Magical Moments

This weekend was full of all kinds of good things. Thought I would document them so I don't forget.

* Friday the kids spent the night with my Mom. That meant date night for me and Josh. Woo-hoo! We've had a busy few weeks and I felt like we had only seen each other passing through the revolving door at our house. We started at Wal-Mart and Target. You might be a married couple if you have to go Wal-Mart on a date. I have a gift card for Target and I wanted to try on some boots there. Not to get off of the subject of our date, but y'all, I cannot pull off the knee high boots over the jeans. I just can't. I was hoping for supermodel, but I looked more like Elmer Fudd headed out on a duck hunt. Oh well. We had supper at Olive Garden and got dessert to go. We took it to the marina and watched the sunset while we ate. We finished the night at an arcade. We haven't really figured out that we are grown ups yet.

* Saturday morning I set out on the search for the perfect accessories to decorate my porch for fall. Then, I headed to pick the kids up from my Moms. We all went to eat lunch at Beef o' Brady's and had fun. Most of the people there were watching football and we were smack dab in the middle of two sets of fans. One table would cheer and clap and then they would stop, turn and look at the other table and wait for them to take their turn cheering. There was also a table with beer on tap at their table and Eli wanted to know if we could get one with Sprite. I had to tell him no.

* We got home and I decorated our "porch". My Mom gave me a wicker chair she doesn't use anymore and I bought a cute fall welcome sign. I also made a pumpkin with our initial on it. I got the idea from Pinterest, and while mine is not perfect, I felt pretty proud of it. I was going to use a real pumpkin but I found a fake one at Michael's for $7 so I decided to use it so hopefully I can use it again in years to come. :)

I just hot glued white northern beans (that I just happened to have in my pantry, probably for some recipe I was going to try and never did) onto the pumpkin and prayed that the hot glue would not melt whatever it is this pumpkin is made out of. :)

*  Once my decorating was done it was time for Sarah and I to get ready. She and another girl from the dance studio were going to perform at our local Jr. Miss (now known as the "Distinguished Young Women" program) pageant. I could write a whole blog post about that experience. :) Sarah and Dianara performed their tap dance from last year's recital while the girls changed into their dresses. They did great and I was so proud of them!

I was planning to leave after they performed but of course Sarah wanted to stay and see who won. It ended up being almost 9:00! Josh went with his parents and took Kate and Eli out to see the youth group from our home church who were camping out close to us. We met them at Burger King for a late night supper and had a great time chatting with them. 

* This morning the youth came to our church service and it just blew me away to see them. One of the 6th graders was in the preschool when we went to church there. I felt bad, I didn't even recognize her, but she came up to give me a hug. Two of the Moms who were chaperoning are extra special to me. They were MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) leaders back in the day when I had a 2 year old Sarah and was expecting Eli. They were such awesome mentors for me as mothers and ministry leaders. I went on to become the MOPS leader the next year when their babies were too big for MOPS.  I am so thankful for those sweet ladies and thankful that they are still serving God, now in the youth group with their kids WHO MAKE ME FEEL REALLY OLD!!!!! :)

* After church one of our ladies offered to take all 3 of my kids to play with her granddaughter until evening service. It started out just Sarah, then turned into Eli and of course Kate turned on the crocodile tears and ended up going too. I felt so blessed. It is not often (okay, ever) that I have a quiet Sunday afternoon. I will be eternally grateful to that sweet lady!

* At church, the kids were exhausted. Kate crawled up in my lap and fell asleep. Eli and Sarah both cuddled up. I got to hear them sing. I realized I really missed them this weekend and I found myself admiring their freckled faces and being reminded how much they look like their daddy. It was a magical moment kind of deal. :)

* Now, it's Sunday night and there is no school or dance for the next two days! I don't know if I've ever been so excited for fall break. But I intend to observe this holiday in it's fullness and TAKE A BREAK!!! We'll see how that goes......