Wonderful Fall Weekend

We have had a wonderful weekend! After a full week of rain...Friday it finally stopped and we were able to get outside. Our friend from church that lives in our neighborhood, Donnie, came over with a trailer full of mulch and pansies (he owns a landscaping business) and he and Mark mulched our flowerbeds and he planted flowers. They worked hard and our yard looks wonderful - thank you Donnie! We just met Donnie and Cathy a couple of months ago and realized they live just behind us and they have become wonderful friends and neighbors...and, they have a POOL!!

Saturday morning Ro Ro and I woke up early and headed for the Memphis Race for the Cure. We have participated in the MD race multiple times and the Atlanta Race twice. We both ran the entire 5k and talked the whole time and enjoyed seeing an area of town we hadn't seen before. It was a great morning for a great cause - everyone should participate for a cure!!! After the race, Mark met us with the kids at the Farmer's Market (sidenote....the first time he had to get out of the house with both kids by himself). We let Ethan pick out some pumpkins and run around the Farmer's Market for awhile.

Sunday was our last Sunday for Fall Fellowship at church. We have had dinners every Sunday the month of October to promote fellowship. It's been nice, but I'm glad I don't have to take food to church for awhile. Tonight was Trunk or Treat after our chili/hot dog supper. After dinner, we went outside in the parking lot to let the kids Trunk or Treat. Oh, I forgot this part of the story....so after church we're standing around talking, etc....and about to change into our costumes....all of a sudden we realized that Ethan wasn't around. This isn't anything out of the ordinary - he usually runs around after church, but is normally either in the foyer or at the front of the building playing on the stage leading singing. Tonight, he wasn't either of those places. So I went to the side parking lot where the cars were for trunking...he wasn't there. Mark and Ro Ro were also looking all over the place for him - no Ethan. We had everyone looking for him. Cathy and some of the kids were outside in the back looking. Donnie was in the main parking lot frantically looking while we were inside asking everyone to keep their eye out for him. Nothing. I know it had been at least 15-20 minutes that we were looking - he had been gone longer before we realized it. Finally I came back inside from the parking lot and started walking down the hall ...all the doors were closed and but heard a rattle and thought that maybe he was locked in a classroom and couldn't get out. At that moment, I was passing the 2-3 year old classroom and I flung the door open and there he sat in Mrs. Roberta's seat (his Sunday school teacher) with Macie Mae - eating goldfish and talking on the play telephone. They were so funny when I flung open the door - they just looked up at me like, here I am, what's up?!?! I didn't even say anything, I just ran around the entire building and parking lots telling everyone that I had found him and that Macie Mae had been "missing" too - her parents didn't even know she had been gone for awhile. Ro Ro was seconds from calling 911. So after catching our breath and calming down, we transformed Ethan to Peter Pan (Ro Ro made his costume and it was wonderful). He was running around singing, "I can fly, I can fly, I can fly!" He was into "it" tonight - hopefully Halloween will be the same! Nina was Tinkerbell and was adorable, of course. Mark and I wore our pilot and flight attendant uniforms and went as ourselves and everyone thought we were cute. We all had so much fun! Ethan and Nina are definitely loved at Great Oaks and for that Mark and I are so thankful. We are happy at church and that is an answer to prayers.

Nina is almost 6 months old (on Nov. 8th), so tonight while Ro Ro was still here, we fed her rice cereal for the first time. Honestly, it was like she had been eating for months. As soon as she saw the spoon she got excited and knew immediately what to do. It was cute. Ethan enjoyed sitting there with us feeding her. I hope this isn't going to open a can of worms with him - up until now we've told him that Nina can't have anything to eat because she doesn't have any teeth. She still doesn't have any teeth. Hopefully he'll still understand that she can't eat what he does. Tonight though he kept saying that Nina was a baby and eating baby cereal and when I would ask him if he wanted a bite he said no, I'm too big...Ethan eats Daddy's cereal, not baby cereal. Nina loved the cereal and it doesn't seem that we'll have a problem beginning her on that and on baby food in a couple of weeks - great, one more thing to shop for!

Sorry for the long post and lots of pictures. There were just too many to pick from. Hopefully I can post some of Ro Ro's pictures - she had some good ones too. We hope everyone has fun this week and are looking forward to seeing all of your Halloween and Fall pictures. Have fun and enjoy the last week of October!
Ethan with his pumpkin in front of the large 680 lb. pumpkin

Nina enjoying something other than the floormat and the papasan seat...finally!
Ethan is very proud of his pumpkin!
Ro Ro with Ethan and Nina after church on Sunday

The front of our house after Mark and Donnie worked hard on Friday Ethan and Nina enjoying the pretty flowers after church on Sunday Yes, for those of you that are paying attention....we have Myrtle the Turtle this week!

TinkerBell and Emily Higgins at church - Emily looks for us when we walk through the door so she can grab Nina!

Peter Pan after he was rescued from Never NeverLand - obviously oblivious that we were freaking out about his disappearing act! Peter Pan and Ro Ro The Pilot, Flight Attendant, Peter Pan and TinkerBell
Is Peter Pan squeezing TinkerBell's neck or pinching her ear???

Peter Pan trying to see if pixie dust really does come outta there...? How cute is he??? Ro Ro did a fabulous job!

Nina getting her first bite of rice cereal....family entertainment!