This was the best picture we got…the kids just didn't seem to want to cooperate that day. There are a few more on Jay's flickr page. It was a lot more fun to take pictures of them when they were cute little babies…now they're just, well, kids! :)
This past week has been a blur (as well as this morning, but I'll get to that later). I worked on Eliza's Halloween costume (I'm finally finished!), did laundry, worked on cleaning the house some (we had our community group over last night), and let the kids play on the playground after school some days, just to enjoy the beautiful weather. I also sat at Eliza's table for Cubbies Wednesday night because her leader wasn't there, and Thursday I went to Bible Study, had a conference at James' school, then I took the kids to see Mimi at the nursing home. It has been crazy!
Saturday we had a lazy morning, and in the afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch. It was a madhouse! Lots of people were there, playing on the playgrounds they have, going through hay tunnels, eating corn dogs and funnel cakes (I didn't get one), and of course, taking pictures. We rode the hay ride to the pumpkin patch to pick a pumpkin. It might have been enjoyable except for the dust storm kicked up by the tractor wheels, which got in our eyes (and everywhere else!) We got a few pictures of the kids, but Jay has them and so I will have to post them later. The kids picked some pumpkins, and we stopped and ate supper at Sonic on the way home. It was a fun time being together as a family (my favorite thing to do!)
Sunday we went to church early because I had praise team practice (I was filling in for another praise team member). We stopped and got some Krispy Kreme on the way…yum! Sunday School went well, and the service was great. Then it was back home for cleaning and cooking and getting ready for community group, which also went pretty well.
This morning, James was almost late for school. I got everyone up and dressed and eating breakfast just fine, and then things began to fall apart. I began getting James' things together and realized that I had completely forgotten to pack him a lunch! So I scrounged up some things and shoved them in his lunch box…no problem. We head out the door, and as we are getting ready to get in the car, Eliza says, "I have to go to the bathroom!" She refused to go earlier when I asked her, but I had forgotten to make her go before now. Then James says, "I have to go, too…poop!" Great. I send James to my bathroom while I take Eliza to theirs, and help her go really fast and go back to check on James. He is standing there with his pants down, but he hasn't gotten on the potty. "I wanted to ask you if I could take my coat off," he says. I pick him up and set him on the potty, saying "No, we don't have time. Now HURRY!" He finishes pretty fast (which is a miracle), and we head back to the car where the kids start to argue about who gets to get in first. We finally get all buckled in and head to school, getting in just a few seconds before the tardy bell rings. What a morning! I think I'll take the rest of the day off, since I have already spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the kitchen from last night's festivities. Maybe Eliza will at least let me have a little nap this afternoon. Here's hoping!
We have been loving this fall weather! Thursday night we headed over to the Arkansas State Fair. It was cool enough for a heavy jacket, but not too cold—perfect fair weather! The kids enjoyed riding a few rides and petting the animals. My favorite part was probably the funnel cake we shared! I think the fair is where I was first introduced to funnel cakes, and it's just not a good trip to the fair if you don't get your fingers sticky with powdered sugar from a funnel cake! Jay took a few pictures of our adventures. I would have liked to stay longer but it was already past the kids' bedtime when we left. We still had fun for our quick trip!
Yesterday evening I went out to the backyard to put the lid on the sandbox, where we had been playing earlier. As I got closer to the sandbox, our cat, Susannah, appeared from behind it. I barely glanced at her, but had to look again because there was something hanging out of her mouth. And not something small; it was a rabbit that was about half of Susannah's size! As I looked, I could see it was still alive. It was looking up at me, like, "Could you do something about this?" I started yelling and running towards Susannah, who finally dropped the bunny and it immediately started running. She gave chase, and into the bushes they both disappeared. I guess it got away; a few seconds later Susannah returned, looking dejected and angry with me for spoiling her fun. I don't know how she caught it in the first place! I hope the bunny is okay. It is probably the same one I have seen several times before that comes and nibbles the grass in our yard, and I would hate for it to disappear. Maybe it will find a safer place to roam!
This weekend we had our annual Patterson family reunion in Sardis, Mississippi. Patterson is my maternal grandmother's maiden name (my Meemaw). My Meemaw and Grandaddy's family makes up the largest group, with their 5 kids and 22 grandchildren (all but one were there!), but there are also a lot of others, including Meemaw's sister, Aunt Motee, and some of her large family, and the son of Meemaw's brother O B Patterson. We always have a great time, eating good food, and visiting with family we don't get to see often.
This year Jay, James, Eliza, and I were a few minutes ahead of my parents and the rest of my immediate family (we were driving down from Memphis, where we were staying the weekend.) We pulled up to our usual pavilion and started getting out, and two ladies came over to us and introduced themselves, asking if I was "Laura". I didn't recognize them, but they seemed to know me (and said they had not seen me since 1989, which would mean I was 9 at the time), so we hugged and introduced the family to them. Then they asked if I was "Johnny's", and I knew we were in the wrong place. I said, "No; is this the Patterson reunion?", and they laughed and said no, but we were welcome to stay. I told them we had better get to our own reunion, but it was nice meeting them. It was rather embarassing, but pretty funny, too. We found our family waiting at the next pavilion.
The reunion was fun, except for trying to deal with a very difficult Eliza. She came down with a fever on Thursday, and although she stopped running fever Friday afternoon, her sleep schedule had been messed up, and she was clingy and cranky. She got worse after not getting much sleep Friday night at my Granny's house (it is hard to go to bed at a decent hour when you are staying in a 2-bedroom house with 14 other people.) She did not want me to put her down most of Saturday at the reunion (being around strangers tends to make her a little that way anyway), but she did get down to play at the playground for a while. She was a little better on Sunday, but she was still moody. It's sad to me that family who rarely get to see her had to see her in such a bad state, because she is usually such a happy, chatty girl.
Sunday we took some pictures of my immediate family, while we were all together. My brother Joseph and his wife Nicole live in east Tennessee, and we haven't seen them since sometime last year (it may have been family reunion!) We went to a park not too far from my Granny's house, where we found a picturesque bridge for the setting. Afterwards, we played frisbee, with the whole family joining in. I love it when my whole family gets together…we have so much fun! I can't wait until my siblings start having kids so my kids will have cousins to play with!
I think James is finally starting to understand prayer, and he's helping me remember a few things, too. We pray together every night, and he has come a long way since his first prayers. After thanking God for Mama, Daddy, James, and Eliza (somewhere along the way he started including himself, and it stuck), he almost always says this line: "And thanks for this good day, God." No matter how the day has gone, it is always a "good day". It's mostly habit, but would it be so bad for us to get into a habit of believing every day is good, because of who God is and what He has done for us?
Tonight, though, his prayers also included something along these lines: "And please help me be good and to do what Mom and Dad want me to do." James has been very sensitive lately about getting in trouble. Most of his offenses are truly accidents, caused by his lack of being careful. It seems there have been a lot of them recently, and each time he has been very sorry, even to the point of berating himself ("I'm just not good at anything", etc.). Back to the prayer: I told him God was very happy with his prayer, because He likes for us to ask Him for help in doing what is right. How often I forget this, trying to do it all on my own!
James' prayer also included a request that he would not have any bad dreams. They don't happen often, but he is often pretty upset when they do, so he would rather not go there. This request got my attention, too, because it is something that no person could control, not even James. But he realized that God has the power to do something about it. Do I really believe God can do anything? Sometimes I'm not sure I do.
It is good to get these reminders from my kids. God did say to "come as a child". I think James is teaching me more about what He meant by that. And that's a lesson worth learning.
This past week has been pretty normal. Eliza did get to stay at school for a few extra hours on Friday, in a program they call "Lunch Box Kids". She got to take her lunch to school just like James, which she was very proud of. And I took the opportunity to have a lunch date with Jay! I met him at work and we went to Chili's. It was so much fun!
Saturday it rained, so we couldn't go hiking like we did last weekend, but we had fun relaxing at home. Saturday night we went out for pizza with a friend of Jay's from work, Tim, and his wife Amy. They invited us over to their house afterward and we played "Rock Band" on the Wii. To play, you try to hit the right drum or play the right "note" on the guitar at the right time, following along with a song. The kids really enjoyed trying, and they actually did pretty well!
Our Sunday School lesson yesterday was on Noah's ark, so I brought James' "Little People" Noah's ark for our 3 and 4-year-olds to play with. They loved it! The only problem we had was fighting over the animals. I had 15 pairs of animals and 3 kids, but they still wanted the same ones! Oh, well, we had a pretty good lesson talking about obedience, and hopefully they got something out of it. There was no "Shine" (the children's worship service), so James got to sit in "big church" with Mammy and Pappy (Jay and I were in the choir). He did really well for his first time! James caught my eye once and waved, so I waved back, and then he blew me a kiss. I love that boy!
We had community group at our house last night, which meant yesterday after church I was busy cleaning and helping Jay cook. He made chili, which we have been itching to make ever since the weather turned cooler. It turned out great! He also made fruit salad and I made some brownies for dessert. We had a good time talking with our friends from church, and I think they really enjoyed our chili!
Here are some pictures I took of the kids the other day, just because I wanted to!
I love this picture of James. For some reason he insisted on shooting left-handed. I never even noticed until Jay pointed it out to me in the pictures later. And I took most of the pictures! Here are a few more pictures taken at Jon and Adrienne's house a few weeks ago.