trying to warm up...

We are back from the middle school's youth retreat at Camp Grier - Hannah's summer camp our church goes to. I had 2 girls cancel at the last minute - sick and sprained ankle. So only4 kids went. Manageable.,

We had a great time.
Really.
But it was cold. Very cold.
I slept on a lower bunk, Hannah and Madeline on the top bunks. The top was warm, the bottom cold. The girls barely needed their sleeping bags, I froze. Really.

And the meals.
Great if you are 12.
Fried chicken strips, lasagne, fried french toast strips, more chicken strips and biscuits and gravy. No fruit.
No veggies - well, barely.
Not ideal for me.

And the boys.
Boys are a pain.
The girls were good. The girls went to their small groups. The girls ate their dinner. The girls performed in the skits.
The boys did not.
Yep, boys at 12 are a pain.

We had a keynote speaker and small groups. The small groups also put on a skit and did part of the sunday church service. We sang. We ate. We got to know new people. We were cold alot. We had fun.

Here is my only picture where the boys actually let me take their picture.... and I had to promise hot chocolate to get this.

a little internet marketing for a friend....

crowdSPRING, hire Kelly Purkey for your new Community Marketing Manager!

and here is her blog:

http://kellypurkey.typepad.com/

november is half gone...

Wow, been busy.

Hannah was confirmed at church on Sunday - so all the moms of the confirmees had to hold a post church reception. Fun.

Chris is putting a closet in one of the downstairs rooms - where the treadmill is. Lots of dust.

I've had a cold all week. Not exercising and feeling puney. Not terrible, not great.

Today is cold and the wind is howling. High temp is supposed to be 40. I can hear the wind blowing outside as I type. Up on this hill, we get some wind!

Friday I head to the mountains for a middle school youth retreat - with 7 middle schoolers. I am really hoping it warms up a little before we go....

Hmmm... time to work on a new blog header. What shall i do???? Maybe disney??

I imagine my posting will be light between now and Christmas.....but the next one will have a picture, I promise.

there must have been a mixup when she was born...

So, right after Halloween I asked hannah to go thru her candy and pull out all the stuff she would not eat and TAKE THE REST UPSTAIRS AND AWAY FROM ME. Yes, I know this is against my rules having her take the candy up to her loft but I figure since I am the one with the least willpower, it needs to be away from me more than away from her.

So she pulls out all the hersey bars, babe ruths, butterfingers, reeses cups, milky ways and snickers. And of course the milk duds, dots, tootsie rolls, suckers and such. But all the chocolate??? Well, not all the chocolate. She kept all the dark chocolate and the m&ms.




Hannah, I ask. What is going on? You are discarding all the chocolate. But mama, I only like dark chocolate now.

Wha?????????????? I think I have it figured out. When she was born, they mistakenly swapped her out for someone else's child. Yep, that must be it.

And yes, I do realize that in this picture I have already eaten all the butterfingers, milky way, baby ruths and snickers. {sigh}

another beautiful Sunday afternoon...

On Sunday, Hannah went to the Renaissance Festival with the church's middle school youth group. Chris and I met up with Keith and Cynthia and headed out on the lake. We had lunch then cruised. I believe the colors were slightly ahead of last week - gorgeous, just gorgeous. It was about 70-75 degrees which was plenty warm...till we headed home and it started cooling down.

On Tuesday, Hannah was out of school for voting - schools used for voting places. We drove to Hickory to do our back to school shopping now that it is cooler.

We both commented the entire way there and home about how amazing the colors were during the drive. I really believe this year the colors are about the best I have ever seen.

But I have noticed today - we have passed the peak - there is alot of brown appearing on the trees and lots on the ground.

wherefore art thou Romeo.....

Juliet on Halloween. Not a good picture....light was fading fast. Friend Brittany was a pirate.