Two and Six Equal Wonderful!

Six of our eight Grands have Oct/Nov birthdays!

TWO!!

These boys turn two on the 25th!

How did they go from this:

To this:

In just one year???

These two TWO YEAR OLDS are a joy.

They are a ball of energy and full of life!

There are so many things I love about them.

I love how as soon as they hear an ambulance 
they clasp their little hands together and say *Dear Jesus.*

I love how they love everyone and their smiles light up a room.

i love how they look for each other when they realize
brother is not close by.

I love how they think their reflection in the mirror
is the other twin.

These boys are adored!


Happy Birthday Big Boy Twins!


Lots and Lots of people love you!

SIX!!

On the 27th our oldest granddaughter turns SIX!!!

She started kindergarten this year!

Our family has grown by leaps and bounds since she was born.....

But, we will never forget how special that first baby girl was!

12 hours old!

I love how happy she was even early on!

.....and how much she loves her sister!

And, I love how she loves playing dolls and dress up!!

This girl has a heart of gold

and an innocence about her that I love!

Happy Birthday big girl!

Nonny and Poppy adore you!

Love Me Some Pumpkin!

Sharing my love of all things PUMPKIN here!!

Up first are these:

Have you had these?

My daughter told me about them so I had to try them!

They did not disappoint!

Toast them and spread with butter!

They are fabulous!!!

Only one grocery store in our area carries them
 so, I had friends

looking everywhere for them!

They found them and now I have a few packs in my freezer!

Next up are these:

I am NOT a big flavored coffee drinker.

I drink my coffee black.

BUT, my mom gave me these and they are GREAT for a chilly afternoon!

Just a touch of fall!

Do you make PUMPKIN DIP?

It's my favorite!!!

2- 8oz. Cream Cheese

4 cups powdered sugar

1- 30 oz. can pumpkin pie mix

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

(makes 7 cups)

Using a mixer,

mix the powdered sugar with the cream cheese.

Add remaining ingredients.

Refrigerate.

Now yall, you can use gingersnaps or graham crackers.

BUT,

I ONLY use these from Trader Joes':

They are THE BEST I have ever had!!

Mom's Pumpkin Bread is another favorite!

Our family has made this for years and years!

We love it with cream cheese spread on it. 

You can add chocolate chips to it too!

3 cups sugar

1 cup salad oil

4 eggs

1 can (2 cups) pumpkin (not pie mix)

3 1/2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

2/3 cup water

Cream sugar and oil. 

Add eggs and pumpkin.

Mix the above.

Sift and add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture

alternately w/water.

Pour into TWO greased and floured loaf pans.

Bake at 350 for one hour.

Remove from pans after 10 minutes.

SO SO GOOD!

One more thing.

Have you had these?

I just bought them yesterday at Target

So I haven't tried them.

But, they are pumpkin

So, what's not to love?

Do you share my love of all things pumpkin?

:)

OH,

And yes, I do drink this crack:

The TWINSx2 are SIX MONTHS!

They are rolling and crawling and babbling 

and keeping mommy on her toes!

They are precious beyond words

and I am having a hard time believing it's been

SIX MONTHS!

We Mourn And We Celebrate

Nine years ago today 

My big sister died suddenly

 On my baby sister's birthday.

Today we mourn

And we celebrate.

A life we miss dearly

And a life we enjoy daily.

Happy Birthday Amy Beth!

We miss you Vicki.

And The Winner Is................

AMANDA!

Amanda blogs at

http://growingupgratefully.blogspot.com/

Go visit Amanda and get to know her!!

Amanda, I have emailed you!!

Congrats!!

And thanks to all who entered!

I may have another giveaway closer to Christmas!

One More Day Until Drawing!!! Great Giveaway!!!!!

Scroll Down to October 1st post !!

I draw tomorrow!!!!

Six Years!

......Since they said I DO.

Now look what God has done!!

photo by: jennyconklin.com

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!

We are all so blessed!

Love  the five of you!

(p.s. the giveaway has two more days! go to post below to enter!!!)

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

(No...not the babies!)  :)

I don't love a Giveaway.

Too much trouble.

Annoying.

BUT......

I love my DIL and I LOVE her new site!!

www.jennyconklin.com

Sooooooooooo

A GIVEAWAY it is!

All you have to do is go to her site HERE.

Go to the *blog* tab at the top of her page.

Leave her a comment and me a comment.

That will enter you in a drawing for ANY item on her new site.

(Excluding photography)

I will draw on October 8!!!

Good luck!!!

I'm Not An *ISH* Kind Of Person

You know who you are

You ISH people.

You know, you go to bed at 10 ISH.

And you eat dinner at 6 ISH.

And you meet your friends at the mall at 4 ISH.

I am not an ISH kind of person.

Meet me at the mall at 4.

Let's have dinner at 6.

Not ISH.

How do I become an ISH?

I would like to be an ISH.

Not being an ISH is stressful.

The End....ISH.

And just because I have some CUTE ISH grands...

38

.......as in years.

38 of them.

i love adding to them every year.

with him.......

He is amazing. Truly. His biking buddies and his golf buddies are always commenting on how wonderful it is that I don't nag him about taking the time to do those things. It's not because I am not a nag :), it's because he is so *present* when he's NOT doing those things. That makes it work for us.
 I consider it pure joy to be his wife!

Beach Buddies

Thirty years ago we moved to where we live now.

It is a couple of hours away from my family.

That was such a hard time for me.

And though we made that trip AT LEAST several times a month....

I needed a support group here.

I developed a friendship with some ladies at the school my kids attended.

We started going on beach trips once a year.

That turned into a once a month get together for meals.

We have shared births and deaths.

Divorces and marriages.

Happy times and sad times.  

We haved cooked each other meals.

And played *Florence Nightingale* during hospital visits.

We've given baby showers

And wedding showers

And we have prayed like crazy for each other's kids...

And grandkids.

My family will ALWAYS be the most important people in my life.

But these ladies........

They mean the world to me too.

I'm glad I am doing life with them.

Fitbit

This is the Fitbit!!!

It is basically a pedometer....but so much more! It tracks your steps, your stair climbs and even your sleep. It also tracks calories burned. The thing I like about it is it synks to your phone, Ipad, etc and automatically uploads to it. You never have to hook it back up to it. It's completely wireless. You can also follow friends that use Fitbit and compete with them in # of steps walked.

I love mine!

Do you use one??

How cute are these magnets?????

The grandchildren LOVE to play with the magnets on my refrigerator!

 Sarah, at Personal Creations, contacted me about sharing one of her products on my blog. I took a look at her company and immediately knew how much the kids would love having a magnet to play with that was their very own! I pointed out to the twins last night which one was theirs and they were so excited! They can't read their name yet but recognized their own after a few minutes! I love that I can hang their art work on the fridge with the magnet that is theirs! 

Click here take a look at Personal Creations. 

They offer lots of gifts for the home, for grandparents and for gift giving!!

Specific

I remember the times I prayed very specifically for something.

Like when the twins were born early.

And were in the NICU.

I prayed for T to come off CPAP.

And for C to learn to suck, swallow, breathe.

And I prayed specifically for this mom (DIL) to have a baby.

Last night I was reminded of a passage in the bible:

Luke 18: 35-42

A blind beggar wanted his eye sight restored.

He ask Jesus to heal him.

And though Jesus KNEW what he wanted,

Jesus wanted him to be specific about it.

Jesus said "What do you want me to do?"

"Lord, I want to see....."

And his sight was restored.

Be specific in your prayers.

Ask the Lord to bless your children with a christian spouse.

Ask Him to heal your cousin who is facing heart surgery.

The Lord knows, but He WANTS you to be specific.

I was also reminded to be specific with people.

We often say *Let's do lunch.*

But we never get specific.

I want to be better about saying

*Let's do lunch. How about Wednesday at 12:00?*

If we are specific in our prayer and in our daily living,

We will start to see changes.

Being specific is a goal of mine.

God hears my prayers.

Put Your Big Girl Panties On And Deal With It

Sometimes don't you wish you could just say this to someone??!!

LOOK!!

LOOK who started to preschool today!!!

LOOK who got a new tooth!!!
(And it's not the one with the pink bow!!)

LOOK who LOVES to ride the horsie.......

LOOK who thinks Poppy is funny.....

Lots to LOOK at and be thankful for this week.

Trying hard to LOOK for things to be INTENTIONAL about.

There are lots of blessings all around you.

Just LOOK for them.

Happy Birthday to The BEST Surprise Ever!

So, yeh, it was the 80's....

And the BOWL CUT was obviously IN.

Happy 32nd Birthday

To The best Surprise EVER!

We love you Jordie!