Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

1. no hurricanes during our vacation
2. women's bible study
3. Elisabeth not being afraid of the characters on the Disney cruise
4. Elisabeth is almost potty trained!
5. A cool school project: "Flat Ansley". We mail flat Ansley to a relative to live for 2 weeks so the kids can learn about different parts of the US and other countries.
6. Crockpots
7. Ansley and watching her play the game Twister
8. Our parents
9. Ansley truly loves her little sister
10. Trick-or-treating is on Friday this year instead of a school night (I'm sure the teachers are thankful also!)

We're back from vacation

Headed to Key West - isn't the water pretty?

Docked in Key West (Disney boat in the background)

You never know who and what you might meet in Key West!

Eating breakfast on the top deck

Coming into Key West

Well, we finally took a whole week off last week and went on our first cruise. We had a wonderful time. The boat was great (Disney Magic), food was good, entertainment was good and we got to see places in the Caribbean that we had never been to before. And the best part was that it was cold here but we were warm on the beach with sand in our toes! But now we are back to reality (and freezing temperatures at night!). I highly recommend a Disney cruise. They treat you really really well. The girls had a blast and are ready to go again. As usual we took hundreds of pictures. I will post a few now and will post more later. I still haven't gone through all of them yet.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

1. Elisabeth's belly laugh that makes me laugh so hard I could cry
2. Finding a formal dress for the cruise.....on sale!
3. A good parent/teacher conference with Ansley's teacher this week
4. Warm sunny days with low humidity
5. Advil Sinus medicine
6. John - a great father and husband
7. My van - so my kids don't ding doors in the parking lot when trying to get out of the car :-)
8. God always has a plan for us even though we don't always know and understand it.
9. Elisabeth's MMO teacher, Karen Adams. She's so loving and sweet and Elisabeth loves her.
10. VACATION STARTS TOMORROW!

Pumpkin Festival

The Roman Revenge pumpkin catapulting machine

Those 2 dots in the sky are pumpkins flying through the air. Unbelievable how far and high they could go!!

Ansley & Elisabeth on the wagon ride

Lost in the corn maze (the corn isn't that tall but believe me it's harder than it looks!)

Elisabeth loved the little hay bale maze

Ansley "driving" the tractor

Pumpkins everywhere

On Saturday we traveled to Lowry's, SC and went to a pumpkin festival at Cotton Hills Farm. They had wagon rides, a corn and hay bale maze, food, music, petting area and best of all.....the pumpkin catapult. It was so cool to watch. They had a contraption that would fling the pumpkins so high and far that it was unbelievable. Mike Redding from Carolina Traveler was there and we got his picture but I don't think we got in any of his shots so we missed our chance to be on TV. Maybe next time. We got 5 pumpkins (3 big and 2 small) and John spent most of his Sunday afternoon carving them. I'll have to post a picture of them later. They look really good.

Where did Elisabeth go?

Here I am!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:
1. My friend, Robin, who can babysit Elisabeth on short notice
2. 2 wonderful daughters.......true gifts
3. Only 1 WEEK UNTIL VACATION
4. Ron made it to Houston safely
5. Magic Erasers (makes cleaning tubs and showers so much easier)
6. Radio station New Life 91.9 (our local Christian radio station). It's awesome!
7. A great 2nd grade teacher for Ansley
8. Our great dog, Winston
9. Our families
10. Triple coupons at Lowes Food grocery store.

I hate spiders

For those of you who know me well know that I hate spiders. Big or small....it doesn't matter. Well, this is what I found when I went to the mailbox the other day. I almost had a heart attack. The picture doesn't do it justice. The spider was big! And bright yellow. It's not a spider I see around everyday. I sprayed it with hornet and wasp spray because this spider was definitely too big to kill with a shoe. It gives me goose bumps just looking at the picture. Yuck! But everyone can rest easy now......it's dead. :-)

Hamster Ball Derby

Get ready....Set.....Go! Emma's first time in a Hamster Ball Derby.

Ansley and Emma

All the participants in the Hamster Ball Derby

John had to work some this past Saturday and Sunday so while he was working I took Ansley to the local pet store, Petco, so our hamster could compete in the Hamster Ball Derby. What!? You've never heard of the Hamster Ball Derby!?? Neither had I until our neighbor told us about it. Ansley desperately wanted to take Emma (the hamster) there to compete. So we arrived early in order to participate in the practice rounds and Emma did fairly well. But when it was time to really race she got a slow start (she decided to groom herself instead of focusing on the race) and came in 2nd in the qualifying round. So, sad to say we didn't make it to the final competition and we didn't win a prize. But don't you worry. We're practicing for next year's competition!



We had to miss Cameron's wedding this weekend in Hilton Head, SC (Cameron is John's cousin) and we really hated that we missed it. The weather was beautiful and I'm sure the wedding was beautiful too. John's business is busy and the new condo is almost finished and we leave in 1 1/2 weeks for vacation so things are a little crazy (but good) right now. We send our Congrats to the newly married couple. We can't wait to see pictures!



I'll write more soon -- Stephanie

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for:
1.Great neighbors
2. Our church family
3. Consignment Sales (I'm a consignment sale junkie)
4. Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
5. Ansley likes school and is having a great year so far
6. Elisabeth still takes a daily 2 hour nap :-)
7. Cooler weather
8. Our vacation is only 2 weeks away
9. Finding gas for the van before the red light came on to warn us we were running on fumes
10. A day of rain last week (so our new grass seed will grow)