a day out be without tons of picture-taking by me? Haha.. we set up the camera on timer on several occasions and took pictures of Arnold and I together. Since we had gotten there so early we basically had the place all to ourselves, it was so quiet and peaceful! I always love to look out over God's magnificent creations, makes me instantly feel closer to Him :) Anyway, when we were done with the walk we went back into the gift shop before we left and picked up some candy.. Nerds for Arnold and blue raspberry rock candy for me ;) Then we drove to Julian Price Park and walked around there and took pics too.

And you know you cant go to the mountains without stopping at the outlet stores! I love outlets! We of course first hit up the childrens' stores. I was proud of myself in Carters and Oskkosh.. didnt buy a single thing (although Id have loved to!) The kids dont really need any more clothes at all! Then we went into Gymboree though, and that store is a weakness for me. One of their lines was an owl line, so I got Rachel some things. Could.not.resist! I could tell Arnold was getting bored by then though.. I know he hates lingering in the kids' stores while I oooh and ahh over all the cute stuff! We went into the Levis outlet then, and Arnold actually bought a shirt to wear that day, because he was wearing a thin sweater and was way too hot by then. And lastly we stopped in the Gap outlet. And surprisingly I bought something for MYSELF intstead of the kids.. shocker! They had some hoodies with the Gap Logo marked down to $13.99 and they had a deal going that weekend with extra % off clearance, so I got a hoodie for $8.. cant beat that! And Arnold picked up some new sunglasses.. they were all on clearance too since Summer is over. So we didnt spend too much, but we had a great time. And on the way home we stopped at Chilis for lunch. I got the potato soup and sandwich (that soup is one of my new fave foods!) and Arnold got a Blue Moon with his lunch (Ill never understand the love for beer--its gross!!)

That night we dropped the big kids off at a friends' church. They were taking all the kids to a local corn maze. We were supposed to send the kids along with flashlights and in tennis shoes, and they said theyd feed them and take them into the corn maze. Arnold and I still had Rachel, but we were thrilled to have even more "down time" that evening. We went over to Erika and Billy's house while we waited on the kids to get back home. And that worked well because Rachel and Kenzie got to play together! Can i just say how much I love all of their dogs! Haha! Their house is full of them.. they were everywhere, and so cute. I guess they could tell I was a dog-lover, because they came up to me and wanted me to pet them :) Anyway, us adults played Wii bowling. I have played once or twice before. i wasnt even really paying attention, but ended up getting several strikes.. how does that happen?! Haha.. it was so much fun though. The more and more I play Wii at other friends' houses, the more Im convinced we need one at our house!

It turned out to be an awesome day!! :) :)

At the moutains

Arnold wanted to take this one. I was smiling and trying not to laugh the whole time!

Arnold took this at the outlets. They had pretty fall decorations out. Too bad the sun was in my eyes and they were halfway closed!

Lunch at Chilis before we headed home. Arnold with his Blue Moon!

Jam-Packed Thursday

Thursday morning Rachel and I went out shopping before we went to Arnold's work to have lunch with him. At Kohl's they had some of their bedding on clearance, and I found Brooke a twin set that had a comforter and sham for $17.99, I was so excited. She will love it. I also picked up two more books from the Kohls' Cares stuff thats out right now. I am saving them for Christmas. The books are just precious this time around! Then around 11 we went and picked up lunch at Taco Bell for us and Arnold. His mom usually packs his lunch every day for work (Yes im serious!! His dad and him work at the same company, so she just went ahead and sends an extra lunch to him every day too.. works out great, saves us money! ;) But anyway, his Mom and Dad were both off work this week on vacation so I took him lunch. We had lunch outside his work on the picnic tables and then took some laps around the building for some exercise.. much to Rachel's protest, haha :)

After lunch, Rachel and I headed to a local flower shop to order a plant. A member of our lifegroup had recently lost her Grandmother, and we gathered money to send her family a plant to let them know we were thinking of them. This is just one example of how wonderful lifegroups are. The group genuinely cares about one another, and is there to support and encourage along the way, through lifes ups and downs. It means the world to me, and Im so glad I joined one! Anyway, since Ive somehow taken over an "admin role" to help Ray out, I took up the money and went to order the flowers. I dont know much about flowers and plants (the ones Ive had in the past have died pretty quickly!) I told them I didnt care what they sent, as long as it was nice.. since they obviously knew what they were doing! They ended up sending peace lillies, and I heard they were really pretty, so I am happy! And the service there was great by the way, they even gave Rachel a free smiley face balloon while she was waiting. Thanks to Jamie for recommending the place to me!!

And then one more stop before we went home.. we went to Ritas! Yes, again! We met Erika and Mackenzie there.. they had never been, and I swore Id get her hooked too, which I did ;) Erika got pumpkin pie italian ice (i dont like pumpkin pie, but she swears it was good!) and I got Wild black cherry, because they didnt have any of "my flavors" that day. So now I have tried five different flavors in all, and I liked them all, but I think strawberry margarita will always be my favorite!! The girls shared a "smores" italian ice. They seemed to love it, and made quite the mess. Rachel ended up spilling a lot of hers on the floor and the girl working mopped it up for us.. thank goodness she was a nice person.. some people get very irritated when kids make messes! After we finished, we went outside and tried to get a few pictures of the girls together. When we told them it was time to say bye-bye, they gave each other a hug! It was the most precious thing ever! I am so happy Rachel has a friend that she can play with throughout the week while the big kids are at school. Her and Kenzie have become quite the BFFs!!! :) :) Just like their moms ;)

That evening I went to the volunteer banquet for the Pregnancy Care Center. They had a big dinner at a local church to "celebrate all the volunteers" and what they do there at the center. I had originally wanted Arnold to go with me as my guest, but we couldnt find sitters. So Erika stepped in as my date! ;) First off, I wasnt even sure if Id make it there, because I had NO clue where this church was, and everyone knows how I am with directions. But I followed the directions on what it said online and somehow ended up finding the actual road by MISTAKE. I kept looking for a certain road in the step BEFORE the actual road, and somehow ended up driving by the church. I was pleasantly surprised, thats the easiest Ive ever found anything! ;) Anyway, the place was decorated so nicely, with fall decorations on the tables and walls. The thing about being a volunteer (especially a call-in for now) I dont know that many people. There are TONS of volunteers, but only a select few I get to see on the particular nights I work. So I didnt know hardly anybody there, so I just picked a random table to sit at. But the people there seemed very nice, and it was comfortable talking to them. It was funny because everyone who came up to say Hi to me, I made sure to tell them Arnold couldnt make it, so my friend Erika filled in. Just about everyone brought their husbands as their guest, so Im sure I looked funny with another girl there but Erika was a good sport about it ;) Did i mention what a GOOD date she was? She even offered to cut up my chicken for me. But let me back up.. for dinner they had CHICKEN ON A BONE. Ahh everyone knows I dont eat meat on the bone.. call me weird, but it just grosses me out. But thats all they had, so I tried to be polite.. even though I was feeling a little queasy! Erika even took a picture of it with her phone to prove to Arnold that I had eaten it ;) Halfway thru the process of trying to cut pieces off my plastic knife broke off in the middle of the chicken. I think the people at the table were pretty amused. I however gave up! At least the rest of the food was good.. potatoes, green beans, and a big cake for dessert! After we ate, the head of the center talked for awhile and then had different groups stand up and introduce themselves. I was not only the youngest there, but the one who had been there the least amount of time. Everyone was saying Ive been here BLANK years, and I said Um... 2 months! Haha, but at least its a start! I love what I am doing, and I am excited about it, because God seems to be doing big things there! I loved hearing the stories and personal testimonies of people that stood up and talked about things that had happened while they had been working there. And some peoople have been volunteering there for over 10 YEARS. Now that is dedication people! Anyway, I had a great time, and I am so thankful to Erika, who took time out of her busy schedule to be there for me, it meant a lot to me! And when we left, and it was dark, I was thankful to her for leading me out of there and letting me follow her so I didnt get lost. Did i mention that she is the BEST?! She is a great friend!!!! :) :)

My torn-apart chicken! hahaha!

Rachel and Kenzie-- best buds!
Giving each other a hug! :) :)

Mid-Week Randoms

~Last week my Sister-in-law Jenn had a fireman come over to her house and show the kids the truck and all the other stuff. He lives across the road and doesn't mind doing free tours for the kids (she runs an in-home daycare) So rachel and I ran over there to join in on the fun! It was so cool, they let the kids climb into the truck, showed them everything in there, dressed up in their uniforms, and even let the kids shoot some water out of the hose. At the end they gave our firehats, stickers, pencils, cups, and all sorts of goodies! Rachel was too scared to go into the truck, but she seemed to enjoy it, and I got a lot of good pictures!

~This past weekend I was going through my clothes pulling out stuff, and noticed that I needed to buy some new pants badly. Then I noticed a big pile of jeans that were 2 sizes smaller than what Ive been wearing for a long time. I wished they would fit because then i wouldnt have to go shopping. And just on a whim I tried a pair on. And they fit!!! I was stunned. I knew I had been losing some weight lately, but had no CLUE it was enough to fit back into my old jeans! I hadnt worn that size since Arnold and I got married! I was so happy, I ran into the living room to show off to Arnold ;) This is definately keeping me motivated to keep trying to lose weight. And im not doing anything drastic, I seriously just started drinking tons of water (I used to be a big soda drinker, it wasnt anything to put back 2-4 cans a day!!) and I try to get some exercise most days, even if its just a walk around the block or mall with Rachel!

~I just finished the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. I bought it on a whim one day when Barnes and Noble had a coupon code online. I had heard good things about it. I ended up finishing it in 2 days! It was an awesome book and Id really recommend it. Im letting a friend in Lifegroup borrow it this week because it was on her to-read list, too! I just ordered "Bossypants" By Tina Fey, using my Ebay bucks for this quarter. Ive heard its hilarious!!

~We've been needing to get Brooke a twin bed forever, but never have gotten around to it yet. And it just so happens that Erika was selling her daughters old one, so it worked out, and now we have a bed for Brooke! She was so excited and wanted Arnold to put it together right away so she could sleep in it that night. I didnt have any twin sheets, so I put on a set of our's and she juse made do with that. And the next day I went out and bought her some flowered sheets at Target. And they were on clearance too.. they have a lot of bedding on sale right now! ;) Anyway, we rearranged the room while we were at it and I like the way it looks. Cant believe how fast my girls are growing!!

~Girlscouts are in the process of selling nuts right now. I am a bad salesman.. seriously.. i couldnt do sales as a job! But they are really good, seriously, I buy some every year. And so if anyone wants to order any, let me know! ;) The sale ends Oct. 16th.

~Yesterday I went on a playdate with a few friends at the mall. Jennifer had had a baby girl, Audrina, 3 weeks ago. I hadnt gotten to see her yet, so i was excited! she let me hold her a lot of the time we were there, so I just snuggled her while she was sleeping :) All the while Rachel and Kenzie played together in the playarea. They are so cute together, they have really become great friends! Then we all had lunch in the foodcourt. I got Rachel a sub and apples from Subway, and of course she wasted most of it! I was trying to hard to be good, but the pizza was calling to me from Sbarro, so I ate pepperoni pizza, complete with ranch dressing and all! ;)

~Last night we went to a meeting with some people from our church about joining. We are in the process of taking the classes and getting everything together. They wanted to meet our family and answer any questions we had and give us some information. The meeting was at Atlanta Bread company. We had already eaten dinner before, so we got the kids cookies while we were waiting (soo yummy there!!) And of course Rachel wet her pants while we were in there and I hadnt brought an extra outfit, but I was lucky enough to find a pair of her pants in the very back of the van. Anyway, during the meeting they gave me the packet on Baptism, and they told me that when I get it done I need to prepare a 2-3 minute testimony that they are going to have on video, while we are there. Now I am nervous! I hate talking in front of a camera. But i guess it will be ok, I am going to figure out what I want to say. I hope the Baptism will be in Nov. so my parents can be there, since they are going out of town at the end of Oct. I know its not as cute as baby Baptism or anything, but Id still like to share it with people close to me! ;)

Rachel and Monkey. Monkey wanted to wear the firehat ;)

Me, Rachel and the fireman!

1st Weekend of October!

This weekend was crazy!!! (when are they not?!) But i had so much fun! I got to see so many of my best friends, all in the same weekend! I love times like that. I always feel so refreshed and uplifted after spending time with those that I care alot about. I am blessed with wonderful family and friends! :)

Friday I met up with Jackie and her son Logan. We went into Jitterbugs first (a local kids' consignment store). I dont go up that way too often so I wanted to look. I found a few things, I am a sucker for kids' books, so I got some new ones. Rachel was convinced she was getting the Dora clothes hamper she picked up, but I snuck it back in when she wasnt looking ;) I dont know WHERE she got her love for Dora.. we never watched it that much at all, but she is all about some Dora! Anyway, then we went to RITAS!!! They didnt have any of my fave flavors on the list that day (Lemonade, Strawberry Margarita, or Pina Colada) so i tried Rasberry and it was pretty good! Guess its a good thing I was stuck trying a new flavor because I tend to stick to what I know, and never try new things ;) I got one that Rachel and I could share, but she pulled the cup over to her side of the table, said "BAD GIRL! MINE!!!!" Yes, she is still calling me Bad Girl when she is mad at me... It is hilarious but frustrating at the same time ;) She basically stole the italian ice away from me, but I eventually got her to give it back ;) Lastly we went to Hobby Lobby and looked around.. I love that store! They had all the Christmas stuff out so I loved looking at all the ornaments. While we were in there someone dropped and busted a glass thing all over the floor.. Im just glad it wasnt Rachel!!


Later that evening I met up with my friend Natalie and went to the movies to see Abduction. The movie with Taylor Lautner ;) Yes i STILL love him, and dont care that he is younger than me.. he IS legal, and he IS gorgeous!!! ;) The theater was PACKED. Most people were there for the opening night of "Courageous." Its a movie made by the same people that made "Fireproof." I actually want to see it really bad, but Im trying to get it arranged for our lifegroup to go see it together. Anyway, its funny because Arnold was joking around and making fun of me before I went, and swore that Taylor would take his shirt off in the movie, and probably very soon. I am not kidding-- within 10 mins into the movie his shirt was OFF. Not that im complaining... haha! But it was funny! The movie was pretty good.. I dont like action that much at all. Id call it more of a pyschological thriller though. It kept me wondering what would happen next and it kindof messed with my mind there for a little while. I wont give any of it away, but id recommend it. At least to rent! I had an awesome time with Natalie too, we had been trying to get together for the longest time, but stuff kept getting in the way.


Saturday morning Brooke and I met up with Jess and baby Hunter to look at some stuff for her wedding. Its coming up soon and Im so excited for her! I am hoping to help her out as much as possible. And of course I was THRILLED to get to see Hunter.. he has grown so much its incredible! She let me carry him while we were walking through the stores so you know I was in heaven ;) He has the most adorable baby face in the world, I could just squeeze his cheeks! We went into Kohls.. and they have their new KOHLS CARES stuff out for kids. If you know the book "On the Night you were Born" (which is awesome by the way.. we have it and its one of our faves!) The books out now are by the same author. We picked up another one in the collection and ill probably save it for Christmas. That day it was WINDY and chilly.. so Jess had to take Hunter home so he wouldnt get sick. So Brooke and I met back up with Arnold and the kids and we went out for awhile. We went to some yardsales, but there wasnt many left out since it was so late. We DID find a place where the lady gave away a play tent to Brooke because it was so late in the day. We got home to put it together and it was missing a pole! But the kids still played under the leaning tent.. it was so funny. Then we went to lunch at Backyard burger before we went back home.


Saturday night Arnold and i went on a double-date with Erika and Billy. I am soo glad they asked us out, because just earlier that morning I told Arnold that it had been awhile since we went out alone and we NEEDED a date! We went to Chilis, and they had a coupon out to get 2 margaritas, an appetizer, 2 entrees, and a shared dessert for a certain price. Since im not drinking anymore Arnold got both the margaritas.. not that he minded ;) And then we got the chips and dip, he got chicken fajitas and I got chicken tenders, and we got the chocolate chip paradise pie for dessert (which i ate most of since arnold was stuffed by then) Is anyone hungry now, HAHA! It was sooo good. And the company was good too, of course. We all talked and had some good laughs. Love that we have another great couple to hang out with. We need to do it more often! (hint hint Erika!! ;)


Sunday morning we got ready and went to church. It was really chilly so the kids got to wear some of their new Fall clothes again. Rachel wore her ADORABLE halloween dress. I had gotten it earlier in the year at a YARDSALE (can you believe it!?) and it looks brand new. Jesse started a new series of sermons called "End of the World" and yesterday's message was really awesome.. I learned a lot that I had actually been questioning for quite some time. After church we went home and had lunch, then got ready for the parade. A local highschool had their homecoming parade, and Brooke's Kindergarten class got to be in it. Arnold's friend actually drove the truck and pulled the kids and their teachers. The whole family went out to watch her in the parade.. and the kids had blast having candy thrown at them by all the people in the parade. And Brooke was in heaven.. she has already perfected her parade wave ;) And it ended up not being that cold after all, the weather was so beautiful yesterday!!


So now we're back to Monday again (*sigh*) But im looking forward to a lot of fun things this week so it might not be too bad! Everyone have a great week!!

Aunt Abby and baby Hunter at Kohls. Look at his precious little smile! :)

The family at Backyard Burger on Saturday
Arnold and I on the Double Date ;)

Erika and I outside of Chilis

Brooke in the parade. The banner said "Future Class of 2024!" That is just not cool, makes me want to cry thinking about it!!!!! Thats her teacher sitting behind her.