Simply Sara

If you haven't made it to Payless today, you should drop what you're doing, click on this link for a 50% off coupon, and drive to your nearest Payless Shoe Source. Prepare yourself for no available parking spaces and a long line, but as you can see in the photo above, it is totally worth it! Three pairs of shoes for $25! Now, that's what I call savings! The coupon is for today only! Have fun!

The past two nights, Lucas has woken me up, several times, for the most seemingly random conversations. The first time, I woke up to a couple pats on my arm and the face of my sweet Lucas hovering nearby. "I'm scared, Mommy," he said. "My room is too dark". I stumbled out of bed, bleary eyed and drowsy to find a nightlight; after all, Mommy can fix any problem. Once the soft glow calmed Lucas fears and I had him tucked safely back in bed, I reminded him that when he is scared, he can pray to Jesus, who always hears him. Lucas then asked me where Jesus lives. Then he said, "Why did Jesus have to die on a cross?" I did my best, at 3:30 in the morning, to explain our need for salvation in a way his 4 year old mind could understand. Lucas then asked me if we will die one day, to which I replied, yes. Lucas had a look of fear in his eyes, and then said, "but we won't be together anymore". I was touched by his love for our family. Again, I told...

I guess I didn't cook it long enough.

The week has been full of fun and family! My Mom, sister Melanie and her baby Anna came for a visit! We had a great time taking the kids to the Fall Festival at Lucas's preschool! Friday we were a part of a baby shower for dear friends, Ben and Skye.

I am still trying to get myself back on track after being sick a couple weeks ago. I'm struggling to get my thoughts into words and onto paper, or the blog. So instead, I will bombard you with photos of the busy-ness of our lives the past couple weeks. It's been wonderful to be so busy! Over the weekend, we attended a birthday party for a girl in Lucas's preschool class. The party was at Callaham's Orchard - a wonderful, family owned place in Belton, SC. Great place to visit!

On this cool, rainy fall afternoon, I'm craving something warm and savory for dinner. So tonight we're having Chicken soft tacos! This super easy and yummy recipe comes from my friend Kathryn . Thanks girl! Chicken Tacos: Chicken (I'm using 1.25lbs of chicken tenders still frozen!) 1 Packet Taco Seasoning Mix 1 Cup Water 1 Can Chopped Green Chilies Throw chicken in your crock pot. Don't worry about thawing it if frozen! Mix together taco seasoning and water. Pour over chicken. Pour in can of chilies. (These are not spicy) and stir to mix. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve in taco shells (soft or hard) with all the fixin's! We're having yellow rice with corn on the side!

Being sick can't stop the silliness.

Ava has the swine flu. Please pray for us.

Proof that a 4 year old boy lives in our house.

That is the word to describe this week at our house. So instead of taking time to write a blog post, I'm going to direct you to a short video by a great pastor that I believe will make you think. It fits right in with what Matt and I've been talking about a lot for the past few months: holiness. So check it out and tell me what you think.

Our impromptu trip to the apple orchard today in Mountain Rest, SC started with Lucas and preschool. Several weeks ago, Lucas came home from preschool begging me to take him apple picking. The theme for that particular week in his class was apples, so they made apple sauce, created apple stamps and apparently talked a lot about apple picking. I brushed him off with some lame excuse about apple orchards being too far away, but my ever-clever little boy was too smart for me when he suggested that we plant an apple tree in our yard instead -so we wouldn't have to travel far at all. He talked about that idea for at least a week. Sometimes I have to be reminded that he's four, and I can't distract him as easily as before. But fate was on Lucas's side when Matt came home with a bag of "magical mountain" apples from his racquetball partner, Rose. Okay, I'm only kidding about the fate part, and no, the apples did not contain a special power, except for their excep...

I'm so proud of our big boy, Lucas! He did great at his first trip to the dentist! He sat through the cleaning, flossing and fluoride just fine! The dentist did not find any cavities! In the car on the way back home, Lucas informed me that he wanted to throw-up. After a second of panicking, I asked him why he wanted to throw-up. He said the yellow stuff (the fluoride treatment was in a yellow tray) was icky and needed to come out of his body. When I told him to not throw up, he shrugged and said, "I guess I'll have to tee-tee it out". Who can argue with that logic? I'm so thankful Lucas had such a positive experience; as we all know, the dentist can be such a stressful place! I was a little surprised at the amount of anxiety I felt as Lucas got his teeth cleaned. Images of past trips to the dentist (painful ones) kept flashing through my mind until I found myself breathing a little faster and tapping my foot on the floor. Thankfully Lucas was too distracted by ...

If you want to make this easy, amazing, feed a large crowd or have lots of leftovers, dish, check out the recipe for Spaghetti Pie here . Loved by adults and kids alike!

Update: Good news from the doctor! No change - Amy will continue treatment and go back in 6 months! Thanks for praying! ************************************************************************************* Please pray for my precious sister Amy and her honey Brock. She has a big doctor's appointment this morning at Emory. Healing, comfort, peace, strength. All from Jesus. And please pray for my mom who is keeping their kids back home. She's the best!

For the sake of my thighs, I must make a confession this morning. Remember my goals for September weight loss? Something like "lose 6-10 pounds"? Well ever since I quit WW, I have stopped losing weight. In fact, I've gained a pound. Now before you respond, I will add that I have lost a couple inches over my body, so I'm pretty sure I'm gaining muscle from working out consistently. However, my jiggly thighs and gooey tummy have reminded me that I have not reached my weight loss goals yet. And it's time to get back on the diet plan! Instead of counting points this month, I spent my time analyzing why I like to eat so much and why I feel so happy when I'm not dieting. (I do have to use my degree in Psychology sometime!) Wanna hear my excuses, um... I mean thoughts? I really hate feeling hungry. For 3 months, WW kept me from feeling "full" and now that I've gotten that feeling back, I don't know how to let go. I've never been good at foll...

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? Apparently we don't have enough "girl" toys in our house as Ava is busy sorting L's trucks! "I'm a pilot!" - L's explanation for wearing a pen clipped to his shirt. Where he got this idea that pilot's wear their pens in their shirts, I have no idea! But I do know a certain Daddy who likes to clip his pen, along with his keys, phones and multi-tool to himself!

That's what I've been saying to Lucas for the past couple days. This whole job idea fits in with the concept I've been teaching Lucas for the past year; that Mommy has a job - tasks that must be completed every day that don't include race cars or playdough. I think it's important for Lucas to respect my "job" as a stay at home mom and to foster independence in him to play by himself. Good stuff, I think ! As a result of my passion for our son to respect SAHMs and to teach him responsibility, I've come up with a weekly chore chart! As you can see, the tasks are pretty simple, but important. Taking care of the dog teaches ownership and responsibility and takes a load off of me! That is one less mouth I have to worry about feeding! Getting dressed should be routine, but the little green monster called jealousy has a way of rearing it's ugly head that results in a little boy who wants to lay on his bed and be dressed because "that's how Ava do...