Fall Fun!

I'm always open each year for whatever activity I can find that replaces the traditional "trick-or-treat". With having to work on the 31st, though, I didn't have too many options. I was pleased to find out that a local church, Tropical Farms, was having their Harvest Festival on Wednesday evening instead of on the 31st. Since I never work on Wednesdays, this was perfect for us! The church had really gone all out! We had a hamburger/hot dog dinner with soda and chips, plus there was free cotton candy, apples and caramel, and popcorn. The rides were the big hit, though! Swings, super slide, carousel, plus little rides for the youngest in the crowd. They also had games for the little ones to play to win trinkets. At the end, as you were leaving, you received a goody bad that had a nice assortment of candy and healthier options like popcorn balls and pretzels. The bag also included a christian bookmark, booklet about Jesus and a gospel tract. The kids had a lot of fun!

Becca rode the swings several times. She didn't care that she was wearing her Civil War era outfit! The night was quite cool, too! Her friend, Cherise is in the swing next to her, wearing the brown outfit.


Near the end of the night, James had finally had enough excitement and had to be pacified with a cone of cotton candy. I know, I know! Spare me the lecture! Bad parenting, 1o1!


The absolute hit for the evening was this car ride for Nate and James. This is Nate riding with his friend, Jakob. Although it doesn't look like it, Nate DID have fun!


James on the left with Noah. Don't let their faces fool you! They had a ball! I'm not sure why I wasn't able to capture the smiles! Digital cameras......


This carousal ride was a little too fast and there weren't any safety straps, so I hung on tight to my boys. Rob tried to get a good shot of the 3 of us, but we were spinning pretty fast!


On Friday night, before heading off to work, I got the kids all dressed up and they hung out at their Aunt Diana's house and circled the block with their cousins for candy. I didn't really go out and buy costumes this year with the exception of Rebecca's outfit. A friend of ours and her daughter sew Civil War era clothing and participate in reenactments and were selling off a bunch of their stuff. Becca has had a ball with her outfit! We went to the Goodwill and found the vest for her and James' train outfit, and then the FEA thriftstore had curtains that I sewed into a shawl. That was the extent of my planning!

James, as Thomas the Train. (his absolute favorite!)


Nate as a soldier. Make that an apparently wounded, crying soldier!


Elijah as a soldier with his favorite sister, Rebecca. :-)


Zack, the "bad" pirate! (costume left over from last year)


The motley crew!

Trying to Win a Handbag for my Sister for Christmas!

My sister, Adela, ADORES giraffes. Me? I have to do spell check just to be able to spell giraffe correctly! She is trying to win the handbag you see above. Now, for my solemn oath: Adela, I do solemnly swear that if I win the handbag in the photo above, you will find it wrapped and sitting beneath your Christmas tree!

If you click HERE you can find the link to win a handbag of your own! They have some adorable options! By posting this in your blog, you get an extra 25 entries.

Halloween Humor

Halloween is going to STINK this year!

Morning Light

My favorite thing to do as soon as I get out of bed in the morning is to go around the house and open all the blinds to let in the morning light. I love how the light floods the rooms and I feel instantly awake. I love how the sleepy faces of my children glow as they come out of their rooms, rubbing their eyes and blinking in the brightness. (Well, at least the two littlest faces glow. The three older faces sort of glare at me.) I grabbed my camera and made good use of the light this morning and these are the results.






At one point, James' glow turned to glisten. He started dumping the cereal out of his bowl and then cried when I fussed at him to stop.


Glistening didn't last long. Not sure what to call this except maybe "snips and snails and puppy dog's tails..."


Back to glowing.

No more blogging late at night!

I realized that in my sleepy state of mind (due to blogging when I should be in bed) I mentioned communicable diseases when I should have said sexually transmitted diseases in the previous blog. Forgive me! I was thinking one thing and typing another!