The Ten Commandments...according to Jeb

Jonas and I have tried to "boil down" the ten commandments for Jeb to learn and then he has added his own touches...

1. Don't steal.
2. Don't Kill Anybody.
3. Don't tell lies..."some people just tell little fibs, though"--ha! We told him fibs are the same thing, don't worry.
4. Don't be jealous. "Like if you see someone has a nice tractor...you just say oh well..that's good...I like the tractor that I have."
5. Honor your Mommy and Daddy "that means obey."
6. Only worship "Dod" God.
7. Go to church on Sundays-don't work.
8. Stay "maweed" married. ...we were not ready to explain adultery ...it is quite an ADULT thing.
that's all we've got so far...

We have been quite busy getting ready to host T-giving and also Jeb's little family party. We have also been building "Lizard Houses" outside...they look great..

Adventures in cloth diapering part 1

About 15 minutes ago Caleb wore his first cloth diaper...


for about 8 minutes...


then he had the biggest poop I have ever seen come out...


I don't know if I am in this for the long haul?

My zeal lasted 8 minutes. It is drying on my clothes rack. I have 5 others..we'll see. My roommate from Mizzou is big into cloth diapering and she was so kind to make me some cute ones for cheap--so I am giving it a go! I need much encouragement from her now..I should have paid extra for some encouragrams from her or something. I know that this will eventually save money, and it is good for the environment but WHOA==this is going to be time-consuming. I'll keep you posted.

This may be like nursing...I'll do it as long as I can stand it and stay semi-sane. 6 mos with nursing...we'll see if I last that long doing this!

Another Great Hike

Our favorite family thing to do is definitely to hit the woods and be in the mountains...usually on a hunt for a waterfall. In the past 5 years, Jonas and I and sometimes Jeb and Caleb have hiked to about 30 waterfalls. It has been so much fun. We are going to have to start "repeating" now so that we can take Caleb and our friends now that we know where we are going. It has been quite an adventure to find that road names have changed, we missed many a turn along a hike, sometimes we had to send J to scout ahead b/c we thought we got lost, but overall we have had a BLAST. We have gone to waterfalls in Oconee, Pickens, and Greenville counties and discovered places that we did not know existed even though we have lived here and hiked here for our entire lives. I am so thankful that one day I picked up a book at our local bookstore called Waterfalls of the Upstate written by two Clemson students. In the summer, we have swam and Jeb skinny dipped a couple of times. We always take plenty of pics and we always stop and eat a picnic somewhere.
Yesterday, we visited Twin Falls. Although, it was more like sextuplet falls since we just had a great rain all week. There were plenty of rocks to climb on (see pics) and it was a nice hike for kids--not too long AT ALL. There were "caves" for the kids to get in and little pools for them to play around and throw rocks in. Jeb and Brynn (we took one of his buddies with us) picked up lots of souvenirs and walking sticks along our way. They were looking for Bears and deer as well--no such luck..I think we were WAY too loud! They were Dora and Deigo...Caleb was Boot, Jonas was Swiper and I was Alicia. Caleb rode happily in his front pack and enjoyed some milk and peaches in the wilderness. Jonas took the kids up to the top of the falls where they found a "God-made" slide to go down. I was freaking out and yelling for him to hold their hands...thank the Lord we all made it home safely. Jonas and I have differing opinions about what is safe sometimes.
I am continually blessed to have a hubby that loves adventures as much as I do. I can't wait to be in heaven finding ALL The waterfalls that God created one day!

Halloween Pics of the Kiddos

Forgot to put up some pics of my cuties at Halloween...it was fun this year---we tried to do too much in one day as usual, but it was fun.

We are now calling Caleb "Rooster" as his red hair is coming in and we can't quite get a nickname for him. We have called him chubby cheeks from the start so we have toyed with cc, I sometimes say cay-cay, Jeb says little fishy on occasion and now...ROOSTER. Jeb says he is going to be "Lion" since he is "bond"///blond. Still, Jeb will stay "Goochie" for a little longer...Jonas calls him "Knothead" but I have called the guy goochie since he was 5 mos old...strange but yes, it is true. Jonas says he is outgrowing it...huh? Whatever.

I got to play tennis 2 times this week. That is more that I've played in like the past 4 months combined! What a treat. It is so good for my mental health to get out there and laugh and hit that yellow ball. I just love the smell of those things in the wind!

Fall at Jocassee Gorge

I have spent a lot of time at Lake Jocassee during the summer, skiing, checking out waterfalls, picnicking, swimming, and jumping off rocks. I have never been there in November until yesterday. WOW! It is gorgeous..the trees are orange, yellow and red and the scenery up there is STUNNING. This mountain lake was perfect yesterday. Not crowded, and very sunny. My dad and mom and me and Jonas and Jeb put the boat in and drove over almost to Laurel Fork Falls. We got out and unloaded and walked about 30 mins to the falls. After we explored around and went of overlooks and even to the very top of it--SCARY, we had a great picnic. Jeb picked out a perfect giant rock to spread out on and then he threw about 100 rocks in the river and then we marched on. We got to see more waterfalls and a neat campground up there where there are roads that ATV's can go on--good discovery. Jeb got to see some young guys take their Jeep through the creek--he was quite excited. They did it again so he could enjoy it! We walked over 2 suspension bridges, which are beautiful and Jeb thinks it is cool how they bounce and sway! I am more like Donkey on Shrek...remember when he was crossing the bridge to see the dragon? Anyway, these are some pics from our great day up in the mountains. I love living here in the fall. I feel especially blessed to have 2 parents who are still married and are still healthy enough to hike for hours; A hubby who gave up his only "free" day to be with us; and that I have a son who enjoys adventures!

Pray..even when you think they don't care...

Today when I was leaving Jeb's room for nap he said, "Mommy, will you pray for me?" I about lost it! I was so moved. I suppose that kids really do listen and desire to pray with us! They may fidget, and they may act silly, but it does make a difference. I know he could have thought that he just wanted some more time with me, or maybe he just knew that I wasn't going to do it today (I was in a rush ...sometimes I pray with him at nap/other days I don't) or maybe he just really felt he needed prayer. Either way...I am amazed at how God is answering my prayers when I pray for God to reveal himself to Jeb and Caleb.

Fall Fun

There is really nothing I love more than family, food, fun, friends and yes, FALL!

I hate fall for only one reason--it means winter is coming. I HATE winter...that is for another post--maybe I will make a list of all the reasons why I hate it...you Christmas crazies don't say a word, but that is NOT the best holiday...yeah, maybe it would be if the world actually revolved around Jesus being born and all the peace love and joy that SHOULD entail during that time of year--but it doesn't...whew---what a tangent. Back to fall fun...

We do so many fun things in fall that it makes this time of year actually pretty groovy.

1. The Oktoberfest--lots of carnie rides, fair food, and fun laughs with the kids.
2. The Denver Downs corn maze, corn box (think sand box...but it's corn), hay ride, picking pumpkins out of their giant patch (see picture of Phoeby and Jeb trying to lift that humongo one), goats, piglets, donkeys, running on the piles of hay, swinging in hay (see picture), bouncies and bunnies...
3. This year we went to a 4-H farm days thing-a-ma-bob that Jeb really enjoyed--llamas, his first real turkey siting, monster tractors and such.
4. We stay outside catching all the Vitamin D that we can since the days are shorter.
5. We spend more time on our front porch and screen porch since it is not a sauna out there.