So this weekend it's just gonna be me and my daughter!! :)

Dan has been planning for the last year to go to the Nascar race in Talladega again. His buddy Roy gets free tickets from sponsors at their store! :D Well, this year, everyone else who planned to go backed out, so Dan and Roy are taking their sons along....MUCH to the son's delight!!

So it'll just be Tamara and I this weekend. Tomorrow morning we have a field trip bright and early, so we'll be leaving before the guys do! The field trip is half way between here and Tallahassee, so when that is over, we are going to do a little shopping in town and maybe eat supper out! :)

I'd love to take the time to get a pedicure, eat at a ritzy restaurant and shop till we drop.....but that takes more $$ :P

I do think we will have a great time watching movies, making latte's and just being together! (maybe even squeeze a little cleaning in there!)

You cannot imagine how excited Tamara is to have me to herself for 3. Whole. Days!! :) I am excited too! :)

****Here's to a great weekend to my hubby and I as we spend time with our kids!! ****

Backyard Camping

Friday afternoon, the guys set up the tent to get it cleaned out from our previous camping trip. Dan may be going to Talladega again this weekend with some friends who got free tickets, so if he goes, he wants to take a tent this year and hopefully stay warmer than last year! :) Long story! ;)

So, that evening after a brief shopping trip to Marianna, Dan made a campfire in the back yard by the tent.

There's my family! :) It was a beautiful moonlit night....and so quiet!!

We also made some coffee on the camp stove to keep us warm.

Love watching a campfire!!

A man and his dog....

"Scratch a dog and you'll find a permanent job."

Franklin P. Jones

We had some good laughs with Mocha. He loves chasing sparks from the fire and sometimes acted like he even was going to jump in after them! Crazy dog! :) He kept us entertained!!

The guys slept out that night while Tamara and I "camped out" in my bed! The tent was right outside our bedroom window and we had the curtains open to let in the moonlight. Tamara and I decided to watch a movie (Herbie Rides Again) after we came in to bed, and the guys saw us and came to join us. So nobody went to bed till after 1 AM!! (Except for Mom who couldn't stay awake during the movie!!) :) I am kind of famous for that!!

A fun, relaxing family night!! It's so nice to spend an un-rushed weekend with my little family!!

So tomorrow I need to get this house straightened up!! Seriously, there is stuff everywhere!! I am babysitting for a friend who is going for her first Dr. appt. for this pregnancy!! :) Dan works a late day, so I hope to have the house whipped in shape till he gets home. Maybe I should go to bed so I'm worth something!?? :) But I DID have a nap this afternoon.

Cotton

It's Fall Harvest time and I'm sure the farmer's are thankful for the beautiful sunny days we've been having!!
I took this picture one day of a field near our house ~

Two days later they were harvesting!! :)



Cotton fields are so pretty when they are ready to be harvested. Looks almost like a field of snow...hey, I can dream can't I?? :)

Dan had hernia surgery today. It went well. We were in the hospital about 6 hours.

He is now laying in bed relaxing. It is very painful for him to move around much! :(

In an hour a nurse friend is coming over to change his bandages and check on the bleeding. I have been feeling queezy all day and the thought of changing bandages makes me feel yuck! So thankful for good friends!! :)

So tomorrow he will just take it easy, I will be his nurse and we hope to see some improvement in the pain and all!!

Keep him in your prayers!! Thanks!

~~Homecoming Parade~~

This week is Homecoming at the local High School. Today was the parade. I took the kids out and we met up with the Smith's on the town square.

Enjoy the pics....I don't have many captions :P

Cutie on the big red truck! :)

Middle School girls~

Is this redneck or what?? :D

A good cause!

Relaxed.... :D

The back two horses are our neighbor lady and her daughter. They had red tiger paw prints on the horses rumps! :)

The parade was supposed to start at 1 PM, but it was 2 till it got underway! :P BUT, we (the kids) had fun getting trucks to blow their horns and waving at people.....seeing how many would wave back! :) Once when the traffic was stopped for the light, and elderly man, not from the area, asked if there is going to be a parade and Mr. Smith told him that, yes, there was.

Or maybe this is what this small town does.....sits on the curb watching traffic all day! HeeHee!! :)

Sounds like the Tigers rocked their Homecoming game tonight. They won 40-0!! Way to go Tigers!!

I am going to participate in a yard sale with some other Homeschool mom's tomorrow. I hope I sell enough to finish paying Dan's ER bill!! :P That might be stretching it, but every little bit helps!

Say an extra prayer or a couple for Dan. He is finishing up a 10 page research paper tonight....or tomorrow morning. Then he has all his assignments from his 2nd class to do AND he has to preach on Sunday! Also, he will be meeting with the surgeon on Thurs. about his hernia and setting up a surgery date. I will be glad when he gets relief for that!! BUT on the other hand, I don't like surgery. I don't like seeing my man on a hospital bed! :( I know, it's not a complicated surgery, but just the same....I don't like it! :P

And on that note, pray for my brother Darrin's 3 year old son, Duncan. He was born with a hole in his heart and it is not closing up like it should, so he will be having surgery on Jan. 12.

Well, I better get to bed so I can get up in the morning! :)

Check out my new widget in the top left column!

We are trying to help our friends, Loren & Renee Barnhart win a new kitchen makeover!!

You need to register and then you can vote once per day, per email address. But ONLY 1 email address per person! We don't want to cheat for votes, or they could get disqualified! Thanks so much for your help!!

The Barnhart's are great folks....I know they love entertaining guests and I know an upgraded kitchen would bless many folks in the years to come!!

Thanks again for helping!! :)

Today was a most gorgeous day!! Blue skies, sunny and a high in the 70's!! :) A perfect day for working outside....after the school work was all done!

This is the bush that needed my attention....not that any other's didn't. But the vine growing in it was going to cause a problem soon!! It was growing in behind the shutter and had the potential to eventually mess it up!


My trusty sidekick...Mocha! :)


Oh, yeh....the kids were good helpers, too!! :) As I trimmed, we pulled vines out of the shrub....this one particular vine, I pulled and pulled. It started in the shrub I was working on and went underground and came up in the one next to it....it was LONG!! We measured it for proof... 20 ft. 5 inches long! :O The kids are each holding one end.


Found a praying mantis ....


So, here is the before.....


...and the after! :) Do you think it will grow back??


In the process of trimming, I got one bee sting and we saw a nice large banana spider! I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it. The spider, that is!

During supper tonight, our new kitty just thought she had to get as close as possible. I couldn't believe it, but she climbed the chain link fence and was looking in the kitchen window....trying to figure out where her peeps were, I guess! She is a very social being!


Yup, it's Fall!! The pumpkins came from Ag Adventure Day....each of the kids got to bring one home....and I can never leave Mums at the store! :P These actually came in somewhat pretty pots!


We spent a little time outdoors right after supper, playing with the animals.....the sky was beginning to show its nightly beauty!


Dan bought Mocha a rubber "mini tire" to chew on. He needs tough stuff he can't rip up and this looked like the perfect toy!
He loves when you throw it for him and anytime you step outside, he will bring it and lay it at your feet in anticipation of a fun time!! :)

(Love this picture....captured him in mid-air!) :)

Bringing it back just to chase it again!! :)

Well, guess what....our dog must be part super-dog because he is tearing that tire to pieces....it is tough stuff....even has the threads woven in it!! :O

Got to spend time with the cat too....you know they feel left out pretty quickly! ;)


I am going to take you along on my walk tonight.....leaving our driveway, turning left (east)....


I tried to keep my eyes open for beauty in the "dullness" of the fall browns.....
This is what I found....

Some would say this is beauty....I don't know. But I do know they are smelly! :) And they like to make lots of painful sounding noises in the night. :)

Then it was time to turn around and head back...

I decided not to post the pic I took of the bar at the end of our road, but here is the kind of proof, scattered all along our road!
Okay, so this isn't "bar goods"....

....but I do believe this is a Bud Light. :P

As I was getting closer to home, it was getting dark and I saw this figure jogging toward me (right after I snapped the pic of the Bud can) I thought it was probably my neighbor lady and thought she is probably wondering why in the world I am taking pictures of trash along the road! :)

Turns out, it was my Danny boy! He came to join me for the rest of my walk, decked out in 2 pair of pants, a sweat shirt and gloves!! :) Is it really that cold?? :D

Walking in front of our house, again, where Tamara sits on the porch, waiting patiently for our return! :)

Yup, tomorrow is garbage day, so these can's dot our street!

We walked out the other way, toward the west, and enjoyed the pretty sky and the bright planets and stars that were showing their faces!

I love my son...

Then there is always time to be crazy!! :)

As we approached our driveway....our protector met us, once again. He inspected us with his laser eyes and after sensing we were one of "his", he welcomed us back home again! :D

Thanks for taking a walk with me (us). :) You're welcome any time!!

I was able to set up a consultation appointment for Dan today for his upcoming surgery...read today's prior post for more info.
I also proceeded to allow a virus to attack my computer! :( BUT, I learned a few things from it, and my awesome hubby was able to fix it tonight when he got home. So, yeh, never let an outside source, that is not your virus protection company, tell you that your computer has a virus (or 41 of them to be exact) and that you need to download their program to take care of it....how dumb can I be?? It just looked so "real"!! Arrgghhh!!

A parting shot....Danny and Smokey.

Goodnight!!