Nursing Home Fall Festival

After a quick costume change (because it was a little hot as a ladybug), we headed to the nursing home in Madison for their fall festival on Thursday night. Don't worry, I didn't buy Mak two costumes. In fact, I didn't buy Mak even one costume. I borrowed the ladybug costume from a friend and the Snow White costume was in her hand-me-down dress up clothes. However, I do think she looked precious as a blonde Snow White.

Makinley loved playing with the ducks in that big bucket of water!

A fall festival wouldn't be complete without a bouncy house!

Scary teeth!

In Town Trick-or-Treating

Until I get my camera back (which hopefully will be any day), my pictures are few and far between. But, I at least took enough to show that they did dress up and take part in Halloween festivities. Madison did their in-town thing on Thursday afternoon from 4-5. So, I rushed to pick the kids up and get them downtown. My little ladybug and power ranger were ready to go!

Makinley couldn't see with her hood on!

Helping themselves to the candy!

Family shot!

Stopped by to see Grammie at work! (Look how long her hair is getting!)

Class Parties/Parade

Since Tripp goes to school 5 mornings a week, he had two class parties and two parades. Joey went on Thursday morning to the festivities and I went Friday morning. It was really simple. The kids just paraded around the courtyard twice and then all the parents just went and stared at them while they ate their little snack. It lasted about 20 minutes total!!! The first two pictures are pictures Joey took when he was there and the bottom two were the ones I took when I went. Nothing too major, but documentation!

Continuing to Save!

Joey and I went to the grocery store by ourselves Friday night to do our weekly shopping. We had a babysitter, so we went out to eat and to the store....real romantic, huh? But it had to be done and it's so nice to do it in peace! Anyway, this was Joey's first time watching me obsess with coupons and I kept telling him what he could and could not get! Anyway, at the end of the Publix trip, I spent $61 and saved $58! Joey was so excited! Then, when I got to my parents house yesterday for the Halloween festivities, I saw what great deals Kroger had this week, so I went there too. I spent $19 and saved $32!!! So, my spending for the week was about $80 and my savings for the week was $90! The best part is that our freezer and pantry are stocked full!!! (How many exclamation marks can I use in one post?!) This coupon thing is addicting; it really is. We went to CVS today and I got 6 12 packs of Coke, a pack of pull ups, a pack of razors and the movie ICE AGE (for Tripp's Christmas) and I spent $30. I would have only spent $25, but I ended up not being able to use my mom's CVS cashback. :-( But, we got the movie for free, so it was worth it. It's crazy what can be bought for next to nothing when you use coupons. I love it and plan on continuing it; however, we did have to go to Target and buy a shelving system for our basement because we now have more food than our pantry can hold. That's what happens when you start stockpiling. You run out of room!

Muffins for Mom

Let me just start this by saying that it's not going to include pictures. Which devestates me. But, my camera broke at the Pumpkin Patch. We got the estimate to get it fixed...whoa. Not sure yet what we are going to do.

This morning was "Muffins for Mom" at Tripp's preschool. He was SO excited that I was coming to school with him. He was even more excited that he got to come to my "big" school for a little bit. He was so cute! My students loved getting to see him. All I could think in the back of my head was, "Man, it won't be long." Watching him walk down the halls of my school, my heart broke just a little bit. I know it's silly and he's a long way from being at my school (it starts at 3rd grade), but still. I know how fast the last 3 1/2 years have gone. So, really, it won't be long.

But, anyway, muffins for mom. It was fun. Very simple, but fun. I thought he was going to cry when I had to leave him there because he's not used to me being the one to bring him and drop him off. But, he handled it like a champ. He loves school so much.

I WILL have a camera by Halloween. I will. I don't know how, but I will. Actually, I will have one by next Thursday when Tripp's preschool has a Halloween parade. Yep. (Joey, when you read this, I hope you agree).

Jack Pot

When Tripp was a baby, we had a wonderful next door neighbor with two grandsons that were about 4-5 years older than Tripp. One day, her son-in-law came to our house with a huge garbage bag full of boy clothes. He said that it was mostly bigger stuff because they had already given away their baby clothes. I looked inside and saw the sizes and put the bag in storage as they were way too big for Tripp at the time. In fact, at the time, I couldn't fathom that he would EVER be big enough to wear them. Well, today, I stumbled upon the bag. And, lo and behold, Tripp IS big enough to wear them (sniff, sniff). The whole bag was 4t fall/winter clothes. I was SO excited when I started pulling out all of the clothes. Tripp has been in desperate need of some clothes, but clothing two children is expensive. I've been holding off hoping to somehow make it until Christmas. However, after today, he's in GREAT shape. There were 8 pairs of pants in the bag, 3 sweaters, about 10 button down shirts, and several long sleeved t-shirts. Thank heavens for the hand-me-downs we received 3 years ago!! I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping up with them for this long! :-)

Family of Four

I have a dear, childhood friend named Stephanie. We've been friends for about 15-16 years (wow, that's hard to believe). When we were growing up, Steph always talked about wanting a big family. If I'm remembering correctly, she wanted FOUR kids....and she wanted them all by the time she turned 30. She and her husband, David, got married in 2000....I think (I'm losing brain power these days). So, Steph would have been about 21. She and David enjoyed several years of marriage before trying for a baby. She was pregnant with Maddie when Joey and I got married in 2003. Madison was born in December 2003. They enjoyed her little self for about 18 months before starting to try again. I won't go into all of the details, but God took Steph down a road she didn't expect. Having Baby #2 didn't come easy for them. It was REALLY hard and emotional for them, but Stephanie always relied on her faith and her relationship with Jesus to get her through. As the months, and yes, years went by with no baby, I watched her grow stronger and stronger. I don't get to talk to her nearly as often as I wish I could, but each time I did talk to her, I could here new strength in her voice. I've always admired her faith and I watched it be put to the test and stand firm!
About a year ago, David and Steph decided to adopt a baby. They went with an adoption agency called Bethany. Bethany has a policy that if you are white, and you already have a biological child of your own, you have to adopt either a biracial baby or an african american baby. I could go into a hundred ways in how I find this ironic because of their close knit of friends here in Atlanta, but I won't! It was just a showing of God's goodness and mercy. Anyway, Stephanie turned 30 back in May. The week before her birthday, she called me and said "It's a boy!". A sweet, TINY, baby boy had been born and he was going to get the awesome priviledge of being a Cavin!!! When she called to tell me, I said, "See, God was up there thinking the whole time, you aren't 30 YET!" just as inside joke because of what she had always said.
Yesterday, their adoption became official!! Baby Boy G officially became Tyson Reed Cavin. Can I just say that I think he is one of the cutest babies I have ever seen?! I can't wait to meet and hold him. Congrats David, Steph and Maddie. I know Tyson is the answer to years of prayer. I can't wait to see the man of God that he becomes; he is so lucky to have you to lead and guide him! I love you guys!