My Favorites Lately!

 

I am loving this band, We The Kingdom. They play a lot of their songs at church, and I was hooked. Some of my favorites are Holy Water, and Child of Love. So good!!

It's about time Rob Thomas and Santana did another collab! I love their new song, Move.

I ordered these fall pillow covers on amazon. I love the colors!

Arnold HATES my car stickers but oh well! My latest is this Dwight Shrute sticker ;)

TOMS had an amazing sale online recently. I had to get this pair with foxes. Perfect for fall, right?!

My new favorite place in town is Home Goods! Wow they have the best home and seasonal decor. I could go broke in that store. I took Arnold with me to look around the other day. I don't know what he thought, lol.

The people who make those delicious Cadbury easter egg candies now make a fall version!!! I already picked some up at Target!! They make a Christmas version, too!!

One of the books I read recently, was pretty good!

Everyone online was talking about Amanda Kloot's book, and it was on an amazon kindle deal one day, so I got it. I read it in one day. She lost her young, healthy husband to Covid. The story was just heartbreaking, but she was so strong through it. It made me remember to not take things and people for granted, because circumstances can change in a second.

We took the kids to the movies to see Free Guy. I am so happy to be back at the movies!! YES this movie was cheesy but it was way better than I expected! Tons of funny parts, and even a sweet story and some lessons thrown in there. Plus, Ryan Reynolds is cute.... ;) 

All my friends know I do NOT like anything scary or with death in it, so I shocked everyone and myself by starting this show on Hulu with Arnold. And im hooked!! New episodes come out every tuesday. Threres only 4 so far. Its a mystery/who done it type thing but has many funny parts in it, which makes it bearable for me. I mean with Steve Martin and Martin Short??! Love those guys!! Youd think itd be a strange mix to add Selena Gomez in there but it works... the mix of older people and a young person makes it interesting from different points of view. 

Another show I heard talked about ALL THE TIME lately was Ted Lasso! It involves sports and i didnt think I'd get into this either, but it is GREAT! Ted Lasso is an awesome person, and the cast is so funny and entertaining. Even if you're not a sports person youd like this show. I already have my favorite characters that.I root for, Arnold and I binged season 1 in one weekend, and are making our way through season 2. 

Fall Bucket List!

 

1. Visit the pumpkin patch- Even though our kids are getting older, we still like to visit the pumpkin patch every year. Its so fun to walk around and pick the perfect pumpkin to take home. And I love going on hayrides. I think the kids love all the junk you can buy, like cotton candy and candy apples! 

2. Attend football games- This is especially exciting this year because Brooke is a cheerleader, and in band! We will be going to all the games (Lord willing!) and get to watch her! There is nothing like a fall evening under those bright lights, cheering for your hometown team :)

3. Ride up to the mountains - We live within an hour of the mountains, so we drive up there often. It is especially fun to drive up there during the fall, to see the leaves changing colors. It is always so beautiful, no matter how many times you see it! 

4. Make a pumpkin catucherie board- I want to try one that I saw online, its so cute! I think the kids would love everything on this tray, especially the fruit. 

5. Decorate the house for Fall- I decorate for every holiday/season, and I may go overboard, but it makes me so happy! I usually can't wait much longer than the first of September to bring out the fall stuff. Recently Arnold got me some shelving units in the basement to hold all my holiday stuff, and its pretty organized. BUT I may have a problem ;) 

6. Church fall festival- The new church we have been attending puts on a big fall festival every year. This year I hope for us all to go, hang out, and maybe help out some too!

7. Go see new movies at the theater- They are coming out with both a new sequel to Hotel Transylvania and The Addams Family this fall. Once again, I know our kids are getting older, but I will drag them along to the movies to see these! I have really missed going to the movies during quarantine! 

8. Celebrate Mom and Dad's birthday- My parents both turn 70 this fall! I cannot believe it. I hope we do something fun. 

9. Go to our local Oktoberfest

10. Have a family Halloween dinner/party

Life Lately: August!

 
I helped throw a 50th anniversary party for my inlaws. We had it at their church and went with lots of gold since the 50th is the golden anniversary. We had snacks and cake in the afternoon, so simple enough. They had a really amazing turnout. Everyone seemed to have a great time. I had been stressing over it for months, but everything came together. Arnold was so sweet to help me set up and clean up too. 

At first we thought the 2-tier cake would be overkill, but im glad we got it, because we had a bigger turnout than expected! The cake was white cake (mother in laws request) and the gold on top are big sprinkles! everyone loved that part. 

Our kids with their cousins, on Arnold's side! They have all gotten so big. It was so fun having everyone together in one place. 

Brooke got to start cheering at her games! She is doing so great, she has really been practicing a lot. I sent pics of her to my parents and they said they could see so much happiness in her face. Her bff is on the squad too, so they get to spend a lot of time together, and i love that. 

Caleb joined the ROTC! he is interested in being in the military one day. So far he really likes it. At the football game he got to help the other guys direct traffic. When he gets older he will get to go out onto the field and carry the american flag!

Brooke has been busy! She is also in the marching band. On thursday nights she cheers with JV and on friday nights she plays with the band. 

In typical crazy parent fashion, Arnold and I were right near the band at the first varsity game. I kept taking pictures of everything. I was so proud. I hope we didnt embarass Brooke too much!

Dont you love my football earrings?!

A friend who makes shirts made me this for the games. I also got football earrings in her school colors. And i wore my blue vans so they would match, too. I am one of "those" moms but I dont even care! :D

We recently had dinner at mom and dads house. we had low country boil, but my brother and I have called it crap in a pot ever since we were little (we were weird) so now everyone calls it that :D

Arnold took it inside for Dad and Willow was right underfoot hoping he would drop some food, haha :D

A lady I worked with several years ago at Chick Fila, Susan, recently passed away. She had had cancer for sometime. It is so sad because she was still pretty young. She was such a wonderful woman, always cheerful and helpful. I know she will truly be missed by many. 

Ruby likes it when Arnold plays guitar :D She is his newest fan.

She also likes to help me study, but usually she is just a distraction and falls asleep :D

My sweet nephew turned 1!!! The year just flew by! He is starting to walk around some, has some teeth, and is still as adorable as ever ;)

Mom and dad celebrated their 49th anniversary! Dad gave mom red roses and cooked dinner for her, so sweet. they have already told me NO to a party next year for their 50th. They are not really party people! :(

Mom and dads dog willow also turned 1!! yes we have a TON of birthdays and events in our family in August! We got willow lots of toys (which she has already mostly torn up!!) and a dog cookie! We could only find the big ones and it was almost as big as her! :D

The kids started 10th, 9th, and 7th grades. I still cannot comprehend this. Everytime i think of how close theyre getting to graduating, I cry! So far the year is going ok and they don't have to do virtual, but we will see. 

We are within an hours drive of the beautiful NC mountains, so we make lots of day trips up there. An italian restaurant we love had been closed down forever due to Covid, and when they opened back up, we knew we had to go!! They also opened a Vera Bradley outlet (Arnolds in trouble!) so we had to go look around there!

Caleb used to LOVE legos when he was little, but he said he had outgrown them. Recently i guess he got back into some of the harder sets, because he bought a few with his birthday money. 

On the nights Brooke had band camp, Sheldon had a lot of fun riding in the car to go with us to pick her up. He thought he was driving ;)

After several years, I started back to college!!!!! I had gone back when the kids were young and completed the first year of the Medical Office Administration program. So now Im picking back up where I left off! Im now working with coding and insurance, and it has gotten a lot harder. But I am determined to finally get this degree! And yes I totally made Arnold take pics of my first day! ;)