Costume Fun

My mom and Annette visited two days ago and brought bags full of homemade costumes for our kids. Mom has been making them costumes for Halloween for the past couple of years. This year, she out did herself. She made several things; a dinosaur, clown, princess layered skirt, and a oriental costume. There is no telling how many hours were spent stitching these gorgeous costumes. Thanks, Mom. You love us so well. Thanks for using your special gift of sewing to give to us.

I am sharing lots of photos of us dressed up. Notice I said us. Scott found this awesome wig and we put a costume together for him. Julian is wearing a black cape that Mom made him last year, along with a mask for what he calls a dementor (inspired by the Harry Potter dementor characters). He found the mask at a thrift store. We thought we would let him go with the scarier costume this year. It is what he wanted. We figure you have to let them grow up sometime, right? I decided to dress up in the oriental costume that Mom made.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Cookies

Today, the kids and I made pumpkin cookies. I got the recipe from a book I checked out by Deanna Cook at my local library. I thought I would share some pictures and the recipe with you all. Enjoy!

Kalen took a nice shot of the wet mixture being poured into the dry mixture.

Pumpkin Cookies

(I made mine vegan, but you don't have to)

What you need:

1/2 c of butter or margarine ( I used Earth Balance)

3/4 c of brown sugar

1/4 c of molasses

1 egg ( I used an egg replacer)

1 c pumpkin mash or canned pumpkin

2 c all- purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 c raisins or choc. chips ( I went for the dark choc. chips)

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the molasses and egg, and beat well. Beat in the pumpkin mash; set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and spices.

3. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture until combined. Then, mix in the raisins or choc. chips.

4. Drop the batter by teaspoonfuls (I used a bigger scoop) onto an ungreased cookie sheet, spacing the cookies at least 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies spring back when lightly pressed. Serve with a cold glass of milk (or soymilk). :)

A Prayer

God, you see your children growing up in an unsteady and confusing world; give them strength to hold their faith in you, and to keep alive their joy in your creation. For peace, for reconciliation, for wholeness, for grace, for love -- may these things characterize your children.

Adapted from the Book of Common Prayer

Quote to think on

God's acceptance and forgiveness does not say that everything we have done and left undone is all right. It says that we can pick up from here and move on. Freed from the burden of guilt, we can live with our real, sinful selves, accepting ourselves because God accepts us and esteeming ourselves because if God prizes us, how can we do otherwise?

- Martha Graybeal Rowlett, from her book In Spirit and in Truth

Soccer Highlights

Our kids have really enjoyed soccer this fall. It has been quite the family affair. This weekend, we had games on both Saturday and Sunday. Whew!

Julian and Kalen have both had some super sweet goals this season. Watching them grow within a sport is really fun. Madelyn has dressed out for each of Julian's games, because his team is very low in numbers. She usually gets to play a bit. Sunday she got to play almost the whole game. Actually, when she wasn't in playing with the team full of nine year olds, Kalen was! Isn't that great? Thanks, Coach Scott!

Julian has not been feeling well today. He played goal keeper for his team. He didn't want to not play. I didn't get any photos of him. He looked kind of ghostly. When we got him home, he got nothing but the royal treatment. We have been waiting for sickness to make an appearance this fall. Maybe this will just pass on through quickly. As I hear him coughing in his sleep now, maybe not.

Here is a clip of one of Kalen's goals on Sunday:

Kalen played goal keeper for the final quarter. Here he is making a big goal kick.

After each game, Kalen's coach talks to the team about all the great things he saw as the team played. He calls them all by name and truly praises them. I like that and I know the kids do as well. :)

Green Fire 2009

Kalen is seated fifth on the bottom row

The following clip is of Madelyn. She did an amazing job today!

Pumpkin Pickin' and Tradition

This past weekend, we spent some time with Jerry, Jan and Shanda. Each year, they take the kids to the same place to pick out their own pumpkins. We made a pit stop at their home first. I snapped some photos outside in the front of their home. The trees in their front yard are always gorgeous this time of year. I have taken pictures of all of our kids, all throughout the years, right by these same trees. I am thankful for traditions. They serve as sweet anchors within our family.

Thinning Out

This afternoon, I went out to tend to our garden. I had planted many beds of seeds weeks ago. I was delighted to find that nearly all of the seeds that I had planted had come up. I took to the task of thinning out the seedlings this afternoon. I had already thinned them out once, but they needed another run through. The veggies that have sprouted are kale, lettuce, sugar snap peas, onions, and chard.

I am finding that thinning out seedlings is sort of a painful process. It is hard to eliminate even one of those promising little plants, but it has got to be done. Seedlings can't thrive if there are too many in one area. They need room to grow. Tiny seedlings can't grow if they have to compete with other seedlings in order to get their nutrients.

As I was kneeling in our garden today pulling up tiny little growing seedlings, I thought about how there is a need for prioritizing and even eliminating in order to grow and thrive in our own lives. Don't we all have things in our lives that can inhibit our growth more than nurture it? I guess it would be good to think about this whole thinning out thing, as it pertains to my own life, every now and again.

Women's Retreat

My cup is overflowing. This weekend was so wonderful. I was able to attend my church's Women's Retreat in Black Mtn., NC. It was so gorgeous. Being in the mountains in the fall really made me miss our days in Boone. The leaves were all changing and falling. Blue Ridge Assembly is where we stayed; it is tucked away and very wooded.

The theme for our weekend was about how God is with us and for us. Sounds simple, but really a profound thing. We heard many messages about how people in our lives can truly let us down and not reflect the love and acceptance that the Lord can. Our speaker, Margot Starbuck Hausmann, actually attends our church. I will write about her down by her picture.

I was able to connect with so many ladies that I had been longing to know better. The amount of conversations I had was just endless! I really soaked it up.

I will share some pictures and tell you a little more about my time away . . .

This is just one gorgeous angle of the place where we were.

This is me and my buddy, Emily. We rode up together with a bunch of girls and we roomed together. This is such a fun girl.

This is Margot. She spoke to us several times this weekend. Each message was full of lots of stories, challenges for us and scripture. Just to let you in on it, here is what we were given about Margot before we attended the retreat:

Margot will help us think through what our lives would be like if we truly believed that God is with us and for us. Too often life’s circumstances make it pretty hard to believe that in our deepest places. Margot herself journeyed along a path until she grasped the truth that God was the One who was and had always been for her. She writes, “The New Testament paints a picture of Jesus knocking himself out to convince us both of our worth as image-bearers and of his Father’s unfailing love. As we begin to catch on to the transforming truth that God never leaves us and is entirely for us, as we come to know it in our bones, we’re set free to grow in love for God, others, and ourselves.”

Margot has written a book entitled The Girl in the Orange Dress. After hearing her story, I am eager to get it. She is a very unique and fascinating person. She has a website; click here to find out more about her.

Ali, Emily and Anna

We had lots of free time on Saturday afternoon. I joined a group of ladies and we went hiking.

We had over 80 people attend our retreat. The organizers split us up into small groups that we were able to meet with each day, multiple times. This is my group. I grew to truly enjoy each and every one of them.

As we left, I had to take a picture of the snow capped mountains. Just gorgeous!

Needless to say, I am so glad I went. I am dog tired, but at the same time I feel so refreshed and loved on. Special thanks to my amazing husband, Scott. He held down the fort so well. He even did ALL the laundry!!! Hooray! Time for some Scott time . . .

Packing My Bag

I am heading out of town today. This time, I won't have children in tow. I am riding with a van full of ladies up to Black Mountain, NC. Our church has planned their annual Women's Retreat. This is the first year I have attempted to go. Scott will be flying solo at home with our troops.

I have butterflies in my stomach as I pack my one and only bag. Leaving my family will be bittersweet. I know this time away will be refreshing. At the same time, I will be missing the home life here. I am a home body. My heart is here. I have days when I want to get away and need some quiet. I am sometimes weary and weak. We all need our space. Mostly though, I crave family life. I can't get enough. Even when I am working towards the bed time hour and the freedom that lies beyond it, I am right where I want to be.

My hope for this weekend is to be encouraged. I am praying for rest and a renewed spirit. I also pray that my family will remain safe and enjoy sweet Daddy time. I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Enjoying Nature's Beauties

One of our favorite places to visit is Duke Gardens. Today we made an afternoon out of it. We were determined to be surrounded by nature and just enjoy it. We definitely accomplished what we were after- and then some.

Scott and I have been discussing the importance of our family enjoying nature even more than we already do. It is easy to numb ourselves (as Scott puts it) with 'stuff' instead of filling ourselves with joy that comes from appreciating and enjoying nature. We are bombarded daily with all things unnatural. We must get back to nature.

We set out with all we needed for our picnic as well as our backpack full of nature journaling supplies and field guides. The most enjoyable moment or taste of paradise for me was lying on our quilt just behind a tree enough to be shaded somewhat while still feeling the warmth from the sun- as our kids climbed a huge Magnolia tree just across from me. They played for a long time, talking, singing and giggling. It was just them and the Magnolia. That is powerful. Much more powerful than what they watched on WordGirl this morning before breakfast.

So, now I will share gobs of pictures from our expedition. :)

We had a Nature Scavenger Hunt. I had found this idea in a magazine.

I am lying on my blanket taking a picture of the big Magnolia tree that the kids were playing on. You can barely see them in the photo.

Bird watching

Brady drawing leaves. I brought some paper for them to do a little reflective nature journaling just before we left.

Kalen was very proud of this huge leaf he found.