Fall is in the air...

Christy and I texted back and forth the other day all our favorite things about fall until we couldn't come up with any more. It is our favorite time of year.

Our group met at Tami's house this past Monday and it was so beautifully decorated and smelled so good it really put me in the fall mood.... So...my blog has gotten its fall facelift and my house is soon to follow. I have two totes of fall decorations and goodies calling my name. Unfortunately, we are so busy, the fall fairies may have to come and put it all out for me...(you know who you are) I also bought a pumpkin spice reed diffuser and some autumn spice febreeze...YUM

Right now Jaden and Ava are watching the Autumn part of Barney's 4 Seasons dvd. Jaden can't wait to "roll in the leaves...feel the cool breeze and stuff a scarecrow top to bottom...." (you mom's of barney loving tots will appreciate that little snipit)

Fall is in the air... and I love it!

God is Good...

Before...


Waiting...


Welping...


AFTER!


You are looking at the face of a happy girl! Why is she happy?... she is eating a BANANA and drinking APPLE JUICE!!! Simple pleasures are the best!

Testing went well. We gained EIGHT foods... we also lost some and added new allergies, but hey, we are thrilled to have some variety. The biggies we gained... wheat, milk, turkey, peas, apples and bananas! Believe me that is HUGE for us. We also gained back garlic and onion. The ones we lost were big too though... corn (ouch! ava LOVES her popcorn) we also lost pork, which really hurts, carrots are a no no now, as are some new ones she was tested for including blueberries, lettuce and tuna. Nuts are still lethal to her, and barley is still a close second.

Thank you all so much for the prayers. We really felt them. She had to lay still on her stomach for almost 20 minutes and she did it! She cried, but bless her heart, she didn't move. What a great relief!

Prayers for Ava...

Tomorrow is the day... Ava will have her allergy retest.

It's scary...

Last year, within 10 minutes the room was full of doctors and nurses in fear she was going into anaphylactic shock. Her poor little body was covered with quarter size hives. On that day I was given the very long list of what she couldn't eat, and the very short list of what she could.

I am trying to go into this very realistically. The best I am hoping for is to get back one or two foods, and for her reaction to be less violent. My fear is that the allergies have grown worse. Seems like no matter what she eats lately, she reacts.

So... at 11:00 tomorrow morning, as they turn her tiny little back and arms into pin cushions, any prayers you could send our way would be greatly appreciated. She is a trooper. She will probably handle it much better than I do.

IU Band Day...

Aaron and I got away for the weekend... can you believe it. Thanks to my mom, who is always willing to come stay with her babies for a day or two. (and as usual, when I got home, all my 80 loads of laundry were done!) Thanks mom!

We went to Indy and stayed at the Embassy Suites. The big printwear tradeshow always falls around our anniversary, so it is becoming tradition for us to hit that as part of our weekend away. Great tax write for the whole trip! :)

On the way home, we stopped in Bloomington to attend the IU Band Day. This was the first time for Aaron, second time for me. Last year Ed, Christy, Evan and I enjoyed it from the nosebleed section. It is really a good time. Neat to see our kids in that environment. The big time. They left the school at 1:00 and got home at 10:45. Ethan was pretty tired...but had a ball.

I did not have my camera, but managed to take these pics with Aaron's phone.

Drum Line...


Warming Up...


Love that hat Ethan...


Impressive...

Happy Anniversary

Sixteen years ago today... Way back in 1992...Aaron and I took the plunge.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. We were married at 5:30 in the evening at the Methodist Church in Shoals. There were fifteen in our wedding party. Our reception was held at the Ruritan building in Montgomery, where we had a catered meal and a live band...(no dj's for us!)It was packed and could not have been more fun! We flew out of Indy the next day for 7 days in Orlando and Clearwater. With the exception of a pretty crappy photographer...the whole experience was pretty close to perfect.

In some ways it seems like yesterday. (Maybe because I have watched the video a million times:) In other ways it seems like another lifetime. The great thing about it is... after all these years and all these kids... we would marry each other all over again.

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PS... Barb, I just have to ask... do you remember how HUGE your hair was at my wedding? If not...I have photos! :)

My littlest scholar...

Man, it has been a busy week for Jaden... party all weekend, turning 5 on Monday, starting pre-school on Tuesday, fall baseball Tuesday night and Wednesday night, preschool again today... WHEW! That's a lot of activity for a little guy.

He went to preschool last year, so it wasn't a big traumatic thing. I had to laugh at some of the other mom's, standing there with tissues, reluctant to leave, hovering over their little ones. Hmmm... do I really act that way and look that ridiculous in front of everyone? Reality check... Nope... I wait till I get to the car.

Here are some pics of the big day.

Ready to go...


Waiting in the van...


Looking very grown up...


See ya later mom...

Happy Birthday Jaden!

Kent and his family were down for the weekend. Haley has started college in Utah, Max had to work, and Evan starts back to IU today so none of them were able to be there. That was kind of a bummer.

We all went to to Dad and Julie's church to surprise my grandma. She is 91 and the sweetest thing. Still cruises Jasper, and spends more time at Walmart than I do! She was thrilled to see us all there. After church we celebrated Jaden's birthday at dad's with a cookout, cake, swimming and a couple of "cornhole" tournaments. (which I had never heard of, but was so fun!) It was a beautiful day, and we had a ball.

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