Blog Slacker

(Hand slap) I have been such a "blog slacker" these past few weeks...and probably will be in the weeks to come with the holidays upon us! Already my head is spinning (not in an Exorcist kind of way) from the thought of so many activities and things to do before Thanksgiving and Christmas! So, once again I will let pictures fill in the gaps.

The last time I posted, I shared Ayla's 3 month photo shoot. Below you will find my other three kidlets' latest photos. Natalie is 5, Parker is 3 and Sawyer is almost 6 months old. I must say, I believe all four of my grands are just beautiful!

NatalieParker - a little stinker?
Sawyer

And then there was Halloween - we had our annual Fall Festival at church. This year's theme was Characters from the 70's, which was great fun! We had a great variety of characters and a great turn out! Wish I had room for all the pics!

Here is a sample:

Little Miss Ayla's flower costume...though not a "Flower Child".

Buddy and I have been on a few adventures in the past couple of weeks...looking for pretty Fall colors. It's been so dry here, we have mostly browns. :-( But we have still found plenty of fun things to photograph. It's nice just to be out in the nice cool weather.

Mr. Photogenic

Every year as the grass begins to turn after the frost, it transforms the yard into this intricate maze of unusual patterns. It's a very unique sight, especially from the upstairs balcony where you can view the entire yard. This is a close-up of our grass art. Pretty isn't it? In another week all of the green will be gone and the yard will become a brown, brittle minefield of annoying bits and pieces...that get stuck in Buddy's hair...especially when he decides to roll around in it...which is quite often...then it takes forever to pick it out...sometimes requiring a bath...which in the winter can dry out his skin...making him itch really badly...blah, blah, blah.

Grass Art

It finally rained last week - less than 1/2 inch, but at least the earth got a nice refreshing drink! Every little bit certainly helps. We only need about 14 more inches to fill the ponds and streams back to normal.

Just After the Rain

Looking Through the Droplets

Today's ride-about resulted in finding this! It looks like there is a little color in them thar hills after all!

A Touch of Red

There you have it - you are now up to date. Oh, I have more, but these are the high points and you really don't want to hear about the low ones do you?

Until next time - have a blessed Fall and start working on your list of things that you are thankful for! I know I will.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!

Thursday Matt, Susan, Natalie and Parker will be coming in for a long weekend! Boy, I hope the rain ends soon...we all like to get out and play on the ranch. I talked to Natalie on the phone for just a few minutes tonight before she went to bed. She has our activities planned. One thing she wants to do is watch the sunset. She said, "Sanni, maybe we can watch the sunset while I'm there. Maybe we can do that on Saturday! It's been a very, very long time since I did that."

This precious little 4 yr. old already has that special memory buried in her heart. It's been many months ago that she was here when she and I were riding around late in the afternoon on the mule. We watched the sunset together and we talked about how beautiful it was...how God had made it. How it warmed my heart to know that she shares my passion for the sunset to be something of wonder and beauty that God made for us to enjoy.

You've seen a few pictures of her on a previous post. What you haven't seen yet, is my sweet little grandson, Parker. His birthday was last week, so we will celebrate with a party while he is here this weekend. Parker hit the big 2! He's such a happy little boy...talking up a storm now. And, he can finally say my name, "Sanni." It evolved from "ganpa" (he associated me with Grandpa). Then it went to "nee-nee", and now I'm Sanni! I can't wait to see how he's changed since I last saw him! Here are just a few of my favorite snaps of my little man.

For those of you who don't know - Matt is currently working on his Ph.D. at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. Yes, my son is a preacher...which means I have to behave when he's around! His high school class reunion is this weekend, thus the trip home. He will be preaching at our home church this Sunday and Susan will be singing. God has blessed her with a beautiful voice and a talent for playing the piano. I usually try to coax her into playing the piano on weekends they are here, to give me a break. But, since she is singing, I'll let her off the hook this time. It does a mother's heart good to hear and see how God is working in their lives! I'm looking forward to hearing both of them!

It will be a wild and wonderful weekend. When Matt & Co. come home, Sarah, Stuart, Spanky and Scrappy usually spend a lot of time over here too. So, we have 6 adults (who act like children most of the time...well, 3 of us anyway - Susan, Stuart and Rick are a little more mature than Matt, Sarah and me), 2 toddlers and 3 dogs! It's a 3-ring circus around here and we wouldn't have any other way! Imagine when Sarah and Stuart have kids to add to the circus! Bring it on!

*Be prepared for family photos next week!