Caramel Apples

The Wights were staying with us last week. It felt like a party every day with them around. Some stuff we did:

• ate tons of good food-including these caramel apples
• Experienced dogfish head beer compliments of Thadd
• my car died in an intersection and Mares and Thadd had to push me to safety
• Did a puzzle of a barn we decided we would like to renovate and live in
• Pwned in Halo with multiple killing sprees and frenzies
• Organized the laundry room and pantry
• Watched Silas and Jack wrestle and play-my kids seemed energized with Si-Si here
• Managed to share a virus between all the kids and they have all been sick this past week

October trip to CA

In the beginning of October we were in Irvine/Big Bear for a short trip. Clara and Jack like spending time with Gigi and Pops and playing with the myriad of new toys at their house. We also enjoyed seeing Grammy, Gramps and Maryanne and also Gavin and Lauren and the Dykstras. This trip was too quick but we'll be back again at Christmas!

Pops winding the clock. Clara was slightly spooked by the clock this trip. She kept saying, "That clock sceerred me."
Auntie Ball and Clara
Four generations with two Jacks. I asked Bonnie if my son was as handsome as her son!
Gigi and JackJacky Boy and the "Under the Nile" pear.On tour with our awsome band "The Toombruisers"Jacob and Clara

A bunch of J's: Jeff, Jack, Jacob and Jon.Jack in the pool for the first time.

We love Ethan!

Ethan is Clara and Jack's cousin who is only about 3 weeks younger than Clara. Clara says Ethan is her Best Friend. She calls him "E-san". Eth recently became a big brother so we had him over for a special celebration sleep-over party. Clara and Ethan had fun playing and doing projects, making popcorn, watching a movie(well, some of it) talking in bed, making cookies and playing outside.

Playing the piano
Watching the popcorn
ready for bed-but not sleep!
Breakfast-both of them were subdued after staying up too late.

Sweet Dreams

Clara is growing up. I try hard to keep her little and still my baby girl. One way was to keep her in her crib for as long as I could. Her cute toddler bed has been in her room a long time, but I just couldn't seem to make the switch. Finally, we transitioned. I cried a little. Yikes. I wonder how I will cope when it's a twin or a bunk bed. Oh dear. Anyway, she loves her toddler bed and likes to share her bed with many books, dolls and stuffed animals. I think she's so cute that she selected this giant king size pillow too.

In this picture is Lamby (Clara calls him "my Special Lamb" he's a treasure to me, I've had him since I was born.) George(her favorite by far), Clara Jill(super cute and fun toddler), "Other Special Lamb"(a gift from Gigi & Pops), Nanny Doll (another treasure from my childhood), Huggums(a special doll from the Flicks). Nanny Doll and Huggums are usually without their clothes. In this next picture you can see the infamous and most comforting of comfort items: "Green Nigh-Nigh". Clara likes to hold a specific corner of Green Nigh-Nigh and she recently informed me that it's name is "Leaf." If you try to confuse her and call a different corner "Leaf" she will correct you and help you find the right corner. Not kidding.
This next one is in the pack and play on a recent trip-I had to include it. Clara, Green Nigh-Nigh, George and Brown Nigh-Nigh are ready for a nap.

Every night I say to Clara, "Nigh-Nigh, Shoop. I love you. And Jesus loves you more than I do." and She says, "Nigh-Nigh, Mama. I yuv you." Sweet dreams, Princess. Don't grow up too fast.

Give Thanks to the Lord!

Today is a wonderful day so far. Dinner is cooking in the crockpot, a beeswax candle is flickering on the counter, Jack is taking his morning nap, Clara is participating in, as advertised by her mama, "Special Reading Time in Your Room!". This frees me up to clean up the tornado of breakfast and morning activities, sip my yummy americano that Jeff delivered to me on his way from Home Depot to a job, and blog a bit. I'm feeling peaceful and on top of things even though I haven't exercised, don't have makeup or hair done and have tons of other stuff to do the rest of this Columbus day. I just am enjoying this quiet moment, making mental lists, praying and breathing. I am very thankful for this time.

Clara and I have been talking about what it means to have a thankful and happy heart. It's so interesting(convicting) to teach biblical traits and the fruits of the Spirit to a two year old because you really have to spell it out and give real life examples. I've found myself apologizing to her as I did not display patience, self-control, kindness etc. But we also find many ways to practice these things together. With Thanksgiving coming up we are talking about being grateful for what God has shared with us and then sharing it with others. This can mean not saying "MINE!" to Jack when he grabs something she's playing with and it also means picking up toys and clothes around the house that we no longer use and passing them on to other kids. I am probably the one who learns the most as I teach Clara. How often do I cry "Mine!" in my heart about my "stuff". How tightly do I hold onto it? Or do I share it with others? It's not even mine to start with. When Clara says, "Mine", I remind her that it's not hers-it's Gods and he's sharing it with her. Sometimes I think I need my own Mother beside me all day reminding me of these truths. In her sweet way, my mom still does remind me-just this morning she emailed me an Elisabeth Elliot devotional on contentment. Well, explaing and talking about thankfulness is helpful but I think probably the more powerful thing is to live it from my heart in front of my kids. As I repeat "happy heart" reminders to Clara all day, I can hear my Heavenly Father in my ear reminding me not to say "mine" but to have a thankful, happy heart also.

"Give thanks to the Lord!" Psalm 118:1.

Pick of the Patch

Sunday was a beautiful warm Indian Summer day and we headed off to The Farm to get pumpkins. This is a really cool place with lots of activities besides the pumpkin patch. It was opening weekend at The Farm. We saw the Pig Show and the duck races, went on a wagon/hay ride, played in the hay, had popcorn, hot cider and cocoa, bought fresh picked corn for dinner and took a million pictures. Clara fell asleep immediately on the drive home. It was a really fun day.

waiting for the wagon ride.
Looking at the ducks after the duck race.
Clara and Jack in the Hay
Picking our pumkins
Jacky BoyClara and her hot cocoa.

Fall Decorating

A friend of mine recently did some fashion blogging and I learned a lot just from how she pieces outfits and accessories together. I was inspired by her posts but since I am almost a candidate for "what not to wear" I thought I would try some decorating blogging instead. I love changing a few main things in a room to give it a fresh new look.

"Summer to Fall" is our theme and my downstairs powder room is the location. Since its October, the bathroom needed seasonal updating. This was a quick, quick change to transform the bathroom for Fall. Just switched out the lime green towel and candle for red, added an apple for more color and rearranged the stuff on the back of the toilet by adding the yellow basket. I love the big difference it makes and the red contrasting with the blue paint.

Before.

After.