Meanwhile . . .

Writing 31 Days of Hymns I Love was such a wonderful experience, but a lot was going on behind the scenes. Lots of cross country meets. Another trip to Denver to help out my dad. A birthday for Grace. In between all that was all the everyday stuff that keeps us moms oh-so-busy.

I've been longing for November where life would finally, after 3 crazy-busy months, slow down a little. But October stole November 1st and made it the busiest day yet. It was Grace's birthday (11!), and Grandparent's Day for the elementary students at school, and the day Marc, Anna, and Ryne were leaving for the last cross country meet of the year. They would be staying at a hotel, so I had to make sure the kids were all packed. Plus, the coach had requested that any photos for the team banquet be turned in that weekend, which meant I needed to send a CD with Marc to give to the coach, which meant that I needed to sort through about 2,000 photos of the various meets before Marc and the kids left (No, they weren't all of my kids!).

I set the alarm for 3:00 a.m. because I still had to make cookies for Grandparent's Day, but for some reason I woke up at 2:00 and couldn't fall back asleep, so I finally gave up and got out of bed at 2:30. While cookies baked, I sorted photos. At 7:00 I begged Marc to take the girls and the cookies to school, while I took a little nap. Then it was back to sorting photos. Finally, I burned the photos to the CD and ran down to Marc who had just backed the car out of the garage. Whew!

Then I ran back upstairs to quickly get ready so I could go serve as greeter at Grandparent's Day. I then said Welcome! about 100 million times, and I'm still having dreams about directing people to the name tag tables. My awesome sister-in-law, Ruth, filled in for Grandma, but I was able to sneak in and watch the presentation. Fifth grade looks like so much fun!

After school I took another short nap and then took Grace out for a birthday dinner and shopping. We had such a fun time, just the two of us!

Saturday should have been full of errands and to-do list tasks, but after Grace's ballet class and a trip to the library I said ENOUGH! and took Grace and the dog to the state park instead. I was so blessed this year to get an extra long look at the fall colors because Denver peaked while I was there (sadly, I didn't take any photos) and then I came home to our colors. Oh, I just adore fall! It was so worth it to ignore the laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning to just enjoy God's creation.

Jasper looks like he has a double-pierced ear, but it was just a couple of stickers.

This gold leaf on the green moss made me think of my beloved Baylor Bears, who have a 7-0 record and are ranked 5th in the country. Yes, I would have found anything to give me an opportunity to boast. I spent way too many years cheering for a team that never won, to not take advantage of this. : ) Sic 'em Bears!

Oh, look! It's my green and gold again! This picture does not do it justice, but it was so neat how the green at the bottom of the hill contrasted with the yellow leaves above. 

By the way, did you know that Baylor's school song has a goofy line that goes We'll fling our green and gold afar, to light the ways of time? Marc and I love to make fun of quote that line.

Go Bears!

Okay, I promise, no more Baylor references.

Rats! I messed up this picture a little, making Grace's silhouette too fuzzy, but I still think it's pretty neat. : )

Happy Fall!