Fair, Food, & Fun

When you think of the Fair what else is there, but food & fun! Really at 6 months pregnant not being able to ride a ride...along with seeing Jake have the best time the other reason to go the fair has to be the food. Of course Jake and his cousins weren't lacking in the fair food either. The North Georgia State Fair is always a fall tradition with us & every year we love it.

Pumpkin Carving

I found this poem over at Women Living Well and it was the perfect thing to go with our pumpkin carving. Keep in mind some of our pictures were taken by an almost 3 year old who thinks he is in charge of the camera. 

Lord, open my mind so I can learn new things about you.

(Cut off top of pumpkin)

Remove the things in my life that don’t please you. Forgive the wrong things I do and help me to forgive others.

(Remove the guts)

 Open my eyes to see the beauty you’ve made in the world around me.
(Cut open eyes)

I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned my nose at the good food you provide.

(Cut out nose)

Let everything I say please You.

(Cut out mouth)

Lord, help me show your light to others through the things I do.

(Light the candle inside)

Amen.
By: Liz Curtis Higgs

Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend we went to the pumpkin patch. The same one we have been going to for years. It is nothing fancy like some of the others, but the people who own it are very nice and the boys love running around all the pumpkins they have for sale. And then getting to pick out their very own little pumpkin to take home.  The pumpkin patch also has a big sunflower field and fruit & veggies. Caleb & Jake shared an apple. Those boys can be so sweet to each other...some of the time :)

Music in our Home

I am truly loving this fall challenge "Make Your Home a Haven" with Courtney at Women Living Well.

Last weeks challenge was to light a candle in our home every day.

Jake really loved this and every morning when he would come down stairs he would remind me to light it.




Every time the flicker of the candle caught our attention we were to pray for our family and home. I loved having this little reminder throughout the day. The candle I have been burning is caramel pecan so not only did I have a reminder to pray when I saw the light flicker, but also each time I would smell the scent floating through our home.

I would pray different things for my family and home during the day. Mostly I have prayed that I would set the tone of my home, that I would be actively involved with Jake, and that God would fill our home in all we do.

It was great to have the candle as a reminder when I would get frustrated with Jake. Just seeing the candle would remind me to be gentle & loving. 

So I am so excited to take on Week 2's challenge!!

Play soft music everyday in your home. Choose worship, classical or another form of peaceful music that the family enjoys. Focus on using peaceful words and maintaining peaceful relationships. Remind your family to avoid seething anger, tattling, criticism or back talk. As the wife/mother, work on gentleness this week.

I used to be really good about turning the radio on in the morning. It was great to have in the background. Slowly over the summer tv has creeped in more and more and even when the tv isn't on I haven't been thinking to turn the radio on. I am really looking forward to getting back into this habit.

And because the challenges start the week I post. I will do a recap of how this weeks challenge goes with next weeks post.

Are you following along? How did your candle lighting go? Is fall the beginning of a hectic time of year for you?

Fair"y" Good time

I LOVE the fair!! Everything about the fair. The super yummy, but horrible for you food, the rides(even though I can't ride them any more they totally make me sick), the people, the stuff...EVERYTHING.

Every year when the North Georgia State Fair comes to town we are there. Usually a couple of times. This year we only made it once, but it was so much fun.

It was fun to watch Jake...he was beyond excited.

I love that in this picture you can see both Tyler & Caleb cracking up & Jake was trying to talk to Caleb

Last year he did not want anything to do with the rides and even cried when we made him ride the merry go round with his Pawpaw.

But this year was a different story all together.

He LOVED the rides...probably as much as I love the fair. He loved being on them, he loved talking about them as he waited in line, and when each ride ended was so excited to go to the next ride.

It is still so much fun to listen to him talk about the fair and all the rides.

 You can't really see Jake, but you can tell by his eyes & Tyler that they were having the very best time on this super spinning ride.

A lot of C

Caramel & Candy covered apples with Cousins

Last week we focused on letter C. We did several fun things and of course had a day filled with letter "c" foods.

But my favorite thing we did was to have Jake's cousin's over for a sleep over. We used some apples from or apple picking and dipped them in caramel and then rolled them in crushed candy.

All 4 of the boys loved it...and it really wasn't as messy as I had thought

Light a Candle

Once again the wonderful Courtney of Women Living Well is doing a weekly Monday challenge. This fall it is focused on making your home a haven. And every Monday she will be giving us something to focus on to calm our homes and bring some peace to our days.

For us fall is such a busy time of year(I can't even imagine how it will be once Jake is in school). With both mine & Jake's birthday in October & tons of other wonderful events and fun fall activities it seems that our weeks and weekends are even busier from now until the 1st of the year.

So this challenge couldn't have come at a better time.

It is week 1 of the Making Your Home a Haven Fall Challenge. Here is this week's challenge: Go buy an extra large candle and light a candle everyday in your home. I will be starting mine in the morning! But you can start yours at dinner time. Do what makes sense for your family. I will be placing mine in the kitchen - the main hub of my home. Each time the candle catches your eye, say a prayer for peace in your home.(from Women Living Well). 


I got my candle today and set it up on our breakfast table since you can see that from the kitchen & living room. I haven't lit it yet & think I will do so this evening when we are all relaxing after dinner. But for the rest of the week I am going to try and light the candle in the mornings. Hopefully this will help me to not be short or frustrated with Jake as we get our day started.  

 

With the challenges going up each Monday I will let you know what the challenge is and hopefully the following Monday let you know how it worked in our home over the week. (sorry about the italic font...I can't seem to get it to change back)

As American

As Apple Pie Picking!

This past weekend we went apple picking. I am embarrassed to say and even a bit bewildered to think we have never been apple picking. Really? I can't tell you why we have never been apple picking. We do every other fun season or holiday related thing. Jason & I even did a lot of these things before we had Jake.

Thankfully our eyes have been opened and I can't wait to go apple picking again. I am even considering another trip this season before apple picking is over.

We went to a great orchard that had tons of different varieties of apples to pick. They also had pig races & a wagon ride.

Jake & Caleb both loved picking apples...









And we all had a wonderful time...despite the fact that it rained off and on the WHOLE time we were there. (hence the hat Jake has on...he insisted he wear it because it was raining)

I took a ton of pictures as I usually do for any thing we do. So I have narrowed it down to several for you to enjoy.

Come on In

I really enjoy hosting people in our home. So in the spirit of Fall Welcome to our home!

As I type this I have a pumpkin pie candle burning and it smells so yummy!!(it actually might be making me hungry)

Here is what you would see if you were to come visit during the fall season! We don't have any pumpkins yet (at least not real ones) so it would be a little different in another couple weeks. But you can imagine pumpkins on the front porch & probably a few around the house too!
 Come on in...

a close up of the fall arrangement on the front door.

Our entry table in the foyer

And our mantle in the living room.

We have a few other small things throughout the house, but these were some of my favorite decorations that I thought I would share.

And since I do live in Georgia it just wouldn't seem right for me to end a fall post without saying...

                            Happy Fall Y'all!!!