Walking in High Cotton...

Old times there are not forgotten... I hope my girls never forget these times!

Its harvest time again... cotton is in the works right now, my personal favorite. This afternoon I took the girls over to the Riley Place where Russell was busy building modules. The girls got to get up on the module builder and watch him. Of course, Riley Grace was busy working it in no time at all. She just needed a refresher course. Maggie Ruth and Riley Grace both got into the module builder and played in the cotton before it was packed down. They had a great time and didn't want to come home!

Riley Grace went FLYING...

Riley Grace got her first airplane ride on Saturday. My daddy called Saturday morning and wanted to know if RG could go up with he and Uncle Mike later that afternoon. My Uncle Mike is one of the best small aircraft pilots I've ever flown with (I've actually flown with several) so I was thrilled at Riley Grace having the opportunity to get to fly with him. She had a blast and I'm so glad she got to finally experience flying. (She was rather upset with us when we left her here in April and flew to Amarillo. Maggie Ruth got to ride in an airplane before her!! She was not happy about that.)

Prepared for take off... I think it was a little more uncomfortable than she was expecting.

Flying over her school...Andalusia Elementary (the big circular area)

flying over our house...

Ours is the house and barn on the left and Aunt Amy's is on the right (doesn't the field behind her house look neat the way its been plowed?)

All done with her first airplane ride... in her words, "It was totally awesome!"

Who knew that two tiny little girls could have this much fun at the county fair? Jamey, Shonna, Russell and I took the girls to the fair Saturday night and it was well worth the trip. These two will be riding the Zipper, Gravitron, Himilaya, etc. in no time! The little race cars that sling them around the corner were hands down their favorites. I think the lady running the ride enjoyed watching them as much as they enjoyed riding it. Their ride must have lasted 5 minutes. Those poor people are usually so happy about their disposition that they can't smile or let the ride last longer than 45 seconds. After lots of greasy fair food, a couple of balloons, several rides, and some serious talent at the adult talent show we called it a night.

Riley Grace and I were supposed to go to the fair Thursday night but the rain sent us to Old Mexico and the movies instead. We enjoyed a girls night out with our friends Sharyn and Julia. After a yummy supper at Old Mexico we went to see "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." Kind of reminded me of my sisters life with dogs! We had a good time despite our change of plans.

Our Friday visitor...

YIKES!!! I don't care what kind of snake I come in contact with- A snake, is a snake, is a snake!!!! When I drove up into the garage Friday afternoon this creature was sitting at my back door. Fortunately is was only an Oak snake, but that somehow hasn't eased my nerves much. I can just see Maggie Ruth or Riley Grace opening the door to him sitting there. I'd have a stroke. For those family members that read our blog- NEVER FEAR... Russell sent Uncle Darrell over to kill the snake, only he couldn't see him until I walked closer to the steps and pointed him out!

Mornings at our house...

Regardless of how I may perceive my life sometimes.... I'm living my dream!!! I often get tangled up in the little hassles of everyday life and forget to stop and realize just how good God really is to me (for whatever reason-I have no idea why). I have two of the most precious little girls God ever sent to this planet. Riley Grace is the sweetest little soul you could possibly imagine and Maggie Ruth, well she's Maggie Ruth...there's not another one like her!!!

Every morning, Riley Grace gets up (on her own with an alarm clock), gets herself dressed, makes up her bed, packs her lunch and snack, and is sitting at the bar eating breakfast before I can drag myself to the kitchen. She's usually eager to go get her "sissy" up so that they can walk to the barn and feed Scamper. I made Caroline and Maggie these little black t-shirts with candy corn on them over the weekend and Riley Grace asked if I could make her one too. She's still so proud and appreciative of my sewing for her. She designed the shirt herself and was thrilled to wear it to school this morning. She makes my heart smile when I stop to think of how blessed I am to have such a loving, tender, kind-hearted, sweet little girl. (What in the world did I do to deserve her?)

Then there's Maggie Ruth... most of you who know her know that she's a totally different personality than Riley Grace...TOTALLY!!! Not necessarily all bad, just much different. I call her my "challenge"! Her mind is usually made up before you have a chance to offer any other suggestions, therefore inducing small (some larger) fits if things must go otherwise. She constantly puts a smile on our faces. She's so curious, mischevious, highstrung, persistant, fearless, the list goes on. She's also very loving. She LOVES to give great big hugs where she wraps those skinny little arms around your neck and squeezes as hard as she can. She's a kisser too! You'll usually have a big wet spot when she's finished but its the sweetest sugar you can imagine. Thank you God for my challenge and please continue to show me ways to guide her!

This is just a picture of the girls coming in from feeding Scamper one morning this week. Notice the hoods, Riley Grace bundled them up because it was a little chilly outside.

Sweet RG!

Rudy!!

Forgive me for rambling, I just know that I often overlook how privileged I am to be the wife of a Christian man, and the mother of such special children.

Another Saturday project...

...this time it was for my sweet neice Caroline Grace.

This is the finished product that Caroline is modeling.

I've never been a big purple fan, but I must say I really like this purple chenille.

Caroline is considerably smaller than Maggie Ruth so I had to really alter the cut of the pants to fit her little frame. She's so petite.

Maggie Ruth is seen here sporting her favorite attire... any old, raggedy, worn out, stained t-shirt.

Next on my project list is my other sweet neice, Rachel!

Saturday's project...

Its almost amazing to me that I packed my sewing stuff up and drove about 45 minutes to do a little sewing. I have TONS of fabric and TONS of ribbon and other fun notions, and find NO time to put them all together. A friend of mine, Sam, invited me to come to Ino this past Saturday to sew with her and some of her friends from church. It was SOOOO much fun and I can't wait to do it again very soon. This is my 1/2 finished project...

The pants on the left are for Maggie Ruth, the onesie is for Jack, and the skirt is for Riley Grace. I've still got to put the initials on the girls tops and make the pants for Jack.

The cute waist band and trim on the skirt were actually an accident. I cut Riley Grace's skirt too short and needed to add a little length so ... there you go... a little extra!!

My friend Sandra put this J on Jack's onesie with her monogram machine. I'm hoping that within the next few weeks I'll be the proud owner of a Janome embroidery machine!!! If not, I'll just keep bumming my monogramming and appliques off of my friends.

I hope to have the entire project finshed much sooner than later so that I can start on another. I'll try to post the finished project when I do.

Thank you Valerie for letting us come sew (sorry for the disaster we made of your house). And thank you Emily for the awesome babysitting job!