Dog sitting

For the first time ever, we have a dog in our house. We're dog sitting Pippin for some friends for a few days. So far it's been ok, though the poor cats don't know what to do with themselves when he's out! And yes, you can pray for Christian to survive. :)

7 is Elijah

...And 1 is Corin. So what better to do than to have a dragon party?

Judah was a trooper and put up with his dragon costume, and it was pretty funny watching him try to do things like drink or...I don't know, SEE

Birthday boy!

Dragon hugs!

If I didn't already want to just squeeze this kid...

 

Looking forward to meeting baby R!

 

We got E a new, black, fuzzy towel and I cut out/sewed on a red dragon figure.

Why We Click Stupid Links

Ok, check out this article if you have a minute...what do you think?

Why We Click Stupid Links

(yes, I do find it amusing that we have to click a link to read the article...but I don't think this one's stupid. :) )

Growing

Just a couple ways we're growing these days...

Leeks from the all-but-dead garden!

I wear PINK sometimes. It's true. My mom is proud of me. :) 

I hated pink growing up. Having girls has broadened my horizons.

 Peter's feet have been growing. He is now wearing man socks- exactly the same ones as Christian, so I had to sew red thread on Peter's to tell the difference. Reminded me of sewing on name tags on my clothes preparing for boarding school. Ah, memories.

Growing our hearts, slowly. After reading 1,000 Gifts and being made quite aware of my "amnesia of the soul", I decided (with my sometimes-interior-decorator-like husband's hearty approval) to put up a permanent reminder...here's what it "means":

The apple: reminds me of my sin (you know, Garden of Eden picture)

Grace: God has given me so much grace, in spite of my failures, he offers me...

Bread: the bread of Himself "I am the bread of life", "This is my body, broken for you...remember"

Thanks: because His grace (found in the little things as well) I have SO much to give thanks for!

Wine/goblet: Reminds me of Christ's blood shed for me; also reminds me of celebration (we like getting out the fancy glasses and fancy drinks when we want to celebrate something as a family)

Joy: the more I learn to give thanks in everything, the more full of joy I am

Flower: ok, well, flowers just give me joy. :)

Have a good week!

Back and Forth

Back at the beginning of October, we had a big birthday bash celebrating Mike, Ed, Judy, and Grandmother- their birthdays (and Anne's) are all within a couple weeks of each other.

My squishy niecey!

 

Fortunately Mike likes our pickled peppers- they're pretty spicy!

Teary Tirzah

Ransom's impersonation of Teary Tirzah? :)

Ok, fast-forward- this is our only picture from our trip to the Canyon with my aunt and uncle- a fossilized coral (we thought it looked like snake or lizard skin!). Still fascinating.

And fast-forward to last night!

 The kids came home from Auntie Grace's and did a little cleaning, and a little dressing up...

then we started the pumpkin gutting/carving!

Peter's ready for battle! Ok, I think paintball helmets are creepy. Seriously.

Berea Monkey with 3 little buns- no more, no less.

Anne dressed up as Aravis (The Horse and His Boy) when she was dressed up as "an upper slave".

Even princesses can get their hands dirty.

Aravis and her horse, Whinn (sp?)

 Not exactly sure how jumping off the couch was allowed- I guess parenting looks different behind a camera. :)

I cannot believe what a young man Elijah looks in the picture- 7 years old in just a couple weeks!

Looking forward to making toasted pumpkin seeds today!

 After pumpkin stuff was dinner! We've somehow started a tradition of having bread bowls- this year filled with chili. The kids also got bottles of pumpkin spice soda for a treat and Christian and I got Sam Adams Harvest Spice Ale in honor of Martin Luther. :)

 Our silly pumpkin face!

Aravis's dress finally dried! It used to be mine (from Africa) when I was 8 or so.

Not pictured, but videoed... after dinner we had a treasure hunt for the kids to find packets of candy wrapped up in tin foil...then we watched a good, old school (pretty sure Catholic) Buttercream Gang movie- The Secret of Treasure Mountain. Fun times. :)