FALL FESTIVITIES!

Here are some fun pictures from our FALL FUN!
We went to the Mazons on Friday night for their neighborhood gathering (Oct 30th) and then on Oct 31st, we had a Fall Festival. Our youth group hosts this each year in our neighborhood. This year we are living in a neighborhood NEW TO US... so we got to meet a lot of neighbors. It was so much fun!

Here's Aidan as Iron Man


Abel as a Pirate (not a very mean pirate!)

Avery was Selina Gomez...

Addison went to a TINKERBELL party at her friend, Gracie Kate's. She had a BLAST!!!

Here are more of her tinker bell friends...
THIS WAS SO FUNNY... our dear friends, Stephen and Emile came dressed as a HUGE robot (he's almost 7 ft tall) and a ballerina. They are such a hoot!


How absolutely precious are Becky and Johnny!!! LOVE THEM! This brought back some serious memories. I can recite the Pink Ladies Pledge... and yes, I am proud of that!!!

On Halloween it rained! SAD! But we still had lots of visitors to our Fall Festival. We had a cotton candy machine and a popcorn machine. SO FUN!

This was HILARIOUS! Samantha was going to be Taylor Swift so she asked if Abel could be Kanye West... SURE!!! HOW HILARIOUS IS THIS COSTUME!!!

PUMPKIN FUN!

I took the kids to this little pumpkin stand last week. We LOVE the Fall. We've had some wet days over here in East TN. But last Friday we got out (before the Tornado watch) and went to this precious pumpkin stand. This lady sets up every year on the corner of Middle Brook and Piney Grove Church Rd. She actually has a stand all year long but during this time, she sets it up so CUTE!

Things are moving at a crazy fast speed over here. We've had Fall break this week and been doing a project on weather. It's gone by way too fast but I've loved having the kids home all week. We start back to the co-op next Monday.

I have been so busy with photography. My site is www.anceletphotography.wordpress.com
Ted is working on a new logo for me. I am really excited because I am thinking of having some things made (stickers, t-shirts). I have 22 shoots booked this month. WHICH IS GREAT... because I owe on my new camera that I just bought. I have much to save for as well because I recently added 3 lenses to my wish list, some new lighting and I would love to get some basic backdrops. ALWAYS SOMETHING TO UPGRADE TO IN THIS BUSINESS. I am taking it slow but I absolutely love what I am doing.

Precious Moment in the Car

Last night I was driving home with Addie and Abel. Ted has youth group in our home every Wednesday night so I always go out with the little kids and run errands. Last night, we went to TJ Maxx. It was a fun trip... looking for a dress for an upcoming wedding and getting Avery another pair of jeans because the girl is growing like a weed.

We get back into the car to come home and I have the radio station on 88.3. A song comes on and Addie says... "Mommy, I think this is a God song." I said "Yes, baby, it is.". So we listened to the song. Then another song came on. This one was by Dave Crowder. It was called "You never let go.". She is listening to the words and talking about the song... She says "Mommy, is the person singing this song dead?" I said "No, babe he is not." She said "It says God never lets him go." (I think she took that literally... like God is holding Dave Crowder in heaven). I told her that God is with us here.
She said "God is every where." I said "Yes, he is" and she said "he is in our house, he is in this car. He is in everybody's heart". (Ok... I wish you could hear Addie talk while you are reading this because it's the cutest thing EVER!).
I said "Addie, God is in the hearts of those who believe in his Son, Jesus Christ and who have recognized they are sinners and need forgiveness. Those who ask him to live in their hearts.. He is in them". I then said "Addie, do you know what a sin is?" She said "No." So I explained to her when we are ugly to other people and when we lie (keeping it simple)... those are sins. We are sinners.
She said "like Avery?" (that is where a HUGE CHUCKLE IN ME ROSE TO THE SURFACE - but I did not let it out). I said "Addie, Avery is a sinner but so am I. So are you. We all need Jesus... not just Avery." She said "Yes." I explained to her how sin keeps us away from God but Jesus came and lived a sinless life. And he was the sacrifice for our sins on the Cross. I kept it simple but I could see that she was understanding me. (as I looked at her through the rear view mirror).
She said "Mommy, I want to ask Jesus into my heart... will you help me?"
I said "Sure Addie"
and then my PRECIOUS DAUGHTER ADDISON KAYLEE gave her heart to Jesus. Right there in Ted's car on Bakertown Road.

The greatest part of the story (besides the part about Jesus!) is that I made a wrong turn last night and we were lost for a several minutes. Had I not made that wrong turn, I would have gotten home before the Dave Crowder song ever even came on.
I AM SO THANKFUL FOR WRONG TURNS IN LIFE! Because there was NO WRONG in that turn... it was JUST WHERE WE WERE SUPPOSE TO BE!

Praising Jesus today for my precious daughter Addison. Her name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life!

THE CAST

is coming off tomorrow!
YEAH!!!!



I love this picture! DETERMINATION!


My Addie lost her second tooth today. It came out while she was trying to open a "Littlest Pet Shop" toy. OOPS. It was WAY LOOSE. So she's excited and now I have to go find a dollar.... Time to play tooth fairy.


Addie helped me get Abel out for a little photo shoot. I wanted to get some pictures of him before the cast is taken off tomorrow. SO SWEET! These two kids are crazy about each other.


I know I haven't blogged much lately. I have been neck deep in homeschooling and cleaning and photo shoots and LIFE!

But I will try to keep up! More to come....

SCHOOL DAYS!

What an eventful day... It started last night with a trip to the emergency room which ended at about 1:15am.
Sweet Abel broke his little arm (fracture). Long story short.... rough play with siblings... and now he'll be in a cast for 3 1/2 weeks. He got a Cowboy Blue cast. Daddy helped him pick it out.
It was so sad to see him hurting that like.

In the ER... at first, they thought it was just a dislocated elbow. Not the case. The arm he is holding the Popsicle with is NOT the broken arm :-)

This was at the Orthopedic office.

How cute is he with that sling on. OH MY.

This is small but he has a blue cast on. I'll have to take a better pictures ... SOON...

We are so thankful to Charlotte and Helen for staying with the big kids while we spent hours in the ER.

This morning, after some sleep (little), we got the big kids ready for their first day of school at CFC. They were so excited. We were too. It was Aidan and Addie's first time to school. We have homeschooled... and now they are going to school 3 days a week. So we are moving from full time homeschoolers, to part time homeschoolers :-)

This was a tradition in my home... Holding up a sign that says "School Days" with the year we were going into. So here are our kids... keeping the tradition alive.

How cute are they in their plaid shorts. :-)

I love Addie and Aidan's giggle faces.

BACK PACKS!

Here is Addie in her class. Doesn't she look scared? I know I was... But she came home SO EXCITED. She gave her teacher the biggest hug when we left school. She said she a fun day.

When I picked Aidan up from school, I saw his class on the play ground. It was so fun to watch him. He is growing up so fast. LOVE HIM!

The pictures I got of Avery in her class wasn't good and she wasn't real crazy about me pulling out the camera while all of her friends were sitting there. We were late to her class because we were getting Addie and Aidan all settled in their classes.

GREAT FIRST DAY! 09-10 HERE WE COME!

MY WAY MADNESS

I adore this baby boy.....

But it seems lately... this is the face we see.... It's what I like to call MY WAY MADNESS. He has to have HIS WAY! His daddy thinks I have spoiled him by giving him his way A LOT (ok, I am guilty!!!). But HOW CAN I SAY NO to that precious face!

He was enjoying this icecream cone.... It's not good unless YOU WEAR IT! I love that his NOSE is in the cone.

This is Abel's buddy, Sammy. Sammy enjoyed the ice cream too!

What's wrong Abel? My guess is, he was told no.

This is how we got him all clean... water hose! He loved it!!

Sammy... I think it's your turn for the hose!

He liked it too!

I love this picture... He looks like he is riding down the street on a scooter. He is just standing on it. He was bossing Tori (Sammy's big sister) around having her push him on the scooter. He doesn't talk really... he just grunts out his orders. It's cute!

TOO CUTE NOT TO SHARE!!

Eat my sparkles.. I mean my bubbles

This is such a fun story about my Addie.

Avery is the first born and the one who tries things out before the others. Avery has been doing swim team all summer. The other kids have watched her practice. I even asked Aidan and Addie if they wanted to try it out. Aidan said "no". Addie said "sure!". She joined the swim team. FOR 15 MINUTES.

When she tried it out, she didn't know how to swim but the have a class called the "feeders". She liked how they played ring around the rosie and went under the water but when she tried practice and they were done with that, she wasn't interested any more.

I didn't push her and her time on swim team was done.

WELL... this past Monday, I asked a friend if she would stop by and pick Avery up for swim team and then I would meet them there. She came to get her and said "does any one else want to go with us?" Addie said "I want to go". So she did.

Addie had been learning to swim this summer. She watches all the other kids swim and she practices in the baby pool. I have worked with her some in the shallow end and even talked her into jumping into the deep in to me (while I was on a noodle float) and then I would help her swim to the ladder. But she was not a swimmer. UNTIL MONDAY.

She rode with Andrea to practice... and with out me knowing, SHE (re)JOINED THE SWIM TEAM. When I got to the pool as practiced ended, they all told me how she almost swam the entire pool.

So the next day, I sent them with Andrea again. What I later found out was there was some pep talking going on in the car on the way. AND ADDIE WAS LISTENING TO ALL OF IT.
They talked to her about swimming in the meet on TUESDAY and she said YES. (of course, they told her she would get some Hannah Montana lip gloss if she did it... what a girl will do for lip gloss!)

Another (bribe) thing that Andrea did was she told Addie and Gracie Kate (that's Andrea's daughter) that she would get them all dolled up for the swim meet. WITH NAIL POLISH, SPARKLE TATOOS, BLUE HAIR STREAKING, MAKE UP...

The girls were MORE THAN HAPPY to be in the swim meet.

Here they are looking pageant ready for a SWIM MEET :-)

Gracie (the Diva) Kate

BEST COACH IN THE WORLD... Sarah!

The Bribe... LIP GLOSS

On the blocks waiting for the horn to blow. Addie is right next to me so she didn't make this shot.

Here she is.... I was SO proud of her!

GO ADDIE GO!

She finished 4th

Gracie Kate got a little freaked out. Coach Sarah jumped in with her to encourage her through the last little bit.

SHE MADE IT!

What a fun night! I am SO PROUD OF YOU ADDISON!