A Good Man is Hard to Find…Thankfully, They Can Replicate Themselves

This is the card that greeted Anna when she woke this morning:

As usual, her brother was up before her.  Only this time, he decided to forego his morning Star Wars video game for an encouraging letter to his sister.

Since today is Greg’s day off, he took the kids to pick up a pumpkin (and also to help some friends who had a flat tire) so that we could carve it.  The three of them came home with a pumpkin, some milk (per request), and these:

It was Luke’s idea, but Greg readily agreed.  Of course.  Where do you think Luke learned this stuff from, after all?

I’m so thankful for my good men:).

Woodbine Family’s Trunk or Treat 2012

On Sunday afternoon, our church had a Trunk or Treat.  I have never been to a Trunk or Treat before, so even though it seems pretty straightforward, I didn’t have a great picture of what to expect.  So I got some candy and decorations, got my kids dressed, and we went to find out together.

Here is Anna in her outfit:

We will get to Luke in a moment.  But first, here is a shot of the kids enjoying the weather before it turned COLD later in the evening:

Since I had no Trunk or Treat experience, I turned my car and decorations over to some teens, who were happy to help:

Sarah, Desiree, and Wade (in the background), were a big help throughout the evening!

I love this picture of Anna and her pal, Dessa.  At Ghouls for Grassmere, Dessa was Batgirl, and Anna was Catwoman.  For Trunk or Treat, they switched.  I think they are going to stick with this combo for Halloween, as well.

In the meantime, when Luke had to choose between Batman and Bane for Trunk or Treat, he chose…

Luke Skywalker:).

This last minute change caused us a slight bit of stress as he initially balked at wearing Greg’s hoodie, instead wanting to wear dark pants and a dark shirt.  He assumed the light saber would provide enough explanation, but we explained (repeatedly) that nobody was going to know who he was without some sort of hood.  Finally, he agreed.  In the above pictures, he is with Abby Driscoll and Canon Steed.  The Driscolls are visiting the Steeds from Summerville, and as Courtney was enlisted to take pictures at the event, we got the pleasure of seeing them, as well as Courtney’s three boys! 

Before the Trunk or Treat started, we had a church service.  Having most of our kids (and many of our adults) in costume definitely made this service out of the ordinary!

Here are some of our other “kids”:

Ryan Grace, Bennett, Baily, and Brown

Robert

LaCheryl and Kiki

Will and Melissa Price

Brown and Luke

Taylor, Autumn, and Morgan

Tonee and Niveah

It was a great evening, and one of those church events that make our name—Woodbine Family—seem so apt.  We are so thankful to be apart of a church like this!

Time and Space to Breathe

We have done nothing besides the essentials this week.  No field trip.  No extra play dates.  I had to say no to a couple of get-together opportunities.  But it had to be done.

We needed time and space to breathe.

Instead of social events, Greg took the kids on a nature walk Monday morning while I cleaned up the wreckage of the house and got it school-ready.  Then, I made soup and got lunch ready for when the kids came home.  And then, we had afternoon school.

We still kept all of our regular appointments, like tutorial and tae kwon do, and gymnastics, and church, and our homeschool play group.  Luke even got two extra stripes on his karate belt for obeying instructions when no one else did:

Other than that, though, we stayed home.  We had school.  I did laundry.  I paid bills.  I sat and looked at the leaves.  I helped Luke find the Lego piece he needed.  We read lots and lots of books.

On Wednesday, we had school outside.  It was a moral imperative.  It was just too beautiful to stay in with so many leaves falling from the trees.

We even used the leaves to help Anna focus on the word she was supposed to be reading in Phonics Pathways:

We went in for lunch, math, and science, but the next day, we did all of school outside.  We even ate lunch outside and took “quiet time” outside.  It was just too pretty. 

One fun moment on Thursday came when Luke recited all of his Old Testament books without making a mistake.  It was the first time ever, and when he finished, a breeze immediately came through and leaves started raining down like confetti.  I said, “The trees are clapping, Luke!”  And the kids took up that theme and had a spontaneous burst of joy where they ran, dancing through the leaves and laughing and trying to catch them.  It rained leaves on us several times that day.  It is even lightly raining leaves in the picture below, although it is hard to see because they blend in:

Friday was too cold for school outside, so we studied cozily inside instead.  During quiet time, I laid down for a little while and just listened to the kids playing quietly in their room.  I heard Anna murmuring little snatches of made up songs and dialogue between her baby dolls.  I heard the crunching of Lego’s as Luke searched the box for the right one and the clinking of the pieces being snapped together.  These little sounds formed a type of melody in the background as I drifted off to sleep for a little while. 

When Greg came home, we went out to eat and then Anna and I ran into the mall so  I could get a new pair of jeans.  Then, it was home to build a fire and read stories before bed.

We kept a fire going all day Saturday, as well, and the pace picked back up a little, with a wonderful visit from Gigi and Gramma Dottie in the morning, and a couple from church coming over for dinner in the evening.

 

Today was back to business as usual, with our church’s trunk or treat.  After such a relaxing week, though, trunk or treat was lots of fun!  I will have a post up about that soon, but it is also important to me to record the calm times, the small moments, the sounds of Legos and made up songs, the stories in front of the fire, the card games.  After all, I love those times just as much—and perhaps even more—than I love the “big” events.

Just Another Fall Weekend

Things have been a little crazy around here lately; I think we have overloaded on fall activities.  First the fair, then Rock City (not exactly a fall activity, although we did purposefully save it until the leaves changed colors), then Lucky Ladd farm, then Ghouls at Grassmere…and then this weekend, we went to the Music and Molasses festival and then another pumpkin patch!  Phew!  It has all been so much fun, but on Sunday night, I was exhausted! 

This was our view when we parked at the Music and Molasses festival on Saturday morning.  I mean, how can you stay indoors when outdoors looks like this?  Besides the festival was just a little over a couple of miles away.  We had to hit it up. 

It cost a few bucks to get in, so we were a little disappointed to find out that most of the activities inside cost money, as well ($3 to jump in the bouncy house??  Are you kidding me??).  We did spring for a pony ride, however, and ended up getting a “deal” because there was only one pony left for the round:

The (very nice) owner of the ponies let our two share a horse and then ride separately the next round.

Since we used all our cash to get in and pay for the pony ride, we spent the rest of the time just walking around and looking.

We saw a teepee in which a Lakota Indian played music for us:

And we got to look into several old houses to see scenes of the past:

We also saw a mule making sorghum molasses:

After we had seen all that we could see, we headed home.  We still wanted to take advantage of the great weather, however, so Greg suggested that we build a fire in the fire pit.  We ended up roasting hotdogs for dinner, eating them along with sauteed vegetables.

For dessert, we roasted marshmallows.  And when it got dark, we pulled out blankets and looked at the stars.  It was a beautiful, cool, clear night, and we enjoyed snuggling under blankets and taking in God’s creation.

The next morning, the kids and I headed up early to church because they had a Spanish lesson.  Their teacher was running a few minutes late, so while they played in a classroom nearby, I paused and enjoyed the quiet in our church’s “family room.”  It was so pleasant and quiet that I had to snap a picture:

The quiet didn’t last long.  Viviana showed up to teach Spanish and I sang to her baby daughter, Genesis, while my kids were in class.  By the time class was over, the family room was full of…well, family!  For the next hour and a half or so, we had Sunday school and church, and then several of our families went out to the Gentry Farms pumpkin patch together.

We arrived and walked through the “munchkin maze,” rode the tire swing, threw some cornhole, and visited a little play area in a barn:

The farm was lovely, and there were several little touches that were overtly Christian, such as the “fruit of the Spirit” theme in the barn.  Also, the bluegrass music that played in the background consisted of old Christian hymns, and I found myself happily singing long-forgotten lyrics like, “He’s the lily of the valley/the bright and morning star/He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul” along with the music as we explored the farm.

After the barn, we went to see the animals.  This was Kingston’s reaction to the smell:

We were cracking up! 

Next, we the kids played on a wooden train and in some corn-filled troughs:

Lastly, we went on a hayride.

Finally, we headed home.  By the time we dropped off the mom who had ridden with us, picked up Greg’s car at the church, stopped for supper, and arrived home, it was 6:00 pm.  The kids and I had left the the house at 9:15 that morning.  It had been a long day.

Still, Greg had promised the kids that we could have a movie night that night to watch Star Wars, Episode 1 since Luke has been Star Wars crazy lately.  They were really excited about it (and so was Greg, I think:)), so we popped popcorn and blew up the air mattresses.

Luke, especially, loved it.  As for me, I asked to be excused around 7:45 to go to bed!!  Though we had had so much fun in the past week and a half, I determined that the next week would be completely low key.  I have stuck to my guns, and it has been peaceful and wonderful!