Final Fall Picture Days

Final Fall Picture Days (26-31)

such pretty colors in this one, wish this were my backyard.

I want to frame this picture like in a window time frame and hang on the wall so it looks like this is the view from my window.

this picture was taken at the Fall Festival we went to this Past Sunday CJ, LOVED the leaf pile.

pumpkin farm

I love this pumpkin picture Trick or Treat was last night for our town...here is Fireman CJ

on his way up to the door at his Great Grandma's house.

I'm a Kreativ Blogger

THANK YOU Monica for this fun award.

the fun of this award is, you list 6 things you value, 6 things you don't value and pass it on to 6 friends

6 things I value

1. God and his gracious forgiveness 2. our Freedom 3. my precious family and friends 4. life itself (my health etc) 5. honesty 6. time 6 things I don't value 1. gossip 2. mean people 3. lying 4. abortion 5. laziness 6. clutter 6 friends 1. Kelly @ Kelly's Korner 2. Jessica @ The Youngbloods 3. Heather @Life at Sonic Speed 4. Melissa @ Blog, what blog? 5. Jennifer @ Joshua Brody Francis 6. Jennifer @ the petersons go public!

Spectacular Giveaway

***correction below Thanks to a blogger unknown...I misunderstood... the give away book was written by John Piper and given to Lisa by his son, Abraham. Sorry for the screw up, it was 1:30 in the morning. Lisa over at The Preachers Wife is having a give away. You must go and check it out, you just might find yourself interested in it. At the very least you will become HOOKED to her blog. She is awesome. The giveaway you ask...it is a book, Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ written by John Piper. She is giving away five copies. So go on over, check out her blog and enter to win. Good Luck to you. (I hope you win a copy too)

Wordless Wednesday

GO BUCKEYES!!!

This is the football edition of my Fall Picture Day. Tonight, We (OSU Buckeyes) play Penn State. "They" are favored to win, though I am not sure by how much. Our "rivals" are the Michigan Wolverines, which we will play next month , but in our family, Penn State is our rival. My step dad went to Penn State and is a die hard fan. So for the rest of us the Bucks MUST win this one. I scheduled my birthday "sleepover" for tonight before I realized that this game was on so late (8pm). Oops. Well I will still have the game on "in the background" and the Hubby is going to watch the game with my Mom and step dad.

Good Luck to everyones favorite football teams today, unless of course you are a Penn State fan. (ha ha ha)

GO BUCKEYES!!!

the horseshoe The Best Damn Band in the Land (script Ohio)

Brutus Buckeye this is someones backyard, wish we could do this to our backyard same persons backyard. I know we did not win the National Championship last year, but I still wanted to include this, because, us Buckeye fans, we would LOVE for our dollar bill to look like this.

tomorrow is the day, tidy-ing up

Tomorrow is my sleepover with my girlfriends for my 30th birthday. I am so excited I can not wait. I am hoping to take lots of pictures and share them with you all, but I do have a couple camera shy friends. We will see what we can do.

Today I will be busy getting all my laundry done, my floors all mopped and swept, everything dusted and cleaned and picked up. We do a good job of keeping the house clean most of the time, but when expecting company, I am always a little more thorough. (isn't everyone?)

I come from two parents who could not be MORE different in the house keeping ways. My Mom is a neat freak...honestly...no one can possibly have a cleaner house. Maybe just as clean, but not cleaner. They take vacation (???) each year to wipe down the walls in the entire house. While I wipe down my walls as well (you have to with a little one) I would NEVER take vacation to do such a thing. (I would hire someone first)

My Dad, God rest His Soul, was not a neat freak by any stretch of the imagination. He was not dirty either...he was a typical bachelor (most of his life he was just that). He was also a pack rat, NEVER throwing ANYTHING out. He passed away almost two years ago and we are still going through things of his.

Me...I get a little from both of my parents. I have always been a pack rat. My New Year's resolution for 2008 was to SIMPLIFY. And I have done a pretty good job of that, I think. Our home is old (1899) and has NO storage. We do not have a basement and no garage storage either. (my next home will have BOTH for the record). I was tired of stuff piling up here, there and everywhere. So I started going through everything, tossing, recycling, donating, selling and giving things away. There is now room in our shed (which I would like to tear down and rebuild, it is not much in the way of looks or being good for too much storage. I think it may have been built at the same time the house was...YIKES) for a bowflex which my dear husband has wanted since I met him, many, many years ago. And our spare room, which has been everything from a closet, to a storage room to a home office is finally cleared out enough for it to hopefully be a nursery in the near future. (it is still home to our desktop, but that can easily be moved) I still have not let go of my pack rat past though. I came across a box full of cards while cleaning out the shed and I still have birthday cards from my first birthday. I can not let go of those. I am a card person...I would rather get a card than a gift. (WEIRDO, lol) I also can not part with CJ's "baby" stuff. Partly because I want more babies, but also because I am so sentimental, how could I part with all of that. I do not understand how other Mom's do it. I wish I could be more like them, but I am not and I have excepted that. I will instead do my part to keep the tote making people in business. (our economy crisis will not effect them, thanks to me)

OK, somehow this post got off on something I did not intend to "blog" about. Sorry. And THANKS if you made it through all of that.

Yesterday I received an email from my dearest cousin in Indiana that had some AMAZING fall photos in it. I am sharing them (a few of them) with you. They are breath taking. I hope you enjoy. (Tomorrow if my football edition of Fall Picture Day)

FALL PICTURE DAY 24

Fall Picture Days 21, 22 & 23

one of the world's largest pumpkin (from the pumpkin show that takes place close to us here in OH)

this is one of the world's largest pumpkin pies

We will be leaving for Indiana in just a little over a month for our Thanksgiving vacation. I am so excited that it is all I think about. (maybe I should get a life) It is just that we do not get to visit our family there too often. We usually make day trips there in the summer, but never get to stay. For Thanksgiving we will be staying for four-five days. Lots of time to visit and catch up with friends and family. Plus, added bonus...we get to visit with friend and fellow blogger Monica from life on the hilltop Our boys are the same age and we have not seen them in a couple years. CJ loves to make new friends. So, that is why my fall pictures today are more along the lines of Thanksgiving fall. ENJOY!!!

Wordless Wednesday

lots of happenings...

Well this week I can say I have been missing because I have been BUSY!!! (finally)

My husband was off of work on thursday and friday. (I LOVE having him home with us, but the paycheck that comes along with that, not so great. (he is self employed))

We got A TON done around the house. In february 2007 we started remodeling our home. The majority of the work took three months, but there were still odds and ends to be done and finishing touches. The odds and ends and some of the finishing touches have yet to be finished. (gotta love doing the work yourselves) Our staircase/hallway leading upstairs has needed painted since we bought the house in 2005. I am ECSTATIC to report it is FINALLY painted and looks awesome. So warm feeling. (painted a kahki color) And upon my request and a lot of begging my WONDERFUL Husband tore the carpet off of the steps and in the hallway. There are beautiful hardwood floors that need to be seen. The stairs have a little damage to them, so we are going to get a carpet runner, as most of the not so great looking spots are in the middle of each step. (problem solved) Another plus, CJ does not like the stairs having no carpet on them, so he is not playing on them all the time now.

We also cleaned out our shed/barn and PJ can now order the bowflex he has been wanting that we have NO room in our home for. Plus we got rid of a bunch of stuff that we did not want or need. I hate just storing stuff. Another bonus...all of Collin's baby stuff is now accessible, so when the time is right and we get pregnant I know just where everything is and I can get to it easily. Woo~hoo!!!

Saturday was my nieces 13th Birthday party. She had a dance type party with a bunch of girls. Boys were invited too, but the school had a last minute bonfire/hayride and they all went to that. They still had a good time, but like any teenager get together there must be drama. WHY? Some little girl decided the Niece was a spoiled brat, since she got to have this party and told the Niece that, which sent the Niece crying to the bathroom. Other than that, a good time was had by all. SO glad I am not 13.

Yesterday we finished working on a few things around the house and just hung out together as a family.

Oh, I almost forgot...Friday we took CJ to the park and look what he picked up...

Yes, my THREE YEAR OLD son picked up TWO cheerleaders at the park. He asked them to play and they did. They followed him all over the place for quite some time. Actually until I said it was time to go. When we got in the car to come home, I asked if he made two girlfriends at the park and he said "yes", in a voice that was like 'duh Mom'. I am now not looking forward to his teen years. UGH!!! FALL PICTURE DAYS 16-20

The following pictures were sent to me by MiMi, please check out her blog @ He & Me + 3 , you will not be sorry that you did.

this last picture was taken at our fair last weekend. It is my Niece and CJ.

A Perfect Blend of Friendship Award

I received this precious award yesterday from MiMi at He & Me + 3 . I am so blessed to have "met" MiMi through the blogging world. If you have not checked out her blog, please do. You won't be sorry. (she is a talented photographer too)

So along with this award I am to answer a few questions. Here they are...

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood?

a few...four (I think) to be exact

.2. What do you value most about your friends? honesty, definitely 3. Are your friends your sounding boards?

two of them at times, but mainly my Husband is 4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends?

girl's nights (ie. movies, dinner, games, etc)

I am also supposed to give the award to five blogging friends, but there is no way I could choose. So I give it to ALL my blogging friends. ENJOY!!! I am gratful to have come across each and every one of you.

I will include todays fall pictures with tomorrows, as I am having trouble loading them. (sorry)

M.I.A.

I so wish that I could tell you all that I have been M.I.A. because my life has been so busy, or we had been on vacation or something fun, but that would be a lie. And I try my best not to lie. So the truth as to why I have not been around...I have been TIRED. I have gotten on here a couple of times to blog, but once on I was just too tired to continue. So I have my laptop a much needed break. I also took a few naps. (I LOVE naps)

CJ is trying to stop taking his afternoon nap. He has long given up his morning nap. Since I have been so tired, I have started something new in our house...movie hour. Around 2pm I put in a movie in CJ's room and he has to stay in his room until it is over. He does not have to sleep if he does not want to, but he has to rest or at least play quietly, while Mommy does rest/nap down the hall. It has worked the past couple of days.

I was diagnosed back in High School with Epstein Barr, after "having" mono several times. While I think that Dr's tend to hand out diagnosis' just to make the patient "feel better", from what I read about EB, I think the Dr. may have been right. The virus is always in your system, but is not always active. (in english terms) So at times I just get so worn out for NO reason and need to rest (more than usual).

Now since I was gone for a few days I have some pictures to catch up on.

FALL PICTURE DAYS 12, 13, 14 & 15

I found this picture on the web. My son is a HUGE Mickey Mouse fan and my sister bought him a small replica of this Mickey Pumpkin.

This picture was sent to me by fellow blogger and dear friend MiMi @ He & Me + 3 . She took this picture and edited it. I LOVE it. It is fall looking with a twist. She is SO talented. Check her out.

This picture was supposed to be included with the other pictures of corn mazes, but somehow got left out. So I am including it on its own. Can you tell I LOVE corn mazes? I wish the fall festivals around here got this creative.

This was taken at our county fair over the weekend. I wanted CJ to sit on the hay so that I could get the whole "background", but he was content in his wagon.

busy day for us today...(again)

FALL PICTURE DAY 11

todays pictures are of corn mazes. I can not believe the detail in these. They are awesome. These were just a few I chose. You can see many more my google-ing corn mazes (images).

while I am a Buckeye fan myself, I included this one bc I read the blogs of MANY Hog fans. So this is just for them. I searched for a Buckeye corn maze and could not find one. :(

Good Morning fellow bloggers.

Today we have lots to do and to get done.

PJ had a meeting this morning and as soon as he gets back we are off to Target and the grocery. (I some how ran out of bottled water...still not sure how that happened) I also need to take a flag that I ordered for my Dad's grave out to the cemetery. I have looked so long for the perfect one and I found one that is close enough...for now.

We also have the BUCKEYES game at 3:30 this afternoon. GO BUCKS!!! And after that the the demolition derby at our county fair.

Our neighbors our moving out today. I guess they finally closed on their house. (it has been three months since they said they were moving/closing) Good for them. We have lost two neighbors (because of them moving) in the past two months. Everyone have a great saturday.

dinner guest

This evening my Grandma (on my Dad's side), my Mom and my Niece came over for dinner. I wanted to talk to my Grandma about Christmas ideas for CJ. Hard to believe we are already talking Christmas. Actually I have already started shopping.

We had yummiful spaghetti.

Here is a picture of my Grandma and CJ.

Fall Picture Day 10

this picture is of a pumpkin farm in California. Wouldn't it make a beautiful backdrop for a picture? It was sent to me by a non blogging friend.

what a busy day

FALL PICTURE DAY 9

you may wonder why I chose this as a fall picture. Well, this was taken at our county fair last year. Our fair is in October and October is FALL. So there you have it. Our fair is going on now and I will have pictures from our three days there on Sunday.

Earlier today my Mom watched CJ for me to go have lunch with my BFF from high school. I have known her (T) for 17-18 years. That is by far a majority of our lives. We had a good time. We were there for two and a half hours. Laughing, talking, reminicing. It was so nice. I was wanting to take CJ and go to the fair with her and her son, but I still had reading to do for our Bible study this evening. So maybe another time. T is helping me with my birthday sleepover, so we got all the details in order for that. I can not wait.

Now I am just waiting on the hubby to finish getting ready so we can drop some items off at our local food pantry, (a project for our Bible study) and then head out to the Bible study.

Everyone have a good evening.

I've been tagged (and more)

OK, so I was tagged by MiMi over at He & Me + 3 . Thanks for including me.

So, here are 7 weird/random facts about me. (please don't laugh too hard)

1. I microwave my ice cream, so it is not too hard and I rinse my ice cubes and popsicles off to ger rid of the little "crystals" on them.

2. I think I enjoy the toy dept more than my 3 yr old son. (or any kid of that matter)

3. I do not like the smell or taste of coffe, but I love cappacinos and coffee ice cream

4. I do not care for shoes. (with the exception of a good pair of tennis shoes and/or flip flops)

5. I have more chapstick than I can ever use in my lifetime.

6. I get "stressed" watching tv shows, movies, etc. ie) worst week (and more that I just can not think of right now)

7. my hubby and I are trying to have another baby (and I want to have twins)

There you have it, seven weird or random facts about me.

Now I have to tag seven others....

1. Jen @ Cheaper than Therapy--Musings of a Mom of 3

2. Susie @ Mommy, Just One More Minute!

3. Monica @ life on the hilltop

4. Kelly @ Kelly's Korner

5. Nancy @ Faith, Family & Friends

6. Becca @ matt.becca.will.cy

7. Ariel @ View From the Fish Bowl

(sorry if any of you have been tagged for this before) Have fun and I look forward to reading your weird/random facts.

Yesterday

REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE

A few months ago our church formed a Go Green team and introduced the church to recycling and encouraged us to implement a few of the suggestions in our homes. PJ wanted to start recycling at home, so we bought some bins and got started. We have several spots around town that we can take our recyclables to drop them off. CJ LOVES going with us and helping to put the things in the correct bins. Yesterday two of the spots we went to to drop off were overflowing, so PJ suggested going to the recycling center itself. So we did. The way it works there is you drive into the building and there is a trash compactor with a conveyor belt type thing and there are several large dumpster style bins to put your recyclables in. CJ LOVED seeing this. He was so excited to watch everything that was going on. He talked about this all day. The little things that amuse kids. I contributed his fascination with the recycling center to his All About Garbage and Recycling dvd. When we got home, he wanted to watch it. I wish I woiuld have had my camera with me to capture his face, but who would have thought to bring a camera to the recycling center????

FALL PICTURE DAY 8

this is CJ last Halloween at my Mom's house. He went to a few houses on her street, but enjoyed sitting on her porch handing the candy out more. He was Handy Manny from Playhouse Disney. (I made his tools) Of course just after Halloween they came out with an actual set of Handy Manny tools, complete with tool box. Go figure. He was happy with his "costume" and his tools. And it was a money saver.

fall pictures day 7

Sorry this post is so late in the day...our county fair is this week and I was spending some time there. (I will have a post Sunday about that complete with pictures)

Here is todays fall picture. It was sent to me, but I am sorry I do not know by who. Feel free to take credit for it, if it was you.

THANKS for sharing.

ENJOY!

fall picture day take 5 and 6

Sorry, I was so busy yesterday that I did not get a chance to post a fall picture here. So today I will include two for you to look at.

These two are a little more of a pumpkin theme than a fall theme, but hey fall means pumpkins, so they work. Plus I thought they were neat. So many people have such talent.