About half way through starts the pictures from today. Ashton had a costume parade at her school. Lexi had "On the Farm" day. And we also carved our pumpkin (in swimsuits and shorts...only in Florida!) Tonight we went Trick or Treating. Here are some Fall Fotos of the girls!
Daddy was Indiana Jones. And my costume...I went as Mother of Cowgirls and Wife of Indian Jones!
So if you live locally, PLEASE come! Our church is hosting its 2nd annual Treasure Quest Fest. It's going to ROCK! Hayrides with hot cocoa and our crazy youth worship leader playing kidz songs on the guitar on the hayride, lots of games and crafts for the kids to enjoy, lots of candy and prizes. I just went and picked up FOUR Toys R Us gift cards which will be door prizes! And Cary is going to perform an episode of Kidzchurch, which will kind of showcase what we do on Sunday mornings for visitors to see. It also goes along with the Treasure Quest theme. Everything is FREE! Even the yummy food...hot dogs, hamburgers, pulled pork BBQ sandwhiches, popcorn, cotton candy! It's gonna rock! The weather is AWESOME...sunny, clear, breezy, lows in the 40's tonight, a perfect night for an event like this. If you don't live locally, please pray for this even to be a total success from beginning to end. We only have a small handful of opportunities throughout the year to really reach out to our community in such a big way like this. For some folks, this is a chance to maybe find a church home. But for others, it's a chance for them to just see, "Hey, this place is not so bad after all." And maybe they'll come back and maybe they won't. And for some who already have a church home, this is just a fun family night to be blessed by a church that has been so richly blessed by the God we serve. So just pray that all goes well and if you're in my neck of the woods, the fun starts at 6!
I've been craving homemade lasagna for WEEKS but I really hate to cook. I figured out why I don't like to cook. It involves sweating and standing. Two of my least favorite things. But yesterday I finally made that special trip to the store just to buy homemade lasagna ingredients. I think a trip to the Olive Garden would have been cheaper. But not nearly as yummy! And last night, I made the mother of all lasagnas! It was NINE heavenly layers! Yes, NINE! It was absolutely divine. So good in fact that I had to have it for breakfast because the thought of waiting till dinner to eat leftovers was just not gonna do it. And guess what Lexi and I just had for an afternoon snack....lasagna! Once again, the thought of waiting till dinner to eat leftovers was just not gonna do it. I'll be glad when the pan is gone so I can stop eating. This is why I don't make homemade lasagna very often. Can anyone say "weight watchers"? On a side note, Lexi ate all of her broccoli but left some lasagna on her plate. Not sure which planet she's from.
And another love of mine...Target. Oh Target! Red dot bliss! I love that place. Walmart who? Today after Ashton's 6 month neurologist appt, since I was in Orlando, I decided why waste all that gasoline on just a trip to the doctor, let's make the most of it and do Target while we're here! Okay, back up, it's like a high of 63 here today???!!!! A windy, sunny, beautiful high of 63! BUT I'M FREEZING! And my Floridaized body owns nothing but flip flops and shorts and t-shirst. So we were in desperate need of some closed toe shoes, although I hate closed toe shoes. My feet feel all claustrophobic and whatnot. My toes are gasping in there, "Must have fresh air!!!! Top of shoe messing up beautifully pedicured toenails!!! LET ME OUT!!!!!" But anyways, I got stride rite caliber shoes, little mary jane's for Ashton in both brown and navy blue for...are you sitting down...$6.98! I ended up buying 5 pairs of children shoes and what deals I got! Of course I didn't buy myself any closed toe shoes because once again I hate closed toe shoes and this is Florida where you can wear flip flops every day of the year and no one will look at you strangely like you're breaking a cardinal rule of fashion. (This DOES happen in Dallas. I promise!)
Well, we're off to gymnastics in our new Target gymnastics outfit that I got for $9.98! And then back home for another plate of lasagna for dinner!
It's a good thing she's so cute!
As I was reading a friend's blog today about the Christian origins of Halloween, it caused me to think about my own feelings for the day. Though it may have had Christian origins, Satan has certainly distorted this day into a day that glorifies evil. The images are all around us. If I see another commercial during prime time television for Universal's Night of Horror, I'm going to lose my mind! But in our home, we have refused to allow Satan to steal the joy away from our children over something they don't even understand. And if I didn't let them participate, I may be just fueling the fire to rebellion later. To them, it's all about wearing a cool costume and getting candy. That's innocent enough. However we don't live under a rock, so I know they will be exposed to the evil images and the witches, ghosts, goblins, spiders, and the other eerie creepy visual reminders of how Satan has yet again taken away the glory from God on this holiday.
Because we can't escape the season, why not embrace it in your own way? You CAN focus on the God who has given you much to be thankful for during this season of thanksgiving and harvest. You may have seen this pumpkin carving illustration before, but I think my children are finally old enough to incorporate this tradition into our halloween plans, a little modified of course.
Being a Christian is just like a pumpkin! Let me try to explain, I brought this pumpkin here to help me illustrate what I mean. (Proceed to carve the pumpkin.)
First, God picks you from the pumpkin patch and brings you in from the field. The Bible says He selects us out of the world. We are in the world, but no longer of the world.
He then washes all the "dirt" off the outside that we received from being around all the other pumpkins. All the outside influences of our former life must be cleaned up. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.
Then, He carefully removes all the "yucky stuff" called "sin" out from the inside. Look at this! Yuk! Sin will not have such internal power.
He then changes us from the inside out by the Power of His Word. That's why it is important to go the church and learn about God's Word.He carefully removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and fear. He replaces them with the seeds of faith, hope and love.
After Jesus is invited inside, you begin to experience the changing power of God's love in your life.Then He carves a new smiling face. Our countenance is changed by the power of His presence in our life. We then become so grateful. It can even show on our face!
Now we are going to light this candle inside. Look! This pumpkin now reflects the light from inside out. So too, when Jesus, who is called the Son of Light, lives inside of us, He shines through our life for all to see. We can let His light reflect through us to reveal His presence. "Let your light so shine before men that they may be able to see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven."
So you see, we Christians are really like this pumpkin! We will never be the same with Jesus inside of us. We can say like this jack-o-lantern, "Thy presence, my light!"
You can also use this prayer in conjunction with it. You can also have them draw pictures of their pumpkin and share the gospel with their friends. We love to do this each year after the pumpkins have outlived their outdoor decorating potential.
The Pumpkin Prayer
{cut off top of pumpkin}Lord, open my mind so I can learn new things about you.
{remove innards}Remove the things in my life that don’t please you.Forgive the wrong things I do and help me to forgive others.
{cut open eyes}Open my eyes to see the beauty you’ve made in the world around me.
{cut out nose}I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned my nose at the good food you provide.
{cut out mouth}Let everything I say please You.
{light the candle}Lord, help me show your light to others through the things I do.
Amen
By: Liz Curtis Higgs
TOMORROW! That would be my mom...a.k.a. the Queen Mum, Irm the worm, Santa Claus....but most importantly....Granny! The girls are on fall break tomorrow and Friday so Granny is coming to spend the long weekend with them. And to cut their hair! My mom is a great hair cutter. She's never been to beauty school. She's not a professional hair cutter. In fact, I think her job title is something like Software Engineer Consultant or something of that nature. But she can cut a mean head of hair! So we've decided that Granny must see the girls once a month, if for no other reason than to cut their hair. It's a good excuse, don't you think? The girls are so excited. We're going to Ashton's fall festival at her school on Friday night. We're going to take the girls trick or treating at Seaworld some time this weekend. Granny has a season pass too! We might even see if we can talk Granny into the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom while Cary and I go on a date night to Blizzard Beach. Heeeheeee.
Off the subject, Lexi got a 100 on her first spelling test last week and she has another one today. Although, her teacher is far more gracious than I would be. She spelled the words correctly, but she wrote them in the wrong order. I don't get it. How does that happen? The teacher calls out the word, they write it down. How did she do that? Who knows. All that matters is that she got ice cream on Friday! Since this was a short week of studying, I hope she can do as well today.
This morning when Daddy was getting the girls in the car, Lexi said, "I eat breakfast at school EVERY morning. (this is news to me) It's my favorite...cereal and bananas and milk!" She said that her friends invited her so she started going. Uh....hello....HOW is this possible? She gets there like RIGHT on time, how does she have time to eat? And why am I just now hearing about it? So she's eating TWO breakfasts every day! Okay, this kind of explains why we've noticed she's been kind of beefin' up a little since school started. I've been making sure to pack really healthy lunches and snacks and Daddy has been taking them on bikerides and jogging and to the park to play soccer because we thought maybe being in school all day has made her more sedentary and she just needs more activitiy because God help her, she has my genes. Poor thing. Now please don't think I'm just being shallow for noticing when my child packs on a few pounds. There are things I am shallow about, but this is not one of them. It's just that I've had a weight issue my ENTIRE life so I'm very sensitive to the fact that I don't ever want my children to endure what I went through as an overweight child. I just want them to be healthy and fit!
Okay, so I'd better quit wasting time and get busy cleaning this house, which is what I was supposed to start doing an hour ago and it's still not happening. When will they invent a self cleaning house? I wish I had a magic wand.
I kind of sort of maybe just a little teeny tiny itty bitty bit perhaps maybe might be thinking that I want another baby. It all started about a month ago. Up till then, it was NO WAY, NO HOW, NO CHANCE, AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN! And then I don't know what happened, but all the sudden my heart began to change and there would just be these little longings here and there. It took me about 3 weeks to get up the guts to tell my husband. And he responded exactly like I knew he would...."WHAT are YOU smokin?" I guess I should explain that we always wanted three kids but somewhere during the midnight hours of sleeplessness and poop and wet sheets that needed to be changed at 3 a.m. and the thought that our bank account could nearly double if I went back to work full time we finally settled on the fact that maybe just 2 lil darlins wasn't such a bad plan after all. And that was that. It was settled. No more kids! In less than 2 years, I could go back to work and all would be well in the universe. But I can't help these feelings that have overcome me lately. And I will be 35 soon. "I ain't no spring chicken," as my grandmother would say. But my husband is still in denial that I ever even mentioned the hint of a possibility of another. Which means, God would have to do a heavy duty overhaulin of a work on his heart if this is meant to be. We do serve a God who is in the miracle business thankfully. And I am on the pill. I call it my happy pill. For a reason. If I stop taking it....um....I won't be happy if you catch my drift. It keeps me hormonally sane. Whew...those 4 days of placebo pills at the end of the month are just about enough to put me over the edge. And then when I think about the finances and how we are SO stinkin close to financial bliss, it just makes my head spin to think of starting over with a newborn and FIVE MORE YEARS of being at home! I do work part time. But my teaching salary in Texas was more than three times what I currently make.
However, I once heard a very wise woman whom I adore (Lisa Welchel) say, "When making a difficult decision, take finances and fear out of the equation." Because we do serve a mighty God who makes things happen in His way and if this is His will, He will continue to provide for us faithfully. And I guess this also means I should go back on Weight Watchers so I can LOSE weight BEFORE I gain it! Makes perfect sense doesn't it? Well, I mean, just in case. You know.
Today is the first day in my Aggie life that I'm going to try not to care about the Aggie game (the game I'm missing that my mom is at and I can't even watch on t.v....boohooo!) Today, if the Aggies can just keep the game within a 40 point loss and put at least one touchdown on the board, I'll consider it an (emotional) victory. God help em!
This morning, Cary was in the girls' room playing "house" and when he came out he said Lexi was the mommy and he was the daddy and Ashton was one of their children (named Amy) and they had 8 other children, some of which were human and some of which were not human. Hmmmm. I told him the non human ones must take after their daddy!
The other night at the dinner table, Ashton took off all her clothes and announced she had to POOP. Yes, we were at home, not at a restaurant. Thank goodness. A few seconds later, Lexi yelled from the bathroom, "CAN SOMEONE PLEASE COME WIPE ME?" I quickly said, "1-2-3-not it!" When Cary got back from that chore and continued with his dinner, I said, "Did you ever think that one day you would be sitting at the dinner table with a naked girl talking about poop and eating all at the same time?" He said, "Nope, but for some reason it seems completely normal." I agreed. Awkwardly.
I must have woken up a thousand times last night, feeling the need to snuggle up to my honey while that t.v. song, "You're my best friend" played over and over and over in my mind. I can't for the life of me remember what show or commercial that song is from and that's the one and only line from the song I know...You're my best friend. Poor guy.
Good news...it has been reported from Seguin, Texas that my children now have a halloween costume! Yes! Western outfits...Red Suade cowgirl outfits. I can't wait to see them all dressed up!
Well, I'm going to continue cleaning house and pretend not to care that my Aggies kick off in 25 minutes. And I'm also going to pretend not to care that ESPN's College Gameday show was in Austin today and the people in the crowd were wearing long sleeves and sweatshirts while my kids are playing outside in their swimsuits. Happy Fall huh?
She was awfully proud of her pumpkin and YES, that's a swimsuit she's wearing. Not a day goes by that Ashton doesn't put on her swimsuit! She would LIVE in her swimsuit if we would let her. This was on our way to pick up Lexi from school. She wanted to take her pumpkin with her everywhere.
SEE...I TOLD YOU I CAUGHT A DUCK!!!!!
Ashton's sweet little class and her teacher, Ms. Michele. 
Okay, THIS is a REAL water buffalo! I didn't know there was such a thing. I just thought it was some make believe creature in a veggie tale's song! But what do ya know! His name is Elmer.
This is not about gasoline, the kind you put in your car. Although praise the Lord, the prices are coming down! $3.09/gallon right now! My mom said it's $2.68/gallon in her neck of the woods. Thank you Jesus! Something good has come from this economic crisis! But this post is really about the other kind of gas. You know, CO2, or something like that. I failed Chemistry. No, really.
Today when Lexi got home from school, she announced, "NOW, I can finally POOT!" and she let one rip!
I don't know why that's blog worthy, but I thought it was hillarious! She will not like me for this when she is 16 and comes across this post in our bloggity coffee table book!
I've been MIA for a few days. I think 5 days between posts is a new record for me! We've been busy busy busy. Cary's family has been in town for the week, since last Saturday. They stayed in Orlando, so we spent our evenings and weekends over there visiting with them. Add to that school and work and homework and gymnastics and church and Seaworld and a visit to the after hours clinic and well, we just haven't spent much time at home this week. I've had a killer bladder infection this week...I know you will sleep better tonight now that you know that. So I was the one at the clinic yesterday. Thank God for antibiotics! I'm a new woman today. (A new woman developing a yeast infection from the miraculous antibiotics.) Was that too much info? You gotta love antibiotics. I've had 2 yogurts today and a gallon of water. Not helping. Okay, so moving on...we went to Seaworld on Thursday. I love Seaworld! My kids think Seaworld is better than Disney. Ashton went to a Build A Bear party yesterday and made a cute brown bear and named him "Little Bear". And Little Bear is wearing a Little Mermaid costume a red hair wig. Heeheee. We spent about 2 hours today working with Lexi on her school work, getting her ready for her 6 weeks tests this week. Oh the pressure these days in kindergarten! Still trying to figure out halloween, I mean, fall festival costumes. My Aggies are stinky this year. When does basketball season start??? Can we just forfeit the rest of the football season??? How does a school with the best facilities in the COUNTRY, and that's not comin from me, that's from a whole slew of sports writers, whose athletic's organization brings in more money than any other school in the conference, whose fans show up in 80,000+ masses week in and week out, who pays their coaching staff millions and millions of dollars, who is located in the football capitol of America...HOW DO THEY STINK SO BADLY? I don't get it. I still need a new car. Or two. Does McCain even have a prayer? Will Casey Anthony FINALLY go back to jail this week? Did Adriana on 90210 really die last week or was that just Hollywood trickery? The suspense is killing me. Does anyone else love Glenn Beck on CNN as much as me? He's the only person in the media with the slightest bit of common sense. Watch his show. Really. It's good stuff.
I'm not quite sure where to draw the line between positive reinforcement and just plain ol' bribery! This morning, Cary and I were so groggy, I guess we hit the snooze button one too many times, or maybe Ashton had been playing with my alarm clock again, I'm not sure which. Sometimes when she secretly gets ahold of it during the day, she turns the volume all the way down or all the way up. Lovely. I know. This morning we both popped out of bed like someone had lit a fire under our mattress as we seemed to simultaneously realize it was 7:20 and we had already gotten a 20 minute late start to our day. It generally takes about 20 minutes to coral the girls into the tub in the mornings. But not today. You can call it bribery. We like to call it "positive reinforcement". Daddy said, "Good morning girls, the first one to the tub gets candy!" And MAN, they were OFF to the races! Lickity split! Ashton couldn't get her clothes off fast enough. WOW! That worked. Now once they get in the tub, which is only half the battle, you have to get them OUT of the tub, which is a chore in and of itself. Once they get to playin, they just aren't eager to get out. SO...daddy was just full of tricks this morning. He said, "Watch this girls...and he hit the button which turns on the jacuzzi jets!" WOW they couldn't get out fast enough. They were terrified by the loud noise the jets make. Okay, so that really shouldn't be so funny. But it was. Kind of. Now we know. Candy and jets.
Okay, be honest, show of hands if you thought kindergarten was for coloring, becoming proficient with scissors, learning your letters and numbers, and just learning how to "be in school". Well times have changed! Oh my stars. We are doing about AN HOUR of HOMEWORK every night and I still feel she's behind, or struggling I should say. And I know it's not because she's slow or lazy, it's because she's FIVE! I mean, like, they're past learning their letters and sounds. They've moved on to STORY WRITING, yes story writing, you didn't read that wrong, they're story writing. Can I say it again? Story writing. With a beginning, middle, and ending. Okay, at our house, we're still on "V says vuh". Forget about Heather, the mommy, for a minute. This is coming from Heather the teacher...UH HELLO...STATE LEGISLATURE or U.S. DEPT OF EDUCATION or whoever the h-e-double hockey sticks is coming up with this CRAP...WAKE UP AND SMELL THE FRENCH TOAST STICKS! I'm sorry, but 5 yr olds have no business writing stories. You cannot rush these first few years of reading and phonics instruction. It is the foundation for which the rest of their education will rely upon. Most 5 yr olds are not developmentally ready for the academic pressures that are being put on them in school these days. And you want to talk about pressure, Lexi is about to take her THIRD test! We're only 6 weeks into the school year. I recently read a book about Biblical Worldview that was bashing the public education system for "watering down the curriculum". Are you kidding? I wanted to ask that author, "What are you smokin?" I know her teacher is just as frustrated and annoyed as I am about the ridiculous pressures they put on these kids and when I say "they" I mean the government, not the schools. The schools are just doing what they have to do by government standards. I mean, if I wanted her to be face down in a book all day and not enjoy childhood, we would move to China!
But I do have to say, she is THE CUTEST girl in the class and the best dressed and she's THE BEST artist in the class, hands down, I know because I went to open house tonight and I saw everyone else's scarecrows and Johnny Appleseeds and granny apples and hers were WAY better than everyone else's. And that has to count for something. That's like way more important to me than what reading group she's in. Way.
Okay, first, we do Halloween at my house. I mean, not "DO" Halloween, but you know, we dress up and go trick or treating. We don't do the scary stuff. We don't tell scary stories. We don't take our kids to scary places (although we did go to the Walmart parking lot yesterday, talk about SCARY, the only thing scarier than Walmart is the Walmart parking lot!) So I guess what I'm trying to say is that we don't embrace Halloween in a worldly, evil sense, but I would never deprive my children of the joy, and it is a childhood joy, to get dressed up in a fun costume, and trick or treat to get TONS of candy that they will never be able to eat (because Daddy will hide most of it and eat it himself). And for the record, Halloween night is a GREAT way to meet your neighbors!
SO...the Halloween saga...what to be, what to be! At first, the girls wanted to be Tigger and Pooh. Okay, great. We live 30 minutes from downtown Disney. I'll just go sell one of my kidneys and then go to Disney and purchase 2 costumes. Right? Because that's about what a Tigger and Pooh costume would cost! Well, this weekend Ashton said she wanted to be a ballerina. FABULOUS. We have that! Costume done. I don't have to trade in an organ. Lexi wanted to be a mermaid. Okay, back to Disney for an Ariel costume. Will only have to sell half a kidney. Today, the girls got out their cowgirl boots and cowgirl hats which gave me another idea...how bout cowgirls? Kids will ask, "What are you?" And Lexi can say, "I'm Alexis from Texas!" So that's where I'm at. Halloween is like 3 weeks away and I got nuthin!
And by the way, WHY does Universal Studios feel the need to put their awful "Halloween Horror Nights" ads EVERYWHERE that small children go? They even advertise on TV during family programing. Their ads are disgusting. And oh their billboards. Awful. I think they should be illegal. I'm really more into the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party"myself.
My hair has been a constant source of discussion on this here blog. There was this recent post. And this one. And this one is one of my all time favorites. And yet, here we go again. I kind of like my hair. Most days. Even if I do live in the humid subtropics. Today I got a hair cut. My hairstylist whom I LOVE LOVE LOVE, she's the cutest thing, I want to be "real friends" but is that wierd to be friends with your hair person, because what if one day you want to find a new hair person, anyways, she fixed my hair a little different today. I really liked it. It was cute and trendy and she worked some magic with the flat iron that I will never be able to reproduce on my own I'm quite sure. But when Lexi got home from school she said, "Mommy, why didn't you fix your hair today?"
My reply went a little like this: "But...I....uh....uh...I, oh nevermind. Sorry, honey, I'll do better tomorrow."
What can I say? You think your hair looks great and then your kids set you straight.
