trick or treat

Gage, Toby and I took off to GG's for Halloween weekend. (Don't worry...Carson had plenty of fun all to himself with his Nana and Slick...Bradley was off trying to hunt 4 legged animals with anters so he was happy too!)

We did not have major plans for Halloween night just figured we would go down 2nd street behind GG's house. But...we found the greatest place and had so much fun. In Ocean Springs they close down Washington and Government streets and have Trick Or Treat Down The Street! All 4 of us had such a fun time. All the businesses handout candy and the local church has a huge festival with about 5 jumpies in the back...can you say H-E-A-V-E-N to Gage and Toby!

Cookie Monster checking out his loot in his bag...

GG and her cute little monkey!
My boys thought this guy was great with his huge pumpkin head! They were so mezmerized at him they would not even look at the camera...but I guess not posed is good sometimes...

We had a great time...the best part of the night to me was on our way home Mom said "I haven't had that much fun on Halloween night in a long time...I had so much fun." Ok...so that comment made my night!

We tried Pumpkin Ice Cream!

We got the hook up from our wonderful assistant teacher Denise. She works at Cold Stone Creamery...sooooo after we got finished with the pumpkin patch we got to head over to Cold Stone Creamery and try out some pumkpin ice cream! So much fun...it tasted like cold pumkpin ice cream!

We all tried pumpkin ice cream then got to select a flavor of our own! Ms Jenneatta, Miss Jessica, Demarious, Lain, Carson, Freddie, and Cameron. Ms Denice is behind the counter serving us all!

Carson - cheesecake and rainbow sprinkles mixed in, Lain - pumkin and kit kat chocolate mixed in, Cameron - chocolate with gummy bears mixed in, Demarious - mint with marshmellows mixed in, Freddie - just pumkin, Jonathon - just sweet cream. Those boys can come up with some crazy combinations!

Carson and Lain digging into their combinations...

I love this boy!

The group! Miss Jessica, Cameraon, Freddie, Demarious, Lain, Carson, Ms Denice, and Jonathon

Beat Those Trojans...

We call it Super Bowl Week here in Simpson County...

It's Mendenhall/Magee Week here at school and it is crazy! Today in the final day...spirit day (black and gold day). My students brought black and gold paint to class and we had a paint party to get ready for the pep rally at 2:00pm today. It was fun...that kids had a blast! Go Tigers...Beat those Trojans!

Thanks Blake and Tyler for all the paint...we all had a fun time in class today!

Pumpkin Patch with Carson

Can I just say...I love being away from the 75 I teach on a daily basis and being with the 6 boys in Miss Jessica's class at Magnolia Speech School! It makes my heart smile! We had a wonderful trip to the Nichols-Boyd Pumpkin Patch. Great learning experience...oh and we got more pumpkins for our house!



I got to meet Caiden. His mom and I go way back (we are only 33 yrs old...ha). Her daddy prayed with me to accept Jesus as my personal Savior, her family lived around the block from me growing up, and we went to Grenada, West Indies and Ukraine together on mission trips! So, our paths have crossed yet again...FUN! Her adorable baby has mild to moderate hearing loss and he and Carson go to school together at Magnolia Speech School. So we were both really excited that we got to go on a field trip together...we did not get to spend enough time together. But I did snap a quick pic of to active boys...Caiden and Carson!

All the kiddos from our county...Avery, Carson, Taylor, and Hunter

My not-so-little boy anymore...we had such a super fun day!

Ok...this is Miss Jessica. We love her...she is such a great teacher! She has a special gift and talent to teach the 6 boys that she does each day (with help from Denise.) I truly commend her for all her efforts and her patience. Carson is loving school this year and a big reason is because of her!

At the Zoo...

GG and Gage headed out to the zoo for a little fun! They also met YaYa (Carla) and Baby Mac!

Gage was super sweet to GG to pose for these pics because he never does that for me!

Loving this pic of the 2 of them visiting the monkeys.

Checking out the flamingos...

Riding the beautiful carousel a the zoo. It has wild animals on it instead of horses.

We kept telling Gage that he was going to meet Baby Mac but he did not realize that Mac was going to be so tiny. Carla said it really shocked him when Baby Mac was so little. He did get excited though when Mac held his hand. It was Carla and Mac's first big outting since he has been born and GG said she did a great job!

I love this pic of all 3 of them!

Lunch time for Mac!

They ate lunch at the Elephant Cafe (the old elephant house) and had a yummy meal! Gage saw corn dogs and wanted one, saw and icee and wanted one too. GG bought both of those. Then got chicken strips and fries for her and Carla. Then Gage wanted chicken strips and fries too! So GG ate the corn dog and Carla and Gage ate chicken strips. Afterwards the ladies at the Elephant House gave Gage some cotton candy and he went behind the counter and gave them all big hugs and said "thank you!" So happy that all 4 of them had a FUN time!

Only Gage-Man

Before you freak and see these crazy pictures...read below first!

Gage is loving his new found relationship with my mom (aka GG) and I am loving it too! His entire world lights up when I mention her name, she comes to visit, or us visiting her. Well, she came to spend the night Sunday night. If she leaves the room without Gage knowing it, he starts asking immediately when he realizes that she is gone "where is GG?" (I love it!) Well, I was going to the pumpkin patch the next day with Carson so GG wanted to spend a little extra time with Gage. They got ready that morning and then spend the morning/lunch at the zoo...pics of that to come soon. So...Gage wants to do everything with my mom so when she called me on her way home to tell of the funny morning...it was really no surprise to me. Before I showed Brad the pictures and told the story...I told him not to freak out that he little boy was very much a boy but just loved spending time with his GG...it was cool with it all and laughed!

Ummmm...Gage wanted curly hair like GG!

Gage is SO into photography...(that makes me smile). Can you tell that GG is totally enjoying her time with Gage-Man? They had such a fun time just the 2 of them. (I love it!)

Ummmmm...he also did not have a shiny forhead! (it's just powder)

I love it...have it told you that yet? I love that a boy and his "grandma" can be such buds!

Boys Love Big Toys

We have had guys cleaning power lines on our land. We have seen this machine down the road parked but never in action. When everyone got home from school today Brad came in and asked us all if we wanted to go see them working because they were on our land...we all agreed real quick! It was neat to see it work and the boys loved it...expecially Carson! It is a machine with a long arm that cuts down tree limbs that might possibly fall on our power lines. And since we are such a rural area...when the power goes out, who knows when it will come back on.

See the large blade as it goes down the power line cutting the limbs... Carson loved this big machine. He kept asking if he could get on it but we kept telling him wait until the workers left and then we would go check it out. He was so excited to get up close and personal with it! Look how big this blade is... My favorite 4 boys...

Everyone has to have a turning "driving" this big machine...Here is Gage-Man

Then Carson Henry... Ummmm Toby was NOT going to be left out of all this fun! And neither was Bradley... Look at how sharp it cuts the tree limbs. See how even and nice the light line looks now. Brad is extremely happy because now he doesn't have to do this! There is a deer stand right in the middle of this light line and you can see forever when the limbs are cut back. Usually I have to drive along in the big truck or the golfcart as he wacks away at the limbs...but not this year! Too bad this big machine will be finishin up today on our farm...it was fun to watch (and play on!)

I (heart) Photoshop!

I am attempting to learn Photoshop. It is very difficult for those who have not gotten "into" it. My copy did not come with a book or anything so I found one on Amazon for 3.00 (shipping was 3.99) but who cares...for 6.99 NOW I might be able to teach myself a little more about how to edit all the many photos I take! I want to learn how to make a color picture black and white THEN bring back on of the colors in it...like Toby's yellow boots. But see what I've done so far...

My book has shipped...so when I get some time (where ever I can find it!) I will start teaching myself how to do oh so much more!

Halloween Party

We went to the cutest Halloween Birthday Party on Saturday night. My wonderful friend Amy has a sister named April and she has to really cute kids...Gage (Carson's age) and Avery (my Gage's Age). Their birthdays are in October and November so this year she did a joint party and had a huge Halloween party. Their entire house was decorated, lots of cute games were played, TONS of presents were opened, she made the cakes, we ate in the garage, and for party favors...the kids trick-or-treated in the garage!

Avery (princess), Gage (transformer) and Carson (fireman) ready to party!

Toby (cookie monster) and me (just as mom)
The cow had utters that squirted water...Gage kept saying "that cow is tting on me!"

Gage (Captian America) and Amy T (a really cute cow)

I want to have a Halloween Party now! Even her food was halloween...powdered doughnuts with a drop of icing with an M&M on it to look like eyeballs!