fall – The Bless Your Heart Blog

Random Rambles

We all ventured out to the sale barn with daddy today. I needed a whole slew of random items from Wal-Mart and I always feel bad making hubby face the mad house after working all day.

Wryder shopped with me while sister stayed and collected money from all of the elder cow buyers to buy a pop to go with her popcorn. 😉 She’s kind of a hit around that place.

Brother and I met up with them a bit later and good gravy does that boy love the sale barn. He ate his fair share of popcorn, gave high gives, moo-ed at cows, double-fisted suckers and fell in love. This boy is ALL about tractors these days and he found a tractor house magazine…

Tractors and popcorn - a match made in heaven — Tractors and popcorn – a match made in heaven

He had a death grip on that magazine and cried when we took it away to eat lunch. He was reunited again once we got in the pickup and he fell asleep with it in his arms.

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Our sweet neighbors finished up corn harvest today and the kids snuck in one last ride around the field before next year.

I'm not totally sure what's going on here, but I LOVE this pic! — I’m not totally sure what’s going on here, but I LOVE this pic!

They were so excited to ride the combine in the dark and came home a bundle of loud, raucous storytellers!

Thank you, sweet Kruegers, for all the starts and stops so the Phipps kids could experience harvest!!

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Tomorrow is election day in Colorado. We’re gonna head to the local courthouse tomorrow and do our civic duties. The last time we voted, Sawyer thought we were going “boating.” She kept asking, “Where’s the boat??” Poor kid was slightly disappointed. We told her she would be grateful for the chance to vote one day.

Lately, she’s been playing Sesame Street and having words and letters of the day. The past couple of days, she’s been saying that “ridiculous” is the word of the day, but she pronounces it ree-dick-lee-us. It’s hysterical.

We’re not big supporters of Proposition 105 for a plethora of reasons. We were talking about it tonight at supper and we got her on video saying this tonight…

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Funny stuff.

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Speaking of funny stuff, Wryder has a new “trick.”

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WHY is poop so fascinating to children?!?

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Love this weather. Love this family. Love this life.

Halloween 2014

The day before Halloween, it was a balmy 75. We picked pumpkins (sans coats) and played outside all afternoon.

The day OF Halloween, it was 47 with 25 mph winds. Figures, right? It was COLD!

After nap, I got the kids dressed and we ventured into Grant for Trick or Treat Street. All of the local businesses head outside and hand out candy to all the little trick-or-treaters downtown. It’s a fun, safe, delightful afternoon of candy hoarding.

Sawyer even made their Facebook cover!

We came home and started our 4th annual Halloween Camp IN. We started this tradition by accident. The first Halloween in this house, we didn’t have much of our furniture yet and were busy working/painting in all of the rooms, so we were all sleeping in the living room. The next year, we made it a little more purposeful and brought in the tent. Ever since, that’s been our gig!

I made a fun supper complete with mummy dogs, jack-o-lantern sliders, potion punch, caramel apples, ghost marshmallows and their stash of trick-or-treat treats.

Ghost balloons...that later lost their fill and ended up floating on the table — Ghost balloons…that later lost their fill and ended up floating on the table

The ghosts are guarding the candy bowl... — The ghosts are guarding the candy bowl…

One of Sawyer's favorite sweets — One of Sawyer’s favorite sweets

Kermie and Piggy had a ball playing in the dark, waiting for Daddy to get home and then it was tent time! We set up camp, ate treats and watched a few fun shows.

It was a goooood day. A real good day. We still have WAY too much candy floating around the place but having daddy home for the weekend has put a dent in it.

Piggy, Kermie and a Few Other Characters

I love a good handmade, put-together costume. For her first halloween, Sawyer was a Chia Pet. We made a little pattern and glued a LOT of moss on it. It was highly original, albeit itchy.

The next year, my sister ~~in law~~ sent me an adorable idea for a peacock costume that she had seen online. I loved it so much we made it happen! We found peacock feathers at the floral shop, glued them to a belt, paired them with a tutu, dyed some tights and voila!

When she turned two, she was really into Dora the Explorer so we turned her into Dora!

Wrex and I even got in on the fun; he dressed up as Swiper the Fox and I went as Boots the Monkey. 🙂

Last year, a friend of mine gave us the cutest little Indian papoose costume for Wryder so we went on the hunt for something matching for Sawyer. We found the main piece of her costume at the thrift store in Denver. We used some leather, ribbon and feathers from home to make her head piece. We gave her a few stripes of paint and some little braids and she was one cute Indian girl!

This year, I wanted them to be able to be something together so we were trying to think of famous duos and Miss Piggy and Kermit the frog came to mind. I knew she would love all of the frilly, girliness of Miss Piggy so we went for it!

We made some felt ears and glued them to a head band, bought a pig nose on Amazon and a feather boa from the dollar store and paired that with some pink, fru-fru clothes and Miss Piggy was born!

For Wryder, we used sister’s green tights and a green hoodie to make the base of his costume. We cut a Styrofoam ball in half, painted on the eyes and glued them to the hood. We then made Kermie’s famous pointy collar, hands and feet out of green felt. Easy, peasey!

All in all, we spent less than $13 on both costumes – score!

Seriously, are they not to-die-for adorable?! I really couldn’t get over how cute they looked!

Our church hosts a harvest carnival every year so we put on all of our garb and headed to town. They played games and ate snacks and rode the horse and buggy until they were worn out!

Riding the horse and buggy with our dear friend Jim

We’re not just uber Halloween fans nor do we (remotely) get into the dark side of the ‘holiday’ but I do love the innocence that can be found in dressing up and getting to be whimsical and downright silly.

We still proclaim the name of Jesus and worship (only) the one true God, but we do let our kids dress up and trick-or-treat. Dressing up in costumes doesn’t make us satanic evil-doers any more than wearing a suit to church makes you a follower of Jesus; it’s all about the heart, ya know?

For a TREMENDOUS read on a wise-woman’s opinions on Halloween, read this lovely little blog post. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Sure is Purdy Out

This fall weather has been absolutely astounding! Normally in Colorado, we’d have had at least one snow by now but it looks like nothing but sunshine on the horizon. While I don’t really appreciate 86 degrees in darn near November, it has made going outside quite enjoyable.

Daddy went to a funeral this morning so the kids and I decided to take advantage of this nice weather at the park.

They LOVED all the leaves! We have a few trees around the place but they’re all either cedar, pine or Chinese Elm; not too many leaves falling around here. Sawyer picked her three favorites to bring home for daddy.

We spent the majority of yesterday outside, too. We surprised daddy by cleaning up the barn and the feed room – a chore! – and this afternoon, we hope to finish a new cover for the well house. AND…I have GOT to finish little Wryder’s Halloween costume…but I need my handsome seamstress for that. 🙂

Enjoying the warm weather but yearning for a good freeze…I’m a little over all things that fly…namely flies.

Random Rambles

It’s fun Friday and while the weather is cooperating beautifully – I love this cloudy stuff – poor Wryder’s not having much fun. Little guy has been a bit fussy the past two days and today is no exception. Pretty sure he’s got some major teeth trying to make their way in. He has fever this morning so back to bed he went! We’re really wanting to go watch some high school football tonight so we’re hoping he feels better soon!

Our good friends from church have a son, whom Sawyer adores, who plays football in Grant. She’s convinced he plays for the Broncos so we’re hoping she’s not too disappointed tonight. 😉

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Speaking of the Broncos, this sweet girl has football in her blood and I am LOVING it! Wrex isn’t the biggest fan but he’ll watch with me…just not as spiritedly. Sawyer is my official football watching partner!

Last week, she posed the following question:

“Mom, I always wear dresses to church. Do you think it would be ok if I wore my Broncos shirt this time??” Of course you can!

She was fired up! We ate lunch at Wendys and she kept ~~yelling~~ announcing, “Go Broncos!” There were quite a few people that got a kick out of that (thankfully). One gentleman asked her if she was gonna watch Peyton Manning get his 500th touchdown and she goes, “You mean Paytie?” Apparently, they’re on a pet-name basis.

A friend of ours blessed us with some hand-me-downs for her and there was a little softball shirt inside with the number 18 on the back. She went to put it on the other morning and came squealing downstairs, “I’m like Paytie!” Gosh, I adore her…

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On Sunday, she got to take part in her first Lord’s supper and yes, I had to take a picture.

It was a sweet moment, Bronco gear and all.

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The bestie had her 20 week ultrasound and they’re having a….

BOY! We’re so excited for them! Sawyer has lots to teach baby Eva about being a big sister to a little brother….

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On the pregnancy note, my nausea has subsided significantly, praise the Lord. I’m in the “I don’t really feel pregnant just bloated” stage…t’s better than the former, for sure…

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Colorado is one of the states that often skips fall (and spring for that matter) and goes straight into cold and snow, but this year we’re actually having a fall! My flowers are still blooming and growing and we keep saying we’re gonna mow the grass “one last time” and that has yet to happen. The trees all around are actually getting to go through the whole color change process…

It’s a wonderful change! It’s nice to able to go outside in long sleeves or a sweatshirt without there being snow on the ground. We’re going to soak in all of this autumnal beauty for as long as we can!

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Happy Friday!

Worth 1,000 Words: Pumpkin Patch 2014

This past Saturday the weather cooperated beautifully so off to the pumpkin patch we went! This one is the closest one to our house and it is well worth the money! Here are a few pics from our day!

This girl could pick pumpkins all day... — This girl could pick pumpkins all day…

In charge of the gourds... — In charge of the gourds…

Racing ducks...pink ones, of course — Racing ducks…pink ones, of course

Her favorite part of the day, according to her. :) — Her favorite part of the day, according to her. 🙂

Wryder on the spiderweb... — Wryder on the spiderweb…

This boy had a diaper full of corn at the end of the day!

Having fun on the jumping pillow... — Having fun on the jumping pillow…

Wryder didn't know what to think at first so he just laid there... — Wryder didn’t know what to think at first so he just laid there…

Getting sleepy on the horse swing... — Getting sleepy on the horse swing…

Little Pumpkins

Daddy brought home a pumpkin a week or so ago and a little cutie we know was awfully excited! Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice, mild day and if the wind decides not to blow 100 miles an hour like it is today, we’re gonna take them to the pumpkin patch! EEP! One of all of our favorite things!

We snapped a few pictures with the pumpkin because, well when you’re four that’s awesome…and because we wanted to make a little baby announcement to send out to the fam.

Here’s a few cute shots I took of the kids…

My goodness they’re cute! I love their unbridled, innocent passion for a pumpkin!

When daddy got home, he snapped my pic and this was the little card I made to send to the fam…

We’re all a little excited around here…and not just about the pumpkin.

Sooner Rather Than Later

I really didn’t mean to leave for so long. Really, I didn’t. Can you believe I haven’t written here in almost a month?! That’s quite some time for a rather wordy person…

I got busy helping with a 60th anniversary party…and Cubbies started up again…and I joined a Tuesday Bible study…oh, and I’m growing a new life. *ahem* That really takes it out of you, you know?

YES – in case you haven’t heard, baby Phipps number three will be joining us in May!

Just after leaving the doctor's office... — Just after leaving the doctor’s office…

YAY! We are over the moon excited to have another wee one join the ranks! We told the world yesterday and today I’m feeling so humbled and grateful for the wonderful community of supporters we have out there. Sawyer is pretty buzzed to be a big sister again and Wryder has no idea what in the world all the hubbub was about. Rude awakening coming in 7 months…

So yeah…we need to catch up! I need to show you a few pics of the anniversary party…and tell you about my twin nephews that I got to see for the second time…and talk to you about my hair…and discuss all things fall…and how my family made my birthday extra special…and how I’m nauseous – a lot. I was never sick with the other two so I guess I had this coming.

I told my sister~~-in-law~~ this morning that I’ve never had to “push through” more in my life than I’ve had to in the past three weeks. Thank the Lord for heaps of grace, selfless husbands and ginger ale…those seem to be my staples these days.

It’s naptime around here and I do believe I’ll take part in that – BUT – I’ll be back! And sooner this time, rather than later…

Feels Like Fall

I’m not the biggest fan of summer. I don’t really care to sweat unless I’m doing manual labor in a ball cap and cruddy clothes…pumpkin bread doesn’t taste near as good when it’s 98 degrees out…there is no football and baseball just doesn’t do it for me…I can’t stand sunscreen on soooo many levels (feel, smell, chemicals, etc.) but don’t want my kiddos to burn on prolonged outdoor days…flip flops aren’t good for my horribly flat feet but confining them in real shoes just doesn’t feel good or right…I could continue, but that almost seems hateful. 😉

Today, though…when it’s barely 75 and breezy and the sky is a rich blue and there isn’t hardly a cloud in the atmosphere…when it feels like fall…I dig it. So do these two…

I wrote on Facebook earlier, “how you hardly make a kid nap on a day like today??” It’s just too nice out to worry with a few extra winks, right?

Days like today…with play clothes and muddy shoes and dirty faces and pigtails…my heart holds close.

No hurry to be anywhere…no reason to be perfectly cleaned…no place I’d rather be…

“Are you gonna lawnmower, momma?”

“Not right now…I just wanna play with you guys.”

“Oh, goodie!”

This boy loves to "drive" — This boy loves to “drive”

Shoes? Who needs 'em... — Shoes? Who needs ’em…

But then fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous a** as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you. – Stephen King

I don’t want to rush the time I have with these two cuties, but I have no qualms about rushing the weather or the changing of the seasons. Today though, I shall marvel in this “summer” while my soul whispers “come on fall…”