Leaves Here, Leaves There, Leaves Everywhere

It is finally Fall! Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The leaves really started to change while my Mom was here visiting. I wish I could say the same for the temperatures. It was in the low 70's for most of her visit. This week is quite different. We've officially had a few nights in the 30's and today's high is in the mid 50's. I'm so glad to finally have fall temperatures.

The girls have been having a blast with the leaves. We went for a walk yesterday and they loved the sound of the dried leaves crunching under their feet. The did a great job of playing follow the leader as they tried to step on all of the same leaves. Of course, giggling all the way! Elizabeth even pointed out that it was raining leaves.

Elizabeth and I collected a large variety of brilliantly colored leaves of all shapes and sizes. I initially thought we might try to put them on the sliding glass door, but realized that Katherine would probably love to crunch them up as they dried. Several weeks ago I found a package of fall colored silk leaves in the Target dollar bins, so I decided those would be the ones that we'd put up on the sliding glass door. It's a good thing that I didn't use real leaves because as I had expected, Katherine has pulled off every leaf that she can reach. Every afternoon, Elizabeth and I put some more up and when Katherine gets up from her nap she promptly removes a few. I think that they are having quite a good time with it.

Last year I had placed the leaves we collected into a large hurricane candle holder. They dried beautifully and maintained most of their brilliant colors. I kept moving them around to display the various beautiful colors throughout the season. Elizabeth helped me place many of the leaves we collected on our walk into the hurricane candle holder. She has asked to see the leaves several times since then.


I'm looking forward to a very chilly Halloween Trick-or-Treating adventure on Friday.

Taking the Plunge

Well, I finally did it! I was baptised at the 10:30am service on Sunday, October 12th, at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church (GSUMC). I was surprisingly more nervous that I had expected that I would be. There are approximately 500+ people per worship hour at our church. If I had to guess I'd say are probably more at the 10:30am service than the other two.

The series of sermons that we are currently in is titled Oddballs. Perfectly fitting for my baptism. I'm sure that I fit right in as an Oddball. ;) There were certainly many points in the message that I could relate to directly. You can check out that sermon here.

That morning Talbot had stopped me in the lobby to ask me if I was ready and to give me some idea of when during the worship hour we'd be doing my baptism. It went in one ear and out the other. I mistakenly told him that I was nervous (like he couldn't tell). I was suppose to be baptised after what song? YIKES! He then said it was an April song (meaning that April would be singing it) and I knew I could remember that. (She has an incredible voice!)

At the beginning of my baptism, in true Talbot fashion, he announced to the entire congregation that I had mentioned that I was nervous. GEE thanks Talbot. Although, it didn't make me any more nervous. At that time I was a little more focused in not falling face first into the portable baptismal pool. Funny that's the one embarrassing thing that I didn't dream about happening.

It went a lot quicker than I had imagined. Two simple questions and a dunk. I think I chose to wear clothes that soaked up as much of the water as possible. They were certainly heavy (for those of you who know my inspirational side, I'm sure you can imagine that I have some deeper thoughts about this statement). I was very, very, very, glad that I had tied the drawstring on my pants tightly. That would have been quite a finish to my baptism. The one thing that I was certain would happen did. I exited out the back of the stage without my shoes. Thankfully, Rebecca (one of the other Pastors at GSUMC) was right behind me and grabbed them for me.

I had shared with many of my close friends that I was going to be baptised. There, of course, were other friends that I've made at church that had no idea. I still get a few congratulations here and there. I guess it never occurred to me that an adult baptism was such a big deal, but I'm finding out from people that they think it is huge. I've been Christian for a while now, but just not done the formal public declaration of my faith. There was no instant transformation for me once I'd been baptised. The Lord has been working in my life for some time now.

We didn't do anything special after Church. Dennis needed to get home to pack and head to the airport. My Mom, Elizabeth, Katherine, and I attended a Panther's Football party at good friends house later that afternoon. Dawn was very excited for me and made sure to have a small cake to celebrate my baptism and card. It turned out to be a very nice afternoon.

Meeting Sir Purr

On Saturday, October 11th, we helped Elizabeth's friend, Matteo celebrate his 4th birthday at Bank of America Stadium. It was a lot of fun. We started out with a tour of the facilities for the adults. It was hard to keep all of those kids interested as we got all of the nitty gritty details about the stadium and the Panthers. It was actually pretty interesting.

We got to sit in seats down along the field as various things were pointed out to us. They have put in new HD big screens since Dennis and I had been there for a game. Then we crammed (we were packed in there like sardines) a lot of people into a elevator. We got to go into an executive suite the same size as the Panther's owners. Very nice with a great view of the field. Then we got to see where all of the TV broadcast are set up at and where all of the writers hang out. We swung by a nice lounge area before heading down to wait for Sir Purr's (the mascot) arrival.

The kids had a blast waiting for him. They finally got to run around like crazy kids. When he arrived the kids were thrilled. Katherine was in love at first sight. She could hardly wait her turn to get her picture taken. I'm certain she was the 2nd kid (after the birthday boy) to get her picture taken with him. We had a hard time keeping her out of everyone else's pictures. Elizabeth was very patient and waited her turn.

The kids were thrilled to get to play a little catch with Sir Purr. Elizabeth kept lining up on the line like she was playing football. That's my girl! Do you think she watches too much football? She kept asking when we were going to get to go and watch the game.

Elizabeth got a Panther paw print temporary tattoo air brushed on her arm. She was so proud of it. It was cute to watch the kids get them because the air brush tickled. She was very sad when it finally washed off.

While we were eating pizza we learned that players were arriving to take the buses to the airport for their game the next day. The buses were parked just below the area where the party was located. All of the Dad's and a few Mom's camped out watching hoping to catch glimpse of any of the players. We did get to see one player arrive. I'd tell you who it was if I was a Panther fan, but I'm not at all.

It was a very cool birthday party! I think that both of the girls were sound asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot. There are additional pictures in our Fall Pictures.

Black's Peaches & Farm

The day after my Mom arrived our week picked up the pace. The very next morning we head out for Elizabeth's first field trip of the year. We went to Black's Peaches and Farm. The field trip started out with us following someone who wasn't sure where they were going. The GPS in our car kept telling us to turn right here......and the leader kept on going straight. It turned out that this was a common mistake that a lotof folks make when heading out there. We just took the scenic route and there's nothing wrong with that. The kids could care less and the farm pretty much only had GSUMC preschool there so it really wasn't that big of deal.

Rain was in the forecast and we all hoped that it would hold off. It was drizzling a little when we first arrived but stopped shortly after we arrived. Elizabeth was the line leader for the week and had fun being in front.

First, the kids were able to take dry erase markers and draw faces on pumpkins on the wall of a barn. Then they gathered for a quick group picture before being able to jump on the hay trampoline. The trampoline was basically a large pile of compacted hay held up by a wall of hay bales. The kids thought it was a lot of fun. Several of the siblings (Katherine included) joined in on the fun.

Then they got to pet and feed some common farm animals. Katherine didn't have the patience to wait her turn to feed the horse. Elizabeth and Grandma stayed back with the class while Katherine and I moved on. Katherine loved the cow and giggled like crazy when it licked her hand. I think everyone liked the goats who were very friendly. Both Elizabeth and Katherine (as well as most of the class) was sad that the chickens wouldn't come closer.

From there we headed to play in the hay playground. It consisted of several large pyramids built out of hay bales. The kids climbed up them and then would jump off. Elizabeth played for a little while and then sat with Grandma for a while. Katherine was the crazy kid who followed the big kids up the pyramids and proceeded to jump off. Thankfully I was there to catch her. The pyramids were easily as tall as me so that's a pretty big jump for such a little girl. Crazy fearless kid!

Next we headed for a talk about corn. We timed that perfectly. Just as everyone sat down it began to pour. I felt awful for the folks that were on the hay ride. I'm certain they were soaked. By the time the demonstration was over the rain had stopped.

We headed for the tractor and trailer for the hay ride. The bales of hay were fully saturated by the down pour. Some folks were smart and sat on their coats. Not me.....I walked around with a lovely wet butt the rest of the field trip. I'm surprised that my Mom didn't snap a picture of that. The kids loved the ride and it took us through some woods, down a hill into some mud, past and old vine covered storage building, and through the corn field.

Then we had two mazes to go through. One was just a circle that ended in the middle. The next was a corn maze. The kids thought that it was a lot of fun. Katherine, who is skinning like Elizabeth, kept almost losing her pants and wanting to cut through the field where there was no trail. I ended up carrying her, much to her dismay.

We had lunch and then received mini pumpkins for the kids. On the way out the girls stopped off to pet the pigs. Katherine LOVED them while Elizabeth wasn't so sure about them at all. We headed into the farms store to pick up some produce before we headed home. It was a very fun day at the farm!