Happy Halloween

I love watching the excitement children (and even adults) have in getting dressed up as different characters for Halloween. This year my kids (well I should say Jackson and Ava) have been obsessed with the characters from Narnia. Last spring Jackson asked if we could read the narnia series. Did I already write about this? I forget if I did. Well, in case I didn't I'll elaborate here. So every night, or most every night we'd read a chapter. We finished the seventh and final book in the series just before school started.

It was something we all looked forward to reading each night. I especially got into the stories. It's so much fun when your kids are old enough to enjoy chapter books. And since Jackson is into them now and Ava is so patient she'll listen right along. It also made me realize why shouldn't we expose children to chapter books even if they're young. They'll color or play with legos on the floor while they listen. It has been a really nice bonding time for all of us and something we carry through our days when we talk about what is happening or something comes up that they can relate the story to.

I don't have time to go into it tonight in this post, but I really admire Charlotte Mason and her style of teaching children. I strive to incorporate her way of teaching in the things we do at home. Anyway, the whole reason I brought this up is to explain that Jackson was Prince Caspian and Ava was Lucy for Hallowen this year. I initially thought I'd make Audrey Aslan, but never got around to getting the lion costume. Instead she made good use of the dress up tulip fairy costume we already had. I hope everyone a had a goodnight and all your little ones are tucked sweetly asleep.

Oh, I should also mention last year I learned about the pumpkin fairy. Not sure why I had never heard of her before. But what you do is you let your kids pick a little bit of candy out, but then the rest they leave out for the pumpkin fairy. She takes the candy (to I don't know where..that doesn't really seem to matter) and in return the children are each left a present. They're so excited to see what she brings. I'm so excited to not have candy around the house forever and ever. It's a win, win!

A last visit to the pumpkin patch

I love the fall and find pumpkin patches especially fun with kids. Even before I ever had Jackson I used to see little children picking out their pumpkins and thought that they're so adorable squatting down to check them out and pick just the right one. You better believe in his first fall, when he was just nine months old we made a special trip to a pumpkin patch to capture those adorable pumpkin pictures. Of course he fell asleep on the way there and was very concerned about the feeling of the hay beneath him and why mom and dad were trying to hard to get him to smile. Every year since, we've made it a tradition to go as often as possible while they're open. So today after school we took one last swing by the a pumpkin patch to play and pick up a few more little pumpkins before Halloween. Since we've already bought pumpkins on a few different trips I only let them get little ones. When we got home they promptly asked to add google eyes and flower sticers, buttons etc. to create faces. I thought it was a great idea and happened to have everything we needed in our craft bin.

On another note. I'm super excited about a book I recently found out about through www.rosylittlethings.typepad.com. It's called "Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer". The author decided to write the cookbook after her daughter was curious about the foods that were mentioned in the classic children's books she was reading. This past spring and summer we completed the seven books in the Narnia series. One of the recipes is from "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" and now we're reading "The Secret Garden." I noticed that the author of "The Secret Garden" is mentioned in the recipe list so I'm hopeful there will be a recipe from that book too. Jackson is the one who will really get it, but the girls will also love helping bake new things in the kitchen. I'm just so excited about the book because she includes the excerpts from the books with the recipe. It's a great concept.

A Happy Weekend

It was a nice and mellow weekend. Friday night Jackson went to a Star Wars birthday party with the first original movie playing on a backyard projector. Everyone dressed up and the mom had treats and crafts all coordinated with the theme. She does the best job with her parties. On Saturday Jackson played in his fall ball baseball game. It was the first game where the kid's got to pitch and he was one of the pitchers. He was very excited. I tried to get myself organized and did a massive clean out of Jackson's closet, the toy bin and book basket. It seems to be a never-ending process. After the game the girls took naps and I did my bible study homework. On Sunday we all went to church then Jackson and Neal watched the Redskin game. My sister and her husband came over and I made turkey chili for dinner. Sort of uneventful, but also nice not to be rushing around.

I'm okay with that...

I'm finally jumping in and just starting this blog. So often I think I have to have things all pretty and perfect before I start something and you know what happens, I wind up not ever starting because quite frankly I don't have time any more to make things all pretty and perfect from the get go. So I will just start recording what I want to remember and as I have time I'll add a banner and spice up this blog little by little.

Today I woke up to discover a really large coyote right outside my window in my backyard. He was prowling, looking for food. Having three young children and a sweet little cocker spaniel who already was attacked by a coyote in our front yard, this makes me nervous. He saw me and hopped up our hill and I hope right out of our yard. But I wondered does he smell our kids and our dog and will he be back looking for food again. Hopefully the many squirrels that make a home in our yard will suffice and he'll move along.

It was kind of eery how much he circled and sniffed and sauntered up the hill as though he owned the terrain. My bible study right now by Beth Moore is about Daniel and just last night her video was about Daniel being in the Lion's den. The coyote reminded me of the lions who were ravenously hungry, but the angels kept their mouths shut. Daniel was a faithful servant who gave praise to God in all things. God protected him while he was in the lion's den. I know I'm definitely summarizing the whole story here. If you're interested in reading more, the story is in Daniel 6.

I also thought about how the devil is right outside our doors prowling, looking for a way in. ("Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8). On her video in the Daniel series last night, I got chills when Beth Moore talked about how God's armor as written in Ephesians 6:11-17 is mostly defensive, meaning we're protecting ourselves from attack. But the only armor that we have that is offensive, that can really strike a blow against the evil one prowling to get into our lives is the Word of God. It is so convicting to have scripture deep in your heart and mind to call on in times of need because when the emergencies hit in our lives, it's really too late to start trying to memorize. Interesting how seeing a coyote in my backyard made me think of all these things, but my mind works in symbolic ways.

Onto the latest little treasures with my kids. We went away this weekend to my parent's house and then drove from there to Julian to go apple picking this weekend. It is something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but the timing never worked out. It was a lot of fun. Today both the girls have coughs so Ava stayed home from school and Audrey and I didn't go to mommy and me together. Instead we made sugar free, dairy free, wheat free banana bread. Ironically it's me who is bothered by these things, but it doesn't hurt to make healthy treats for them. We used agave syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, almond flour and the many bananas that got too ripe while we were away.

After helping mix the bread, watch the bread bake and clean up, the girls decided to make a little meal of their own. Ava announced, "I'm having ice cream for breakfast." I said, "Hmmm..that's not very healthy" to which she replied, "Yea, I know, but I'm ok with that." She's ok with that. It made me smile and is the reason I decided to sit down and finally start this blog today.

I hope you enjoy the things your kids are 'ok with' today too.