Pumpkin Patch Fun!

This has been a crazy, busy kind of week (okay so actually the past several weeks have been like that really!) so I'm just now getting around to posting about our field trip to the pumpkin farm on Tuesday. We forgot to take our camera so we only got a couple shots with Blake's phone, but they were cute anyway I think.
The kids had a blast seeing all the animals, jumping on this big air thingy (yeah, I have no idea what it was! lol), going through a hay maze, playing in a corn crib, and sliding down humongous slides (which I had to go on so Darcey could have a ride too of course! ahem). Then we got to have a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and pick our own pumpkins to take home! The kids and I painted ours the next day which was alot of fun too.
We definitely love this time of year and celebrating fall and Thanksgiving. (now if we could just not have all these allergies it would be just perfect!) For any of you who live around here and haven't visited Tate Farms before it is a great place to take the kids for some fall fun. Here's a link in case you want to check it out! And here's the small snapshot of us at the farm. :-) Hope you all have a great weekend!

She's 1 Today!

It's almost impossible to believe that a whole year has passed since we welcomed this beautiful baby girl into our lives, but time has flown by and we are definitely celebrating her 1rst birthday today! I could go on and on about her and how special she is to us but I think I'll just let some pictures do the talking for me. Mostly anyway. :-)

Holding her for the first time!

Meeting the big brother and sister!

                           (fast forward a WHOLE year!)

Birthday Party!

Opening presents....she learned fast!

She had the most fun with the paper!

Taking a break to read her card!

Loves baby dolls....what a cute smile!

Wasn't sure what to think about her first cake!

What is this?!

She figured it out pretty quick! (altho she didn't end up eating much)

The 3-D's!

Waking up happy on her birthday!

We've had a fun weekend already celebrating and I'm sure today will be full of it too! Happy Birthday to our Darcey Ella! She's a wonderful, sweet, lovable addition to our family and we are so thankful to have spent the past year with her in it. Good times and bad I wouldn't trade a moment of it for anything!

Things I Love {Thursday}

I've missed doing these posts for a couple of weeks so I am more than ready to share some things around here that I'm liking. A lot. :) Hope you enjoy reading and maybe you'll share some things you love in your life too! So here goes....

~ Dathan getting excited about pulling his first tooth all by himself! (the others have either gotten knocked out or pulled by me)

~ Delancey learning to ride her bicycle without training wheels!

~ Darcey blowing her first kisses. So sweet!

~ Blake taking Delancey on a daddy/daughter date that she loved. (and then coming home with 2 goldfish!)

~ Dathan enjoying his end of the season party with the football team. (and what a great surprise that they gave Blake an awesome gift card for being the coach!)

~ Answered prayers while Darcey was sick. So thankful God kept her safe and she's already getting well!

~ An amazing husband who helps out with a sick baby (and everything else!) when I'm not feeling good either.

~ Spending the day with Grandma and taking Darcey on her first trip to the safari zoo. (although she was a little scared of the bigger animals...like those slightly  horrendously ugly emu's that peck at the windows!)

~ Being reminded that we have a God who loves us so much that He became man so that He could know exactly what we're going through and help us with it. Every day.

I don't know about you but there sure is lots to love around here! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you're loving these days. :)

Memories...

Eight years ago around this time of year we were going through one of the hardest times of our lives. This beautiful red-haired little boy was so very sick and in the hospital having to endure horrible tests to find out why. One of the worst had to be that after all of it they sent us home still not knowing what was wrong or if/when it would get better. Our nights and days were filled with trying to comfort a crying, hurting baby, dreading the times that he would stop breathing and turn blue for no reason......and just feeling helpless when there was really nothing else we could do to help him. 

  And in spite of everything he was going through, he still managed to be a laughing, happy baby whenever he got a break from all the pain he was in. How many times looking back I wish I would have remembered to have that exact same attitude myself! But God was still faithful, in spite of my fears, doubts, and questions during that time.  

  

We still have hard days and nights sometimes. Health isn't perfect and there's things he probably won't ever outgrow completely. (like severe allergies!) But we are more thankful than we can say for being blessed to raise this son of ours.  I'm so grateful the Lord saw fit to let us keep him for as long as we have, since all those years ago there were times when we weren't sure. He still brings so much laughter and happiness into our lives every day! I know God has great things in store for his life and I can't wait to see it.

So today I just wanted to take a moment to remember all God has brought us through these past years. And thank Him for the mercy and goodness He had on us. He might not always do things in the way we want or expect but I'm trying to learn that He still does all things well.