Trunk or Treat

Our church sponsored a Trunk or Treat on  Wednesday night.

It is a great way to let the kids collect some treats

and

introduce some solid bible stories.

Members were encouraged to pick a theme for their "trunk"

then open up their trunk to tell a short bible story and of course at the end of the story the kids get some treats.

The first theme was Heaven.

Our small group depicted the empty tomb.

The van door acted as the rolling stone and we let the kids crawl through the tomb (van) to show that Jesus was risen

The Fiery Furnace

The Birth of Jesus

The Creation Story

Elijah

Noah's Ark (Youth Group).

The door opend on the Arc and the kids could go inside!

The young ruler

Daniel and the Lions Den (Youth Group, too)

and the last one was Lazarus.

They were great themes and a better way the celebrate the holiday.

Preschool Halloween Party

CUTE.

Super CUTE.

Sam had a lot of fun at his preschool Halloween Party.

He wanted to be a superhero.

And while I don't get into the scary "Tricky" side of Halloween.

I am willing to let them imagine.

To dress up like a superhero.

All little kids need to fantasize.  It has brought out their imagination this year.

Sam asks me over and over.  Is superman a good guy?

Sam and his best buddies. Drew (Flash), Koen (Robin) and his brother Issac (Batman)

Sam (Superman) and Joe (Batman)

They sang many cute songs, my favorite was 5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate.

The Best buds during the line up

What are your thoughts?

I am mixed on Halloween.  It is really a pagan holiday, but I had dreams of being a mommy and a princess when I was younger...i have not focused on Halloween, but am willing to let them dream a little.

I will share a neat thing that our church does at Halloween called trunk or treat in my next post.

Pumpking Carving Craziness

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins with the cousins last night!

My sis-in-law Jill is a master pumpkin carver.

Seriously hers are the 2 on the right (don't even look at mine)

She is TALENTED.

But the kids loved them all.

Imagine that they were suprised with the final outcome

They lost interest way early in the adventure.

And hijacked my camera

from whick we got some funny pictures!!

And while the mommies were up to their arms in pumpkins guts.

The daddies had everything else under control.

Really.

Just together

We ventured to Brown County last weekend with my family.

We get together a lot {like last night to carve pumpkins, but 2 were missing}

but there is often someone missing.

I love that we have kids from a Senior in high school all the way down to preschool.

These kids make my heart skip a beat, not afraid to say I am proud of these sweeties.

Jaelyn, Blake, Cole, Sam Joe, Morgan and Drew.

Or

J-Bird, Blaker, CoalBucket, Zam, JoeyD, Mo and Drewser

We were there long.

We didn't buy much of anything.

But we spent time together.

Lots of laughs

and

waiting for the whole clan to catch up with each other

Some family pics

But i was too slow to get Jbird and Drewser

Look close in this picture, Sam doesn't get tossed up this high very often

because he is so solid.  He loved being on Uncle Scott's shoulders,

but he got so tickled that he couldn't control his drooling.  We were worried it would rain all day.

It rained on Scott.

Pure sweetness.

I love how love is generational.

I can see this picture being me with morgan.

Sometimes it is just about the effort to get together.

Not really what you do with the time.

It is hard getting so many schedules together.

We had to be back by 3pm for different things, I wish it could have lasted longer.

But I remember that as we were walking on this trip, we reminisced about a trip we had taken there years back.  Ten years to be exact.  Scott and Chris were married 10 years that fall and Dan and I had just gotten married and Will and Jill were getting married in a few weeks.  I am sure that trip wasn't perfect, but as we remembered it Sunday, it seemed magical.

Anticipated Visit!!

Last Saturday we enjoyed a much anticipated visit from our friends.

Chris, Toni and Mr. Elijah Christian.

Oh how I miss seeing them often, but enjoyed our afternoon.

We spent much time outside, it was a gorgeous afternoon.

We played ball and enjoyed the swingset

and

the DIRTY rocks.

The mama's chatted

and the daddy's talked, but not enough.

I was reminded today of Sam's special bond with Toni.

All day he would say Toni, come see this, etc.

Toni and Chris joined us on our pick up trip to Guatemala to bring Sam home.

It is as if he has never forgotton that, he does not easily attach to people

but his heart is drawn to Mrs. Toni.

I loved seeing our boys play together!



E+C+S+J=FUN

Back to the Jam Packed Weekend...

It started with these sweeties on Saturday morning EARLY when

their daddies decided to go fishing early.

Their mama {hanna, my friend and coworker} was working

but she made breakfast to send along for all of us to enjoy, yummy!

I was certain that all the kids would be lazy all morning, but that was not the case

NOT AT ALL...

We were up and going at 645am, making cupcakes by 8am.

We decorated and ate them later in the day.

Elle who was so funny.

She reminds me so much of her mama.

And made me think all day about how I miss seing her daily

(since I moved locations)

We played out side around 10am

Played a ton of soccer. All four of them

Good thing it was a big back yard!!

This kid, Mr. Colton

is going to be a heartthrob - i mean take a look at this sweetness.

I loved how these kids just embraced each other all day

and played as if they see each other daily.

IT WAS SWEET.

Yeah, she's got some sassiness.

We went on a long nature walk and picked up treasures to make

boats.

That did not float,but made for lots of laughs!

Like the belly kind of laughs, so worth it!

We made pigs in a blanket for lunch

And then spread peanut butter on pinecones

And rolled them in birdseed.

To make very special birdfeeders.

And then {for me} it was quiet time.

And quiet it was... for a short while until our afternoon guests arrived.

Dave and Hanna,

Thanks for sharing your kids with me today.  What a sweet treat.

It was fun watching our kids play together!!  Can't wait to add the new one to the mix!

A Big Birthday Card

DH turned thrity something yesterday- he is offically older than me until next august.

The boys helped me make him sheppard's pie - yummy

and a chocolate pudding pie to celebrate.

And the boys also made daddy a big card

with window crayon on the big window.

Happy Birthday DH and daddy, we love you!!