News, Nashville, and other nonsense

Whew... what a weekend! Our trip itself was really nice and relaxing, and we were able to spend a little over two full days just hanging out with some really great friends. But I feel like the last 36 hours have just consisted of going, going, going and I haven't had a chance to unpack, let alone write or post pictures. And big surprise... I have plenty of pictures I want to share.

We had a busy day today... Porter was here this morning and we all spent some time outside in the warm fall sun. After a quick naptime, we were back outside and then came in to carve our pumpkins before dinner. Yes, tomorrow is Halloween... nothing like the last minute...









One reason our day seemed extra busy and long was that poor Sawyer was all out of sorts today. He pretty much spent the whole day with his binky in his mouth and never let his froggy blanket out of his reach. And even with the bink in his mouth, he still spent most of the day whining and/or crying. Just not the happy boy we're used to. I was pretty sure all day it was just his teeth really bothering him, but then this evening during dinner his eyes were watery and he was getting pretty stuffed up so I guess he's coming down with a cold. After he was done eating, while we were all still at the table, he just lay down on a pillow on the living room floor with his frog and his bink and waited for us to be done. Needless to say, he was in bed early this evening. Poor little guy... I hope he's better tomorrow.

So, back to the trip...
We had alot of fun and I'm really glad we went. We so enjoyed our time visiting with Dave and Amie. It was really good to spend some quality time just hanging out and talking together. We did bring Sawyer along with us so he could meet his future college roomate Benjamin. Sawyer did surprisingly well on both driving days (he slept over three hours on the way home yesterday!!!) for such a long trip. Of course we made a couple of extra stops along the way to let him get out and run around, but overall, it was a pretty easy trip.
We got into Nashville about 9:30pm on Thursday.
Friday we just spent the day relaxing around the house. Dr. Dave had to go in to work, so we spent the morning getting to know little Ben and comparing notes with Amie on life with an almost-one-year-old. Ben is just about 7 weeks younger than Sawyer, and he's a happy, busy little guy. We were so glad we decided to take Sawyer with us to get the boys together to play. I think they found each other pretty entertaining!







We adults definitely had fun watching them together.
We headed out to meet Dave for lunch early that afternoon, and then came back to the house for naptime. That evening, we all pitched in for a yummy dinner of homemade Curried Butternut Soup. (This really is a great recipe... and really easy. Try it!)

Saturday we went for a nice long walk in a park by a river. The fall weather was perfect.





















Then, Saturday evening we got a babysitter for the boys, went out to a nice dinner at a local brewery and then headed to the Bebo Norman concert. The concert was awesome. Such amazing artists... such amazing worship... such an Amazing God! As always, I was so glad we went. And so glad that Dave and Amie decided to join us. They even ended up "adopting" another child... sponsoring a little boy from the Phillipines through Compassion International. It was a great night.
By the way, I think Ryan and I have decided it would be a neat thing to do for each of our kid's birthdays we'll pick a sponsor child that is their same age (maybe even the same birthday) for them to write to, to pray for, and try to relate to as they grow up "together". If you've ever given any thought to sponsoring a child in need, Compassion is a great place to start. Check out some of their information.

We headed out pretty early Sunday morning... we felt our heads were being messed with (as well as our sleep!) with the daylight savings time change and the time zone change going back home. We did stop at an outlet mall for a bit and picked up some jeans for Savannah and winter pj's for both the kids. But we were back on the road pretty quick and made pretty good time coming home.
Evidently Sawyer missed his own bed, cuz he slept good all night and then slept in until almost 9 in the morning! That is unheard of for that kid. Maybe it should've been my first clue that he was getting sick today...


Here's one more picture of Savannah with her class last Thursday at their Halloween party. She wore her ladybug costume from last year. She was determined to either be a cow (which is what she was two years ago) or a ladybug (last year). I guess it's just becuase she remembers those costumes so when anyone would ask her what she was going to be for Halloween, those were her answers. Not too original. She and Sawyer are dressing up together for actual Halloween and pictures and trick or treating and stuff, so I let her be the ladybug for school. It was still cute!

So we have another couple of busy days coming up. Tomorrow Savannah has school and then of course it's Halloween and I'm not quite sure what we're doing yet, but I'm sure we'll trick or treat or something. Then on Wednesday morning my sister, Trish, is coming into town, and Thursday is of course the SawMan's big day! Ryan is taking Thursday and Friday off for Sawyer's birthday and to have more time to hang out with the family and find some extra fun stuff to do around here. We're having a little party for Sawyer on Saturday with his little friends (and some of our big friends too...).
Also, I'm actually going to attempt to get the dining room painted sometime in all that busy-ness this week. Sheesh... I'm going to need another vacation!!!