As she gets tired of being right ALL the time...

Halloween was great: can't remember a year when it has been nicer outside for trick-or-treating!! The temp was comfortable enough that Faith was able to go without tights in her "tiger" costume and Grace was... well, Grace was fine, after some minor adjustments. Being right is sometimes a real drag: When we went shopping for the costumes, I said, "Grace, be sure to FEEL THIS COSTUME because it might be "itchy"..." Itchy is a very big thing at our house. No, no, I was assured - not too itchy. Tinkerbell is the bomb. So, fast forward to about 6:00 on October 31... the costume is not even all the way over her head and MADNESS ensues because the costume is - you guessed it - WAY WAY WAY too itchy. Sigh. We worked it out, but it was a close call. :) Jimmy and I had a *riot* walking with the girls: Faith had an editorial comment for everyone - the best one being, "That guy had a little bowl" (of course, "that guy" still had his door wide open and heard her commentary). Grace referred to herself in the 3rd person, as in (while walking through a yard with foot-tall grass): "uh - oh, Tinkerbell doesn't like grass!!!!"

As she cleans up the pumpkin muck!!

Carved pumpkins tonight - lots of fun! Grace might have enjoyed it more than Faith... for good reason: Faith's pumpkin had a soft spot and was, let's say, less than pleasant to clean out. You might be able to tell from the looks on their faces in the pictures who was having more fun! Even so, I think they all turned out great!! (A couple of attempts at making "pumpkin bats" or "super pumpkin" or something failed, so we stuck with slight variations of the old standby jack o'lantern face).

Went to Hannibal last weekend... had a nice visit with Mom and Dad (aka "Gannie" and "Pops"), Gabie, Josiah, managed to squeeze in a visit with Daniel and crew, and even popped in on the Evans clan to say hi on Sunday.

Mom, Faith, Grace and I went to a corn maze outside of Hannibal on Saturday afternoon. We had a great time in the maze - it was a gorgeous day! And then we got to ride around on a limo-ish golf cart and pick out some pumpkins. Lots of fun, and felt great to have the sun on our shoulders and warm wind (for what looks like the last time this year!!).

As She Realizes She Misses the Noise from the Weekend!!

We had a great holiday weekend with friends and family. Chelly, Jared and Riley came to Missouri for a visit, so the Evans clan converged at our house in Columbia and it was so much fun. Barry, Jenny, Reid and Mallie came, as did Vicky and Randy, AND Daniel, AND Anne, at it was party central for the 1st Mizzou game of the year. Go Tigers! Faith and Grace came back from their dad's on Sunday morning, and they were quite a help with the little cousins... at least with keeping them entertained. Between babies not sleeping as well as they do in their own beds and many, many rounds of hillbilly golf (thanks for letting us girls play, btw guys), a late-night trip to see the bright lights of the Boonville casino, and Jimmy's ever-running MOUTH (love ya, baby!!) it was rather a NOISY weekend. But now I'm sitting here by myself and it's too quiet!!

Thanks everyone for coming. It was great to see you all and hope we can do it again soon!

As She Realizes Her Girls Are Growing Up SO Fast!!!

I'm such a wuss, but I can barely even type it. Today was the 1st day of 1st grade at a brand new school. It didn't even phase the girls, but I fretted all day today and cried like a baby last night. I am so proud of how they have grown, and the difference from just the beginning of this summer until now is just amazing. They are getting so big and, as I told Grace last night when she asked, "Why are you crying, Mommy??" I said, "Well, you just used to be so little, and now you are so big... it's like, I *grew* you in my tummy and now you're just - so grown up and it's so COOL!!" To which Grace replied, "I'm not THAT grown up." :) Faith made a friend already today, and got good remarks on her homework, and Grace has already earned a pajama party for tomorrow. We're off to a good start! (And I will probably not fret as much tomorrow, either!)

As a Bunch of Fish in Windsor Were Saved From a Deep-Fried Fate

We had a great time fishing this weekend in Windsor, MO. We went to visit the Varner family and Jimmy took the girls and I fishing (along with Jenny, Reid and Randy) on Saturday afternoon. I had been feeling guilty because I have taken the girls fishing a few times and they have never caught a fish. You can then imagine Faith's shock when she caught a HUGE bass after her line had been in the water for *maybe* two minutes right when we got there. She was scared to death of it! I helped her reel it in and Jimmy got it off of the hook... it was flapping and flopping all over the place. She wanted NOTHING to do with the thing! We barely even got a picture.

Grace and I both continued to catch fish. Faith took quite a few "breaks" after catching the big one. But Jimmy threw back every darn one of those fish -- even the crappie we caught, which was quite disappointing to me. Hours of fishing and nothing to show for it but leftover minnows. We'll have to do something different next time!

(Thanks to Jenny, Barry, Reid and Mallie for having us... it was great fun, as always!)

As she dreads the return to work after a wonderful long weekend at Big Cedar!!

Well, just back from a lovely long weekend at Big Cedar with Faith, Grace and Anne. Had a great time, and even managed to squeeze in a visit with Jana and Bryan in Nixa, and Jimmy met us on the way back through. So, a week spent with lots of folks that I love! Big Cedar was wonderful. The scenery (above) is just gorgeous. Had a nice relaxing time by the pool(s) and finally got some sun on my skin! We went horseback riding on Saturday morning to finish things off; Faith and her horse, Jake, led the group of us. Grace and I both had horses (Snickers and Hershey, maybe it was the candybar names) that had some trouble - they wanted to stop and eat various foilage along the way. This is apparently against "good horse" rules. Tell that to some animal that has me on its back and that is about 4 or 5 or 6 times my size. Anyway, good times, very relaxing, and now am dreading going to work tomorrow, of course. Although, the sooner Monday gets here, the sooner Friday will be here, which means #1 - my Thursday trial will be over, and #2 - most importantly - we'll be moving to the new house!!! More on that later this week.