Hallelujah Halloween Party!

alisa & daniel throw great parties. tonight's was filled with games, crafts, candy, a pinata (that jack hit the holy heck out of) and a cook-out. we all went trick-or-treating together, too. of course while the ninja turtles gathered candy at top speed, mia and i lagged behind in our high heels, but what are a couple of princesses supposed to do? speaking of girlie girls, here's kirby & me. he makes a surprisingly (and disturbingly) pretty amazon woman. btw, my aunt linda made my dress when she was in high school, so it's vintage cute & it was a big hit tonight. thanks, linda! i'm not giving it back. :)

Halloween Festival @ School

the kids paraded around the courtyard and then played some games for prizes. best costume award goes to claire, the pink poodle. she really made my day.

"It's like carving a grape!"

loved the church pumpkin carving party tonight. we got our pumpkins a little on the small side, but we tackled them anyway. the kids drew designs, i cleaned them out (little punkins = little messes), dave made tiny incisions for what seemed like hours and the jack o' lanterns turned out super cute. the kids also got their faces painted with a volcano on one side and a puppy on the other. they are so weird but i love them anyway.

When Dave's Away...

mariah will play. dave worked an extra shift today, so i got sneaky and painted furniture. i knew he would hate this b/c: a) the smell b) the mess, c) he doesn't like change and d) i've never painted ANYTHING and he'd suspect i'd ruin the furniture or abandon the project all together. all these concerns are valid, of course, but i couldn't stand my nightstands looking so dreary anymore, so...splash on some WHITE and tah dah! i really couldn't be prouder. found the paint in the garage so the whole project was free, too. : ) i have to say i started to feel this zenlike oneness with nature and my nightstand during this process. there's something so relaxing about painting outdoors. who knew? thanks to those who inspired my work: mom & dad for spray painting my desk RED when i was younger, irma for saying "i don't care about proper procedure or primer. i just paint!" granny and her incredible painting genes and the karate kid having to paint all those fence posts for mr. miagi (how do you spell that?) all those years ago. i totally have killer wrists now!

bonus features of this blog: the kids' decorations they made at our craft playgroup and jack helping me make choco chip cookies today. they're for CHURCH tomorrow, okay? oh, and yeah, we had a few. am still trying to upload a couple more pics...blogger has been a bit moody lately, so i'll see what i can do.

ZOO BOO

got to see the houston zoo this weekend all halloweened up: pumpkins everywhere, fun times on the train, a friendly haunted house that jack raced through repeating, "where's the candy??" and pictures with the same lion that papaw used to force my mom to pose with when she was little (ahh, tradition!). saw some elephants and giraffes (no, they weren't dressed up!) and pretty much pooped out after that. thanks for the zooventure, mom!

Cool Weather = Snuggle Time

PUMPKIN PATCH PICS

Sunflowers. Sort of.

so i am officially my mother's daughter. stopping by the side of the road, dragging the kids out of the car and forcing them to pose for pictures in front of flowers. of course, it wasn't on the side of the HIGHWAY (mom!!!), and these aren't exactly bluebonnets. i think they might really be weeds, but they look sunflowerish, right? and i think they make for a more artsy fartsy background. or maybe i just need to get out more. :) of course, getting the models to smile together is an age-old problem-i guess i'm not paying them enough?? today i'll take what i can get and be thankful that my sweet children humored me on this fall day that actually looks & feels like fall!

It's a BOY!

sunny FINALLY had that baby, and he is amazing. we snuck the kids into the hospital to see him. his name is race samuel, and he weighs a whopping 9lbs, 4 ounces. she pushed him out with NO MEDS b/c she is a superwoman. she makes baby havin' look easy & fun. i still can't wrap my head around the fact that she had a boy-jack is thrilled that he won't be totally surrounded by girls from now on. congratulations, reeds! we love ya.

Splashed with Promise Retreat

we went on our church's annual retreat this weekend, complete with games, smores, the longhorns winning, our own little patio, and a trip to the port a candy shop. we definitely had a good time, good food, got our fill of family time (sleeping all in one room together!) and bonded w/ our fellow church peeps. now we're all a bit on the exhausted side and looking forward to spending a lazy sunday together.

Young Adults Get Intimate

he he. here we are w/ bianca & chris, kicking off the new young adult book study at our church...creating an intimate marriage, so of course i had to force everyone to pose for a dorky picture. it's almost as dorky as the couple romantically posing on the book cover, but not quite!

Kicking the Habit
jack made it through his first night without his thumb! beth made these cool gorilla mittens to help him. we're starting slowly, so he can still thumbsuck during the day (in fact, he's doing it as i write!), but for every 4 nights he resists temptation, he gets a little prize. part of me doesn't want to let this habit go, because it's such a sweet part of him, but the other part of me knows that it will be best for him to quit before kindergarten starts. so, that part is winning (for now). :)

The Blessing of the Animals

must admit that i was expecting this to be cheesy, but i knew jack would really get a kick out of puppy getting blessed, so we went to our first "Blessing of the Animals" service. i ended up loving it. there were TONS of people there with all sorts of dogs (missed ya, mom!). and it was touching to remember that God made all the creatures that comfort and delight us, and that he is present in his creations (yes, bianca, i stole that from the liturgy). and i know puppy is stuffed, but he's real to jack, so it was sweet to see him get his blessing. i love that God cares about even the smallest things that are important to us.