"In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9
Back to our fun weekend...all of last week I felt like we were on a skate board heading down a steep hill & boy, did we pick up some speed! Along with the normal school work & activities, I was busy finishing up preparations for a Sip & See baby shower and Jack had a big biography paper due on Friday. And Friday afternoon, right after school, all of the kids had dentist appointments (praise the Lord, NO cavities & all the kids did great, even Darcy who has not opened her mouth willingly before!) and then it was straight from the dentist to the soccer fields for practice! Are you tired yet? Oh, and Friday morning at school, Jack had his Boosterthon Fun Run & Sophie had a bike day! Needless to say they were exhausted, we fed them all oatmeal for dinner & they went to bed with hardly a peep!
Saturday morning was sunny & clear, and found Jeff & all 4 kids heading to the soccer games (Oh, it was also our week to bring snacks for both teams! But better to get it all done at once, I say!) We are thankful for his mom who was there to help watch the two Ds while Jeff coached Sophie's team.
While soccer was in full swing, I was loading up at home & heading over to Jessica's house to get things set up for the Sip & See for her precious new baby girl, Blythe!
Oh.my.word, baby Blythe is just the sweetest little thing & is precious beyond words. We have been praying for her arrival ever since Reggie & Jessica started their adoption journey almost two years ago, and she is truly a gift from the Lord. It was such a great honor & joy to help put together this Sip & See with some of Jessica's sweet friends.
We based the theme on the colors from the fantastic fabric Jessica used in baby Blythe's nursery. The colors are chocolate brown, raspberry, lime & turquoise...gorgeous! Jessica designed the fabulous invites herself and used the fabric as the background (graphic design is only one of Jessica's many talents!) Jessica's dear friend Courtney put together a fabulous fall menu for the shower including all the tastes of fall...apples, caramel, cranberries, pumpkin, nuts, fig & a delicious butternut squash soup!
The beverage station...We served a pink raspberry punch & had hot apple cider in the kitchen.
Courtney seeing the cake Ginger has just brought in.
Ginger & Jessica checking out the beautiful detail work on the cake...you would never know that when Ginger first went to pick-up the cake Saturday morning, the brown icing color was completely wrong...so the bakery scraped it ALL off & re-did it in less than 2 hours!!!
And it tasted just as good as it looked!
Doesn't it make the most amazing centerpiece!
Jessica also whipped up matching tags for me to use on the shower favors...they say Sugar & Spice & everything nice...thank you for welcoming sweet baby Blythe!
Since the shower was a Sip & See, I wanted the guests to leave with a little something to sip at home, so I filled these cute jars with another yummy fall flavor, Russian Spice Tea.
(I used this recipe and modified it just a bit by adding a small peach flavored tea packet, as well.)
Ladies enjoying the shower.
The Sip & See format was so nice because everyone just enjoyed visiting
...and,of course, holding sweet, sweet Blythe!
Couldn't you just eat those lil' toesies up!
It was so much fun to celebrate Blythe & what a joy to work together with Courtney, Ginger, Celia & Jenny to make the shower work so much FUN!
***Meanwhile, while I was at the shower, Jeff had a busy day with the kids (sorry, no pictures since I had the camera!) After soccer, Jeff took the kids to his parents' church where they were having a fall festival. I had so much fun listening to the kids tell me all about the wonderful festival games & treats. The kids ate hot dogs for lunch & had snow cones, yum! There were puppet shows & THREE huge bouncy houses which the kids had so much fun playing on. They colored & did crafts & decorated cute pumpkins with sticker faces...Oh wait, I can take a photo of those!
And my little pumpkin playing with the pumpkins...
...until he started taking all the stickers off!
All-in-all it was a very fun time & Jeff said the kids were actually very well behaved & didn't put up a fuss when it was time to leave, praise God! He then brought them home for naps & some down-time...while he gutted 3 pumpkins to get ready for the evening's festivities! I have to give my man his props, he even made the crock-pot meatballs that we were taking to the Pumpkin Carve!
So, around 5:30 pm, we all met back up again with nearly 70 of our closest friends & kids for the Annual Pumpkin Carve at the Davises' house! Jeff & Stephanie are the BEST hosts & have all the details covered! From the huge, welcoming Jack-O-Lantern inflatable in their front yard to the yummy food (everyone brings a dish to share) to the games (apple bobbing, anyone?!!) to the Charlie Brown Halloween movie shown outside using a projector! Did I mention that they manage to pull this all off flawlessly with 5 kids of their own! A-mazing!
As soon as we arrive, the kids head straight for the back yard to play with all the kids!
This represents just a small fraction of the kids in attendance!
The girls stop for some seasonal coloring sheets!
The guys standing around talkin'...
The ladies sitting (& standing) around talkin'...
Football!
Wrestling/football!
Drew was happy, he found some balls to carry around!
Time to EAT!
This little guy, Jeff & Stephanie's youngest, was plum worn out from all the excitement!
Let the carving commence!
Browsing for pumpkin carving ideas, Daddy & his little helper!
Very serious work!
Adorable spectators!
Jack hard at work on his design
Pausing to smile for the camera!
Lots & LOTS of serious carvers!
Tracing the design in better light
Daddy's helpers are always nearby!
Sophie wanted to do a butterfly, so I traced out a pattern & she & A went to work!
I am thankful to report that despite the use of sharp cutting tools by little hands, there were no injuries!
Me, Sophie & A working on our pumpkin
Ta-Da! Showing off the finished product...
There were some really amazing pumpkin carvings...
Of course, taking photos at night is tricky, but I thought this shot was kind of cool.
Quite the collection of Jack-O-Lanterns!
Jeff's pumpkin
Jack's pumpkin, he did this all by himself & he also carved his name on the opposite side.
And if that wasn't enough fun for one weekend...Sunday we had church & Sunday school (I will admit, Jeff had to be at church early, so the kids & I slept in a bit and just went for Sunday school!) After church, we headed out with a few couples from our SS class to pass out water bottles at a local park. All of the Adult Life Groups (SS classes!) at our church were assigned to various local parks to hand out free bottles of water, invite people to church & possibly strike up a conversation about the One who gives Living Water! It was a beautiful day, so we picked up food on the way & had a quick picnic lunch when we got there.
After letting the kids play a bit on the playground, we met up with some other couples & headed over to a picnic table near a water fountain...there we could offer water to thirsty runners, joggers, walkers, meanderers, or anyone who happened by! The guys threw the football & the little girls had fun running up & then rolling down a big hill!
Offering water to strangers was actually an interesting experience as some people were not at all receptive to taking a bottle of water. Some simply were not thirsty. Others were a bit questioning, but when we explained it was just a free bottle of water--no strings attached--they welcomed the gift. The varied responses reminded me of the ways that people may respond to another free gift, the Gospel message. Some want nothing to do with it, some don't think they need it, some people are questioning & then open up, others accept it readily...but just like with the bottles of water, my job isn't to worry about the response...my job is simply to ask, "Would you like to hear the Good News?!"
So that pretty much wraps up our fabulous, fun and FULL fall weekend! When we had handed out the last of the water bottles, we let the kids play for a few more minutes on the playground & then we headed home where everyone crashed! I woke with a start & saw that the clock said 6:00 pm...we were supposed to be back at church for Kids Choir at 6 pm! I got Jack & Sophie ready super fast & Jeff went to church with them, while I stayed behind with Drew & Darcy who were still napping. Of course, as soon as Jeff got home he asked me, "Guess who was in the nursery tonight?!" OOOOPS! It had been our turn to serve in the nursery for the evening service & we completely forgot! Thankfully, there were not many children there & the volunteers who DID remember were able to cover for us. What a weekend!
