Can you see my yellow and black stripes?

I'm busier than a bee this week trying to get things wrapped up before I head out of town this weekend.

I'm going to Fayetteville, AR. My aunt is getting some fancy-schmancy alumni award from the U of A, so almost all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings are going to be there to support her. I fly out Friday morning and arrive in time for the award banquet that evening. I'm looking forward to Saturday's ballgame, of course, but more than anything I'm excited to see some of my cousins that I haven't seen in 3-4 years.

My dad's side of the family usually gets together once a year for a Razorback game, and I've been very lucky to get to go for the last several years (had to miss last year because John was in Canada) but it's not often that our group is this large. I'm SUPER excited about the weekend!

John is a great sport to let me go. We considered going as a family. We all flew to Arkansas three years ago for the occasion, but plane tickets for a family of five are expensive, and when I bought my ticket this summer, we were still unsure as to whether or not we were going to travel to Arkansas for Thanksgiving. John agreed that I'd have more fun if I went alone (true!) so he's holding down the fort here while I'm gone.

So...let me give you an idea of some of what I've got to finish up before I leave.

Costumes--Can I just give you all a HUGE thanks for the creative costume ideas you gave me in response to my plea for help. As we were driving to the movies on Saturday, I asked the girls to help me think of some ideas (this was before I read your suggestions). We have an old dalmation costume and Abbey said she wanted to be a dalmation. Sarah piped up that if Abbey was a dalmation, she should be Cruella de Vill. She then proceeded to tell me exactly how we could create her costume. I've been pleasantly surprised how quickly this has come together. I'll post pics soon! I think it's going to be cute.

Shots--Will needs a tetanus booster and somehow I overlooked this fact until his school sent me a letter telling me he had to have that shot by a certain date if he wanted to remain in school. So, somehow in the midst of the craziness of this week, I need to take him to get that shot. He is overjoyed as you can imagine.

Grocery list--I like to do my grocery shopping every other Friday. Lately, I've gotten a bit off track and ended up going on Mondays. I don't want that hanging over my head next week after my trip, so John graciously offered to do the shopping for me this weekend. And I'm totally going to let him. I need to get busy making my menu plan and shopping list. Which reminds me that I want to work on my meal system post...but that will have to wait awhile.

Fall parties--two parties for two girls at the same time on the same afternoon. Makes me tired just thinking about it. I'll split my time between the two of them and I guarantee you I'll come home exhausted.

Pack--I've already started!

Book--I'm telling you, I've really been sucked into (ha ha) Twilight. I've gotta find New Moon to take with me on the plane.

Since this is turning into a random post...and really, I think I have at least one of those each week...let me tell you that we've found a church we really like. We've been twice now and I think we could probably land there for awhile. We have a couple of others we'd still like to visit, but this one has a lot of things that we're excited about. Plus, the kids LOVE it. I'm very encouraged because finding a church home can be such a long, hard process. I'm not saying this is "it" but it definitely has us intrigued.