Gotta Love It When The Fair Comes To Town!

Luke wanted to get inside these blow up balls. He said he felt like Lauren's hamster.

Of course, we all had to play the games. It really it a rip-off the amount of money you spend to try and win a stuffed animal that will probably be in the next garage sale, BUT well worth every penny when you see your child smile with delight!

Our garage sale items....I mean our prizes! Kidding:)

Fun times with the 3L's!

Never let your kids pick your Halloween Costume....haha!

I am a school nurse for an awesome private school here in Texas. One of the fun things we do is have all the teachers and staff dress up for Halloween. In the past I have been a butterfly, a nurse, etc. This year I thought I would take the 3L's shopping with me to find a costume. Look what I came home as......a Hotdog! My kids have laughed and laughed at me as a big weenie. When I got to school the secretary, who I just adore, was a giant M&M. It was awesome. The entire day she and I ran from all the kids trying to take bites out of us.

Who says Halloween is just for kids?

The winner is...... and Halloween 2010

Landry placed second in the Spring Valley pumpkin contest. He was excited, but quickly reminded this momma that Lauren and Luke placed 1st in the past years. He wants to try again next year! Oh man, just when I thought I could retire from this pumpkin contest. ha!

Halloween 2010, Lauren wanted to be a fairy. She is a 6th grader and I wondered how long she would still dress up with her brothers and go trick or treating with our neighbors. I was so happy to hear that she was still wanting to do it this year. I love seeing her being a kid!

Star Wars was the big theme for the boys. Darth Vader Landry

Storm Trooper Luke. (He didn't want to be the obvious Luke Skywalker)

Our annual pumpkin picture in front of the house. This blow up is on its last leg and I beg Casey every year not to throw it away.

Me and my beautiful Fairy. Look how tall she is?

We always have fun meeting up with the neighbors to take pictures and trick or treat. I love the Star Wars battle going on in the back of this picture!

Luke, Walker, and Landry

Abby, Haddie, and Lauren

The neighborhood is a much safer place with these guys in it!

Precious Superman, Hudson!

The Reeds

Lauren and Me

Lauren and Jillian

Our neighborhood gang.

Sweet girls are ready for some treats!

Bryce was the cutest monkey!

I love these pumpkin girls!

Lauren and her best gal, Hallie.

Halloween 2010 was so much fun and I am reminded every year of how blessed my family is to have our best friends right down the street.

Read about the who?

Read about the Reeds....who are they? Are they still here? YOU BET! This momma is ready to get her stuff together and get back to the world of blogging. I took a break....... Life got busy or I just got lazy! For whatever reason, know that Read about the Reeds is back! Woo-hoo. Lots to share.....oh my! Where do I start? Not sure yet. I am going to give it my best try where I left off and blog my little heart out.

Let's get this par-tay started!

Blessings,

Robin

How True!

"In the middle of my mess I forget how much I am blessed"

Random

Is a word that I often hear my just turned 12 year old use. Everything is "random" or "randomness"in her world........ so it got me to thinking why does she love this word so much?

Random means: having no definite aim or purpose. Hmmmm.......so what a better way to start back into my blogging world than with a bunch of "randomness".

Lauren, I dedicate this random post to you my sweet girl!

~Today is day 1 for me with this new diet. It is called The 17 Day Diet. I saw Dr. Mike Moreno on tv during the holidays and it really caught my interest. It seems to be about detoxing your body, reset your metabolism, eating healthy, and loosing the holiday pounds. Yes, that would be me.......I gained 8 pounds since Thanksgiving. I took FULL advantage of relaxing and time off during the holidays. See why I haven't blogged? ha, jk. Soooo, today is day 1 for me. So far so good. I haven't had a Dr. Pepper all day and everyone is still alive at my house!! haha.

~I hate cold weather! Enough said.

~So many of my close friends are going though a lot in their lives. Sometimes I feel like God has called me to be a prayer warrior for them. I am not one of those people who say, "Oh, I'll keep you in my prayers" and don't. I take my friends personal struggles to heart. One of my 2011 goals was to start a prayer journal to help me stay accountable. So far it really has helped........now if I can only truly lay those prayers at my Father's feet after I pray. This is a struggle for me. I often have a heavy heart the rest of the day which affects my attitude, being a mom, and a wife. Not the way God would want me to do. I am working on this:)

~Speaking of my baby girl, yes I know a 12 year old isn't much of a baby:) She is really growing up. Not just physically but she is showing me so much of who she is everyday. I like what I am seeing:) The way she cares for her friends, watches out for her brothers, the way she wants to learn how to do her mascara, the way she comes back into my room to tell me one more time good night (even after I have already kissed and hugged her in bed), the way she smiles at me or rolls her eyes at me when I try to sing along to Pink in the car............Oh, I could go on. It really is amazing how one day she is my little girl and then the next I feel like she is my young lady. I pray over her all the time. Who she will be, who she will marry, her dreams, her health, her happiness, and above all her personal relationship with our Father. Right before Christmas something truly out of the blue amazing happened.........I had tucked her in bed and told her good night. At 11pm my heart was heavy out of the blue. I turned off the tv and just listened to the silence in the house. My hubby came around the corner to tell me he thought Lauren's light was still on. I went to check on her and found her in tears. She was bawling. It just so wasn't like her. I saw the bible beside her in bed and asked what was wrong? She finally stopped and said "God came into my heart, mom" She had asked for forgiveness of all of her sins and asked for him to be her Lord and Savior.........Wow, talk about out of the blue..........the glorious, joyful blue!!! That night we both prayed together as Christians:)

This was my early and BEST Christmas gift I got.

Well, I think that is enough randomness for tonight. Wow, that was kinda like therapy! haha.

Maybe I will do more postings like this...........thanks Lauren.

I'm thinking about it!!

Yes, it has been WAY too long since I posted on my blog. Life just got busy and I just got lazy at this:) So, I am making my way back. Even though I am a little overwhelmed as to where to start? ha! I have missed this. I do enjoy blogging about the 3L's and our world over here. Yep, that is it.........I'm coming back!

2010 Annual Spring Valley Pumpkin Contest

Yes, it is that time of year! Time to get our pumpkins decorated and entered in the annual school pumpkin contest. The pumpkins have to be based on a story book character. Luke went with "Charlotte's Web" and Landry chose "Horton Hears A Who"

We will find out soon if they placed!

The boys had fun (and momma too) working on these characters.

Happy Halloween!

The Clowns you will see at Wal-Mart!

One of my many nursing jobs is that I give Flu shots for a company at retail stores for a couple of months. Recently I was at Wal-Mart giving shots when somebody tapped me on my shoulder to ask if this is where they are giving flu shots. You can imagine my face as I turned to see a clown asking me this! I didn't know what to say seeing this sweet little lady all dressed up. I told her yes and that I would be happy to give here a shot. As I was getting things ready I asked her was there a carnival going on at Wal-Mart today? Why was she dressed up as a clown? Her reply was that she has been at a VA Hospital early this morning for kids. I smiled......and then it hit me! Wait, it is 3:00pm now and you are walking around like this at Wal-mart? Ha! Bless her sweet heart, I guess she just wanted some attention and kept her clown suit on as she went to go pick up her cat food and get a flu shot.

Oh, the Clowns you will see at Wal-Mart!

Chili Peppers....Oh my!!

My Father-in-Law gave us a HUGE feed sack of these beautiful chili peppers. I think he was secretly wanting to get them out of his house. ha! Casey and I decided we would roast them on the grill and then freeze them to use in recipes later.

Wow! What a chore this was.

The red ones are not used much for chili relleno recipes so we had to throw them away.

Kind of sad because they were so beautiful.

So, one night while the kids were getting in their last summer night swim I grilled all these beautiful guys. (Never again! They produce a smoke that makes your eyes water AND I got several fire ant bites while doing this. I had no idea there was an ant bed near the grill. OUCH!)

Oh, I shouldn't complain.......they will be well worth it as I taste their goodness in my yummy recipes!

I even baked several cakes for the school Fall Festival that night too! Just call me Betty Crocker....please, don't!

Leave it to my silly husband to make me feel better after all that cooking and a swollen foot from ant bites. Love you, hun!