Scooby Dooby Doo

As many of you know, Drew and I are really big nerds when it comes to dressing up for Halloween. At our church in Birmingham, we always dressed to try to win the adult costume contest. Drew has been undefeated, for Peter Pan and for the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz. Though some of you may have "macho men" who wouldn't dare dress up, I love my adventurous husband. This means at almost every birthday party for the girls, we can always count on some creative dressup from Daddy. Who wouldn't want a daddy like that? I love that about Drew.
This year, our new church in Tupelo had "Trunk or Treat." Although there was no adult costume contest, Drew and I just had to pull out all of the stops for, I must admit, our own self-gratification. What other chance during the year do you have to be someone else? So, we decorated the mini-van like the Mystery Machine, and dressed up like Scooby Doo characters. The van didn't turn out as bright as we hoped.(We ran out of paint-spray chalk, totally washable, by the way). But our costumes turned out PERFECT, I thought, and I got it all for less than $20 at the thrift store. We recruited another couple (of suckers!) to be Velma and Shaggy, and we were Daphne and Fred. Thanks Valerie and Michael! We owe you!
I think we made a fine group. Its been rumoured that because of our "over the top dressing up," there may be an adult costume contest next year. We welcome any and all suggestions for next year!


Queen E and Monarch Butterfly O.

M (my little strawberry!) after 3 suckers, 2 bags of M and M's, and still wanting more. Sugar can make a monster out of some of us.

O for President! Part 2

I wanted to post this separately, because I believe this paper that O wrote truly reflects her heart. I am beyond proud of her.
The assignment was to write what you would do if you were president.

October 27, 2008
If I were presedent I would give people money to buy stuff if they were poor. I would let them stay at my house for a few days and I would give them food. Also I would lower gas prices. I would make McDonalds happy meals not coust that much too.


What more could a parent ask for than that their child's heart be like this?
O, I am so glad you are my daughter. I can't wait to see what God does with your life! You are a blessing to Daddy and me. We love you!

O for President!

At O's school, they've been studying about the presidential elections. I've been surprised at how much she's soaked in! I'm really proud of her for being semi-informed for the elections. Too bad she can't vote. She's probably more informed than half of America.
Anyway, they had a mock election and she told me she voted for McCain. Here's our conversation. Forgive me if this offends anyone, but I have to say, she's only 7!
Me: O, who'd you vote for?
O: McCain
Me: Why'd you vote for McCain?
O: Because he's a Christian and he's white.
Me: (Silence)
Me: Uhhh, is Obama not a Christian?
O: Well, I don't know. On our fact sheet, it just said McCain was a Christian, not Obama.
Me: Okay, that's great that you want a Christian president! Just an fyi, Obama says he's a Christian, too, okay?
O: Okay
Me: Why do you care if the president is white? Do you think we could have a black president, too?
O: Yeah, I guess, but I just wanted a white president because I'm white.

I was hesitant about posting this, because I didn't want to portray my daughter as racist! She never hears any kind of talk like that around our house. O has black friends, and has had some over to play before. She has never seemed to care or notice, and I pray she always treats people who are different from her just the same. However, I think she's of an age where she's noticing differences. It's Drew and my job to help her perceive things the way Jesus would perceive them. To treat others with grace and dignity, and to never think she is better than anyone else. I am so glad we had the conversation, because I believe it was a reminder to me that O is away from me for at least 6 hours a day, and it is up to me to help her filter all that goes on around her when I am not with her. It's also our job to pray a lot!

Carving Pumpkins 2008

We carved pumpkins yesterday. Correction. I carved pumkins yesterday. Although the girls get credit for cleaning the gunk out of their own pumpkins, they picked a template and I had to carve it. E picked a pretty easy one, but O's was complicated! After breaking 3 tools carving, I wanted to bust the pumpkins on the sidewalks, but I figured Drew might get ticked about the mess.

Notice the forced grin on my face in the picture.

Pumpkin Bread and Best Friends

One day last week, E got in the car so excited that they made pumpkin bread at school. Then she realized she left her bread, and when we went back to get it, it was gone! So, the next day, she had her best friend over and they made the pumpkin bread again. It was delicious, and even better, so was the good time with her friend. I am so thankful that E has Sage in her life!

Sage also has twin brothers who are a day older than M. Here they are "hangin" in the Escalade. Awwwww, yeeeeaaaaah.

Autumn Pumpkin Tureen

As promised, here's the recipe for the "Pumpkin Fondue" as I have nicknamed it. Although the name sounds complicated, and the end result looks complicated, the recipe is not hard at all! This will be a great one for Halloween or Thanksgiving parties. It turns out beautiful and is delicious.

1 pumpkin (4 lb), washed and dried
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz baby Swiss cheese, shredded
4 slices white bread, toasted, crumbled
2 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 pt half and half
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
French bread fingers, buttered, toasted, for dipping (I also add crackers to platter)

Preheat oven to 350. With serrated knife, cut 2 inch slice from top of pumpkin and reserve. Remove seeds and fibers. Blend oil and garlic and rub into interior of pumpkin, then place in a large roasting pan. Alternate layers of toast crumbs and cheeses inside pumpkin. Combine half & half, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and pour over layers. Replace top and bake pumpkin 2 hours, gently stirring contents after 1 1/2 hours. Serve on platter with french bread fingers and crackers for dipping. You can 1 and a half the recipe or double it by using a larger pumpkin.
This recipe is from Come On In, the Jackson, MS Junior League cookbook. I highly recommend this cookbook!

Chili Fest and the virus that never ends.

This morning, O's choir from her school sang at Celebration Village.(A Christmas fair type-thing.) I'm hoping Mimi will send me pics of her so I can post those, because she was so cute, of course, singing. The grin on her face was priceless, especially when they got to sing "Soarin" from High School Musical. I actually cried. Funny-I'm not much of a crier, until I get to watch my children do something, then I'm just a mess.
Anyway, we checked O out early from school, and headed over to Chili Fest on Main Street. They were serving chili and hot dogs for lunch. O and M opted for hot dogs only, but E, our newly adventurous eater, wanted chili. I truly could just eat her cuteness up in this picture, right along with the chili, couldn't you?
Anyway, the chili was pretty spicy, and Drew and I both partook of the cuisine pretty heavily. So, tonight I had a gathering at a friend's house, and Drew had big plans to do fun things with our girls. But he came home feeling queasy. So, in the middle of my cooking my gourmet appetizers, (Autumn Pumpkin Tureen recipe to follow), Drew starts going down fast, and thinking he's going to vomit. Let me backstory for you here. Last weekend, we stayed with some friends who had the stomach bug all week. By Friday, they all seemed clear, so we stayed with them. We didn't escape the bug. M vomited most of the 2 hr ride home, then O was up all night vomiting. Drew, E and I never got it. Wouldn't you think we'd be past it not? Guess not.
By the time I arrived at the party (of course I went to the party, wouldn't you? I didn't want to be around my husband when he's sick!) Drew texted me that he had finally thrown up. I got home a short while ago to find a towel folded up in front of the toilet, I guess to cushion his knees while he vomits. Alright, I may not get wife of the year, but I plan to pamper him tomorrow, okay Nana?
Not sure if it's the same old virus from earlier this week, or the chili, but I'm hoping it escapes me and E!

Fall Fun!

A couple of weeks ago, Drew took the two older girls camping. It's something we've been wanting to do for some time, and the girls were so pumped! Drew grew up camping, so he gets more excited than I do (not much of an outdoor person, you know, the bugs and stuff...) so I stayed home with M and enjoyed a quiet Friday night.
Apparently, the girls were great! They roasted hot dogs and marshmallows(O burned hers, E slow-roasted hers to perfection!) and the next morning, Daddy made pancakes and bacon! Yum! They returned the next afternoon very stinky, dirty, and happy. I think M and I may have to make the trip sometime soon...just make my bed high up off the ground, please, so I won't have any spiders crawling on me!



The day after camping, Drew took O and M to the pumpkin patch with the kids at church. E and I went to her friend's birthday party instead. Again, it looks like I missed out on the fun. M tried to actually KISS a llama! Hopefully, that's the only thing she'll try to kiss in the next 20 years! Ha.

Sleepy Sundays

Years ago, Drew and I called Sundays, "SS." I won't tell you what it meant then, but it means something totally different now with kids! We always try to rest on Sundays, though, even with the 3 children. However, although M always naps, the other 2 almost never do. They end up settling in watching a movie while Drew and I try to snatch a quick nap in here and there. It's not super restful.
However-I must say, today, a miracle happened. After an exhausting weekend, all of the kids fell asleep today! I ran by the grocery store, and by the time I got home, Drew and all 3 children were asleep. My house was completely quiet, and we all napped for a solid 2 hours. Ahhhhh..what bliss. After we all woke up, we all 5 hung out in our bed for awhile. This was also special. We talked about a lot of things, but I have to share this comment from E.
I said, "A quiet house with everyone napping is heaven." E looks at me and says, "AND heaven has jewels on it fence." Yes, it does, E, yes it does.

Brooke Fraser

I just wanted to share one of my new favorite artists. I keep hitting repeat on this song. Great lyrics.
Brooke sings with Hillsong. Another song you may be familiar is the praise and worship song "Hosanna."
Enjoy!

PTA Mom

Does anyone ever feel like they're spending their daily lives trying to overcome their natural personality quirks? Let me lay it out for you. There are certain traits about me that are just ME. Some "positive" ones might be that I'm an extrovert, I'm easy to talk to, friendly, etc, etc. However, some of my negative side can be that I am naturally unorganized,(not much of a calendar keeper), slightly messy, overly opinionated, and a conversation dominator. I'm not putting myself down, friends, these are just facts. If any of you point out the fact that I have less positives listed than negatives, know that another positive of mine is that I'm humble, and wouldn't want to brag. ha.
Anyway-I love participating in all areas of my children's lives. I want to be "ALL UP IN" their business, my face in front of every adult involved in their lives. Sometimes this gets me in over my head. The PTA is one of those things. I am in charge of homeroom moms this year. I am responsible for gathering the names of those willing to be homeroom mom, then informing them of any event. Well, there is a walk-a-thon at their school tomorrow, and I was supposed to tell all homeroom moms to bring bottled water for their class. Of course, I didn't get the job done until 10:30 last night. Typical. So all day today, I"m frantically checking my email to make sure I get replies back that everyone's available, on board, etc, etc. And, as usual, not everyone's in the ballgame. If I had started a month ago like I should have, I'd have it made! But my unorganized, procrastinating self makes it tougher on me than it should. A bonus: I work well under pressure.(or that is my excuse!)
Don't you know that that's how it is to be a child of God? We have to wake up every day and decide, "I will not behave like a sinner today. I will behave like a sold-out follower of Christ, and be who He wants me to be." But I fight it, my friends, soooo, so bad. Sometimes it's just easy to be sloppy. To be our messy selves. Luckily, God is waaaay more forgiving than the PTA.

Questionable Moment

Went to the doctor today for E's 5 year checkup. She was pretty calm. No anxiety about the fact that she was getting shots today. I was actually feeling sad, like my baby is not a baby anymore! I guess I must face that. I remember when I took O for her 5 year, I felt like she was such a grown little girl. I hate that I rushed that for her. I wish I had realized how little she still was.
Anyway, as the doctor is doing her checkup on E, she starts asking me questions like, "does she ever get dizzy and have to sit down?" "Any trouble breathing?"(she's listening to her chest at this point.) "does she run around with plenty of energy?"
Now, some of you may think that is standard. And I will admit, this is a new doctor. I've only had 1 other 5 yr checkup, and it was with our Bham doc. But I start getting paranoid. You know how it is. In my mind I'm thinking, "what the heck is she hearing/seeing? am I about to get scary news? Is the doctor worried?" I go on and on, freaking myself out. I hold it in as long as I can, then finally say, "is something wrong? Does her color look off to you?"(E has allergies, and pretty much carries a bluish pallor underneath her eyes year-round.)
The doctor just shrugs her shoulders, and says, "no. " and acts like there's no big deal. She then checks her chart to see if we need a blood work-up (is that normal?) and sees that we've recently had one and it's normal. She sends us for a urine sample, we get our shots (E didn't scream or shed a tear! The nurse was amazed. My big girl.) and we leave.
It looks like everything is fine. But deep down in that scary place inside of me, I visited that moment. The one where you ask yourself, "am I about to go through some suffering through my child?" The Bible says that as followers of Jesus, we will have suffering. We are guaranteed it. I can't help but wonder in these moments if it's my time.
This is where faith and fear cross one another on the road of life. In those moments, we get a sharp insight as to just how much faith we really have. I'm not sure I passed the test today!

E is 5!!!

Yep, my little cowgirl is 5 years old! For 2 years in a row now, her parties have been all about horses. I'm not sure what the craze is all about, but it's just something she's latched onto and I haven't discouraged it. It seems to be a healthy obsession, at least!

We took a group of kids to Circle Y Ranch on Saturday. It ended up being 18 kids in all, so I was pretty much a nervous wreck all day. I was so afraid I was going to lose a child! The place was incredible. It had ponies to ride, a pony cart, a real, miniature train, and a petting zoo. It also had a fabulous playground. E didn't even hit the playground, she just went around in the animal pen, holding chickens and petting goats. She is truly an animal lover. I love her fearless nature. She is never hesitant to completely enjoy a new experience. She is my child that exhibits joy all over her face when she's happy. It's truly contagious to be around her at those times. This was one of those days. She kept saying, "this is the BEST day of my life. The BEST ever, mom. Just the GREATEST." Those are sweet words for a mother to hear! It probably had to do with the new American Girl doll Mimi gave her, and the horse Drew and I gave her to go with it. Like I said, she's bonkers about horses!

The car Drew was driving fell asleep on the way home. I think that's the sign of a great party.

Happy birthday E-boo. I am so glad you were born.