Every Mom's Theme Song!

This is awesome! I can totally relate to this. :)

The Mom Song by Anita Renfroe.

Pumpkin Carving at it's Finest!

As promised, here are the pictures from our pumpkin carving venture. The pumpkins turned out really cute and the kids all had fun playing in the "guts." Alex has gotten really good at carving. He carved his own pumpkin as well as the little one for SG. Nick did most of his pumpkin on his own also. They all look great!
This is Alex's Pumpkin. It's half pumpkin face and half mask.

Nick's pumpkin had WAY too much candy!

All 3 kids pumpkins together.

This is SG with her Jack-O-Lantern.

Nick's pumpkin in progress.

Be careful with that sharp knife Alex!

Help! Our Dog is Driving Me Crazy!

I am at my wits end! My adorable canine friend is driving me insane. I love our family pet but enough with the "accidents" already. It's really getting old.

Our family has a really sweet miniature daschund. He is almost a year and a half old and is still having trouble grasping the concept of relieving himself outside. His name is Hershey, not because of the little "chocolate" kisses he leaves lying around, but because he has the most beautiful milk chocolate colored fur.

When we first got him just over a year ago we took him to "puppy potty training" class. We did everything we were taught and had him potty trained. He would even go to the door and ring a bell that I tied to a ribbon and hung down low enough that he could jingle it with his nose. We were all so proud of him that he actually learned this trick. Anyway, that lasted only a couple of months until he was about 6 months old. He hit "puppy puberty" according to our vet and was "marking" all over the house. She said we would have to potty train him all over again. Now, almost 9 months later, he still has accidents. My carpets are ruined and I'm at my wits end. It's disgusting!
I have 3 kids, and it grosses me out that they (and us parents) are constantly having to watch where we step. I don't know what to do! If anyone has any suggestions please, please, please share them. I would really appreciate it. I really don't want to get rid of the dog. We really do love him and would hate to see him go. But... I feel that we are failing at this game of potty training.

My husband thinks we should have him neutered and that would solve our problem. I'm not so sure. I had hoped to breed him in the future, so that idea doesn't sound so great to me. But if that's the problem than, we'll do what we gotta do.

Anyway, thanks for any advice you may have.

We Climbed A Mountain!

I can't believe we all made it to the top! Alex, Nick, SG & I spent the afternoon hiking to the top of Sawnee Mountian. I had no idea there was such an awesome view from up there. It was beautiful. I don't think we could have picked a more beautiful day for a hike. The weather was cool (in the mid 60's) and the sky was clear. The kids got out of school early today so we took advantage of the extra time and headed for the hills.
This was a fairly easy hike up and even easier on the way back down. The total hike was just under 2.0 miles. There are more trails to hike on if you are looking for a longer distance hike.
The views are of the City of Cumming below and in the distance they say you can see all the way to the Georgia/Tennessee border. We had a guide with us who helped identify different plant, tree and critter species along the way. She was very knowledgeable and friendly with the kids.
I highly recommend this hike. This is the perfect time of year to go hiking so you can take in all of the beautiful fall colors. Follow this link for more information and directions.

Enjoy the Pictures!

Annual Visit To The Pumpkin Patch

I LOVE FALL! Fall is finally here and this is my favorite time of year. I love to do things outside now that the temperature is cooling down and the days are so bright and sunny. The leaves are starting to change color and everything just looks so beautiful.

Every year about this time my family and I love to go and visit one of the local pumpkin patches to pick out the "best" pumpkins to adorn our front porch. Each kids gets to pick out their favorite pumpkin to bring home. They will then arrange them on the front porch where they will stay until just before Halloween when they will get the carve them into a "masterpiece."

This year we went to "Uncle Shuck's Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze." Nicholas and SG were the only kids that were excited to go this year. Alex decided to stay behind and play a new video game he had just gotten. Uncle Shuck's is only about a half hour drive from our house to Dawsonville. We all piled into the car and headed north towards the mountains. The drive was beautiful. The trees were starting to change colors and it was a very clear day so we could see the mountains in the distance.

Nick and SG had a blast running through the kids maze and playing on the tractor tire playground.

The tractor tires were partially burried in the ground so the kids could climb through them and up on top of them. What fun!

The maze was cut into a field of soy beans and was lined with some beautiful and very tall sunflowers. I got some beautiful pictures of the sunflowers against the very clear blue sky. There were lots of little bumble bees on the sunflowers as you can see in my picture.

Check out all of the fabulous pumpkins!

After all the playing in the kids maze then we decided to try out the "big" maze. They have cut just over 4 1/2 miles of paths through a corn field and you are given a card with a map and the locations of check points. At each check point you need to punch your card with it's particular punch. If you get all the punches than you can enter your card into a drawing to win a prize. It was fun but much too hard for a child to navigate alone.















At Uncle Shuck's you can also go on a hayride, launch corn cob's from their "blaster" and after dark they have the haunted corn maze for older kids and adults. There are people hiding in the corn with chain-less chain saws and other scary costumes waiting to jump out and chase you through the maze. I think I'll pass!

It was a fun day! Can't wait to do it again next year!

I'll post some pictures of the pumpkins after we get them carved. Check back soon!