Mary's Moments

(**Click on pictures to see them larger) Today we ventured over to Marble Falls, TX to visit the pumpkin patch at Sweet Berry Farm. It's about a 50 minutes from our house, but well worth it! The drive there is just awesome and the scenery is breathtaking. There are steep hills, canyons, rivers, and wildlife preserves that make the drive seem like only 15 minutes. When we pulled in the parking lot, we noticed that everyone had the same idea that we did...to come today! Not only was the weather absolutely perfect, but it just seemed like a great day for a family outing, and I guess others thought so too. Regardless, we had a great time! At Sweet Berry Farm, they have a huge Texas-shaped maze there made out of corn fields. The object of the maze is to find 12 cities throughout the maze and if you do, you get a free drink when you come out. Daniel is great with maps and navigation and we managed to find all 12 cities in about 45 minutes. It was fun! Also at Sweet Berry Farm, they have ...

Recently I was doing some reading on the Halloween "holiday" (more like a cult to me) and came across this story. I think I had read it before, but really thought it had great symbolism and is something we could share with our friends/coworkers if asked! What a great example! A woman was asked by a co-worker, “What is it like to be a Christian?” The co-worker replied, “It is like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then he cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc., and then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.” With God's help, all the yucky seeds can stay out and then they won't snuff out the light! Besides, if the seeds are still in the pumpkin, how are we supposed to roast them and make yummy pumpkin seeds (they need to be on the tray, seasoned, and in the oven, people!)? I though...

I currently subscribe to a daily email devotional from Christian Women Today Devotionals and often times I don't even take the time to read it because of my busy schedule. Or maybe sometimes I just don't want to read what it says for fear of being convicted. Recently I've been down in the slumps a lot and it seems like it's been a roller coaster ride for me lately. I don't know if it's from having a baby or what, but I really need some motivation to get my act together! Some days I feel like a great parent, a great wife, a great cook, a great household organizer, and a good friend. I've got dinner in the oven by 5, dessert made, homework done by 4, the house cleaned, laundry done, and the plants watered. However, other days, I am lazy and don't take a shower until 3 p.m., right before Katherine gets home from school. I feed Matthew chocolate pudding for lunch because it's easy, and I stick Christopher in the swing so he'll fall asleep. I...

Christopher is almost 5 months old now and I can't believe it! Time flies by so fast. I brought dinner to a friend tonight who just had a baby and it seems like yesterday that I myself was at home and people were blessing me with meals. Amazing how time flies when you become a parent and start watching your kids change so much day-to-day. Well Christopher is somewhat eating rice cereal now and that has been lots of fun. He is a spoiled baby and won't really take bottles from anyone, but he's doing great at giving the cereal a try. While I was feeding him, he kept sneezing, and as you can imagine, it is quite messy afterwards. But at least it makes for a good picture:) So today has been an interesting day. This morning started off a little rough with us forgetting to set our alarm clocks from coming back late from Bible Study last night and in turn Katherine missing the bus this a/m. So we hopped in the car and took the shortcut route we normally take, but it happened to be ...

This weekend we went to Houston to celebrate my parent's 60th birthday. My Mom's birthday was in August and my Dad's is in October, so we decided to throw a combined party for them. We had a great time and it was fun to have everyone there! We drove down from Austin and Will and Alison flew down (he has his pilot's license so he flew down with Alison). The rest of the gang are from different parts of Houston. We met at El Caporal Mexican restaurant and had a yummy cake from RJ Goodies:). From left to right, in the picture, are Shawn and Elizabeth Simme, Pat and Gail Cook, Linda and David Farmer, Mary Farmer and Christopher, Daniel and Matthew, Alison Mainord, Katherine, Will Hermann, Bill and Esther Hermann.

So tonight was the first night that I've given all 3 kids a bath at the same time in the same tub! Normally it's just Matt and Katherine, but we decided to throw little Chris in there for some added excitement. They had a fun time and Christopher did great! He LOVES splashing in the water and usually Katherine is my little helper and gives him a bath. She thought it was fun because Christopher was so slippery:)...and I guess since he's our third child, I wasn't panicking as much as I thought I would. I'm sure when they are 15 years old, they're gonna hate me for this picture, so I might as well show it off while I can! Katherine's most recent cute sayings- -"I'm drawing a picture of Jesus and he has grace hair" (not sure if she meant gray hair or just heard the word grace at church so she just threw the 2 words together). -"Matthew, you aren't going to be able to go to heaven until you get old." (she's trying to share her spi...

Well today is a YAY day for several reasons. First, I found out yesterday that I'm going to be an Aunt in April (yes Elizabeth)! YAAAAAY!...this gives me so much joy! I can't wait to have a little neice or nephew to cuddle and spoil, as well as a playmate for my kids. What fun! I get so excited just thinking about it. :) The second reason today is a YAY day is because I went and had highlights and lowlights put in my hair for FREE from Melissa at Toni&Guy at the mall. My hair turned out perfect and I'm super pleased!! I found out about this opportunity on Craigslist because she was needing a model in order to fulfill all of her advanced education training. Plus a friend of mine watched my 2 boys for me so I could go get pampered. Thanks Amanda! It's been a great day and God has really poured out his blessings on me today! :) Here are some pics of the hair transformation (click on them for a larger version of pic)- ~ME BEFORE~ ~ME AFTER~