Halloween

What a fun night. Lots of candy and lots of scares!! Hope everyone had a fun and safe night!

Thankful Thursday

- I am thankful Jody is suppose to be home today from Ohio. He is suppose to be home for the next 2 weeks without traveling!! We will be so glad he is at home with us during this time, it has been a long time since he has been home for the week!!

_ I am thankful that I early voted already and don't have to worry about getting in the rush of last day early voting. I am also glad we won't be in the "voting day" line.

- I am thankful that God is in control of this election and He already knows who the next President of the United States will be. He already knows what the next months will be like for us. God is in control of our county and future leadership. I am responsible for voting for who I think it the best godly leader for our country, but ultimately, it is God who puts our president in office. I'm glad He is in control!

Daniel 2:21 "He changes times and season; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning."

Romans 13:1 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God."

- I am thankful for the beautiful leaves and cool weather. I am thankful for the Fall season.

- I am thankful for Halloween?!? We enjoy visiting friends and family and having a fun night as a family. This year we will travel trick or treat to family and friends and then we will come home and trick and treat in the neighborhood with friends. We will be handing out candy at our house. I enjoy seeing all the kids dressed up. We will also have the fire pit going in the driveway and will be roasting marshmallows and drinking hot chocolate by the fire. It will be lots of fun, come join us if you don't have Halloween plans already!!

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween! Don't let the ghosts and goblins get you!!

Please Pray...

for Kelly Hicks. Kelly is the daughter of Taylor and Aubrey's piano teacher, Mrs. Jennifer. Kelly has been having health issues for many, many weeks now. She has been really sick. She continues to be sick. She has been out of school since September because of being in the hospital and being so sick. She will stay in the hospital for weeks and then come home only to be home for a few days and then has to go back to the hospital because of complications.

Please pray for Kelly. Pray that God will heal her body. She is having two procedures tomorrow. Please pray that these will go well without complication and it will give Kelly relief.

Please pray for Kelly's family. Mrs. Jennifer has health issues as well. The stress of caring for her daughter, the stress of watching her daughter suffer, the long weeks at the hospital - all of this is not the best for Mrs. Jennifer's health. Please pray that God will keep her healthy and strong during this time of caring for Kelly.

Thank you for your prayers!

A little orchestra and a Halloween party!

This morning we went to hear the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra perform for the Children's concert. It was a good concert and the girls enjoyed it. We decided today we know lots of classical music (of course they played the songs that the children would likely recognize and enjoy!!). We decided we were going to listen to classical music more.

Tonight Taylor helped in the preschool department for their Halloween party at church. The children's department had a Halloween party tonight at church instead of AWANA. Aubrey dressed up like Sharpay and had a great time at the party.

Here are Taylor and Aubrey before leaving for church tonight:

From Taylor and Aubrey

From Taylor and Aubrey

Halloween Party

One night we went to Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We had not been before and it was so much fun. Most of the rides are open. You can trick or treat all over the park. There are dance parties, Halloween fireworks, a Halloween parade. It was awesome! We all had a great time. The kids (and adults) get to dress up in costumes. Taylor dressed up like Gabriella the life guard in High School Musical 2, Aubrey was dressed up like Sharpay the golfer in High School Musical 2 and Kaleigh was dressed up like Hannah Montana.

We also got a picture with Snow White and all 7 Dwarfs. We never see these all together and we were able to get a picture with them all!! We were so excited.

The picture of Aubrey asleep in the car was BEFORE the party!! We had been at Animal Kingdom all day and it had been one of the hotter days, went back to the hotel to change into our costumes and then went to the party at Magic Kingdom. She was tired and needed a little rest. The party lasted until midnight. We were finishing our rides at midnight so it was late on the way back to the hotel and she did not fall asleep then!! What is up with that?

Disney Princesses

Taylor and Aubrey have always liked the princesses since they were young. We have had most of their costumes for dress up clothes and we have all pretended to be one of the princesses at one time or the other. Here are some pictures of the princesses that we saw.

Car Shopping at Epcot

At the end of Test Track in Epcot, there are cars for to you to look at and get in. It is like a car dealership floor and they have information about the cars. Lots of times they have cars that not even released yet to sale.

Taylor and Aubrey picked out the cars they want to have when they turn 16 and begin to drive!!

We are home!

And we had a great time at Disney World. We went to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studio (formerly MGM Studio) and Epcot. We have so much fun at each park. We had pictures with lots of characters. We got to ride all our favorite rides many times. I hope you enjoy the pictures. I tried not to put too many pictures in this post!!

Disney World

We are at Disney World. We had a safe trip here. We arrived this afternoon. After checking into our hotel, we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping. We ate at Rainforest Cafe. I have pictures that I will post later.

We are planning on going to Magic Kingdom tomorrow. I am so excited.

Aubrey was feeling some better last night but she is not feeling as well today. We have given her medicine and hopefully she will be feeling better tomorrow. If not, she may have to go visit Dr. Mickey Mouse!!

I will update through the week. I hope you all are having a great weekend.

Happy Birthday Jody

Today I'm excited to wish my best friend, husband, and father of my children Jody, a very happy birthday!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear, Jody
Happy birthday to you!

I would like to share with you some things I love about my husband...

1.) He loves God with all of his heart.

2.) He is a dedicated family man. I always know that the girls and I are his top priorities and he makes every decision with the well being of our family in mind.

3.) He is a great Dad!

4.) He is creative

5.) He is a faithful husband - faithful to his vows, faithful to provide for us, faithful to help, serve, and work for his family.

6.) He will clean bathrooms, clean the house, do laundry, wash dishes and not complain!!

7.) No matter what crazy idea I get in my head, he finds a way for it to work out - not always an easy task.

8.) I love it when he plays the piano and sings. I also love to hear him play the trumpet.

9.) HE LOVES TAKING US TO DISNEY WORLD!!

There are many, many other things that I love about him. Jody, I just want you to know that Taylor, Aubrey and I love you so much. We think you are the best husband and father!! We hope you have a great birthday. We wish you were home on your birthday so we could fix you breakfast in bed, wait on you all day, go to Best Buy, Circuit City, and wherever else YOU want to shop, and celebrate your day!! We hope you have a good day traveling home from New Orleans and we will see you when you get home tonight!!

2 more days ...

until we leave for Disney World. Can you tell I am excited about this trip? We have so many great memories at Disney World. These pictures were taken at Disney World in 2006 - look at Taylor and Aubrey's smiling faces. I wish all of you could go with us on this trip. We would have an awesome trip!!

Happy 1st Birthday Wyatt

From Wyatt

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Wyatt
Happy Birthday to you.

We wanted to wish you a Happy 1st Birthday Wyatt. It is hard to believe you are 1 year old today. It seems like no time ago that we saw you for the first time at the hospital after you were born. You are very special to us and we hope you have a great day!! We look forward to watching you grow more and learn new things in your second year of life. Thanks for being Taylor and Aubrey's real live baby doll!!

This is Wyatt and Taylor a few days ago. I am not sure who is enjoying this more - Taylor or Wyatt!

From fun

Aubrey is sick

Aubrey is not feeling good today. She has had a fever and not wanted to do anything but sleep all day. She has complained with a headache some of the day but says nothing else hurts.

I hope she is not feeling as bad as she acts and is just trying to get out of packing for Disney World this afternoon!!

This is what she wants to do the rest of the day. Befroe she went to sleep she told me to wake her up when it was bedtime!!

From sick Aubrey

Field Trips

We have gone on two fun field trips this week:

On Tuesday, we went to WBIR and took a tour of the studio and then watched the live broadcast of the noon news in the studio. I was so excited, probably more excited than any of the children on the trip! We met Beth Haynes and Julya Johnson.

From WBIR field trip

On Wednesday, we went to the planetarium at Heritage High School. We saw a show about the planets and then a laser show. We have been to the planetarium before on a field trip. We saw a different show this time.

It has been a busy week with field trips. That is all the "planned" field trips for this week. However, we are always open to last minute field trips. So, you never know!!

We will be getting ready for our trip the rest of the week. 4 more days until we leave for Disney World!!

Empty Me

My simple prayer is to be emptied of me and to be filled with Christ. I hope you enjoy one of my favorite songs.

8 days and counting...

Until we leave for Disney World. We are so excited!! (hope you enjoy pictures from our trip last year)

Very Thankful Thursday

Today I am very thankful for God's protection and guidance. Taylor, Aubrey, two friends, and myself were at Knoxville Center Mall yesterday when there was a shooting. We were eating at the Food Court when it happened. We were able to get out of the mall immediately and safely because of God's grace protecting us. We are all still scared and nervous.

I am praying for the family of the man who died in the shooting. I am praying for every person that was a witness of the shooting or at the mall during the shooting. I am praying that the children that were involved will soon forget what happened and that they will have peace and feel safety again.

We will be holding strong to these verses...

Deuteronomy 31:6" Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:8 "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Camping Fun

We love to go camping. We would go every weekend if our schedules allowed it. Papaw and Nana went camping this weekend also so we had great neighbors at the campground!! Thanks Papaw and Nana for going camping with us. We had a great time!

Aubrey lost a tooth while we camping, that is why there is a picture of her mouth. She wanted me to get a picture of the hole in her mouth, but it was just not in a good place to get a good picture. You can get the idea.

It was cold in the morning and at a night this weekend at the campground. Some of us were colder than others!! I love the pictures of Taylor and Aubrey bundled up staying warm.

On Sunday we rode around Cades Cove loop. Taylor and Aubrey rode in the back of the truck. You will see a picture of them at the beginning of the ride and a picture of them at the end of the ride.

We rode bikes a lot this weekend. We went on hikes. We played board games. Of course we watched ballgames on Saturday. We also ate lots of food!

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Week in Review

Jody and I went to see Fireproof on Monday afternoon. It is an excellent movie and greatly blessed and strengthened our marriage. I would definitely recommend seeing this film. It was refreshing to see the miracle God can perform in any marriage no matter the state. Full of fun humor and tear jerking scenes. Also great music!!

Tuesday morning Taylor woke up with a fever, headache, very sore throat, stomach ache, and neck hurting. She went to the doctor and had strep throat. After lying on the couch all day, being waited on by her family, and two doses of antibiotics she felt better by the bedtime. When she woke up the next day she felt much better and has been well since.

On Friday we left for camping. We went to KOA in Townsend and stayed Friday - Monday. I will post more about what we did and pictures in the next post.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

11 days until we leave for Disney World!!

Prayer for Amercia

We must all pray for our country and the leaders of our country right now. I saw this on another blog this morning and thought it was awesome. Hope you enjoy!
(remember to pause the blog music so you can hear the music from the video)

Bennett

I wanted to share some pictures of Bennett from this week. On Saturday, he went to John Sevier Home. When he left his house he was normal Bennett and when he came back he was somebody different (not sure who this character is - somebody from Spider Man).

On Wednesday, he lost his first tooth. He is growing up so fast.