YES!!

Ten years ago today, I answered YES to Josh when he got down on one knee and said , "Melissa, will you marry me"?
You never know when you answer that yes how much it changes your life. The change is obviously great!
It was the only time during college that I got to come home aside from at the end of semesters. It was Halloween weekend and I had a flight arranged to come home to visit. The weekend went by all too quickly, but hey at least I got the extra 1 hour with the fall back of the clocks. Josh and my family met me at O'Hare airport. It was so weird to see them all again after so long. We began the drive home. Somehow we ended up in Indiana because dad got lost. Finally, we made it home. It was a beautiful fall weekend and the leaves were in peak color.
I remember spending Saturday outside taking pictures with all of the pretty trees and leaves and just enjoying the day. In Florida, changing leaf color is pretty much a rarity. That is one thing I missed about home while I was there. I know we went shopping and to dinner. Josh was sweating bullets at dinner (not because he was going to get engaged) because he was eating a sandwich that had (gasp) cheese on it. He hates orange cheese.
Anyway, we went to the park where we both had worked, met, became friends, and fallen in love. It was late and we walked out on the dock over the water. It was there that I said "yes" to the question that changed our lives!
Sunday was exciting as we shared the news with people. I had to board a flight that evening in Chicago. It was Halloween and the crew and flight attendants were dressed up. Not many people were crowding the airport, but many were in costume. I doubt that would work these days. Tinkerbell was one of the flight attendants. It was so sad to leave, but a little easier since I had that sparkler on my finger. I was happy!
The coolest thing is, I love him so much more than I did back in October of 1999. Our love has grown with each passing year. Quite often, I even learn things I never knew before about Josh. That's the beauty of it all!! Just yesterday, he got to hear a CD made from a cassette from when I was 5 years old. I was singing.
Looking back, we were so young and we were so different then than we are now. One thing remains--we love each other very, very much!
The answer today would be all the same--a resounding "YES"
I love you, Josh!!

Just for Laughs & Operation Christmas Child

Children's s mispronunciations are so funny at times. Keirah's pre-school work has a corresponding animal for each letter. Each one has a name. On Monday, we did letter "X" which is Roxie Fox. There's a little song we sing that goes to the tune of "Are You Sleeping" that helps her get the letter and sound etc...SO it goes like this: Roxie Fox, Roxie Fox, X says "ks" x says "ks" and so on. Well, Keirah was singing it like this: Sexy Fox, Sexy Fox, X says "ks", X says "ks". Finally, we got that "Sexy Fox" corrected. Not before Josh and I were laughing.

November is upon us and one of the things we really love to do with the girls before Christmas is Operation Christmas Child. Aliyah has really come to own it now that she understands it more and more. Our church does this each year. They pass out the red/green shoeboxes, you take it home and fill it up. For those not familiar, it is so fun, yet kind of heartbreaking at the same time. These boxes go into third world countries where many times the children haven't ever received any kind of present and may not ever receive one in their lifetime. That is the sad part! The fun part is explaining to an American child who has more than they could ever dream of really that there are other children that get NOTHING! It really helps bring the whole giving thing into perspective for kids.

Keirah who just turned three doesn't understand it all quite yet, but Aliyah does and has fun picking out things for the boxes. It is amazing what you can fit into a shoebox!!
Last week, we began getting everything together. We had boxes of crayons, markers, stuffed animals, balls, little play backpacks, little dolls, and so much more. We always do girl ones because we have girls and know what girls like. I'm terrible at figuring out boy gifts. I wouldn't get very far past the little cars--lol! This year, Aliyah's class at church packed boxes after we brought the stuff in. If there's one thing at Christmas that brings joy or gets the season started right, it's Operation Christmas Child!

Rainy Monday

Yet another rainy day this October. I feel like 75% of the month has been rainy. It was unusually dark this morning when I got up. I could have easily crawled back in for some more sleep.
I abandoned my to-do list tonight, although I plan to run around and complete some things here in a few minutes.
I'm excited that our porch will be officially complete (tile-wise) this week. It looks great!! Needless to say, the weekends full of stuff to-do leave us pretty tired.
Oh yeah, we didn't win the curb appeal contest. That's okay, though--no sore losers!
Hoping for a day of sunshine again soon!

Another Weekend!!

What can I say, except we have been busy every waking minute of the weekend. What else is new?
Since it was warmer again and pretty we used every minute to get things done.

Friday evening was errands, dinner, and shopping night. It was fun!

Saturday morning started bright (or not so much) and early (definitely) with you guessed it--a few garage sales. We only went to 3, but we found some great items!
We ran a few more errands and then began some fall clean-up in the yard. Most of it involved pulling up old plants and mowing and cleaning out the garage. We decided to go get the new door for the porch, the tile, and some round top shutters for our large picture window.

Sunday consisted of church with me being in the nursery and children's church. I missed not being with Josh during any part of it =(. Following lunch, we dove into projects at home. We began taking out bushes #56-62 (I think that's about where we are on bushes we have removed from this property). No, I'm not exaggerating!! With that amount of bushes, one would think we live on a large expanse of land. Not the case everyone, we just happened to purchase a home where the owner REALLY LIKED BUSHES!! Very, very few remain. The few remaining consist of two lilacs and a couple of spirea and bridal wreath. I decided this week that bushes are too much maintenance for the short time that they actually do anything pretty.
Josh began tiling the back porch--yay!! I went over to my neighbor's for a fun afternoon looking at jewelry. She had yummy treats as well.

Now, it's time to wrap up the weekend and get ready for another week. I hope we can keep at least some mild weather coming our way. Right now, it is raining--yet again.

Get 'R Done

The nice weather has prompted me to use up every ounce of daylight after work to get stuff done. Today's jobs: vacuum the filthy car, trim bushes and clean up brush, and string Christmas lights on the fence (because it is warm and it won't kill my hands). Mission accomplished on today's outdoor jobs. My to-do list still has items on it, however they will slowly but surely get crossed off =).

My big upcoming project is ebay. I like it, but I don't. I like getting rid of stuff and bringing in some extra ca$h, however it is like a 3rd job really. I said 3rd job because there's the regular job, homeschooling the girls, and then ebay is job #3 if you ask me. That doesn't even count housework and other little items that need to be done. Oh well, it's a good way to spend the evenings in the fall/winter anyway.

It's hard to believe, but it has been a year ago today that the Extreme Makeover crew came to the neighborhood. In some ways, it went really fast and in others it seems like ages ago. We are used to seeing that large house now. The other day, they little boy that they built the house for was going for a wheelchair ride with his older brother right by the house. He has a lot of physical ailments, but that is the happiest and most smiling kid I have ever seen...each and every time I see him. He's full of laughter!
Some other people in the neighborhood seem to be doing their own version of EMakeover. They have poured new sidewalks and are building dormers, putting on a new roof, putting in new windows. I am unsure as to the suddenness of it all since they have been in a constant state of constructions jobs uncompleted for the last 7 years, but we'll see hopefully a good outcome.
That's all for now. I think the girl's baths and bedtime are beckoning me followed by a look at my things that need to be finished.
For the record, I AM enjoying the burst of what I call Indian Summer. Yes, my windows are open!

Indian Summer--I'll take it!

There is something drug-like about beautiful weather for me. It does amazing things for me--energizes, makes happy, motivates and the list goes on!

After the unseasonably cold fall that we have been experiencing, today was AWESOME!! After work, we happily enjoyed the outdoor weather. We cleaned our flowerbeds. Not everything is gone, but much is gone! The windows are being cleaned inside and outside right now as well.

Following our work outdoors, we headed over to Cracker Barrel for the SUPERB apple streusel cinnamon french toast breakfast. It ROCKS!! I am happy to have my sweetie-pie home this evening! It's a treat since he works many evenings.

the switch

Shorter days are setting in, colder temps are here. That means a few things around here...
less..I mean very little time outside tending to flowers, riding bicycles, going on walks, mowing, or anything. The most time spent outside right now that is pleasant is if there is a fire involved.

This is the transition to slower paced (sort of) days/nights inside. With all of the rainy, cool weather we've had, we have spent more time indoors. We have been organizing, doing tiny projects, cleaning, sorting, homeschooling, reading, etc...

In some ways I like the transition, but in other ways I go stir crazy. We are a summer-lovin family. We love spending time outdoors. I miss the sunny pool days, the flower waterin, the early sunrise, the garage sales, the smell of the yard being mowed, the breeze on the porch.

This is our time to catch up on indoor things--the switch from doing outside stuff til we drop and trying to keep up with indoor things to pretty much only stuff indoors.