Weekend of Drama

The pics loaded in backwards order - sorry!
Start from the bottom of the post and read up!
More to the vehicle drama! After much deliberation, thought, prayer, and analysis we decided to abandon our van and invest in something that will - hopefully - not leave us stranded. It was really a hard decision to make - one of those adult/parenting decisions that I would prefer to let adults handle - oh wait a minute - I am an adult! The girls and I went to our family mechanic to clean out our belongings and say "good-bye" to our second home. She sure is pretty and shiny! She will make a great vehicle again one day, after much repair, to someone else - hopefully, they will be compassionate to her! ;)
Finally, it's time to go trick-or-treating in our "neck-of-the-woods". We waited until it was just becoming a little dark. Mrs. Marcia gave the girls cute little goodie bags with non-candy treats - thumbs up Mrs. Marcia! The girls had fun while we were out snagging free loot! We only stayed out about an hour, then they were tired and ready to head for home.

The girls were so funny! They re-entered the house at least 3 times to "practice" trick-or-treating.
Trick-or-Treat Grammy!!!
We ended up driving to Grammy and Grandpa's house to borrow Grammy's 1997 Buick Skylark with only 47,000 miles on it -yes, you read that correctly. She was so gracious to allow me to drive it for a week until we figured out our next step. Since, we were heading to the grandparents anyway on Halloween, we let the girls dress-up for a little trick-or-treating with Grands.
After meeting the "tow-man" in Madison to get our van, I made it back just in time for Sarah's Halloween Party at school. She dressed up as Princess Tangled - Rapunzel!
The girls and I had quite an experience on our way home on Sunday-man I missed my hubby ALL weekend, but especially on our way home. Our cute little van broke down on us just outside of Madison. Praise the Lord, we were passing by a BP gas station, when I noticed something wrong. Long story - short, we spent 2 1/2 hours at the gas station. The Lord sent, Cody, a country boy who stayed around and tried to help us. The van cooled down, so he added some coolant to the van. Then, we waited to see if it would heat up again - it did! So, a sweet friend came to pick us up. My phone was almost dead, so I couldn't talk to anyone for very long. The Lord completely protected and provided for us during this whole ordeal. It could have turned all kind of ways bad, but the Lord held us in His hands the whole time. The girls were fabulous the whole time - patient and calm. I don't think I have ever missed Mark more than I did during this whole episode. The next day, Mark arrived home at 2 a.m. - Praise the Lord - we are all back in the "nest"! We had our van towed to our family mechanic, then we received news that the van was essentially - dead! Unless, of course, we wanted to spend $$$$ to rebuild the engine - so sad! More on this later!
The girls and I attended my home church, Trinity-on-the-Hill- UMC on Sunday. It has been years since I have been back at Trinity. They had a guest speaker there preaching - Max Lucado. It was wonderful hearing him speak and listening to him read one of his children's books to the kids. I wish I had taken my children's books for him to sign.
Daddy left the girls for the entire weekend, so we loaded up the van and headed to Baba and Papa's house for the weekend. Baba, Heather, and I attended the "Lady Antebellum" concert in Evans in the outdoor amphitheater that was named for the group. We had a fabulous time just being outside listening to music and eating! Even though it was misting - we had a great time!
Mark left with 3 of his running buddies for a 3 day trip to Washington D.C. Marine Corp Marathon. They met at our house on Friday morning at 8:00 and pulled out at 8:45 for a "Real Men's" Weekend.

Ooey-Gooey Pumpkin Fun

We had some fun carving our family pumpkin. The girls decorated their small pumpkins with stickers.
Sarah - finally - touched the ooey-gooey guts of the pumpkin this year, and Hannah just jumped right in without any hesitations.
It's really a sweet teachable moment while carving the pumpkin to use this Pumpkin Carving Poem to explain the hope we have in Jesus.
The girls absolutely love their Daddy with all of their hearts, and it is 100% reciprocated by their Daddy! The girls are posing on their tree-house! We printed this photo out for Daddy to keep in his wallet. We made him a "We love you" box for him to take on his Washington D.C. Marine Corp Marathon trip and put this photo inside the box along with some goodies and snacks!

Freda Frog

This whole weekend was all about "Freda Frog"! Sarah's class has a class "pet" that goes home with one child each weekend for fun and adventure. So, we "had" to show "Freda" a fabulous weekend.
Once Sarah arrived home from school, she began to interact with "Freda". It was so cute watching her excitement about this stuffed animal. She taught "Freda" how to color.
She made "Freda" a snack.
They had a tea party together.

Of course, "Freda" had to visit Chick-fil-a for some ice cream and fun in the play area.

While Sarah went to a soccer game with Daddy, she allowed Hannah to take "Freda" to the doctor's office to get her stitches out, so she wouldn't be afraid.
Then, Hannah and I went to the end of the soccer game.
We had fun with Grammy and Grandpa coming to most, if not all of the soccer games. Tonight was Stevi B's night so "Freda" could play some fun games.
Yummy Pizza - the girls' favorite meal - of course!
Grandpa helping Hannah spend her tokens. That night Sarah used all of her tokens to "buy" Hannah a teeny-tiny baby Care Bear. It was precious to see Sarah being selfless and generous to her sister.
The next day we went to Bethlehem First United Methodist Church's (which is where Sarah attends kindergarten) pumpkin patch.
Of course, the girls are posing for a pic.
I don't think Hannah could read the sign that said, "No Sitting On Pumpkins"!!!

There we are for our fall photo op.
Here we go making a trip to Daddy's favorite store - Home Depot - to buy more supplies to finish the girls' tree-house.
Last but certainly not least, "Freda" attended church with us! It was a fabulous - fantastic weekend with "Freda Frog"!

Pumpkin Patch Day

Sarah's kindergarten went to Washington Farms Pumpkin Patch for a field trip, and it was the first COLD day of fall. The girls were excited about the hay ride - especially in the cold blistering wind!
We chose 3 cute little plump pumpkins to take home. The girls learned all about the pumpkin process from seed to pumpkin. Did you know pumpkins have "belly buttons"? Yeah, me neither!
The girls "discussing" who is going to sit on the pumpkin and who is going to stand, because you know they both cannot share the pumpkin - that would make way too much sense! ;)
There's Sarah sitting with her class towards the end of the field trip.
Bless her little heart - she was sitting there with a terrible ear pain. In fact, I called the doctor's office while standing in the middle of the pumpkin patch to make an appointment to bring her in to be seen immediately.
As we were trying to leave to get to the doctor's appointment, I saw there was a tractor heading to the front of the farm with a load of people. I decided to chase the tractor down, instead of walking half a mile all the way to the parking lot with a 2 year old on my hip, 3 pumpkins in my arms, and dragging a 5 year old. Finally, Farmer John stopped for us and carried us to the car. Poor little Sarah cried the entire way to the doctor's office - the whole 30 minute drive - screaming with ear pain. Praise the Lord, the doctor was able to see us, and sure enough, she had a "bulging ear infection" according to the doctor. I am sure the cold wind exasperated the pain. But, hey, at least we got 3 cute little pumpkins out of it!

A Few Random Photos

The girls and I were heading to Publix for our weekly grocery trip, and it was just barely misting so they insisted on using their umbrellas. I just thought this was photo worthy.
Hannah experienced her FIRST pedicure and manicure! Sarah wanted to have some "spa" time while Hannah was sleeping, so when Hannah woke up of course she wanted to participate as well!!! "Me do it too Mommy," she said.
Look at her adorable little pink "piggies"!!!
You can tell she just woke up from a good nap! She had a visit from the "hair fairy"!
Sisters enjoying some pedi/mani spa time!!!! LOVE it!!!!

Hannah had a slight altercation with Sarah's training wheel and the training wheel won. She was running into the garage, tripped on something, fell and hit her head on the training wheel. It was a small cut - less than an inch; however, with it being on the head it continued to bleed slightly and it was separating more. So, prompt care here we come!

Precious little Hannah has her boo-boo taped up at the Prompt Care Facility while she and I were waiting for the stitches.
We were waiting for the numbing medicine to take affect before the needle comes in.
Thank goodness for the gloves - they kept us entertained a good while we waited.
This photo is post-stitches in the van on the way to get chocolate ice cream. This was a horrible experience for my sweet baby. I had to hold her down in a device called a papoose board while the doctor stuck a needle that looked like a fish hook in her head - BLAH!!!! This was obviously my first experience with stitches. Hannah was screaming at the top of her lungs while crying saying, "MOMMY, PICK ME UP! MOMMY, IT HURT ME! NO-NO-NO MOMMY!" Talk about stabbing my heart! I grabbed my precious baby up as quick as I could post stitches, and I just held her for a good 5 minutes embracing her. Thankfully, the Lord allowed me to hold it together without tears so she wouldn't panic more. Praise the Lord that is over with!!! Bless her heart, she was completely exhausted from the entire episode, she fell asleep in the van before she even got her chocolate ice cream. I promise - she ate it when she woke up - I didn't eat all of it!!! Hee-Hee!!!
Sarah and I were so excited about a girls night out to Disney's Princesses On Ice at Philips Arena on Sunday - thank you Baba for the tickets!!! We left home at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon and didn't arrive back home until 7:45. We had fabulous evening just being together, eating, popcorn, slurping Sprite, enjoying princesses on ice!!!
Sarah wanted Rapunzel hair for her souvenir, and it is very long and so pretty.

Praise the Lord for keeping us safe the whole time we were out. I had to drive to downtown Atlanta and find a parking space in a parking deck near Philips Arena, and get Sarah and I into the performance safely. You all know me and Atlanta driving too - they don't mix too well together! The Lord led us directly to the parking deck immediately next to Philips Arena, and we only had to pay $10 for parking as opposed to $20-$25 that we had passed on the way there. The Lord orchestrated the entire night to be enjoyable! I look forward to taking both of my girls next time and having another girls night!

Some Fall Fun & Festivals

On our way home from our camping trip last weekend, we stopped at a roadside apple stand to purchase some yummy mountain grown apples. I have a feeling they were simply Wal-mart apples rebagged - oh well, it's the tradition of it that I love. As a child, I remember taking mountain trips with my grandparents, and on the way home, we would stop to buy baskets of apples. Fun memories to continue with my girls. It seems that plastic bags have replaced cute baskets though - boo!!
Since we had a bag of apples, the girls and I decided to make homemade applesauce. They had fun using my fancy "Pampered Chef" apple corer.
The girls taking turns stirring the applesauce as it cooked.
We added some brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, and water.
We had the applesauce with dinner; however, the girls were not too impressed with the homemade version. I guess "Mott's Applesauce" has won their taste buds.
As the girls and I were heading out Saturday morning to the Bethlehem Star Festival, we decided to track Mark down on his 22 miler morning. He started running at Tribble Mill Park (a local park), left his truck at the park, and ran ALL the way home. We found him around mile 18, so we greeted him with cheering, "GO DADDY!! GO DADDY!!!" He is amazing with his dedication and determination to meet his goals!!! We are super proud of our MAN!
The girls played on the jumpy houses for a while and got their faces painted as well.
They decorated little tiny pumpkins.

The girls had fun on the pony ride. Hannah rode the pony completely without Mommy holding onto her - WOW!!! She's getting to be such a big girl!

After the Start Festival, we had our church Fall Festival that evening to attend. So the girls started the evening festival with the swings.
Sarah is loving some cotton candy - Hannah not so much though!
The girls having fun waiting for the fire engine jumpy slide.
We had a very eventful weekend! I love business; however, it will be nice to have some down time at home this week as well.