Our First Halloween with Joel

For Halloween night, Joel was a panda. Clark was a dinosaur; he was inspired by the new PBS show Dinosaur Train. We got lots of candy and had a great time!!!!

Daddy and Clark carved Joel's first pumpkin. It had three teeth in honor of Joel.

Choo choo boy to the rescue. Clark is "rescuing" his friend on the trampoline.

On Friday we went to a fun Halloween party. We are the Tetragrammaton Warriors (a fancy way to say God's Warriors).

Michael's super identity was All American Man. His super powers are house repairs of any kind, chopping wood in a single swing, saving the day five insurance claims at a time, making a two year old eat vegetables, calming a screaming baby, and defeating the algebra monster.

Jenna was Wonder Momma with the powers to push mow the lawn while carrying a child on her back; fall off ladders without breaking bones; keep house, play with her kids, and help mankind all on a few hours of sleep.

Clark was Choo Choo Boy with the powers to recall all of Thomas and His Friends, leap off tall objects and get up to do it again, say hello to every single person we pass and make most of them smile, and make Joel giggle.

Joel was Blink with the powers to climb the stairs when no one is looking, put everything he shouldn't in his mouth, eat a banana at lightning speed, and destroy Clark's toys and games all in a blink.

A Haunted Meal

Before children, I always struggled with what to do with Halloween. It's such a contraversial day. But it is my favorite holiday because I love fall, pumpkins, and candy; there's no stress; and it brings neighbors together. So I've embraced it for now. Here's our pre-Halloween dinner from last night: Mummy dogs, ghost mashed potatoes, frog eggs (peas), and tomb pies (homemade cherry turnovers). I really don't have a creative bone in my body, so I take no credit. Clark and Michael were thrilled, and I could tell that they really enjoyed the food. I think we'll be doing this meal again next year. It was fun and yummy!

"Mommy and Daddy, I had fun!"

Those words are music to a parent's ears, and today Clark declared this to us after our hike to our favorite hiking place. Clark is growing up so fast that we can't even keep up. Today Clark did the hike all by himself and did well. He really got into throwing rocks into the water. We enjoyed a contest to see who could make the biggest splash. Daddy of course won! The hike was spectacular with the roaring of the white water and glorious colors of fall. I have to give a "shout out" to God for creating such a beautiful creation that even my two year old took notice of and appreciated.



One of the beautiful sights along the trail

We came prepared to carry Clark with the backback, but like I said, he's growing up too fast.

Clark carried rocks every second of the hike. Even when he fell he got up and started begging that we find his rocks. It wasn't hard since there were one billion rocks. He must really like rocks. Joel had a great time riding on Mommy and checking out the sights.

Clark threw rocks with all his might

a life lesson learned through oatmeal

I was busy with all the hustle and bustle of the morning--making oatmeal, cleaning up oatmeal, washing oatmeal off everything in the kitchen, and wiping oatmeal out of my little boys' noses, hair, face, clothes, etc. You get the drift. This is something I do everyday just about and don't really enjoy. My kids love oatmeal and I HATE oatmeal. Well....I found myself overcome with thankfulness that I get the privilege to clean up oatmeal every morning.

I haven't always been like that. There was a time in my life I was flat out angry and self-absorbed. Cleaning up the oatmeal day after day would have caused a bad attitude. But not today. Today I find myself honored to clean up the sticky goo. I remind myself daily that I might not have tomorrow with them. I only have TODAY. The reason why....my heart was broken. Brokenness is God's secret weapon to bringing us to Him (it seems in my life). God used a little girl to bring me to my knees. Before I was a mommy to my boys, I was a mommy to a little girl. I have her to thank for teaching me how to love, to cherish every moment, and to keep perspective.

The hardest and saddest and most confusing thing that has ever happened to me was losing my "first child". If you don't know, my sister was in a bad car accident, and she had a lot of life problems in 2005. So she gave us her daughter to raise, and we made plans to adopt her. We didn't hold back our hearts, and we fell completely in love with her. Well, my sister got better, and she wanted her back. So we lost our little girl. NO, she didn't die, and we still get to see her. BUT our hearts were shattered, and we felt the unbearable pain of loss.

I realize that God used my broken heart to make me a good mother to my boys. I wouldn't be the mother I am without that terrible time in my life. I believe that God can use every awful, sad, lonely, scary, tough, tragic, discouraging, or painful time in your life to shape you to be a more like His son Jesus. When we allow His tender hands to mend our hearts during those hard times, the fruit will pour out on our children.

Currently, I have several dear friends of mine who are in the middle of those tough times experiencing loss, anger, medical/financial troubles, broken hearts, dashed dreams, sickness and death. My heart is hurting for my sweet sisters. And I am praying that God WILL use these hard times to shape their hearts and bring quick healing and the sweetest fruit.

So back to my title....the lesson I learned today as I was cleaning up all the blessed oatmeal is-- if I am a GOOD mother it's only because God is a GOOD GOD!!!!! I hope you can see how He is working in your life and heart through your "oatmeal mornings".

Happy Hanukkah--my son is a model

This post is nothing more than a proud momma bragging on her baby. So stop now if you'll get sick. ;-)

Okay so in the summer we participated in Olan Mills model photo shoot for their winter advertisement campaign. There were "billions" of kids getting their pictures taken for free. Then you get hundreds of dollars of free pictures. It was FABULOUS, and we were so thankful! The only problem for me was Clark was a grumpy little guy during the shoot. They only managed to take ONE picture of him because he was throwing a tantrum (it was past his nap time).

Well as it turns out Clark made their website--front page!  It was Clark's ONE picture had made it unto their final cut. He's on one of their promotional photo cards.

The neatest thing is one of my MOPS friend's son was selected as the top model, and his picture is on everything. He is a cute kid!

So if you are in Olan Mills looking at their Christmas photo cards choices, you might seeing Clark with the inscription below saying "Happy Hanukkah". (yes that made me laugh)