Busted!

Don't you just hate being corrected by a four year old, especially when they are correct? I had this unique pleasure, (not) this Sunday.

I was driving home from church with the kids in the back of the car. I approach an intersection. The light turns yellow. Seeing the yellow light, I ever so gingerly accelerate... just a little. Just then a little voice says, "This doesn't feel like slowing down." I chose to ignore that little voice and kept on trucking. Again, louder this time and very emphatic, "Mommy, I don't think you are slowing down." I decided to play dumb. I said, "What?" My little back seat driver replied, "I thought you were supposed to slow down when the light is yellow and get ready to stop!"  What could I say?  I was totally busted, but hey, I'm the Mom, so I just said, "Yes, you are." Amazingly, she dropped it at that point.

I just hope when she's 16 she doesn't remember Mom's little indiscretion regarding  the rules of the road!

Wardrobe Malfunction

This is what you get when you put a 9-12 month size little butt in a 2-3T size underwear!

So proud of his big boy britches!

Before they hit the floor.

Elijah has been using the potty for #2 for several weeks now. I figured that we'd start trying to get him to be more regular with #1 pottying. So, I bought him some Cars underwear. The smallest size is 2-3T.

Obviously, that isn't small enough!

Soon after we put them on, I looked and they were completely down around his ankles.

After I washed in very hot water and dried them for a long time, I think they will do if he has other pants on.

Oh the travails of having a very skinny bottom! (Something I, myself,  have never, ever had the pleasure to experience)

Halloween, do we or don't we?

That has always been the question. Do we participate in Halloween or not? It isn't always the same answer. We have run the gamut from fully participating in trick or treating to abstaining completely. It's not an easy thing to decide. It is a gray area in my mind. I know the dark side of it and its origins. I also know the just for the fun side too and  the side of community building.  I believe that while the Bible forbids a lot of the things that Halloween is sometimes associated with, it is a gray area. No where in Scripture does it say, "Do not participate in Halloween.".So basically, I believe that if God has convicted you and the way you celebrate Halloween, then you should obey. That being said, I feel that John and I have been convicted about some aspects, but not others.

When Beth and John were little, we did participate. Then, we discovered a really neat carnival at a local church, so we did that instead. Then we moved and the carnival was discontinued. Periodically, John, Jr would want to go with friends, and we would let him. By this point, at the ripe old age of 10 or so,  Beth was waay too old for such nonsense.With Anna and Daniel we didn't do it for many years. It got to the point where I thought that it was much too attractive, just because it was taboo. So, we let them go out trick or treating.

Now, with Abbey and Elijah. We have discovered that our neighborhood goes all out. There is a parade, after which the kids are treated to dinner. It really is a fun atmosphere and a bonding time with our neighbors. John and I have discussed it and feel that if we don't participate it might actually hurt our Christian witness with our neighbors. They may see us as prudish or holier that thou. We want to draw people to Christ, and one draw is the freedom that we have in Christ to do things that aren't forbidden in the Bible. So, for the past two years, we have participated in trick or treating.

This year Abbey was old enough to really enjoy herself. My mom bought her a costume and Anna provided some fairy make-up.

 

A very fairy-like pose.

One of the hand-me-down boxes we got had a puppy costume, which became Elijah's costume.

With the make-up artist.

(and the resident clown in the background)

There you go, ~ our fairy and puppy!

Someone actually had a float to lead off our parade

 Abbey loved walking in the parade

Elijah looked quite somber. Unbeknownst to him, all this fuss would later pay off in a huge sugar rush.

Guess who was watching the parade? Coach Aimee!!

 Anna passed out candy at our house. Here are the cutest two she saw all night.

Trick or treating isn't for the weak. Dr. Regan checked Abbey out and declared her fit.

By the end of the night, Elijah has really gotten the hang of it. He would march right up to the door, hold his pumpkin out and say, "Thank you!" even before they had given him any candy. I'm sure that little flash of manners resulted in twice a much candy. Smart kid, huh?

Punkin time*

Anna decided to take Abbey and get pumpkins for her and Elijah. They went to the local pumpkin patch to pick them out. I decided that it might be a bit much for Anna to handle both of them, so Abbey and Anna went while Elijah was still asleep. Abbey picked out just the right one for her and Elijah.

Here they are with their pre-carved pumpkins

Cleaning out before carving the pumpkins

Elijah-"There is noo way I'm sticking my hands in that goop! I'll just ride my car and you all can take care of the pumpkin business."

A few days later, our OAKS playgroup got together and painted pumpkins. 

Abbey started with markers

Then switched to paint

I decided that Elijah would stick with markers

Pretty soon, he got bored and looked for new things to do

The whole gang

Abbey and Elijah and the finished products

From L-R Elijah's pumpkin(I carved), Abbey's pumpkin, Anna's pumpkin

 

 The two on the bottom are the painted ones

Now we were all ready for Halloween!

*Abbey's pronunciation of pumpkin

A cheese by any other name...

Abbey and Elijah love, love, love cheese. They like many different kinds of cheese. My refrigerator is usually stocked with a variety of cheese. Abbey has developed her own nomenclature for various types of cheese.

Here she is enjoying "Polka-Dot cheese"

aka-Swiss Cheese

We also enjoy "Flat Cheese" instead of American  and "Orange Cheese" or "Block Cheese" for cheddar. String cheese is "Stick Cheese". Pretty self-explanatory, huh?

I've read that Chinese don't like cheese. My two kids certainly didn't get that memo. Maybe folks in China would  like it better if it was called something different??

Fear

I noticed a little lesson about fear from watching Elijah at the fair. I'm not stranger to fear. I've grappled with it for most of my life. I can sit and take a scenario to the extreme where I'm about to have a panic attack. I have many fears that I struggle to trust God with. It's not that I don't trust the He is filtering everything through His hands, it's just that sometimes God lets things happen that aren't very fun. I know He is there. I know that He will create good from it. But, it still isn't fun! Thus I fear.

Well, back to Elijah. As I said in the State Fair Post, Elijah couldn't enjoy the carousel, because he was scared. Scared of the merry go round, go figure. He couldn't have been more safe.

Trying to muster a smile

Then later in the day, we all rode the ferris wheel. It does have an element of danger. You are dangling very high above the fair, no seatbelt, no harness, way, way up in the air. And to this ride, Elijah showed no fear. He really enjoyed this ride and was completely at ease. So much so, that he made me nervous with his complacentness.(not sure if that is a word or not??).

Standing up, not a bit afraid

In Bible study last week, the lecture was about dealing with fear. The speaker said that most of what she feared has never happened, but the bad things that have happened, she had never thought about them beforehand. Therefore, she wasn't afraid of them, but had wasted a lot of time being afraid of things that never happen. Makes sense with my life too. So, why do I fear? It's all about a lack of trust in the Lord.

I wondered why Elijah felt secure in the ferris wheel, but not on the carousel. The difference is that he was on the carousel alone. Well, John was beside him, but not holding him. On the Ferris wheel, I held him until he was comfortable, a little too comfortable for my tastes.

So, the lesson I got from this little example is that I need to realized that God is holding me, watching over me and protecting me even when I don't realize it. Just like John and I were doing for Elijah at the fair.  I also need to trust that He knows when I'm safe and when I'm not. He will lead me to safety, if I'll just let him.

Now, if He will just stop my house from creaking when John out of town on business!!!

Grandma visits

This weekend Grandma came to visit. Grandma is John's mom. She lives about 2 hours away, but doesn't come to visit very often. John aunt, Brenda, passed away a couple of weeks ago. She lived next door to John's mom. It was totally unexpected, being that  she was very much younger than John's mom. So, she came to our house for a pick-me-up! I'm not sure how picked up she was, but I'm sure she wasn't bored!

She put together puzzles

We got to celebrate her 84th birthday

The kids loved having her here!