Pumpkin Carving

Emily said, "Daddy, don't cut off your thumb like Mommy did."

Noah refused to touch the inside of the pumpkin.

They're Magically Delicious

Noah's latest food craving has been for the ever popular Lucky Charms cereal. I bought it recently for him and he's been averaging about 4 bowls a day at breakfast. He cannot get enough of it. I know it's not a very healthy thing to be feeding him, but he's a lot pickier than Emily was. Sometimes, I'm just happy to find something that he likes to eat. I remember giving it to Emily when she was his age and she would only eat the marshmallows. At least he is eating the cereal part, too. The other day he climbed up in his high chair in the middle of the afternoon and pointed to the top shelf in the pantry where we keep the cereal. I realized he wanted to have some more Lucky Charms. Maybe I should have dressed him as a leprechaun for Halloween, but he probably wouldn't have worn that costume either.

Happy Reformation Day

Today marks an important day in history. It was on this day in 1517 that Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of a church in Wittenburg, Germany. This marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and a renewed focus on the true Gospel- Salvation by grace alone through Jesus Christ.

Our Little Scholar

Last night was Parent Teacher Conference Night at Emily's school. We got to meet with her teacher one on one to get her first report card and get an update on how she is doing so far. Emily is doing fantastic and we are so proud of her. They don't give out A, B, C grades in kindergarten, but she had high marks in all her subjects. They also had done some testing and she scored high on these,too. Emily's teacher, Mrs. Flynn, said that she was a joy to have in her class.

We are very impressed with everything she has been learning so far. She is constantly amazing us with some new thing she has learned. The latest was a few days ago when I told her we would be getting some cooler weather. I told her that meant winter and Christmas would soon be here. She said, "Yes, Mommy, and that means that the countries on the other side of the world are getting ready to have summer because our earth is a sphere and they are moving closer to the sun than we are." ??? I was blown away. I don't think I learned that until I got to middle school.

Another Day at Disney

I'd been wanting to go back to Disney every since Noah's birthday, but somebody was always sick. Noah and I still weren't feeling great this past weekend, but we went anyway. I figured if we waited for everyone to get well we might never go back again. I finally went to the doctor on Monday and got some medicine and am doing much better. Noah's cold is better, too. I told the kids we would only go for a few hours, but of course we ended up spending the whole day there like we always do. We can't help ourselves.

Sharing the steering wheel on the race cars.

Meeting Mickey and Minnie

Getting their autograph books signed

Noah turned shy when it was time to pose for the pictures. Everyone in the room was shouting his name trying to get him to look at the camera, but he wouldn't do it.

Snoozing in the stroller with chocolate ice cream all over his face.

Emily took this picture of some balloons. I thought it was pretty cool.

This was Noah on our way home in the car. We were all very tired.

Thoughts on Halloween

Halloween is sometimes a controversial holiday especially in Christian circles. I've had mixed thoughts on it over the years, so I did a little research into its history. It originally started as a Celtic pagan holiday called Samhain to celebrate the end of the harvest season. They would often have bonfires and wear masks to mimic or appease evil spirits. When Christianity spread into the area, they Christianized the holiday by moving a Christian holiday called All Saints Day or All Hallow's Day from May to November 1. The purpose of All Saint's Day is to honor all the Christians who have been martyred for their faith. The day before All Saints Day is known as All Hallow's Eve or Halloween. They celebrated Halloween to mock Satan and his evil spirits. This is where the concept of Satan wearing a red suit with horns, a tail and pitchfork originated from. It was to make him a laughingstock and make fun of him. By dressing up their children as little devils or witches, the intention was to mock and belittle him. But should we mock Satan? According to Martin Luther, we absolutely should. Luther said, “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn”. By the way, Halloween is not the only pagan holiday that was Christianized. Christmas was originally a pagan holiday to celebrate the Winter Solstice which was celebrated on December 25. The Christians took over that holiday, too, and turned it into a celebration of the birth of Jesus. But back to Halloween, I think that it is fine as long as you're not going out practicing witchcraft or worshipping Satan. There is nothing wrong with children dressing up and getting candy from their neighbors. This is actually a great opportunity for us to get outside and fellowship with our neighbors and build relationships with them especially in a culture that tends to stay behind closed doors. So, let's be like the early Christians and take over Halloween for Christ. Let's celebrate with him that He has won the battle and defeated Satan. He is victorious. I think God would be glorified by that.

Yee-Haw!!

For Halloween, Emily is going to be a cowgirl and Noah is going to be a cowboy. I thought it would be cute to get their pictures taken in their costumes. The only problem is that Noah refuses to wear his. When I put it on him, he starts crying and rips it off. I dressed him in overalls just in case he wouldn't wear the costume for the pictures, which of course he didn't. But we got some cute pictures anyway.

More Pumpkin Patch

Eye Love You

Last week Noah was diagnosed with Pink Eye, so we've been giving him these $45 eye drops twice a day. At first, he hated being given the eye drops. It took two of us to administer them. One to hold him down as he screamed his head off and twisted his body. The other person trying to open his eye and squeeze in the drops. Then one day, he decided he liked the eye drops. He'd lay on the couch completely still and open his eyes really wide. Sometimes he'd even start laughing. So weird!! Then, last night after I gave him his drops he took the bottle from me (with the cap on of course) and pretended to give himself the drops. Too funny!

On a side note, he has started this terrible habit of biting whenever he gets frustrated. Emily is usually his main target. So, I've taken to calling him Little Edward. You Twilight fans out there will know what I'm talking about. But maybe I should call him Little Jasper since he's a blondie.

Out of the Mouth of Emily

Here are a few cute things Emily said recently:

One day Griffon was here and Emily had not seen him for a while. She said to him, "Griffon, I'm going to be nice to you from now on." There was a long pause. Then she said, "Well,....I'm gonna try."

The other day Emily came up to me and said, "Mommy, I know why you have rules." I said, "You do? Okay, tell me why I have rules." She said, "To keep me safe. And you keep me inside the house so the wild animals won't get me." What?!?? I don't know where she comes up with this stuff.

Hello Dolly!

This past weekend, my friend Karin and I went to see Dolly Parton in concert. It was fabulous! I have been wanting to see her perform live for a long time. This past April, when Matt and I were in New York, we were walking by Radio City Music Hall and saw that she was going to perform there the night after we were leaving. I was so bummed. I vowed that the next time she came anywhere near Orlando that I would go and see her. A few months later, I found out that she was coming to the UCF Arena which is only a few miles from our house. Perfect! Of course, Matt was leaving to go out of town that morning, so he couldn't go with me. Luckily, my friend Karin was happy to go with me as she is as much a Dolly fan as I am. Karin made this cute sign to bring with us, but, unfortunately they did not let us bring it inside. They also didn't let us inside with our cameras either. Rats! I was hoping to get some good shots of Dolly in action.

There was no opening act, just Dolly all by herself with her band which was fine with me. She sang many of her most famous songs including 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream, Jolene, I Will Always Love You, Coat of Many Colors and on and on. She also did a few of her bluegrass songs that she has been singing more of recently which I just love. She sang an A Capella version of Little Sparrow that was amazing. Her voice is crystal clear and absolutely beautiful. She tells lots of anecdotes from her life in between songs especially about growing up in the Great Smokey Mountains. Dolly is such a wonderful storyteller and these stories really give you a lot of insight into her music. She also played several instruments throughout the concert including a fiddle, banjo, dulcimer and harmonica. In my opinion, she is one of the most talented singer/songwriters of our time and I was so thrilled to be able to see her perform in person.

Days of Autumn

Here are some amazing pictures of Autumn.

Days of Autumn - The Big Picture - Boston.com

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Pumpkin Patch

I took Noah today to meet some friends at a pumpkin patch.

Storytime

Noah and Paige