Birthday Week

I've had a wonderful, several days-long celebration for my birthday, courtesy of family and sweet friends who spoil me rotten. We went to see my parents on my actual birthday, and enjoyed my first meal at a Japanese restaurant. It was fun, and the food was great. The next day included a trip to a far that is open to the public only once a year, and we were able to see lots of historic farm equipment in action, a museum of antique appliances, vehicles, and collections of materials used on a daily basis back 100 years ago. It was very reminiscent of Little House on the Prairie with blacksmiths, a working sawmill, dairy farm, weavers and quilters...we felt like we were in Walnut Grove. After the farm, we met up with Jacob and Caroline at Hurricane Creek and hiked several miles. It was a gorgeous cool fall day, and I was able to backpack Elijah the whole time! I was so proud of crossing some rough terrain with my almost 25 pound baby on my back. I felt like Sacajawea! He loved the jostling around too.

That night, my sweet girlfriends took me to dinner and we had a wonderfully fun time together. We're so blessed to have such deep, enduring friendships. God has really put us together and our faith is the common thread throughout our lives, so we have a precious bond. They had contributed notes to a scrapbook sweet Amy put together. It's a treasured gift.

The weekend ended with our church fall festival, which was a blast. We then had a dinner with another couple Monday night, so have partied hearty for days now. I am so thankful for your many sweet words of encouragement, phone calls, and emails to wish me a happy birthday. It truly was!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Signs of Fall

I love this time of year, for many reasons. It's special and unique and so happy to me! This fall is especially meaningful, as we're looking forward to our newest addition coming soon, and the cool weather has been longed for by me this year more than ever. :-) I just had to share some photos of some of my favorite things lately - autumn flavored teas, making caramel apples, and gorgeous colors from my garden to make a fall arrangement!

Kids, Chickens, and Gardens

We had a nice trip to visit with my parents this weekend, partly to enjoy time with them as it was my Dad's b'day this past week. It was also partly because I know the trips will get farther between for a while as my due date approaches and Elijah arrives, so I wanted to squeeze another one in while we still could with just the 2 big kids. We did our typical outdoorsy fun things, and enjoyed some bike riding, baseball, playing at a park, visited Mrs. Martha and Mr. Bill's farm, and took a visit to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens, to see their fun scarecrow exhibit. These scarecrows were very impressive, and were designed and created by different individuals and businesses in the area. We loved the Target-shopping family, Elvis, Jack Sparrow, and the Munchkins especially.

If you remember the story of Abigail the chicken-catcher, from last month, you'll possibly recognize Teeny, whom again pleasantly cooperated with my animal-adoring girl. Abigail easily caught and carried this little hen around for most of the afternoon while we were there at the farm. She would put Teeny down for a bit, and the silly chicken wouldn't scoot away, so of course, Abi assumed she wanted to be held more. That is one long-suffering bird, but thankfully, the kids are pretty gentle with them, so I guess that she didn't feel too threatened. Isaac loves being around the animals, but is slightly more reserved about capturing them, but he even got in on the action right at the end. There was also a mama hen with a tiny chick that we just loved hearing "peep peep" for its mama. We were blessed with nice weather again, and the fall breeze was so relaxing and enjoyable. Auburn's win over Florida really added to the enjoyment of the weekend, too! War Eagle!!