Cute pics

Here she is, at 18 months:
She has really started "helping" me around the house. She actually enjoys putting toys away, "sweeping," "cleaning" things with a rag, "sorting" and "folding" laundry and so forth. I guess I better enjoy it while it lasts!!
On the down side, she is TERRIFIED of the vacuum cleaner.

When she eats not-so-messy food, I allow her to sit in a booster seat.
My mom and dad bought her a swing set, which my dad put together. Here she is in the kiddie swing on Thanksgiving day!

One day, after helping me "fold" laundry, Rebecca took a pair of Daddy's underwear and placed them on her head. My friend's mom commented on this picture and said, "she'll love looking at THIS when she's 16!"

Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow...

I loved singing the Doxology in the Methodist church I grew up in. I often sing it to Rebecca. There are different versions of the Doxology, sung in many Christian denominations. However, this one is my favorite:

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

The simply song of praise is fit to be sung EVERY day, but during this Thanksgiving season, let us remember from Whom all our blessings come.

Our family is so very blessed, with wonderful family and friends (yeah, YOU!), with a warm home and good food on our table. I am blessed to be able to stay home with our daughter and John continues to be blessed with good reports from his scans. These are just a few of our many, many blessings.

This Thanksgiving (actually the week prior,) we traveled to Tenn. to stay with my Mom's side of the family in some beautiful mountain cabins. It was a family get-away. We had a great time visiting and bonding with our family and taking in the Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Sevierville attractions.

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, our family, along with our friend BJ, traveled to Vine Grove, Ky. to dine with our good friends Josh and Jessica Hornsby and their family and close friends at a little German restaurant called the Schnitzel Barn. The food was way yummy and I got overstuffed! The company was first-class!! We so enjoyed seeing our friends and their gracious family! Thank you, Annette! We loved seeing Bill and Judy too! Gosh, we are blessed to have you in our lives!

Here are some pics of Rebecca enjoying the company of other toddlers in our party (Mason and Trey) at the Schnitzel Barn:

On Thanksgiving day, we supped at Mom and Dad's home with the immediate family, my Papaw, (Rebecca calls him "Great" - and he is!) and Robert's girlfriend, Jana.

This past Saturday, we ate lunch at my Mamaw Howard's home. Much of the family was there and it was great to visit and see how much my younger cousins had grown!!!

Mmmmmm M&M's!

Rebecca loves M&M's. I let her try them for the first time around Halloween, and she has been requesting them ever since!

We have been successfully using them to teach colors. We'll ask her what color the candy is before she gets one or she'll request certain colors herself.

Here are a couple pics of her eating M&M's (AFTER dinner, of course.)

Halloween

Rebecca dressed as a turtle for Halloween, an evening which we spent in Maysville.
Rebecca visited some family members mid-afternoon and John, Rebecca and I saw a few friends that evening. One of the pictures is with our friend, Amy, holding Rebecca. Some other shots were taken at my parents' home and at the home of James and Sarah Winter.

A Wedding and Washington (DC)

We departed Oct. 16 for Baltimore, Md. so we could attend a good friend's wedding (see left - the new Mr. and Mrs. Ben Collins.) John's mom and grandma came down from Minn. to watch Rebecca.

I was excited to go on the trip, but sad to leave Rebecca - even though I knew she was in good hands! :-)

We departed late afternoon and arrived in Timonium, Md. (the location of our hotel) after midnight, so we weren't able to enjoy fall foliage on the way in, but we certainly were able to on the way out! The West Virginia and Maryland mountains are gorgeous in the fall!! Ben and Johanna sure picked a gorgeous weekend to wed!














On Friday, John and I slept in a bit and then headed to downtown Baltimore. While there, we took in the sites and visited the Walters Art Museum, which was very impressive! We especially enjoyed looking at Roman statuary and sarcophaguses and perusing European Renaissance and Baroque art. What a neat place!













We finished our own little walking tour of the area and finally ate lunch at a little place with somewhat tasty fare.

We joined the wedding party for a rehearsal dinner Friday evening at a delightful Italian restaurant called, Liberatore's. (The bride and groom were gracious enough to invite us!) We had a great time!
On Saturday, John and I, along with our college friend, Matt Griffin, decided to tour Washington D.C. We managed to admire a bunch of monuments, buildings and such, but we didn't have a lot of time to tour many sites. I believe my favorite monument is the Lincoln Memorial, but the most moving monument is the World War II Memorial. It literally brought tears to my eyes. It made me so very thankful!

During our short stint in D.C., we did manage to buy some cute FBI and Witness Protection Program clothing for our munchkins (Matt has two little girls) and a couple items for us!

Here are some pics of our tour:








Unfortunately, we got stuck in our Nation's Capital. The map kept leading us to dead ends and we we thought we had finally found the way out, we ran into a wreck. If it weren't for a good Samaritan who led us onto the Interstate - we may have very well missed the wedding!

Yes, we were late to the wedding and even had to enter in our street clothes. How embarrassing!!! We did manage to make it in time for the vows and we snapped as many pictures as we could from the balcony of the Tagart Chapel at McDonogh School. What we saw of the wedding was beautiful! I couldn't stop talking about the flowers - an awesome array of fall colors!

After the wedding, we changed into nicer apparel and headed to the reception at the Martin's Valley Mansion. The venue was stunning and the food delicious! Everyone certainly had a great time celebrating Ben and Johanna's nuptials.




Here's one of John and I dancing:



Sunday, we ate lunch at Johanna's parents' home and watched them open gifts before they departed for their honeymoon to Aruba. It was an intimate gathering where friends and family could chat and relax.




That evening, John and I explored Baltimore's Inner Harbor and later supped at G & M Restaurant, recommended to us by Johanna's dad. The restaurant is known for their crab cakes. John sampled jumbo shrimp stuff with their signature crab cake. He looked like he was in heaven! I had a lighter entree - broiled flounder. It was yummy as well (and better for the waistline.)


All in all, we had a great time in Maryland and we hope to return and visit our friends some time in the future. We wish Ben and Johanna all the best!!!

Amazing Grace

Little Grace Fulkerson (first child of my friend Julie) entered the world Sept. 27. My friend Amy and I visited the little tyke a few weeks ago.

Here are some pictures of Julie, her husband Junior, her mom, Amy, Rebecca and myself:

Busy Weekend No. 2

The first weekend in Oct. was also busy for our family.

On Oct. 2, my dad turned 50. Somehow, my immediate family and I managed to surprise him with a surprise party on Sat., Oct. 4.

John managed to keep Dad away from the house by taking him and Rebecca to a local pumpkin farm. Here are some super-cute pictures of their outing:






Dad came back to the house to this:



He was so surprised to see most of his family and a lot of his friends! His sister Tami and her husband Mike came in from Florida and his brother Tony and his grown children Amanda and Taylor came in as well! We were so happy to spend time with them all!!!

Then, on Sunday, I went outlet shopping with my Maysville girlfriends and came away with some great buys!