Party Time! Excellent!

A couple of weekends back, we had a Two-Party-Saturday. Liam is a very popular kid, you see. The first party rolled out with a John Deere theme for Mr. Sanders Wiggins, age 3.

I took Madeline to help out her swamped mother. I LOVE this picture of her in the tractor!

What a goof ball!

Eli Spikes with the birthday boy on hayride #1:

I would have had to pry that CapriSun out of Liam's fingers in order for this pic to be fantastic, but he wouldn't have stood for that injustice!

I was pretty stoked about his threads this day:

Ahh...while the big kids attacked the tractor pinata, we snuck the little ones into bounce house #1. Liam with Brody & Braden Brubaker:

Army crawl:

Happy birthday Sanders!!!

Now, onto party #2. It's a train theme for Mr. Dominic Rinaudo, age 2. Liam spends his weekdays with Dominic and loves every minute of it...as long as he's not being tackled!

The boys and the balloons. LOVE Dominic's conductor garb!

Bounce house #2 and, yes, that is Dom tackling Liam:

Hay ride (train ride) #2 with a couple of Dominic's awesome cousins:
The boy got a sweet new ride!!!

Happy birthday Dominic!

Good partying. Good day. Good night's sleep!

EMMA!

The third and (according to her parents) final Farrell girl has arrived!!! The first night Liam and I went to visit, we were disappointed to find Emma stuck in the nursery getting a tan. But last night, we were in luck!

Ta-da!

Sweet sleeper:

Sweet kids all around (but missing SG!):

Emma Katharine is named after my maternal great grandmother and my paternal great aunt. She weighs in at 5 lbs., 8 oz., is 18 inches long, and she is all fingers and toes!!! Lovely girl!

Liam and Sarah Grace's First Trick-or-Treat

Trick-or-Treating in Southern Trace without a golf cart was a little dicey. It is dark out there and there aren't any sidewalks and the cart traffic was pretty substantial!!! Otherwise, the evening was quite a success!

Duckling, Hannah Montana, and Butterfly:

The little ones were really funny! We didn't really explain to Liam and SG why they were dressing up or what they were supposed to be doing, but they got the hang of it quickly. March down driveway, bang on door, touch all the candy in the bowl, march up driveway, repeat...

The kids wandered pretty deep into this house before we could corral them! Good times!

The Un-Pumpkin Patch

Liam and I went with Elizabeth's family to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday afternoon to get the quintessential Fall Pics, but our snoozing led to losing. The Patch was a pathetic cluster of rotting rejects. What to do!?!

Well, we sent Chris to Brookshires to buy pumpkins and met him at Norton Art Gallery. I thought I forgot my camera (it was actually just under the rubble in my car!) so Beez took this and sent it my way:

A mess of an outing, but a cute picture emerged, nonetheless!

Then Sings My Soul

This Sunday morning, the FBCS choir (of which I'm proud to be a part) will be singing possibly my all-time favorite hymn. It is an amazing rendition and I'm thrilled that we will be able to share it with the congregation! The only down-side is that we won't be practicing it anymore...

For your consideration:


Oh Lord My God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hands hath made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder.
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:
Then sins my soul, my Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

And when I think that God, His son not sparing,
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin:
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

When Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, my God, how great Thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

Pumkins (and people) Everywhere!

It was Pupmkin Shine time last night at Betty Virginia Park. Area schools put together displays of decorated pumpkins for one night of viewing and all of Shreveport was there!

Arrgh!

Whenever Rendi told Sanders to smile, he'd yell cheese as loud as he could!

The track was this packed (or worse) all the way around...and it was hot:

Hard to keep the kids from messing with the art:

I wish I had pics of some of the super clever pumpkins, but being herded and pushing a stroller didn't allow for the opportunity. Oh well! See Candace Chaney's blog.

Out of the Darkness

Leif visited last weekend and our little family participated in an Out of the Darkness walk, sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Liam practicing his stride (although he was stroller-bound for the actual event):

Ready to go (or ready to pout?):

These walks are held throughout the country, so look them up if you are interested in getting involved.