Summer is Gone ~ kinda

Calendar wise, summer is gone.  Temperature wise, its still hanging around with 90 degree temps here in GA.

We've been busy with lots of projects and family activities.  Our youngest grandson just turned 3...he isn't a baby anymore.  When our oldest grandbuddy was potty trained we bought him special big boy pants for his graduation from diapers.  We have carried this on with all 4, alvins were a pack of super hero unders and a pack of mickey mouse!  Its the little things!

Amy and I drove to South Carolina last week for the day and spent a great time with Katie and the boys at the Zoo.  They loved it and so did we.  We had taken picnic lunches and then the boys had lots of playground time followed by steak n shake happy hour milkshakes.  It was a full day!

We are gearing up for our family shoebox packing day for Operation Christmas Child & our thanksgiving and Christmas get togethers.  Lots of surprises in the works especially for our little boys!

Greg and I are way past getting our moneys worth from our Disney annual passes.  We are going back in Nov. for the closing of the food and wine festival at Epcot.  Gregs favorite jazz band "Big Bad Voodoo Daddy" will be in concert. They did some of the music for Nightmare Before Christmas. On our last trip, we discovered on the way down that "Mercy Me" would be doing concerts for 2 nights at Epcot.  That was a fantastic praise and worship experience.  The ampitheater was packed and behind the entrances were lines of people about 10 rows deep.  Beautiful experience.

I was so happy to get our fall decorations out the other day.  My home has been "falled".  Amy helped me unpack everything and set it up and Will was our strong man, carrying boxes to and from the basement storage.

Oh,   Allen & Jennifer just celebrated their 5th Anniversary, Katie and Bryant their 7th, and Amy and Austins first is in a couple of weeks.  Mine and Gregs was the beginning of September ~ 13 years!

Happy Fall Y'all!

Decorations

Just noticed I never posted these!  So its late and now they are put away till next year! 

Reflections

There is a lot of giving & receiving this time of year.  Family, friends, & co workers.  Then there are Toys for Tots, bellringers with buckets, shoeboxes, Angel Tree, etc.

It can be quite overwhelming.

We have gift giving in our immediate family, & we have our game for Christmas Day with our extended family.

When the gift giving involves parents and grandparents it gets a bit tricky because they have everything!  That's when creativity comes into play ~ this year we made our parents calendars featuring pictures of their great grandchildren.  They loved them!  Each month is a different child or group of children, made of pictures taken throughout the year. 

For our children ~ this kinda varies depending of the young person and their circumstances.  One of ours just moved and needed some household items, one got essential oils and supplies, 4 got luggage, one got new clothes and one got a check.  There really is no "one size fits all".

But in all of the excitement, I reflect on how well I did as a parent, in teaching my children how to give and receive graciously and how to serve others.

Even at very young ages, they can be taught to give to grandparents, aunts & uncles. Ornaments, little drawings, or purchased items from money they "earned", it doesn't have to be expensive. And make it fun...teach enthusiasm for giving. But teach them to give.  If they learn early, they will carry on the tradition when older ~ birthdays, Christmas, Mothers & Fathers Day.

Teach them how to receive gifts ~ learning thank you is a huge deal.  An in person thank you is great, or a text or a phone call.  But say the words.  They all need to learn (at any age) Thankfulness.  Receiving a gift or gifts is a blessing and it blesses the receiver to hear those words. This is especially important for gifts received in the mail from out of town ~ if you don't acknowledge the gift, the giver never knows that it was even received.

Teach them to be hospitable ~ cooking dinner for family, invitations to visit, offers to help after family dinners with clean up, running errands, serving others.  There are lots of areas in our lives to practice hospitality.

And how well did I/we do in my/our teaching/mentoring/leading by example/encouraging ~ it depends on the child, their situation, and their circumstances.  I could have done more.

I fall short in areas also ~ I miss opportunities to serve others,  I try to be thankful for every gift (its the not receiving that I struggle with and need to overcome), I don't want to take anything or anyone for granted, I want my home to be friendly and comfortable for folks to visit.  No matter what age, we can all learn more & do more.

Hope you all had a great Christmas.

We received the greatest gift of all time when the Lord sent His Son to the earth ~ may be we forever thankful for His gift and His ultimate sacrifice.

December....so far

Simplifying our Decembers has been great ~  more time for relaxing and doing what we really want ~

so far I have ~

taken pictures of Aiden & Amy decorating a giant gingerbread man

made some scrabble tile letter ornaments of all our names

shopped with Amy

run errands and eaten lunch out with mom

drunk lots of hot chocolate and hot spice tea

home cooked meals

wrapped gifts

helped Amy with a gift

diffused awesome smelling essential oils

"attended" 2 online oil parties and a 2 week oil camp

read books downloaded on my kindle

got in some cross stitching

killed a sewing machine (yes, this happened yesterday, it is dead)

enjoyed my quilts and electric blanket

helped Greg plant our vineyard (10 muscadine vines)

entered several 12 Days of Christmas drawings and won prizes on 2 of them!

closed on a small house today for our oldest son (which selfishly means, we get out rv back!)

mailed Christmas cards

got my gifts together and wrapped for our Christmas day ugly Santa game

Watch some holiday movies!

went to Aidens preschool Christmas program to watch his classmates sing (he chose not to participate)

PaPa brought him a truck~ then we went to steak n shake for lunch

The rest of this month will bring ~

Our 3 oldest sons birthdays~ the 18th and the 22nd

taking Amy to MS to spend Christmas with Austins family

family dinner at Moms

Christmas dinner at my sisters

Greg is preaching on Christmas morning

our 3 little Cutler grandbuddies are coming to spend the night and play

moving James

I hope everyone has time to relax, focus on family & fun, eat some yummy food, remember the Christ that's in Christmas

Cousins

All of our grandsons were together on Wednesday night and Friday morning ~ MaMa & PaPa's house was rockin'

Robert 4, Aiden 2, Alvin 1, Thomas 2

my favorite ~ they are all smiling!

Aiden expends lots of energy trying to escape!

Love my wiggly boys!

PaPa's shoulder makes a great resting place!

Robert & Thomas riding PaPa's "antique" rocking horse

outside time ~ Aiden got brave and rode the little tractor & loved it!

Thomas on Thomas the train (best $5 I spent at a garage sale!)

Our sweet baby is walking! 

Robert riding his big boy bike we bought the night before

sharing among 2 year olds is a concept we are working on ~ they did real well

Auntie Amy got the rabbit out for a visit!

checking out the chickens

soccer time

Alvin can kick it too!

Come on ball...roll to me!

PaPa and his buddy

MaMa didn't need to leave these cones on the driveway ~ I will pick them up for her.

Our 4 little blessings

cone heads

I got a stick!

bike riding concentration!

We are thankful for ~

the blessing of 4 beautiful grandsons
hearing their laughter
watching their fun
watching them learn
listening to their conversations
watching them learn new things
seeing them take chances and overcome fears
the time they can all be together
a sunny, nice outside day on Friday
healthy, sturdy little fellas
the anticipation of more little grandbabies in the future

Sweet Birthday Boy

Our sweet baby grandson turned a year old, this past Monday.  We celebrated on Sunday night ~  Needless to say, the chocolate cake was a huge hit! 

trying to cram it all in with one fist

Where did it go?

Hey guys....the bowl is empty!

I am out of CAKE!

PaPa to the rescue!

Thanks PaPa!  The cake is yummy!

We are thankful for ~~~~

getting to see this little sweetheart on his birthday
watching him cram cake
His smiles and giggles
his tentative little steps
his enthusiasm for food ~ all food, in great quantities
his snuggles
his health
his big blue eyes and whispy blonde hair

Party Time!

Our little Aiden turned 2 years old on Friday & yesterday was his family party~  we had lots of fun celebrating the birthday boy.  As you can tell in some of the pictures, he wasn't too keen about leaving his toys and posing for pictures.

Cool decorations can be used when your dad works in "the business"

Dump Truck shirt I made him

Auntie Amy made cool cupcakes with white chocolate tools on top

cousin Bobby helping

Aiden immediately showed him ~ he could reach on his own

MaMa had to get some kisses

throwing the ball Granny bought him

present time

cousin Daniel came to party ~ or Baby as Aiden called him (Daniel is 15 months)

Thankful for ~
fun times with Aiden
celebrations
being able to help
visiting with family
a healthy, happy boy