A Beautiful Weekend

Saturday morning, Brian was painting the hallway. We are trying to get the entire house painted trim and all, so we can get new floors and carpet. Yay! I am so excited about getting rid of the way-too-light-for-children carpet. So, we put up the gate, and the girls and I were confined to the living room for the majority of the day. We watched movies and Brian moved the toy box into the living room so there would be no shortage of things to play with while their rooms were off limits. I cleaned a little bit...a VERY little bit. I dusted the living room with Rylee's help. She loves "cleaning" especially when there is a feather duster involved. I made a big pot of Wisconsin Cheddar soup and ham and swiss sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls. Oh so delicious! Lots of veggie chopping involved, but I think that veggie chopping is therapeutic in some ways. I don't mind it at all. Of course, making a big meal like that always makes me feel a little homesick. It makes way too much for just us, and I always wish we were having company over when I make a big pot of soup or chili or whatever else. If we lived at home, I would have poured up half the soup and taken it to my sister-in-law's house, who has 6 1/2 week old twin girls, and no time to prepare a home cooked meal right now. Those are the kind of things I think about that bring tears to my eyes. The simple stuff that comes with being near family. We enjoyed the soup, though, and all the football games that we watched Saturday afternoon and night. This is, without a doubt, Brian's favorite time of year. Baseball play-offs and SEC football going on at the same time. It is sports overload around here right now. During the Auburn game, Brian said to me, "Arkansas called a time out." Sarah's eyes got big, and she said, "OH NO! Time Out!" He's going to have his hands full explaining all the sports terminology to her. The other night we were watching the Texas Rangers baseball game, and Brian said," Come on! You gotta get the hit!" To which, Sarah responded, "DADDY! Hitting is NOT nice!"

Sunday morning we visited, yet another, new church. Sarah enjoyed it. It was a very kid-friendly church. They had Children's moment before the service, then all the kids dispersed into their different age groups. The class Sarah was in was called "Lamb Time". They did a Bible lesson, colored a picture, got stamps on their hands, and a dum dum lollipop. She was pretty much a happy camper. The adult church service, however, left much to be desired for me and Brian. We left wondering if we would ever find a church for the whole family. It seems that the churches that minister to us have no ministry for children at all, and the churches that have big children's programs lack the worship and preaching that Brian and I desire. So, the discussion continues, and we keep looking. I know that there is a church somewhere in this area that has just what we are looking for. We'll just keep looking until we find it. It is getting a bit tiring to go to a different church every week, always being the first-timer, and I know it's got to be stressful on the girls, too. A different class, a different nursery, different people all the time. Pray for us.

Quote of the week: "I love this time of year, because my ice doesn't melt."
We got in the car after church and Brian was pleasantly surprised to see that it had stayed cold enough in the car to keep the ice in his sweet tea. Oh, the simple joys of fall!

After lunch (leftover soup and sandwiches), we wanted to go and do something fun. This is becoming a Sunday afternoon ritual around here. A couple weeks ago it was a short road trip, this week a trip to a drive-thru safari that a google search for zoo's near our area found. The place is called Harmony Park Safari. I recommend it! It was voted one of Alabama's top 100 attractions. We put the girls in the front seat with us, and bought some cups of food to throw out to the animals. It is not a petting zoo. But, we saw tons of beautiful deer, monkeys, birds, goats, a camel, a zebra, a kangaroo, alligators, horses, mountain goats, buffalo, just to name a few. It's not really like a zoo. It's like a natural habitat for these animals. Very cool. Some of the animals are free to come right up to your window, which at times you have to roll up, because the big bull with big horns will try to kiss you. I learned something about myself at that safari that I never knew. I am deathly afraid of....wait for it....ostriches! Those things freak me out like you would not believe. They are so tall and crazy-eyed. And, they were seriously harrassing me! I think they smelled my fear. Everytime I turned my head there was an ostrich six inches from my face peering into the window like I was lunch and it wanted nothing more than to peck my eyes out! Creepy animals, those ostriches! We got to get out and see the turtles. You can pet them, and feed them. You can walk around with beautiful blue and green peacocks. It is a pretty neat place. Sarah's favorite was the zebra and the kangaroo. And, I'm pretty sure that Rylee's favorite was the deer and the ducks. Everytime she saw the fawns she would say, "Awwww", and she would try to quack at all the ducks. Pretty cute. So, another memorable Sunday afternoon with my 3 loves. It was a beautiful weekend. Fun! Lots of FUN!