Halloween Again

We are so weird.  And most of the time, I'm ok with it.  But for some reason, Halloween makes me feel bad for my kids not participating and having such a whacky mom that takes things to the extreme.   It doesn't take me long to get over it, but every year I have to re-examine the whole thing and remind myself why my kids can't have cute pumpkin outfits like everybody else.

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We had a fun weekend of churchy fall festival type things.  Friday we visited Fellowship and got to see some old church family that we miss.  Last night was our own church's block party which is always a blast.  My favorite part is seeing all the brand new faces from the community and some Awana families that rarely come.

Lots of prizes, cute costumes, food, and a TON of candy.

And after a few years of doing this, I have to admit I'm softening a little on the whole thing.   At this point I'm still trying to figure out what I think of the whole church fall festival parties.  Am I compromising?  Am I confusing my kids even more?  Why do I think my kids need an alternative to something I feel so strongly about?  And if I say that I'm only involved for the outreach opportunities then why am I so happy for the chance for my kids to do something fun?  But anyhow....

The other day I was thinking how I hadn't visited the whole Halloween issue with our kids in a long time.  Sometimes Honey and I take for granted the fact that b/c the older kids know something, then the younger ones should too.  That's not the case.  And I need to remember that just b/c I've taught something to some kids doesn't mean that every kid knows it.

And of course, if its something that looks like fun, my kids want to know what its all about.  So it's time for me to teach my little ones and remind my bigger ones about my thoughts on Halloween, scary movies and books, and the new vampire/zombie craze.

Last night on the way home, Mally speaks up from the back of the car.
"Momma, how come we don't dress up for Halloween?"

Oh Honey, I'm so glad you asked.

I don't want to re-hash my take on Halloween.  If you're interested, it's all right here.

But instead, I want to share some links with you in case you happen to feel the same way and need to explain it to your kids that feel like they are missing out.

If you're still trying to figure it out yourself, here is one of my favorite articles written on it.  A very practical way of looking at it written by a mom.

And here's a pretty good one about explaining it all to your kids.


Here's a link explaining about the pagan roots.  Disclaimer:  I do understand that just about all of our holidays do have a pagan history behind it.  Again, this is just my own personal convictions about Halloween.  I don't think that just b/c God has laid something on my heart, that it will necessarily be the same for everyone.  Pray about it, and see what God says to you.

Saturday

I LOVE living out here!

And today was our first lazy Saturday in the new house without rushing around. 

The weather is beautiful and our house has tons of windows.  Everywhere you look you can see outside and its such a pretty view.  As I type, I see my youngest kids giving each other wagon rides on the pretty grass. 

I LOVE it here. 

The lazy part of the day didn't last for long b/c we had TKD testing to get to.  Great morning watching kids (and my man) succeed and visiting with family and friends.  We picked up Meg on the way and she included Ethan by text b/c he was working. 

But when we dropped her off.  OH NO!  She was locked out of her house.  So we took her to eat then she hung out at the inlaws until Ethan got off work. 

Back at home.....

There were mowing lessons....Farmer Boy had a ball with this!  We don't have one of these yet, but borrowed it from my father-in-law.   We're looking on Craigs List for a good deal.  It would take forever to do with our push mower!

Music in the house again!  We don't have all the instruments set up but we've been without our piano for 7 months.  Lane and Jess worked together for a long time on Christmas music.  Sweet sweet sound. 

Tonight is burgers for dinner with oven fries and grilled squash from our garden.  Meg and Ethan should be here any minute to join us! 

Board Breaking For Nate

TKD testing today!

My kids have been looking forward to this for a long time.  It's it a wonder it even happened for us this cycle b/c of the busyness of the season and missed classes. 

But it did.  And most of my kids are just a couple of belts away from BLACK!!

Weddingness

It was a beautiful Saturday

With beautiful weather

For a beautiful wedding

Uniting two beautiful people.

Here's how it happened...

Aren't these flowers just beautiful?  And if you can believe it, they are even prettier today because the roses have fully opened.  I've decided that fresh flowers in my house make me happy. 

My friends  heros showed up early and worked late for 3 straight days, including the wedding.  Left their kids at home, ate who-knows-what for dinner b/c they were gone all day, and worked to make everything perfect.  I do NOT deserve these people God has blessed me with.....but I'm so glad He did!  They moved tables, cut fabric, hung lights, moved bushes, tied bows, made tons of flowers, and kept this momma sane.

My friends are the best! 

Tara started about 8:30 to do make up and hair. 

Girlfriend's got talent.  

Then there was the dressing up!  Such fun! 

Like Cinderella going to the ball.

Lacing the dress was my part.  I love tying my children's shoes...and now wedding dress.

While her daddy fastened on the finishing touch. 

And George gave a pep talk..

Meanwhile, the boys were doing their own dressing up..

And the pictures began....

Flower girl and ring bearer....or according to him, "the most important job in the whole wedding."

Aren't they so pretty? 

 Ok skip past the bijillion other pix that will probably blow up my blog  later and let's skip to the ceremony.  Oh we also have to skip the aisle pix b/c my other photographer hasn't gotten them to me yet.  But I bet they are wonderful.

The bride and the groom.

And a special shot of the maid of honor.

Bekah's been Meg's bestie since she was seven and a very special part of our family.
She does a good job keeping Meg's head screwed on straight.

It was a short and beautiful ceremony with Meg's pastor and Ethan's pastor both officiating.

Is that the word?  officiating? 

Basically George and Dale nailed it.  And it was just right.

First kiss ever.

The happy Mr. and Mrs!

And more pix....

Isn't my girly gorgeous!!

My I love this kid!

Tons more pictures including pretty family shots but this is mostly about Meg so we will look at those another time.....

The cakes...

The wedding cake

And the groom's cake.

Ethan is a TaeKwonDo black belt.

The reception was lovely with lots of family and friends that we haven't seen in forever.

And because of Jodie and Tracy and all our awesome friends, I didn't do a thing!

They ran the whole show serving cake, figuring out the music we forgot, pouring drinks, and keeping the guests happy.  Really, I love them.  And I'm so grateful!

The farewell and bubbles.

And Meg running off in her blue jeans.

That's my girl.

Off to start their new life together.....

Awana Video From Last Week

This is MJ telling the whole class about the 7 days of creation.  See how good everyone is listening?!

(Ok, I promise this is my last blog post of the day.  My family will be home soon.)

Random Thoughts That Come When The House Is Too Quiet

Today my man took most of the kiddos to play basketball at church.  That left me home with LB who didn't speak a word b/c she was so busy with her science.

So it was almost like having the house to myself.

I LOVE my family, but this super quiet time is so refreshing.  I got to wrap Jes's presents without being rushed.  I talked to a friend in CO.  I made some hot chocolate for LB.  And I blogged.  So nice.

It's given me unusual space to think crazy randomness.....

~I have a new ministry idea for some of our harder to reach community.

~I still can't believe we're moving in 4 days.  Lord willing.  Oh I hope so!

~Sitting by Honey in church, our bulletin showed a picture of a white lady surrounded by little black children.  I drew an arrow to her and wrote "ME".  He wrote back.  "GO".  

Oh be still my heart.

~I called my father-in-law and told him of our plans to invade tomorrow.  He sounded happy.

~2 common comments I'm getting about my daughter getting married.

#1 - She's happy now, but just wait 10 years.
#2 - You could be a grandma soon.

My thoughts....marriage is what you make it.  I love my husband so much more today than I did 24 years ago.  M & E have spent 20 years with married parents and know it's not always perfect.  They will be great together.

I have been praying for my grandbabies for a long time.  I can't wait to meet them!

~I hope we have plenty of youth on the Sunday my CO friends will be here so they can meet them.  I wish I could talk them into staying until Wed to meet my Awana peeps.

~Since we are celebrating Jes's birthday tomorrow instead of Tuesday will he still expect a day off school on Tuesday too? ( I bet so! )

~Where will the dogs sleep at night in the new house.

~I should pack.  But then I'll need the stuff I packed.  We didn't bring much stuff anyway and we do still need to live for 4 days.  Probably the reason I'm not a good camper.  I packed the books in my nightstand.  The ones that have been there for 4 months untouched since I bought them at the library book sale.  But then I remembered that I really really wanted to read the new Blackaby one.  And I can't.  So I'm not packing.

~Maybe I should make dinner instead?

Baby Nate ..Just For Fun

I love this cute baby face.
It looks just like him.
Only now he's 8!

Those 2 tiny baby teeth are so sweet.

Recycling Birthday

Tomorrow is a big day.  

We get to celebrate a whole decade of Jes!

Really now isn't that the sweetest face?  

I'm so in love with him.  

Eldest is our queen of re-purposing.  She can turn the worst junk into something wonderful. 

She's been using brown paper to wrap presents for a long time and this year I had to take a page out of her book.  

Amazon is so thoughtful to pack our boxes with all this brown paper.  We smoothed it out and I was originally planning to use it for packing but when I went to wrap Jes's presents and figured out I had no good birthday paper, I decided this was just the thing.  

I figured I'd make it colorful by painting on it or with some markers.  But no.  Everything like that is packed. (4 days in case you're wondering)  It's becoming a common theme.  Like 10 minutes after I pack and label the box I decide I just can't live without that whatever it is and it should be unpacked right away.  

I resisted the urge and just used my fat black packing marker.  I don't think he'll mind a bit.  

Our Week

Happy Thursday!

This week has flown by for us.  Actually that seems to be a common theme this year.

~Monday we had a nice visit from my parents.  They brought a yummy lunch and stayed for the day.  Once we get moved in Nana is already planning once a month trips and has picked out her bedroom in the new house.  Love it!

~The new house.   You knew this was coming didn't you?
ONE MORE WEEK!  And today we get to go again to sign off on some repairs before closing.   I'll leave Honey to look at repairs while the kids and I walk around and remember where we've mentally unpacked everything!

But on the packing front, very little has been done.  And right now I'm ok with that.

~My Farmer Boy is still sick.  I really take wellness for granted in my kids and when sickness hits it really takes its toll on everyone.  It started with pneumonia and a round of antibiotics.  6 weeks later found us sitting in the doctor's office half the morning b/c I can not get this kid well.  So yesterday we left with a chest Xray, breathing treatment, an inhaler, and another round of antibiotics.  :(

~That meant he missed Awana and so did LittleMan b/c he wasn't quite himself either.

But do you want to hear about Awana?  Yes?
I could go on and on.  I'm counting it our best night yet.  My boy MJ did an excellent job illustrating the 7 days of creation on the chalk board while my entire class listened very attentively.  So proud of them! I had no helper last night but didn't need one.  My guys were perfect.  So much so that we had time to talk about some of the Verses to the whole class and go through the plan of salvation with the wordless book.  A lot of time is wasted on behavior issues sometimes but last night we had none of that!

Let's talk about MJ.  I love that crazy boy.  I've known him since 1st grade and am always glad to see his face on Wed nights.  He certainly adds a whole new dimension to the class and enjoys one-on-one time...which he doesn't always get to have when things are crazy.  I have lost track of how many times his family has moved these few years but I'm extremely grateful that God keeps bringing him back.  And if God allows, I look forward to spending some time in youth with him one day.

~Youth was great too I hear.  Aside from the usual ear splitting teen age din, Honey was able to have some good conversation with them that carried over into some Facebook chatting later on.   Our youth are awesome.

~Moving on.....
I was doing some work and had a pen.  I needed both hands so I stuck my pen in my mouth.  But then....GASP!! .....when I went to use it again there was a big dead spider on it!!  Good grief how long must we endure this fallen world?   Spiders will NOT be in heaven people.

~Wedding plans.  Easy peasy.  I told Honey that I think a pretty wedding depends on the mother of the bride's creative friends.  They are TERRIFIC!!  And have made this a breeze.  There are still a few more things to get but for the most part we are almost finished buying stuff.  (Yay!)

~Time to move along this morning.  Honey left me his laptop and I could easily spend most of the morning playing with it instead of working....

Today's meals....
Breakfast - blueberry muffins and green smoothies (Thank you LB!)
Lunch - tuna melts (requested by Farmer Boy)
Dinner - chicken taco casserole (if I pull it all together in time)
Snack - snack mix with nuts, raisins, banana chips, seeds, and chocolate chips

Mopeless Monday

I'm following Amanda's lead to have a great attitude about Mondays.  So I wanted to play along on her Mopeless Monday posts.

We had a guest speaker at church yesterday and his message was titled Today Matters.  
He talked about making do with what you have today ...the strength, abilities, circumstances... and capitalizing on the moment.

I have so much to be thankful for!

Smiles From Last Week....

~Celebrating my daughter's birthday.  She is such a joy in our lives.  Birthdays always mean decorations, a day off school, presents, and yummy food.  A celebration indeed!   And just for fun look at how she's grown!

That precious face makes me smile!

~Spending a whole afternoon with my 11yo son all by myself.  Everyone else went to G'ma's but he wasn't feeling so hot (still) and stayed home with me.  We took a walk, talked, drew pictures, looked at old pix on the computer, and just enjoyed being together.


Looking Forward To....

~Some more wedding prep and talking flowers with Tracy and Meg tomorrow night at TKD.

~Sending out cards that I've been wanting to do for awhile.

~A wedding and a baby shower on the same day.  Celebrating Life!

Caramel

Isn't she sweet?

This is Caramel loving on Farmer Boy.  She is our stray kitty Meg found and she's never left.  I guess we've had her about 6 weeks or so.  Mally couldn't be more thrilled.  She's wanted a cat for a long time! 

LB's Birthday Part 2

We like to take the birthday kid out to lunch.  Usually the little ones pick Braums and the bigger ones have more expensive taste.  We were very surprised to hear what LB picked. 

Sonic.  

Why?  Grilled cheese.  

So Sonic it was.  But that was nice too.  Heck, anything with her is nice.  

The little kids were chomping at the bit wanting her to open presents but we had to wait for Meg.  She didn't wanna miss it ya know.  

Later in the day G'ma and G'pa came, Meg was home, everyone was cozy and it was present time! 

And cards. 

And lasagna.  Yummy dinner!  

There was one more surprise, but I'll save it for part 3 .  As for now, here's LB and we are so grateful to have spent 15 years with her!  

LB's Birthday Part 1

Happy 15th Birthday to our sweet LB! 

We started the morning with a yummy breakfast of bread and gravy and peaches.  

Cleaned up. 

Now what?  

Well there's a feed store that we pass when we drive to our new house.  My kids had never been to a feed store before and I thought it might be a fun trip.  

Box fan hanging from the ceiling.  Classy! 

Jes modeling a shepherd's staff. 

Guess who liked this place more than any of us?

I was hoping there would be some baby chicks or bunnies or something fun.  Nothing.  In fact, this blue chicken was about it.  It was very unimpressive and not worth sticking around.

  

But......we just just minutes from Grandma's at that point so we stopped by for some hugs. 

Crazy!  This is a birthday post about LB and I didn't get a single picture of her?  Oh well more will come later when the festivities really begin.  This was just the way we spent the morning.  

Awana Week 3

My man is preaching this week and I was up at the church helping him put his sermon together.  I walked through the Fellowship Hall (I call it the lunch room) to get to the kitchen.  All the tables were still set up from Wednesday and I immediately smiled.  AWWWWW........My Awana kids.....

Sappy?

I can't help it.   They are truly precious to me.

My 3rd and 4th graders are super smart.  I usually have at least one helper.  This week I had two.  It was a great help as I have one guy who especially likes individual attention.  We talked about what it means to trust Christ as your Savior, worked on start zones, and had a conversation about not sneaking chips out of the lunch room.

I continue to have around 10 boys every week.  I love every one of them.  But I find that with so many I can't do everything I want to do with them.  (Did I mention this before?  I don't remember.)  It takes awhile to get through prayer requests or highs/lows and there is no way I could do both.   Hmmm....now that I think about it, since they behave so badly at games maybe we should just skip games and give me an hour of class time?   I have so much to say!!  Somehow I don't think they'd go for it.

Dinner is surprisingly uneventful, music is getting better, games are crazy, and class time goes way too fast.  

Preventing Boredom

I'm reading a new book I got on my Kindle last week.    It certainly wasn't the topic of the chapter, but somewhere in there....just briefly...the author mentioned "bored with life".

Bored with life?  "How can that be?", I wondered.  On the other hand I knew exactly.

I've noticed that I'm more in my element during a fast-paced stressful situation.  There's tons of work.  Super busy.  No boredom.

But at home during the day-to-day everyday my mind is often bored.  I never realized this or thought to put words to it like that.  The fact is I have plenty to do.  And even if I thought I ran out, all I would need to do is pull open an over-stuffed dresser drawer and get to work.

But its not necessarily work I want to do.

And why?  Because in my perfect world I rarely recognize the fact that I'm engaged in a spiritual battle.
I go about doing my same ol' - same ol' and forget its eternal significance.   I only see dishes...more of them and the magic laundry pile that never gets smaller.

Do dishes and laundry even have eternal significance?  I believe they do.  It is along the lines of service and loving my family and working along side my children to teach them good work ethic, a cheerful attitude, and the joy of doing all things to the glory of God.

It is selfish of me to think (or fail to remember) that life is "only this".
But I'm not talking only housework.  It's also the times when I'm having a mental conversation with myself instead of listening to when someone is talking to me.  Wasting time on the computer.  Or checking my Facebook while my 1st grader is reading.

Jonathan Edwards wrote that he...
"determined to never lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can."
and
"To live with all my might while I do live."

That is what I want.  To escape the boredom of life by giving myself fully to each moment.  Everyday.

First Box Packed!

A Little Bit Of Lately

A Happy Sunday To You!

And it's a VERY happy Sunday to me.  Ya know why?  It's DATE NIGHT!!
The first in a long time and I'm really excited.   I have no idea what we are planning yet but it doesn't matter.

Other than that.....
~My family has been sick sick sick.  Josh had pneumonia, Honey had bronchitis, and most of the rest of us had some variation of it.  Blah!  Everyone is getting better now though.

~3 weeks and 5 days until we move!  Yes yes YES!  I'm searching Pinterest for decor ideas for my new house.  Twice this weekend Honey mentioned that he needs to start packing.  I can tell he's excited because he's usually the last one to pack.  Oh we are ready....

~And the week after that is Meg's wedding.  It is all coming together rather nicely.  We did some shopping this week buying fabric, centerpieces, her veil, and some rentals.  We are renting a huge 60 cup coffee maker/dispenser.  Since I can barely work a regular coffee pot, I'm thinking we'll need to practice.
The first bride's maid dress is finished and I'm really happy about the cake.  It'll all be lovely I think.

~I'm needing to try some new recipes.  I'm thinking of a few different wedding/planning opportunities where I'll need to feed friends.

~I bought a new game.  Ding!  It isn't the funnest game ever but it's pretty good.  8 people can play at the same time and even my younger kids caught on pretty quickly. Since it's the only game we currently have, I'm guessing it'll get a lot of play time in the next 3 weeks and 5 days.

~School.  School is going well.  But I find myself getting more and more frustrated with our lack of table space.  It is hard doing school sprawled all over the place....I'm about done with it.   3 weeks and 5 days.

~There's a kiddo waiting in line to play Spore. I bought it for them from a friend of mine.  They love making the creatures and watching them move.   It was also part of my plan to help my kids use the computer more for school this year.  Well, it is in no way educational but it is incentive to finish school in a timely manner with no drama.   

~Does anybody use Switched On Schoolhouse?  I bought the 5th grade History and our video card went out.  Now we have a new one but I'm not so eager to install it.  I'm so intimidated by this, but I think my boys will love it.

~My mother-in-law's b-day is next week.  It's so nice having them in town.  I'm thinking of surprising her with birthday stuff and lots of kids on that day.  Some balloons, flowers, a fun cake, and lunch.   After that...AWANA!  Ought to be a fun day!

Decorating Pillows

Little Man loves catching me make my bed.  

He always asks, "Can I decorate your pillows?"

He will rearrange them several times. 

And fluff them up. 

And make them just so. 

And admire is work. 

Ta Da!!

Yet Another Blog...

I thought it would be fun to keep a bloggy record of our homeschool goodness.  Hop on over and check out my work in progress if you have some time....

My kiddos will be posting their writings and I will be blogging my scattered momma thoughts.

My New Favorite

I love this smoothie.  Besides my chocolate one, this one is my other fave.  Super nutritious and pretty too.

Did I mention easy.  Really really easy...

Fill 1/2 your blender with frozen mango/pineapple (Sams sells this in a big bag.)
Add 2 ripe bananas.
Fill the blender the rest of the way up with some sort of greens.
Pour in water until it reaches the top of the mango/pineapple.

Blend until there are no more chunks.  YUMMY!