What a beautiful weekend!  God blessed us with so many showings of his beauty during our trip to KY.  We saw a rainbow as we arrived at the rehearsal dinner, a sunset over the rolling hills after the wedding, a shooting star on the way home from the reception, and some of the most beautiful countryside you can imagine covered with autumn leaves at their peak everywhere we turned.  Wow.  It was almost too much to seem real!  And add to that the oppurtunity for a mini-vacation for our family and a chance to see our former church family and it was an altogether outstanding weekend.

 

The bride, Paige, taught in the room next door to Jeff when we lived in KY.  She booked Jeff to be the pianist for her wedding many months ago.  Paige is the very special person who gave Ella her "David" doll that you've seen in so many pictures on my blog over the past couple years.  She and her now husband, Kyle, went above and beyond our expectations by putting our whole family up in a very nice hotel for two nights and giving us money for expenses in addition!  Staying in a hotel is a real treat for us.  The girls (and Jeff and I, too!) loved eating breakfast there, swimming in the "warm as bath water" swimming pool, and sleeping in different beds than they're used to with all of us in the same room! 

 

The wedding was decorated in beautiful fall colors, with silk leaves on the bride's runner instead of rose petals.  The pumpkins on the tables were favors to take home.  Fall leaves were wrapped and scattered around everywhere.  I have never been to a "black and orange" wedding, and I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be so beautiful!  And in such a perfect location.  I think the pictures speak for themselves more than I can describe it.

 

Jeff played a keyboard up in the balcony of this 100-year-old church in the country near Lebanon, KY, so the girls and I had our own little area where they wouldn't bother anyone, which worked out very nicely.  He did a wonderful job, as always, and the girls behaved very well.  We were most proud of them, though, at the "fancy" rehearsal dinner...white tablecloths and napkins, china, crystal, a very adult menu, and no boosters or high chairs!  Not to mention a quiet, formal atmosphere!  It could have been a disaster, and believe me, I was nervous, but they did very well.  The reception, while still very nice, was more their speed.  The girls got to run around and dance with the other kids, and they enjoyed the food, and LOVED the cake!

 

We ended our trip with a visit to our former church on the way home.  It's always so nice to go there.  It just feels like coming home.  It's fun to hear everyone comment on how the girls have grown and for us to see how all of their kids have grown!  We ate lunch after church with our good friend, Becky, and her kids, Isaac, Grace, and Owen.  Isaac and Ella are three months apart and have been friends since Ella was born.  We always enjoy the chance for them to spend time together, and I love catching up with Becky, another stay-at-home mom trying to serve God and take care of her family on a small income.

 

One other thing...Jeff had an abdominal ultrasound and a gastroscopy yesterday and it was determined he has several small gall stones.  He will be meeting with a GI specialist on Tuesday to determine if and when to schedule surgery to have his gall bladder removed.  We covet your prayers!

More October birthdays!  Have I mentioned that we have 6 birthdays in our family in one month?!  Last weekend, we celebrated Jeff's parents' birthdays, and this weekend, we celebrated my brother and sister-in-law's birthdays!  And in two weeks, we'll celebrate Lucy's and my Dad's!  Oh, and did I mention Jeff's birthday is in November, too?  And that we also went to a birthday for a friend from church on Saturday?  It's a busy, expensive month!  And Christmas comes next!!

 

We are thrilled and thankful, though, to have a big, loving family to celebrate.  On Friday evening, we celebrated Todd and Lisa's birthdays with a weiner roast at my parents' house.  They are both 38 this month.  On Saturday, we went to a party at Chuck E. Cheese's for the birthday of one of Lucy's Sunday School classmates.  Then, Saturday night we had some friends from church over for a cookout.  Our grill wouldn't heat up, so we ended up cooking everything on the George Foreman grill!  And on Sunday, we joined 10 friends for lunch at a Chinese Restaurant.  All of that, and only 2 pictures to show for the weekend!

 

The pictures from the library were taken on Tuesday.  At the baby story time, the mommies bounce their kids on their laps and sing songs, and the leader usually gives a stuffed animal to the older siblings to have someone to bounce.  Ella got the idea to bring her special baby, David, to be her baby and she had SO much fun with him!  She showed him around the library and explained everything to him.  She really acted like his mommy.  It was sweet.  I wish she would have thought of it sooner!  This was Lucy's last time to go to the "baby" story time.  Next time, we will have to go to the 2-3-year-olds for her!  No more lap-bouncing. (sniff)

 

Tuesday night was Jeff's choir's fall concert.  This was one of his first concerts that I can remember where I did not accompany at least some of the songs.  This year, however, he has two interns from the local university who both play piano, so my services weren't needed.  It was strange to not wear black to the concert!  Jeff did a wonderful job, as always, and even played the bongos for one song!

 

And last night, Wednesday, was "Talent Night" at Awana.  Ella has been a part of talent nights before, but has never wanted to get up front and perform.  Last night she didn't, either, until it started.  She decided on the spot that she DID want to do something.  I asked her what she wanted to do and she said "sing."  We decided she knew "Jesus Loves Me" really well, so she sang that.  She looked scared to death the whole time, held the teacher's hand for support, and you could barely hear her, but she did it!  I was so proud of her for getting up the courage.  I hope this will be the first of many times we will hear her perform!

This was a fun family weekend!  It began with Jeff having a day off from school on Friday.  While most schools recognize Columbus Day on Monday, ours gives the teachers and kids Friday off so they can enjoy our city's fall festival.  Jeff's mom, dad, and sister arrived just before noon on Friday, so we headed to the fall festival for lunch.  While there are rides, entertainment, and activities offered, the biggest deal is the food.  Jeff's dad had a brain sandwhich, I ate a walking haystack, and Jeff had toasted ravioli.  You can find just about anything fried (oreos, cookie dough, twinkies) or dipped in chocolate (crickets, bacon) you can think of.

 

Also on Friday, I made a cake to celebrate Jeff's parents' birthdays, which are both in October.  I tried out the cake decorating set my brother gave me for my birthday and made the cake you see pictured.  Unfortunately, the cake split as it settled but at least it tasted good and you could read my writing!

 

On Saturday, we took the girls to pick out pumpkins.  After much deliberation over which pumpkin patch to go to and how to get there, we finally decided we really didn't have a lot of time and went to a stand at a church not far from where we live.  It was not quite the same as going to a pumpkin patch, but there was no charge and the girls were excited to actually get to stop at this stand that we normally just drive by and and look at.  They each picked a small pumpkin and Grandpa chose a nice, larger one to make into a jack-o-lantern, which he did later that afternoon.

 

After church on Sunday, we stopped for a few things at Sam's before going out for lunch and this was where Ella had her 4-year-old little girl dreams come true.  With the sweetest face and voice she could muster, she politely asked Grandpa for the set of 6 pairs of princess shoes she has been wanting for weeks.  He was very generous and bought them, telling her that she would have to share them Lucy.  Ella was aboslutely giddy holding them all the way home.  Well, since that day we have hardly seen either of them without a pair on.  They LOVE them!  I love seeing Ella so happy and I love seeing Lucy's fat little feet spilling oer the sides of the shoes.  Thankfully, there is still some room for Ella to grow and still be able to wear the shoes, so they will both be able to enjoy them for a while to come!

 

We all really enjoyed the time with Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Valerie and we hope they come back again soon!

This past weekend was Dairy Days, the annual fall festival in my huge hometown of 1100.  Growing up, it was one of the highlights of my year.  Now, it is fun to go back and see old faces (looking even older now), see children of high school friends, let my own kids ride the kiddie rides, eat fair food, and see a good, old-fashioned small-town parade (during which my kids collect all the candy we need to supply our home for trick-or-treaters!).  As you can see from the pictures, Lucy had a life-changing experience...driving a car...fast!  She had no clue how fast it was going to go and she LOVED it!  She couldn't stop smiling! 

 

The girls and I went on Thursday to spend a day with some friends at my parents' house and Jeff came Friday.  These friends have five children, the youngest three of which are girls and very close to my kids' ages.  They got to play in the playhouse, eat homemade pizza,  pick apples off the apple tree, and even peel and eat them with Grandma's help.  It was a beautiful day outside and we all had a nice time.

 

Thankfully, everyone has been healthy this week.  Ella has taken 12 piano lessons now and is playing several songs on the black keys, C's and D's, quarter notes and half notes, and knows a wealth of other flashcard-worthy information.  She does 20-30 minutes of "schoolwork" after lunch each day and can read three-letter words now, as well as writing all her upper-case and most of her lower-case letters.  She loves to sound out words she sees around her throughout the day and she's getting pretty good at it!  Lucy is 23 months old today.  She counts to 13, has a love for puppies of all sorts, and can sing just about any song you can think of!  This weekend, she stood on my parents' piano bench and sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" for them...the whole thing!  If I can ever get it on videotape, I would love to post it.

 

If you're interested, I added a few new pictures to the "Nashville Weekend" album that I just got off my parents' camera this weekend.