soccer

Soccer.  The season has come to an end.  We weren't sure if we would have games since it rained just about ALL day Friday.  Games were on, and we were glad.  Both boys had two games each, so it was a LONG morning.  They both did awesome.  Aedan scored lots, and Josiah also played really hard, scoring 4 goals!  It was cold out there; especially for Aedan's games.  I am thankful for my rain boots to keep me feet dry, otherwise, they would be soaked!  Mercy wore her snow boots...haha...a little early, but it works!  Here are some shots~I have videos, but uploading isn't working quite right.

The boys were super excited to get trophies!!  A real treat!!!

look like a book

This past Friday, Josiah's class dressed up like a book character.  They had to bring their book to school and share the title of the book and their character with the class.  Josiah was a tiger and brought a book from home, Katya's Busy Morning.  Josiah was able to answer questions about the book.  He did a great job!  After students shared their books, they participated in workshops, or stations.  (This was the "party aspect" of the afternoon.  I helped with the face painting station.  Other stations included decorating a pumpkin, decorating a cookie (and eating it, of course), and a pumpkin bean bag toss.

Josiah with his book.  I got this tiger costume a couple years ago.  I think Josiah wore it two years ago, and it was a little big for him.  It fit him perfectly!

Here is Josiah sharing his book.

Josiah and Jackson

Josiah's class

Josiah with his teacher, Mrs. Moss

pumpkin carving

I love the fall here in Tennessee!  It's been a tad bit warmer this fall then in the past, I think.  Today was beautiful.  A nice day in the 70's.  I decided to go ahead and carve our pumpkins with the kids.  Aedan, Mercy and I started after lunch.  I let them pick how they wanted their pumpkins carved.  (Well, I kind of decided for Mercy.) It was so fun, and Mercy loves being outside...so she was very content.  Both Aedan and Mercy helped me get the seeds and gunk out of the pumpkins and did a great job.  When Josiah got home from school we worked on his pumpkin.  He actually put his hand inside the pumpkin for the first time voluntarily, which he had never done in the past.  While I carved his pumpkin, Josiah and Aedan took seeds to the top of the hill and buried them.  Maybe we'll be growing our own pumpkins next year.  haha!

Aedan and Mercy...notice that Mercy's hand is in the pumpkin.  She only tried to eat the seeds once.  That was enough for her.

Helping get the seeds out!

As I carved the faces, Aedan and Mercy played in the shade on the hill.  They play well together, especially when outside.

Mercy with her finished pumpkin!  Yes, her pumpkin has eye lashes:)

Aedan is helping with his pumpkin.

Aedan with his finished pumpkin.  I later added eyebrows to his after he saw Josiah's pumpkin's eyebrows.  Aedan told me that he wanted the biggest and happiest smiley face on his pumpkin because "Jesus loves us so much!"

Josiah with his hand in the pumpkin!!!

Here I am carving Josiah's pumpkin.  (Josiah is the photographer.)

Josiah is the photographer again!

Josiah with his finished pumpkin

All 3 together

Emily's party

One of Josiah's best friends at school is Emily.  He eats lunch with her almost everyday, and talks about her often.  Emily invited Josiah to her birthday party at Jumpville.  There were a few others from Emily's class invited, too.  Emily's mom said that Emily talks about Josiah all of the time as well.  She also told me that one day (a cooler day) they were waiting to be picked up and she noticed Josiah's arm around Emily.  She said that Emily told her that Josiah was trying to keep her warm since she didn't have her jacket.  (how sweet!)  They had so much fun jumping, playing in balls, and running around together.  For me, I am relieved that Josiah has made a friend completely on his own, independent from Ryan and myself.  This is an answer to prayer and we are grateful.

Emily and Josiah

cake time

Happy Birthday, Emily!

My helper

Mercy Cate was my little helper one day last week.  She helped me clean the floor, wipe the back window, put water bottles into the fridge, put dirty clothes in the hamper, take clean clothes out of the dryer, and put trash into the trash can...all in her pink snow boots.  This girl loves helping momma and shoes!

Our Dollywood Adventure

Yesterday we went to Dollywood!  We were hooked up with some free tickets...so thankful for that!!!  We left around 9:00, but should have left earlier. (We loose an hour, too, when we travel east.)  We got stuck in some traffic in near Pigeon Forge, but thankfully, Ryan's phone directed us around the traffic and took us a back way, which probably saved us at least an hour!  We hadn't had lunch, so we decided to eat there....MISTAKE...the lines for food were all sooooooo long!  We finally just decided to get ice cream.  So, the kids ate ice cream, gummies, and goldfish for lunch!  Ryan found some soup in the ice cream line, so he and I (and Mercy) ate soup.  I thought the park itself, was really nice looking.  It had bridges and streams, and was decorated well for the fall.  We made it to some rides, and the kids loved every second of it.  Mercy wanted to ride everything!!!  She rode in one of the kiddie rides that went up in the air with Aedan and Josiah!!  We rode the train, and also the merry-go-round.  It is so fun to watch them on rides.  Mercy rode the elephant ride with me that went way up in the air!  She was dying to get on that ride the whole time!  Aedan's favorite ride was the elephant one I just mentioned, and Josiah's was the tea cups!  (Ryan spun them around like crazy!)  My camara was doing some crazy things and messing up big time, so I didn't get lots of pictures:(  But, at least I have some.  Here they are:

Mercy is dying to get on the car ride.  I could've taken her, but just didn't think about it at the time. 

Ryan and Aedan in the car

pointing to Josiah riding

go Josiah!

There he goes!

This is the only picutre I have of Mercy on a ride, and I am sooooooo glad I have it!!!!  Here they are on the duck ride!!!!

After we left the park we went to Fudruckers for dinner.  The food was FABULOUS since we hadn't eaten much all day!!!  Hopefully, we can make it back to Dollywood again at some point.  The kids LOVED it and had a blast!!  Next time, we'll leave earlier, and bring more snacks:)...and, I'll be getting a new sd card for my camara (today)!

Virginia Trip

We went to Virginia for fall break.  We left on Saturday and headed to Clarksville, Virginia.  It was about an 8 hour drive to the Russells.  Ryan spoke at Ryan R's school the first week in October for spiritual emphasis week.  It was great to see the Russells and to spend time with them.  I left Ryan at the Russells on Tuesday and went up to Newport News to visit my mom.  It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive to my mom's from the Russells...not a bad drive at all.  All three kids slept at the same time for (at least) an hour of the drive.  We stopped at the rest stop north of Williamsburg on 64 and took this picture by this LOVE art! 

Virginia is for lovers!

Tuesday night we went to Sweet Frog for some sweet yogurt!  The colors of the yogurt shop are pink and lime green!!!  Very Pretty!!! 

On Wednesday we went to Blue Bird Gap farm.  It is FREE to go there, but the animals seem to look extra pitiful.  The kids like going there...I think they asked to go there (and also Busch Gardens, but it wasn't open when we were in town)  They do have a great playground!

checking out the pig

Gigi with the kids

ducks

 After the farm we headed to McDonald's for lunch!  Chicken nuggets, fries, and juice boxes!!!  After lunch, my mom took me by the coolest store ever, Charming Charlies.

All week long, Josiah had been fighting a fever.  I could control it with Tylenol and IB Profin, and he was functionable.  But, later that day he got worse, so I took him to the doctor after dinner.  They said that it was probably a reaction to the flu shot that he had gotten the previous Friday.  They gave him a shot, and it seemed like he felt better almost right away.  By the next day he was back to normal and feeling better.  Just in time to head to the Norfolk Zoo. 

at the zoo

with the tiger

with the REAL tiger!

the kids with the butterfly elephant

Later that evening we went out to the York Beach!  The kids LOVE the beach.  They are so easily entertained...no matter the temperature of the water.  The sand and the water were cold, but it didn't matter.  We rolled their pants up and they were ready to play.

On Friday, we went to the park to take pictures and also to play on the playground.  With Mercy's lack of sleep, there was drama over one of the big swings.  haha!  They were pooped!  I headed back to Clarksville just after lunch.  Of course, Mercy feel sleep about 1 minute into the drive!

We took some pictures back at the Russells.  

Me, Ryan, Ryan, and Christie