Spook-tacular Fun!

In our area, Halloween seems to be a week-long event - especially when Halloween falls on a Wednesday - because our area does Trick-or-Treat the Thursday before Halloween.  Add a party at a friend's house, Fall Fun Day at school and of course, Reformation celebrations and this small holiday starts to take on a life of its own.

The fun started on Thursday night when we had Trick-or-Treat night.  It was the last perfect-weather day with very warm, sunny weather.  In the past, Trick-or-Treat always has been cold, windy and sometimes drizzly so this year I bought a fuzzy warm costume for Josiah (he was a one-eyed monster) and made sure Noah's costume (Batman) had plenty of room to wear sweats underneath.  HA!  Josiah was a hot, sweaty ball of fur and Noah wore shorts and a t-shirt under his costume and was still very warm.  Oh well... that's what baths are for, right?  ;) 

Anyway, both boys had fun begging candy from the neighbors.  Josiah and I went with Michael & Noah for about half the time and then came home to pass out candy (and eat it, of course!)  There are lots of teachers who live in our neighborhood, so if we didn't see them actually out trick-or-treating, we were begging candy from them.  Two of our favorite teachers (Mrs. Murphy & Ms. Johnson)

Friday was Fall Fun Day at school, which I was the main organizer of.  It was a very busy week spent filling balloons, organizing parent volunteers, praying for good weather (the answer was "NO - stay inside!") and making sure everything was set.  With 11 stations, 250 kids, lots of teachers and around 30 volunteers, the afternoon was a success.  Definitely a fun day, even if the weather didn't cooperate.

 Josiah "pinning the parts on the jack-o-lantern"

 And almost everyone's favorite, "donut on a string"

Saturday, Noah got to go to a friend's birthday party in the afternoon and then that evening the boys & I went to another friend's Halloween party.  They had carnival games, tons of animated characters, a haunted basement, candy, popcorn and lots of fun.  I was totally amazed at all of the decorations they had!  I wish I would've taken pictures.... (you hear that a lot from me, don't you?)  :)

Sunday we went to our own church in the morning and then to a special Reformation worship service in the afternoon, followed by a good German dinner.  Serious German food - we're talking sauerkraut in EVERYTHING.  It's always a blessing to worship and be reminded of the amazing gift of faith that our Lord has given us.  That despite our sinfulness, Jesus' life, death and glorious resurrection have guaranteed all believers a room in his heavenly mansion.  "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)

And, despite what the calendar says, yesterday looked nothing like the end of October and a whole lot like the dead of winter!  This was our backyard around 9am and it didn't get better as the day progressed...

More pictures here!

Fall Fun!

On Sunday, the boys & I went to Lincoln Ridge Farm with the Campbell girls and enjoyed an absolutely GORGEOUS fall day in NW Ohio.  We went to the Fall Mums & Pumpkin Festival with Gummy last year and had a great time despite the yucky weather.  This year, we decided to introduce our friends to the festival and it was a perfect day.  We went on a hayride to pick pumpkins, wandered through a corn maze reading interesting facts about the wind turbines (there are 152 in Van Wert county alone), jumped on a giant air mattress, rode a zip line and fun pedal cars, petted horses and goats, mined for gems, visited a witch's house, went through a haunted house, ate kettle corn, played in a ball pit (well, Josiah did that...) and just had a great time.  Afterwards, we grabbed 2 geo-caches that were out that way and then headed for home. 

Tonight we carved our pumpkins and prepared for Trick or Treat night (which is actually tomorrow night...).  Noah did most of his jack-o-lantern on his own with just a little help from Dad.

Michael & I have also been busy preparing for the school's Fall Fun Day which is on Friday.  Lots of preparation for an afternoon of laughter, candy, lots of running around and making great memories with the kindergarten-fourth grade students.  I can't believe this is Noah's last Fall Fun Day.  Next year, he'll get to go to the middle school dance instead.  EEEEEK!  Now that's a fright.  ;) 

Lots of pictures this week!

sorry...

...no pictures today.  I'll be honest, I have a few pictures on my phone that I could share with you but I'm just not in the mood.  So you can stop reading now, if you want - or maybe you don't read this anyway, you just skip to the picture link at the bottom of the page and my typing is in vain.  lol

This has been an emotional roller coaster week.  Fortunately, the downs of the roller coaster have had nothing to do with my immediate family but those downers still have an impact on me.  Just lots of sad things happening in the world around me and though it makes me so thankful for the many blessings I have in my life, it still hits my heart. 

Noah continues to do so well in everything he does (except listening and following directions at home...).  He amazes me on so many different levels and I am so proud of him!  (Now, if he would just leave his poor little brother ALONE.) 

Josiah has been showing his sense of humor - and BOY, does he have one!  He got a new bookcase in his room and there are some high shelves that he can't reach that I am using for books that he's not ready for - drawing books, some expensive pop-up books that I don't want to see torn apart and so on.  He can see those books though, and he asks me all the time if I'll get them down for him.  The other day I told him that he had to wait until he was a little older to read those books.  About ten minutes later, he came up to me and said, "I'm a little older now!"  LOL!  Yes, sweet boy, you are a little older... He must have Grandpa Bruce's sense of humor. 

It was really just another regular week around here... Michael busy as always at church, the boys running here and there with their various activities and me just trying to keep a handle on everyone and get them where they need to be when they need to be there while also volunteering a million hours at the school.  (ok, not quite that many, but some days, it seems like it!)  Hopefully next week, I'll have a few more pictures to share and I'll be in the mood to share!  ;) 

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Busy as usual

Last Wednesday, Josiah & I went to Story Time and had fun listening to stories and playing with the parachute! After the library, we grabbed lunch from McDonald's and went to school to eat with Noah.  Noah liked the special treat and Josiah loved sitting with his big brother in the cafeteria.  :)

Josiah also "helped" Michael with some bathroom plumbing issues - there's a very cute picture of the two of them looking under the sink. 

Saturday, Josiah & I froze while watching Noah playing soccer... at least we got to see Noah lead his team to victory with two goals and a final score of 3-1.  After the game, we changed our clothes and headed off to the Kangaroo Cave for some bouncing fun.  I took several very blurry pictures - the boys move too fast most of the time for me to catch good pictures. 

Michael went to a conference in Cincinnati Monday - Wednesday of this week while the boys & I stayed busy at usual here at home.  Soccer practice, time at the park, Skype, a PTS meeting and all of our usual busy-ness made the time away from Michael go quickly.  We're excited to have him back home though!!

Today we were back at the library for Story Time - I took a few pictures of Josiah doing the puzzles this week while we waited for Story Time to start.  :)

Enjoy those pictures here

Josiah, the navigator

Thought this little anecdote was blog-worthy...
This afternoon, Josiah really wanted to go with Noah & I to piano lessons; enough that he did not sleep during nap time and checked to make sure we hadn't left every few minutes, occasionally even crying because he thought we'd left without him.  When possible, I leave him home with Michael, but today, I was thankful that he was along for the ride.  Noah's piano teacher lives about 20 minutes away, 15 minutes of which are on a state highway that passes through lots of farmland with very little traffic.  We've been going once a week for around 5 years now and so the trip is something of an autopilot drive for me.  Today, the cruise control was on, The Wiggles were blaring over the car speakers, Noah was playing Angry Birds on the Kindle and my mind was obviously not on the drive as Josiah suddenly shouted out, "Mom!  We're going to Mrs. Z___'s house!!"  I snapped out of my daydreaming and realized that I had just driven past our turn off the highway.  Now, granted, it was only another mile before we hit the next town and I would've quickly realized my missed turn and we wouldn't have really lost a whole lot of time, but I thanked Josiah for helping me find my way.  :)  Only 13 years, 2 1/2 months until he can just drive ME around.  He obviously knows the way...

Last weekend may have been the busiest weekend we've had in a lllooonnnggg time.  Saturday morning started bright and early with soccer pictures at 8:45, a game at 9:30, Touring Company performances at 11:30 and 12:30 and a little time for fun at the Pumpkin Fest that T.C. performed at.  :)  Sunday morning was church, followed by brunch with the guest pastor (the Ohio District Mission & Ministry Facilitator for the Southern Region), a friend's birthday party for Noah and some outside work for me while Josiah took a nap.  Thankfully, all fun things for our family but I'm not used to non-stop running on the weekend AND the weekdays!  :)  There are pictures from the weekend here.

Let's hope this weekend, things are a little quieter.  ;) 

Happy Fall!