FALL is upon us already!

HELLO EVERYONE! I am sure I have lost my audience by now, but man has life been hard, joyful,
tough, busy and amazing! Where have the years gone?? My son informed my not too long ago that I am
really slipping when it comes to posting on my blog and he is so right! I've been averaging about once
a year for the past couple years or so. I am going to try and do better , but no promises because you know...
LIFE HAPPENS and you better live it while you can! I know I am trying my best to do that.

The hubby and I were in the RTE 127 sale in August with his sister and husband and that is where I scored
this wheelbarrow. The people in the tent right beside ours GAVE it to me because on part of the frame is
rusted through, but it still works for yard art!!
I LOVE IT! Best bargain of the whole sale along with a chippy , white bench for $1. (from the same
people) There are such kind souls in this world today amidst all the yuck if we just open our eyes
and look.

My amazing Sweet Autumn Clematis! I have two of these. One here on my fence and one on the front porch
on a trellis! I love them and I need to get more!

Our granddaughter Annika. I can't believe she is in 7th grade this year. They moved to California
(insert sobbing here) in February and they flew home last weekend so we had a few hours to spend
with them before they flew right back. We had fun in the park and I snapped a few photos with my
actual camera instead of my phone. She sure is a beauty and growing up fast!

Annika and little Liam! Remember our rainbow grand after we lost Eden to stillbirth? This is him!
Isn't he the cutest??!! Adorable! He will be two years old in November. DOES.NOT.SEEM.POSSIBLE!

I love this photo. My son, his daughter Annika and my hubby. Something must have been very funny. lol

Sweet Ainsley and Liam sliding in the park. The visit was way too short, but I am so
very thankful that we got to see them! Six months is a long time to be apart from those
you love for sure!

This post is so random! Ha! My geraniums from my gardens this year were so pretty.

More flowers.  I can do pretty good growing flowers outside, but not inside AT.ALL. 

We found a field of sunflowers one day close by and I had to snap some photos. They are so pretty and
are the epitome of fall!

Well, here we are at the end already! I just picked random pics to post and you got quite a mixture, but it is our
life in real time. God is good and we are so loved by Him!! Always remember that!!

Until next time which is hopefully sooner than later,

Cupcake Wars!

Hubby turned 60 years old on July 31 and our family was able to get together to celebrate
and have a fun time. We sure needed some joy in our lives because truthfully it just hasn't
been joyful since we lost precious baby Eden and believe me she was in our thoughts
the whole weekend long!
It was supposed to be a camping weekend in our yard, but the weather did not cooperate...
so we had some in the camper, some in the house and one family went to a motel!

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The kids have been talking about having
 CUPCAKE WARS 
for awhile and this was the perfect time.

Have you seen that show on TV? Ours was a tad different because there is no way
each family was making 1,000 cupcakes. ha!
Hubby and I were dubbed the judges! NOT fair! HA!
It was really okay and we had fun doing it.

We were blown away by our kids creativity!
I thought they would use sprinkles etc, but they took this contest very seriously.

Each contestant was judged on Presentation, Menu Design and Taste.

Thought for sure these would win just for presentation alone.

Can you believe it?

Campfire cupcakes 

They sure put a lot of thought and time in these.

Alas, they tied for 2nd place.
I think if they would have amped up that menu design they would
have given the winner a run for 1st place!

This is our daughter and her family.
Allysha, Daniel, Matt, Jon, Joshua and Amanda

Next , we had a S'mores theme complete with Minions!!

NEAT menu design!

To be fair, I really blew it because I didn't even realize there were Minions
roasting their marshmallows until the judging was all over!!

 I think I was too enthralled by everyone's creativity.
I just kept saying I could NOT believe it. Oops. Sorry guys!

Colette made the minions and they were amazing. I wish I had a shot of them from the front
because they looked exactly like them!

 Look at them roasting their marshmallows over the campfire.
TOO cute!!

Alas, they tied for 2nd place also.

Colette, Ainsley, Annika and  our son Nathan

Our oldest son and his family chose a golf theme.

What a creative menu!

 His wife came up with that and I thought she did great!

 The weather wasn't kind to the frosting on the cupcakes.

Hot and humid, but they preserved. 

The grand prize winners by three points!

Melissa, Korrah, our son Jason, Keira and Kanaan

We really had a great time and I think it should be an annual tradition.
I told them this was a "trial run" for the next one. lol.

The kids had a lot of play time together and
some of them also had fun with fake mustaches.

The

"icing on the cake"
for hubby and I was that on Sunday morning our whole family went to church with us.

That was definitely a RARE TREAT!

This pic would have been up farther, but I forgot. OOPS.

 Little sweetie Korrah was enthralled with my fountain and loved adding stones
 to it and playing in the water.

I have many more photos, but I already had to redo this whole thing once
pictures and all so I gave up. I am tired.

We are so very thankful for our family and we feel so very blessed.
It isn't about how much money is in your bank account
{God knows we would be in trouble there}
or how famous you are, but it is all about God and family.

WE ARE BLESSED...in spite of the pain of losing Eden...

and oh how we do miss her...terribly!!

Someday we will know why, but for now we must trust
in our Heavenly Father and His love for us!

Please continue to keep us all in your prayers.

Blessings~

Fall Family Fun

It is a RARE day when we get the whole family together as we did this past weekend.
We had a fun , fun time taking family photos, going to a corn maze, taking a hay ride
and just hanging out. I wanted to share a few of the pics that we captured.

Above are all our grands except that one that is due in May. lol. If Ainsley looks unhappy
it isn't because she didn't have a sucker. She had one and didn't want it. Thought I better
clear that up right away. ha!

Two of the grands singing Karaoke at the corn maze.
Don't they look the part??!!

The little girls singing LET IT GO from Frozen. The DJ took a video of them singing and put it
on his facebook page. Little stars in the making. :)

The corn maze was fun, but really all it is is exercise disguised as fun! I found that out
a few years ago, but it was still a blast.

I was really beginning to get bummed because according to the weather forecast it was
supposed to rain, rain, rain and rain some more, but it held off for us until after the photos
and after the corn maze fun. We started the bonfire when it was dark and it started
pouring so thankfully we got most of the plans in. 

My oldest son Jason and his beautiful family. The plan was to have the bean stubble
still in the fields for the pics, but as fate would have it the renters plowed the field
 a few days before!!
They haven't plowed it for years and years ...until this year. I need to hang a sign
next year...:)

The kids took several photos of the mister and I. I am so annoyed. He had a gray shirt to wear, but
in all the hustle and bustle I forgot all about it so it is what it is. Hopefully next time I will
be a little more organized.

Sweet little Korrah

All our grands with us. Ages are from 1 year old to 16 years old. YIKES!
How did we get here in life? The years just fly by now.

The boys...Joshua...the little guy in the middle is always making faces. You would
not believe how many poses I got of him. 

I think this was my DIL idea. It turned out pretty neat although I think hubby and I should
have switched places. 

Smooch, smooch...another baby on the way in this family.

Remember earlier how I said it is a rare occasion to get our whole family together?
Well, our SIL Matt is missing from this family. He was in Japan again for his work.
Maybe someday we can get him in the photo.

Goofy, silly, fun!

So this is our family and we love each and every one of them. Thankful for Gods blessings
each and every day!!