Trick or Treat!

Jordan, On His shoulders,

Makes him happy...

Well...at least it makes her happy! :)

I love this boy...

Blast from the Past

Earlier this year the kids and I went to Oklahoma to visit with Jon's parents. Jon's mom passed down some of Jon's old toys from when he was a kid. I came home and promptly tucked the toys high up in the top of Lawson's closet, because for I think that the combined 'piece' total of the toys was equal to 4 million. Give or take a few. :)

They have stayed up in the closet for nearly a whole year. I just never found a time when I thought we should bring something new into the mix. A couple weeks ago, we were at a thrift store browsing around and Jon found a briefcase-looking sort of set of Construx, some building toys he had. I brought home his entire collection of Construx (which he has informed me several times that they are the best building toys ever...and they are no longer made... Anyways...he snatched them up and when we got home Jon and the kids spent hours building and constructing. I sat there watching. This sort of toy is my own personal idea of awful, awful torture. That's what daddies are for, I guess. Here is a picture of the first spaceship/plane/thingy that Jon and Lawson built together...
Here is the other 'blast from the past' that my kids experienced a few weeks ago:

Seriously....who doesn't love some Lite-Brite? And this isn't the fancy new recent edition, either. No, sir-eeeeee!! Need proof?

1978, baby. There it is! The toy in our house that's older than both of the parents in the house!

I used to spend so much time playing with my Lite-Brite...I was SO excited when Jon's mom gave us this one!! One rainy day a couple weeks ago I decided to pull it down and see how the kids did with it. Lawson loved it. He caught on really quickly. Jordan will do better in time. She liked playing with all the colorful pegs, though!

We made a few pictures, but it was a little difficult because the papers had been used before, so it was hard to see the letter that told us what color to use. I tried to make my side look like the picture. Lawson just filled in the holes that were already poked with pegs. Can you tell whose side was whose? :)

That giraffe is wearing his 'party pants', I guess! Ha!

Jon loved his Construx. I loved Lite-Brite. I also loved Smurfs, my Strawberry Shortcake dolls and my Barbies. I LOVE that we are getting to share some of those things with our kids.

What was your favorite toy growing up?

Airplane Watching

One beautiful sunny day in September I took the kids airplane watching. This is one of our favorite things to do, and I found a new great place to sit--the airplanes fly directly over us as they approach the runway. It is so exciting to look straight up and see the belly of a plane, large or small, right above you!

Handwriting lesson, anyone? :)

It was HOT! Here is sweaty Jordan taking a drink of the water we brought.

We took a picnic to eat. Lawson and Jordan brought their snakes and some pretend food to feed them too. He's taking a piece of lettuce out of his Rescue Pack (aka plain old backpack. But Diego doesn't have a plain old backpack, so Lawson shouldn't either, right?) :)

Before I got Jordan's seat out of the van I walked over and she had hopped in my seat. I jokingly told her, "Girl, get up out of my seat!" She looked up and told me, "It's okay Mommy. I was just sittin' in your seat for a few whiles." I loved that! She has said that a few times now, and I think it's so cute--I say 'a little while,' and she says 'a few whiles.'

It was so hot, and we were in direct sun, so we only stayed an hour. In that hour, we saw almost 20 planes land! After we got everything packed up we headed to a small park to play for a while before naptime. It was pretty much a perfect day.

I want to be just like Daddy

One Sunday morning I was in the process of picking out the kids' clothes for church. Jon came downstairs dressed in a shirt and a tie, and Lawson immediately told me he wanted to be dressed just like Daddy. I was so glad that we had just gotten a white shirt, and that we had a tie for him to wear. He even wanted to be sure he had his belt on because Daddy did. He was SO proud.

Jon is a great daddy, and I would be delighted if Lawson never stopped trying to be like his Daddy. Because his he has a Daddy who is trying to be like our Father.

Driving with Daddy

Uh, Yes, Hi. I'll have a...

Lately we have been talking about caffeine, mostly because the kids have been trying to drink cokes that we don't usually let them get and of course they want to know why they can't have Mountain Dew or Coke at 6:30pm. So we tell them it's because of the caffeine and they can choose something that doesn't have any.

The other day I was trying to get dinner ready, but I looked over and noticed that they were playing in the floor of the dining room. I paused for a minute to listen and realized they were playing "Drive-Thru." The picture above is Lawson's turn to work in drive-thru and Jordan's turn to order, but when it was Lawson's turn to order this is what I heard...

"Uh, yes, Hi. I'll have a Mountain Dew. With Caffeine. I need
a Mountain Dew and please make sure it has plenty of caffeine."

Oh. My. Goodness.

Getting Tags

You know what happens in September?? We always have to renew tags!!!
I always wait til the end of the month.
And I always go to a grocery store satellite location instead of the courthouse.
And I always stand in a line. A ridiculously long line.

I don't always come prepared. But this year I did!
Sonic and crayons and paper.
And I got to talk to a lady from church who was in line in front of me. I had never met her before, but have seen her several times since.
And it was great.
The end.

Folding Towels

Everyone does it differently, but in every house there is a right way. One right way. Isn't there? In our house it's

1. Fold in half long-ways.
2. Fold the freshly folded fold over to the 'collection of corners' at the end.
3. Fold the remaining long rectangle twice (so, into thirds).
4. Stack in the same direction and place in closet so that only folded edges can be seen.

I remember folding towels as a child--my brother and I used to do it together. We'd clear off the coffee table then make up an assembly line. One of us would make the first couple folds, then pass it on for the other to make the last two and stack it up. Even now, towels are my favorite laundry to fold. Something about the consistency. The pattern. How they all turn out the same and make a nice neat pile. I'm weird, I know.

Last month I was folding laundry. This is something my kids haven't seen much of in their lives, for a couple reasons. One, I don't do it all that much. The other, when I do fold laundry it is usually during naptime. Well, I was tickled when Lawson wanted to help me... I was surprised at how quickly he caught on. Plus, he enjoyed it so much he folded all of the towels left in the pile. Awesomeness. It's just another way I've noticed how big my little boy is becoming.
Can you tell which ones he did? :)

An Apple a Day...

On September 4 the kids and I went to Steele Orchard in Cullman, AL with our preschool group. It was a beautiful day and a nice orchard. The kids loved tasting all the different varieties of apples, walking through the orchard, picking apples, learning how they clean and classify them, and of course, clibming in the big apple tree!

Full Circle

Wow. It has been almost 8 weeks since I last posted. I really can hardly believe it, but I have been thinking a lot about it. Several weeks ago tragedy struck close to home, and those of us who knew him lost a great friend. It seemed to me that it was really rather debilitating for so many of us. The loss of our friend, coupled with the pain of his family and all those he left behind, has been so sorrowful.

For weeks, anytime something that I would normally post about happened, I would feel a little bit guilty. I thought, "In such a painful time, how can I delight in such trivial things? How can I spend time enjoying each little snippet of life, when people I love are in so much pain?" I just couldn't bring myself to post about my daily joys for fear that the sorrow couldn't excuse them.

In this time of reflection and rest, though, I believe I have come full circle in my thoughts. I am sure that the daily joys are what we should treasure and hold most dear. On a larger scale, both great celebration and painful tragedy visit from time to time. But the little things that happen each day are my true treasures. They are what fill my heart. How can I not delight in these things and give thanks for the abundance of blessing that has fallen on me?

In life we have both sorrow and joy, but in both sorrow and joy we find the Lord. I will go to him for the strength I need in my trials, and I will praise him for the joy that he brings.

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

and I will give thanks to him in song.

Psalm 28:7