more from the pumpkin patch

These pictures speak for themselves. We're just glad Lucy outgrew her corn allergy :)

Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday night I convinced Erik that we needed to go somewhere fun with the kids. At 2:00 I was a lot more ambitious than I was at 5:00, which was when we actually left the house. So instead of the trip to the "fun" pumpkin patch, I conceded to a trip to the pumpkin patch at Jones Orchards. I thought it was a little disappointing, but not the girls. They thought it was the coolest place ever. They were so excited. By the time we left we had walked that patch up and down 10 times, were covered in mud and had picked out the best pumpkin imaginable (at least to a 2 and 5 year old.)

Afterwards, we stopped at the new Milano's pizza in Millington. We sat right behind the big toy machine with the claw that reaches for, and almost always misses, those really cheap toys. Erik had chosen the location while I was paying for our dinner. At first I thought he was crazy. Lucky for us, however, a grandmother was there with her grandsons and she fed them quarter after quarter to play in that machine. I bet they spent no less than $20 that night. Worked out great for us, though. My girls were thoroughly entertained which meant that Erik and I got to eat a quite meal without any bickering or complaining from Ella or Lucy.

Science Experiment on a Cold Day

What do you do with a 2 year-old on a cold, dreary day? You teach her about science. Electricity to be exact. One balloon plus Lucy's crazy hair makes for lots of laughs. With hair like hers, my kid's gonna be a genius!

Life Ain't Always Beautiful

Life ain't always beautiful
Sometimes it's just plain hard
Life can knock you down, it can break your heart

Life ain't always beautiful
You think you're on your way
And it's just a dead end road at the end of the day

But the struggle makes you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has it's own way of takin' it sweet time

No,life aint always beautiful
Tears will fall sometimes
Life aint always beautiful
But it's a beautiful ride

Life aint always beautiful
Some days I miss your smile
I get tired of walkin' all these lonely miles

And I wish for just one minute
I could see your pretty face
Guess I can dream, but life dont work that way

No, life aint always beautiful
But I know I'll be fine
Hey, life aint always beautiful
But its a beautiful ride
What a beautiful ride

These are the words to a song that was played at Zachary Maxwell's funeral today. I cried with sympathy watching his dear wife, mother and brother grieve their loss. It was truly more than their bodies could handle. I silently prayed that God would give them His strength to make it through the service. I will continue to pray on a daily basis that God will help them make it through each day, one minute at a time.

As I think about Melanie especially, I struggle to comprehend the monumental task ahead of her. She will slowly rebuild her life I am sure, but will never ever lose the memory of her sweet husband. She will continue on for the sake of Mia and will make the very best of every day. My hope is that Mia and Melanie will be comforted by the amazing outpouring of support from the community. More than 1800 people attended Dr. Zach's visitation.

To my own family I pledge this: I will strive to wake up every morning grateful to be able to spend one more day with you. Erik, Ella, and Lucy...you are my worldy life. With every breath, I will try to be the best wife and mother that I can. Along with God's help, I promise to never take another day for granted.

The Loss of a Friend

Tonight I am thinking about the loss of our dear friend Zachary and his precious wife and daughter. I can not begin to imagine the pain they are suffering right now. There are no words to offer, just my thoughts and prayers. My heart aches for them all.


May The Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6: 22-27

Let's Get Physical

Three days a week, Lucy and I go to the gym together. I am a member of a fitness studio here in town, Barr Belles, and Carol provides child care for our class. Throughout my class, Lucy will stand at the baby gate and say "you done yet, momma?" This will go on for a solid hour (really, it is actually cute) and then when I finally say, "yes, I am done" she comes running out with arms stretched wide. She hugs me, and then my mom, like she has not seen us in days! Then, she becomes totally uninterested us and moves on to "working out" herself.

THE Rhubarb Pie

Well, sort of. I must explain:

Earlier this year when we were planting our garden, Erik brought home a Rhubarb plant. This is a childhood favorite of his, having grown up with such a Northern "raising." I tried to convince him that it would not grow here in the South, but he planted it anyway--right in the flower beds beside the house. I just rolled my eyes and thought "what a waste to time." Not only did it NOT die, but it actually thrived! I am still so surprised.

So, Monday Erik asks "What are you doing tomorrow?" I say "The usual, why?" He says "I'd like for you to make a Rhubarb pie." I immediately begin to sweat and feel the pressure mounting. No one around here makes rhubarb pie. I would not even know where to start. I've only had it once when we were visiting Aunt Karen in Wisconsin. There is no way I could make a pie to compare to hers. And I didn't.....

I went out to the garden, I mean the flower bed, to get the rhubarb and brought it in. Have you ever seen a rhubarb plant? If not, let me show you.

This is a rhubarb plant growing. The leaves are HUGE! And did I mention poisonous?

As I mentioned, the leaves are huge!

This is what rhubarb looks like when it is ripe and ready to use. Isn't it a beautiful pink?

As I begin to wash and cut the rhubarb, I realize that there is no way we have enough for pie. So, my Southern Living cookbook tells me I can add strawberries. Having no fresh strawberries, I do my best with the frozen ones. I knew immediately that Erik would be disappointed, but I hated for the pie to be totally wasted. It was ok, but nothing like Aunt Karen's pie.

So, an apology to my husband and a promise to try again next year.

The Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie (with 2 slices missing)

For the Record

It was a NEW car. Thanks a lot! That cost us the game! I hate whomever said "all is fair in love and war."

Kendra, I feel vindicated.

My Favorite Pic from the Party

Oh, One Last Thing....

To round out our oh-so eventful weekend, we helped celebrate the 3rd birthday of our friend Ethan. We had so much fun and Christi outdid herself as usual. The caramel apples were my personal favorites.

The most notable event of the day......In a momentary laps of judegment, Craig let Ella take 7 month old Faith down the slide. Her twin brother Sam Harris was safe in an on-lookers arms and Sara was just amazed that Craig was actually doing this. Craig loves Ella though, so I think his love for her must have blurred his decision making. All ended well, but we only did it one time :)

Saturday Scavenger Hunt

Saturday night was the much-anticipated scavenger hunt. A group of 10 couples met up at one house and then we drew names to see who would be on teams. We were given a list of different items we had to collect and each item was awarded a point value. We had 1.5 hours to gather as many items/take pictures as possible. The winner was awarded a cash prize.

Erik and I drew to be on Kendra and Donald Parr's team. I was really excited about this pick because 1. I just love Kendra to death and 2. She is as competitive as I am and 3. Donald and his "attitude" crack me up! He made us laugh the whole time we were running around like crazy people. He was so embarrased.

Although our team came in second to the ever-competitive Hensley/Sullivan team, I didn't mind. The money was donated to the Sullivan's adoption fund.

Here a a few pictures and descriptions. Dad, don't pass out. I didn't really get arrested. :)

I had to have my picture made in polic handcuffs. I literally ran down a cop car in the La Huazteca parking lot. At first, Officer Dowell was not too keen on our game but he eventually came around.

Our group had to take a picture on a slide. Poor Kendra. She is 13 weeks pregnant and hung in there with us like a champ!

This is our group with the guitar player at La Huazteca restaurant. He was more excited about getting his picture taken than we were about the whole game.

I had to pump a stranger's gas. Lucky for me she wasn't getting much. This was a timed game!

We had to bring back a picture of an owl. This picture was hotly contested, but it looks like an owl to me. What more do you people want?!?!?

Friday Night Bonfire

Oh, did I mention that before our crazy Saturday we decided to build a bonfire in the back yard on Friday night? The girls loved it and we had our friends, the Williams, come over. It was very spur of the minute and was nothing fancy. However, the kids thought it was great. We roasted marshmellows and threw sticks in the fire.

It was a test run for the big bonfire we are going to have for all of our friends in November. We did this last year and everyone had a really fun time.

What Did You Do on Saturday?

This Saturday was one for the record books! What a fun, busy day. We had a 9:00 soccer game (see previous post for pictures) and then Ella's friend Mary Gracen came over to play while her mother prepared for our night's festivities (more to come on that.) All 3 girls played outside for 2 hours while Erik and I sanded the front door. It had no less than 5 coats of varnish on it and was in horrible shape. We had been waiting for the weater to be cool enough and Saturday was a great opportunity to start this project. (notice I said start, NOT complete)

After a picnic lunch, the girls took a bath and then a long nap. Erik painted the front bay window and I made food for that night. After the girls woke up, the babysitter arrived and it was time for mine and Erik's night to begin.

Pictures and details of Saturday night's excitment will follow in the next post. I am still waiting on pictures from my friend, Kendra :)

Soccer Saturday

As I promised, here are more pictures from our Saturday soccer games. Ella is really improving and continues to enjoy playing. I think coaching 4-6 year olds has been a big challenge for Erik, but is doing great. The parents seems to really appreciate his positive attitude and the way he is so kind to the children. Ella would love to play goalie all game, but doesn't mind getting out there and running some, either.

Making Cookies Part 2

Making Cookies Part 1

Today was such a raining, yucky day. I knew my girls were going to be stir-crazy this afternoon, so I promised them that if they took a good nap we would make cut-out cookies. So while they were sleeping I pulled out my recipe book and found Grandma Krull's Christmas cookie recipe. It is a simple sugar cookie recipe, but is just perfect for cut-outs. They cook up perfectly. We decided to wait on Daddy to get home, so after dinner we destroyed the kitchen with flour and icing. Boy! Did we have a blast!

A Little Premature

It's official. I am way too excited about the cooler weather we are experiencing today. I have put the girls down for a nap and I am now about to start ironing a huge pile of clothes while drinking spiced tea and watching White Christmas, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:White_Chrismas_film.JPG . I can just see my husband now. Rolling his eyes and saying "Can't we just enjoy Thanksgiving first!"

p.s.-i unabashadly admit that I will start listening to Christmas music on Nov. 1 (but only when Erik is not around)

National Day of Remembrance

Today, Oct. 15, is the National Day of Remembrance for pregnancy and infancy loss. As I sat last night and read some of the posts on a fellow blogger's website from countless mothers who have lost children my eyes swelled with tears. Angie, from Bring the Rain at http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/ , has had a profound impact on the lives of mothers suffering from the loss of children. Some of the mothers that posted were still grieving the loss of babies who did not survive in the womb for more than 5 weeks. Some people would not even have known that they were pregnant in that short of a time period, yet for some mothers that loss is still significant.

Other mothers delivered still born babies at 40 weeks while others lost newborns and infants to SIDS. The very thought of losing one of my children is more than my heart can handle. I don't know how, without the grace and peace of God, one survives such a traumatic event.

Last night's readings have been on my mind all day. And as if ordained by God, I get home from church tonight just in time to listen to the last of the Presidential debates. The moderator asks a question of both candidates concerning abortion. As I listened to Obama talk about supporting Roe v. Wade and how a woman's choice is more important than the life of an unborn child, I began to get sick. Physically and emotionally sick. My stomach ached as I thought about all of those women who had lost children due to no actions of their own and the grief that they felt.

Obama has voted against legislation that would require doctors to treat children born alive as the result of a botched abortion. His response tonight was that this legislation would not agree with Roe v. Wade. His reasoing, those babies are not really "persons." And the very idea of supporting partial-birth abortion is truly disgusting. Partial-birth abortion is a vile and evil practice. It is the very idea of Satan himself. The next man elected to the position of President will have the opportunity to potentially appoint 2 Supreme Court Chief Justices. What a profound effect this will have on our nation. McCain will appoint a judge who is Pro-Life and Obama will sign into law legislation that will legalize any and all abortions-at any point in a woman's pregnancy.

As I pray for our nation, I also pray for the souls of our nation's politicians who will one day answer for their actions to legalize the killing of unborn children in our nation. I have no doubt that the two children with whom God has blessed me were alive at the moment they were conceived. They were alive when I saw their first heartbeat. They were alive as I saw them kick their feet and suck their thumbs on an ultrasound and I can promise that those babies were alive as I felt them move and kick inside my womb. They were as alive then as they were when they were delivered into the world.

"Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you tonight with a heavy heart that is greatly burdened by the ills of our society. As I think about the choices that we as a nation have made I am ashamed. That we have strayed so far from the Godly values that this great nation was founded upon is more than this woman can imagine. Dear Lord, you have more power and more authority than any politician could ever dream of. Please Lord use your Might to change the hearts and minds of so many Americans who have gone astray from your Word. More than ever, Lord, we need you. We yearn for you. We so desperately need to return to the values and ideals that allow our children to feel safe and protected. I pray for the future that we are creating for Ella and Lucy. Oh, Lord, hear my plea. In Your name we pray, Amen."

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:14 NIV)

If men strive, and hurt a women with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life" (Ex.21:22-23).

Spread the Word

Hello fellow Bloggers! I just wanted to tell you all about an idea I had the other day. Most of you have heard of Vista Print, right? http://www.vistaprint.com

Well, they always have free offers and usually will give away 250 business cards free. I had some made up, free of course, that I am going to send out with my Christmas cards this year. They have a cute saying and our blog address. I thought it was a neat way of letting all the people with whom I am not in contact via email know about our Blog!

Feel free to do the same!

Santa Came Early This Year

It appears as if Santa came to the Krull children a little early this year. A 4-wheeler was purchased for the "Rose Grandchildren" yesterday and seeing as Ella and Lucy are the only Rose grandchildren, you will have a hard time convincing them that the 4-wheeler is not "theirs." They both love it and rode it until way past dark last night. Momma is still a little apprehensive about them riding, but it is throttled down very low and they ALWAYS wear a helmet. Thanks Santa-Pops!