Ghosts and Goblins and Spooks...Oh My!

Kids Klub at church held a carnival for all the kids to participate in games and activities and win prizes and CANDY! I've been helping out in the nursery on Wednesday nights so Lisa, who is usually in the nursery on Wednesdays, can help Kids Klub with the musical they are working on for Christmas. Until this past January when I began working in the office full time, I was the nursery worker for every Wednesday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night service, for five and a half years. There are times I miss it although I am enjoying being in the services with the adults. I do miss the kids, so serving in there on Wednesdays is enjoyable. But, I digress. Back to the Halloween festivities!






I took several photos of the kids (especially my nursery kids!) in Kids Klub tonight as they enjoyed their carnival.

All the Kids Klub Kids before the carnival.

Mr. Marty and Mrs. Reva helping the nursery kids (Chandler and Terryn) fish.

Cameron and Bethany waiting their turn to bowl.

Me with two of my nursery kids, Chandler and Terryn. I sure do miss you guys!!! Terryn will graduate from the nursery in a couple of weeks. I kept her in the nursery from the time she was born.

Cowgirl Katie. Katie and I share a special bond. She graduated from the nursery this summer, but still comes to see me in the office every week. When she discovered last week that I was in the nursery again she cried and cried to come back to the nursery. That melted my heart!!! I'm so thankful her mom Denise shares her with me!





Chandler posed so pretty for me after the carnival. For Chandler I'd be so tempted to go back to work in the nursery! What a sweetie!

After church I wasn't ready to call it a night so we headed into town with Erica and Jason and their kiddos to take their kids to the D.A.R.E. Carnival and go through the haunted house.

Erica and I after the haunted house. We don't appear to have been scared TOO bad! Although I did have one frightening moment in the haunted house! Marty got a huge kick out of that! I still think Heather put her friend up to it!

The two biggest, scariest spooks we saw all night!






Cameron, aka Spiderman!





Riley was such a pretty Ice Princess, even with puffy eyes caused by the haunted house. Sorry Riley, I hope you don't have nightmares!


After a quick trip for coffee to wind down we all headed home. Happy Halloween everyone!!!


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The day Princess Riley got her costume Heather was teaching her how to curtsy in it.

Ghosts (and Goblins) of Halloweens Past

There are a few things about this time of year that make me miss Missouri and the activities we always did there. I really miss the fall colors and I miss the hayrides, hot dog and marshmallow roasts, ghost stories around the campfire and volleyball behind the church with relatives, neighbors and friends!

There are also usually lots of mushrooms to be found. Believe it or not, these are edible mushrooms! I don't know which is my favorite: walking in the woods with Mom to find them....or eating them!!! Just pick them, wash them, roll them in flour and saute in butter. Yum!





As I continue to sort through old pictures in boxes, I keep finding Halloween pictures and I've been saving most for this post. Some I almost didn't upload for the world to see, but thought again of the laugh they could bring. Enjoy!

I have no idea when this picture was taken, but I dressed up as a bride for Halloween that year.

Another photo from an unknown year. From the left: I'm a queen, Davy's got to be the ugliest woman I ever saw and Regina is the scariest snowman ever!!!!

(When Marty saw this picture I was posting, he said, "are you sure that isn't Lacey?"

Yep! I'm sure. It's ME!!!

It's funny how many childhood pictures of Lacey, Heather, and me are hard to tell who's who!)

Here is Heather when she was in third grade as a ballerina with her best friend Cailtyn. (Imaginative that year, weren't we?)

Another old one. Regina's a witch, I think I'm a queen again, and Davy's a hobo. (Hey family members....does Davy remind anyone of Randy Croney in this photo????)

I uncovered this photo of my friend Suzanne's daughter Briana the year she dressed as a hobo.

I used to work for a company that colored comic books. Every year many of us in the company dressed up for Halloween, most of us as comic characters. Here I am the year I went as Huntress. I don't have a photo of the time I dressed up as Cat Woman. I wish I had photos of Craig as Batman, Greg as Robin, and Lana as the Joker! They were awesome!!!

These were my co-workers Cathy (devil) and Janet (archangel).

I also uncovered this adorable picture of my nephew Brandon as a mouse.

For other costumes I posted recently, click here.

Starcke Park

After I finished my photo session Saturday I dedided to snap a few new pictures of the river before heading home and before all the leaves fall off the trees. It was a beautiful day to be in the park. I wish I'd taken Marty and Heather with me to just enjoy the nice weather before it turns cold.

I'm hoping next weekend's weather is just as nice. We're going to Del Rio to see my older brother Davy, who is in Texas for the next 2 weeks fishing. Davy will be 38 years old tomorrow. I've been teasing him the past few years about how close he's getting to 40 and he always reminds me I'm not far behind. Thanks Davy!

When we were kids, this time of year was always an exciting time. Halloween falls the day after Davy's birthday, Regina's birthday a week after Haloween, and mine the following week. Our poor parents! Can you imagine having 3 children with birthdays a week apart? No wonder we usually shared birthday parties and I even remember once we combined birthday parties with a halloween party.

There was even a year Regina and I were allowed to have slumber parties...at the same time! Was my mom crazy or what??? I remember we were supposed to be in bed and quiet by a certain time because Dad had to work the next day. That didn't happen. We were not in bed and we were loud. Until late. Regina and I shared a room at the time, but for that night Davy got kicked out of his room and sent to the couch so my slumber party could be held in his room. Both groups ended up in one room and we broke Davy's bed. We slept the rest of the night on a slanted bed! For some reason that's the only slumber party we had. Can you imagine?!?

Regina's birthday is a week before mine, but she's younger so we always told everyone we were twins during the week before my birthday arrived. Last year we both forgot. I get one week where I can be the same age as her and not older. I'll take what I can get. I've always teased her that she's younger but I look younger. We've always liked to keep people guessing!

Happy Birthday a little early Davy and Regina!!! See you at Christmas!

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Head over to "Fairest of Them All" to read my friend Suzanne's tribute to Country Music Legend

Porter Wagoner.

The Things Daddys do for their Daughters!

Every year during half time of the final home football game, the dance team girls perform a dance with their dads. Practice began today for this year's number. Marty was a great sport and agreed to dance with Heather. We've been teasing him about this since she began dancing on the drill team last year. This year's dance is a disco number! Those of you who know Marty know how funny this is going to be! It was fun to watch these dads from all walks of life disco for their daughters. There were "country boys," a harley dad, a teacher...you name it. I got the biggest kick out of watching my friend Krystal's husband Walter during practice today. He's a cheerleading dad but was asked by one of the dancers to step in and be her "Bob" for the "Bob and Sue" dance. Walter was really getting with it and cracking us all up! One of the girls, Cleary, is injured and wasn't able to practice so she sat and chatted with me while I took pictures. She decided Marty looks like a giant 12 year old!







I'm trying to picture all these girls and their dads in their disco costumes! Be watching for that post on November 9, when they'll be performing during the half time show! What fun that's going to be! The song they're dancing to is "Disco Inferno." And the line from the song that keeps playing in my head is, "burn, baby, burn!"







Now....where to find 70's clothing for Marty and Heather.....and how to convince Marty to WEAR it????

Anyone in the mood to watch "Saturday Night Fever"?

This is my buddy Walter. I'll be emailing some of these pictures to Krystal!!!

I've been at it again....

We've had a gorgeous full moon lately. I keep meaning to spend some time outside at night attempting to photograph it again but I hadn't gotten around to it, until tonight. Even then I didn't spend much time. It was cold out there (yes, even at 55 degrees this Texas whimp was cold!) and a skunk has been by to visit so hanging out on the front porch was not the thing to do!



Even so, I managed a few shots before the cold and the smell drove me back indoors.

Vanessa

My friend Erma recently asked me if I'd take portraits of her daughter Vanessa. I was happy to do so. Vanessa and Heather used to dance together and now Vanessa is a cheerleader and Heather is on the high school dance team. Erma and I have been friends and remained in touch since their dancing days together began 5 or so years ago.

I remember one Spring Break in which Miss Suzi had scheduled the girls to practice at the studio every morning at 7:00 or 7:30. All us dance moms would drag ourselves to the studio early each morning and each morning that week we'd find ourselves at the coffee shop to wake up. If it weren't for the coffee shop and those early morning chats with the dance moms, that spring break could have done me in! We'd all go grab our coffee and sit and chat until I had to leave for work. The other moms that joined us were all teachers or stay-at-home moms. They were all such good sports to give up their spring break for their daughters' dance practices! Such is the life of a dance mom!

What a beautiful young lady you've become, Vanessa!

Perfect Remedy for a Week Gone Bad

After most of us had a trying week our friends and we decided it was time for a date night. Marty and I had planned to drive to Austin to watch the football game tonight, but when we found out Jason was taking a rare night off, we decided to go out instead. We piled in the Suburban and picked up Jason and Erica and Jimmy and Paula too and set out for San Antonio. And what a goofy mood we were all in -- perfect for a fun-filled evening!





We started off with dinner at the Outback, then headed to the mall only to find it was closing. We browsed one store then had to leave. We headed to Target, with 30 minutes before that store also closed on us. Off to Starbucks we went for a dose of caffeine to injest and make us even nuttier! One of these times I'll have to take a picture of Erica trying different coffees. She's still trying to find one she likes and the faces she makes while sampling everyone's flavors is hilarious! We sat in Starbucks and laughed and carried on while we waited for Heather's phone call that the game was over and she was headed back to the high school.

Unfortunately the Mats lost their game in a big way. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help cheer you on guys!






Playing with the cameras in the car, here I'm trying to convince Jason to give me back my camera!!! He was treading on dangerous ground, can't you tell?

Marty and me at the restaurant.

Jimmy and Paula. Jimmy looks like he's pondering something. Trust me, it couldn't have been good!

Jason and Erica. We've missed date nights, guys! Glad you finally had a night off Jason! You work way too hard!

When Life Gives You Lemons....

Make Lemonade!!! Some days that's harder to put into practice than others. My sister Regina likes to say there's a rainbow at the end of the storm and she tends to look forward to life's rainbows in the midst of pain. I think she's always been better at that than I. Here's hoping we all see more rainbows in our futures!




































Do you find yourself really walking with God, or are you more apt to walk the tight rope alone, depending on Him to be the safety net to catch you when you do fall?