Sweet Moments with Marnie

Ellie loves her Marnie! She loves to cuddle up on her lap and love on her, and I think Marnie likes it too. Ellie has a sweet, gentle disposition just like Marnie. They are also November birthday girls, Ellie turns one year old on Sunday, and Marnie turns 80 the following week.

Wow! Special Birthday Girls!

Autumn Hiking

We went on a hike to see God in all of his splendor

The boys picked up leaves and tossed them up

also they made a mountain of leaves, and a fort under a bridge complete with a stick chimney.

The Princess of Leaves

Yay! She didn't eat anything gross, on that Hiking Trip!

Ellie had a great time in the piles of leaves, and we found some of our favorites:

A couple of maple leaves-We went home and did leaf impressions with crayons, and collected acorns for the squirrlwlers that live at 152 Shaw Drive Daddy's little

Sugar Baby

Sons and Heirs Galatians; 4:2

Beautiful, Beautiful Boys

Dude-check out my impression of Uncle Nate

I am moved

Prowling the Pumpkin Patch

Hitching a ride

center stage-pumpkin pyramid

Straw People

Pumpkin chair

Goofing around-with pumpkins in the background

Tres Pumpkinos

Great Pumpkin

My little Punkin'

Kiss the Pumpkin

So bright!

Lloyd Lovies

A tresure hunt sensory style- And yes if you are a Lloyd, you do eat the public rice that everyone has put their dirty hands in.

That's right we roll with the kool bus

pumpkin' paintin' Noah is very focused

keg shades, with a grande beer for a hat

A sorcerer

A Showgirl ala mommy style!

A weird witch hat with a rat

A traditional fall ritual for the Lloyd family is the search for the right pumpkin-taking a country drive, enjoying the changing foliage, the trees now are soooo Beautiful and celebrating the change of season! I love autumn, when the sun kisses your nose with its warmth, having a gentle breeze of crisp refreshing air, the weather is JUST right! Thanks be to God. We like to enjoy these shorter harvest days, by going to Rombach's it has proven to be a family tradition! We enjoy all things they have there, the country store with fresh produce, jelly, an awesome mango salsa! I am a country girl at heart, so I immensely enjoy jumping, and crawling, and sitting in the dirt there with the kids. It reminds me of my youth, outside playing in the dirt pile or on my pony. We enjoyed all the activities, the kids painted a pumpkin, and Noah painted his jacket (looks really nice) We went walking through the large pumpkin field to find that ......Great Pumpkin, and we got to see an assortment of colorful gourds and squash, they are soo unattractive, God has a sense of humor when he created those! Ha

We regretfully did not saddle up for the bumpy hay ride. We did that last month when we went apple picking. We also tried some looks on-for the Fall Festival- it is what not wear!

Reminiscing at Panama Red's

This is just before we left to go downtown and meet-up with the class of 1997 of Eureka

Patrick looking very dapper

Here I am; ready to go have some FUN!

All peeps at Panama Red's

A very animated Zac and Pat, telling stories about each other, and telling us how "cool" Pat is while Pat was away. Zac was making us laugh so hard, Forrest and I almost fell of our chairs.

Here are the "Guys"

Forrest, Pat, Brian, Nick and Brock

It is the Cross Country Team, Baseball, Football and The Wrestling Squad all together!

It was great to see these guys, I even knew them from back in the day. Pat and Brian were Best-friends since grade school.

The place; I really liked the bluesy St. Louis Mural

Pat was having such a good time with all of his buddies he has not seen in a long while, the room quickly heard that "Lloyd has three kids" Oh wow! People couldn't believe that we had three little one's at home.

It was great to see everyone, we had an AWESOME time, The party went on here until we all moved to to Shlafley's tap room, and hung out there for a while, and then went over to Jim Edmonds place "Fifteen" and danced, and chatted up with Brock and Karla. We had a night that didn't end! Good Times!

Pretty as a Picture

Thank you Coodie, for the beautiful things you sent home to us! We love the picture and have hung it up in our dining room, I am still researching the piece, as it seems to have a-lot of history behind it. We are excited about the Wedding, and to visit you over Thanksgiving Holiday!

Ellie is enjoying her lunch in this photo.

Love and Hugs

Lloyd Hospitatlity

I love the thought of Hospitality! I want to have people over all the time, and fellowship with them. I am looking forward to hosting a bible study this Friday! Yay! Good friends, the word, and oh yeah......back to thinking about cleaning my home......That is NOT my spiritual gift, but yet that is how I spend my days.

Yes, yes ... I have thoughts of everything so inviting, the room to be smelling of fresh flowers, perhaps the smell of downy in the back ground from all of the clean clothes that have been washed, dried, and put away so nicely. soft classical music soothing the most exhausted souls, the fragrant aroma of good food–perhaps something home baked–wafting its way through the house and greeting guests at the front door.
Then I looked around. I suddenly gave up hope.
If you dropped by my house right now, your senses would encounter clothes filled furniture paired up with scuffed up walls, scattered Lincoln logs and swords, Shields, maybe a stick pony and random pieces of some spider man block set on the floor, piles of books on every table, the smell of ... the diaper pail or is that the laundry? Voices disguised as ferocious dinosaurs or maybe lions.
Not exactly the environment that I did have in mind-like in the Pottery Barn magazine or was that the St. Louis Home magazine? But it’s home, and I love it! And as a mother of three young children , and a creative brain, you’d understand, wouldn’t you?

I mean I do say, (and so does Karen) If you have seen it clean once, your going to have to remember it that way!!(But her home is always so inviting) So after the obligatory, “Sorry about the mess” and the countering, “Oh, don’t worry, I am just glad to see you ” we’d scrounge for a bite to eat, clear off a couple of chairs, hush the kids with a DVD, and enjoy some adult conversation. And that would be hospitality, wouldn’t it? I think so, at least at The Lloyd Home.

Sam's Day

http://www.samsday.com/

SAM'S DAY
(ssshhhh "Don't tell Sam!")

Friday, October 19th
Hours: 6:30 AM to 5:00 PM
Location: 14240 Manchester Road, Ballwin, MO
(1/4 mile East of 141 Highway)

Drop and Give me 20!

On Monday nights and Wednesday nights, I try to get to bed early. Waiting for the tribulation that is.....Angel! Yes, Angel is the name of our Boot Camp Instructor, turning us into sobbing, little girls who have jello legs, who leave us crying for mercy at the end of each session!! This is Boot Camp...Boot camp workouts are efficient because you work your entire body-- heart and muscles--by going from one exercise to another with no rest. The workouts involve calisthenics like push ups, jumping jacks, crunches and other body weight exercises...the difference lies in the intensity. In boot camp, your challenge is to take your body to its limit. You work, you sweat and, best of all, you burn calories like crazy, except apparently from the genes my parents passed down to me, my body doesn't want to burn the calories so much.
Boot camp workouts are extremely irreplaceable... they are so efficient - you work your whole body in a short period of time. I love to exercise I like the fact that it is Fun - each exercise is different so you don't get bored. I DO NOT like the fact that I wake up at 5 a.m. for this class. And run so much!! I mean you actually look forward to the running part, because the calisthenics are killers. You will have to check out my "guns" next time you see me! I do love Angel even though she is very tough. The very best part of this whole thing is I get to do it with my girls. "I get by with a little help from my friends" Thank you...Angie, Eva, Angie and Lisa, you girls are boot-i-ful!!!

A Classic touched my Soul

Today, curled up in my chair very comfortable. Giving thanks to God for all circumstances (having one crazy night.) I read an old classic, Oswald Chambers', My Utmost for His Highest. As you all know I do have three children so I was just skimming.. "In the Bible clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or providences, within or without our personal lives, which seem to dispute the rule of God. It is by those very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were no clouds, we should have no faith. 'The clouds are but the dust of our Father's feet' (Nahum 1:3). The clouds are a sign that He is there...Through every cloud He brings, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in the cloud is to simiplify our belief until our relationship to Him is exactly that of a child-God and my own soul, other people are shadows....Unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging God's character, we do not yet know Him."

Melting Pot Momma's

A Mom's night out!!! Yeah!! We are going to the Melting Pot!

Here is Sarah showing the yummy desert tray that came with our delicous chocolate. mmmm
Wow, there was sooo much food!

We had a great time fellowshiping with each other, Angie and me, not pictured is Christy.

Colleen, Sarah, and Molly

We were the last group to leave, the restraunt we were talking for sooo long. The bus boy had to gently remove us from the table!

Goofy Guys

Here the guys are attempting to make the same "crazy face" their wives made. Not so good guys! Girls win!

The Guys

The guys are chillin'

Pat, Joe and Andy

Not so cute girls

Here we are doing our "silly" pic, you can tell who follows directions well. Anne is not so good at this game!! Jessica, and me- we are good!

Lloyd Girls in Green

Karen, noticed that the Lloyd girls all decided to wear their green, and denim yesterday, and suggested we opt for a photo. We also wanted the littlest girls to be in the photo!! Those Lloyd girls sure are cute!!

Isaiah 58:10

Last week-end, I met a sweet girl named Brandi. Brandi, like me has a three year old who is has a birthday in October, his name is Isaiah. She is also married, and has a 4 and 1/2 month old baby named Nathaniel. Nathaniel, was born with a heart defect, and is waiting for heart surgery. He has been in the hospital off and on, since he was born. Brandi has been living at Cardinal Glennon Hospital for nearly the whole time of his fragile life. She spends the night at the Ronald McDonald House. She was so very faithful, and full of the spirit. She is married to a man who is a youth Pastor, so he remains very busy. Their church is in transition, and is calling for a Pastor, so her husband does not get to come to the hospital to see his dear sweet child on the week-ends...instead he stays behind to tend to the flock and preach to the congregation. It was a wonderful time of fellowship for me, to sit with Brandi and hear her story and pray together. I think of these families who are in such trials, and my heart breaks for them. I thank God for the opportunity to share time and minister to Brandi, I thank God for her ministering to me. It is soo awesome how in the midst of suffering God brings his people together to love.

I met Brandi at the Ronald McDonald House, when I went down to the Park Ave. location with friends to set-up dinner for these families who are hurting. Please pray for this dear sweet family. And pray for the health of Nathaniel.