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"I believe this little bird is mocking me."

"Why are you interupting me in my quest to grab this toy?"

"Seriously, why?"

"Yeah . . . I know I'm cute."

"Come give me some sugars, Mama"

"Will this photo session ever come to an end?!"

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from our son during a recent performance at school.
He started out OK . . . although he didn't participate in the singing.

He was very excited to discover that Mama was there -- who, by the way, had her video camera, digital camera, and cell phone camera all pointed at him!
But then he decided the program was much more enjoyable from the audience!

Here he is with his best little buddy, Malia.

Recently I've been reminded about how important communication is, and how easy it is to get something wrong because the words just don't come out quite right. I still have problems with this . . and I've been talking for quite a number of years. How much more frustrating is it for the little ones?

Mommy: AnnaBeth, please go downstairs and get me a Walmart bag
AnnaBeth: (coming back upstairs) I can't find any, Mommy.
Mommy: What do you mean you can't find any? There's a huge pile in the pantry . . you know where they are. Look again.
AnnaBeth: (down the stairs and back up again) Still can't find any, Mommy.
Mommy: (getting frustrated) AnnaBeth -- you aren't looking very well. There must be a hundred bags down there. PLEASE GET ME ONE.
AnnaBeth: (also frustrated, trudges downstairs and then shouts up to me . . ) MOM! I can't find any Walmart bags!! All I can find are Sprouts and Kroger bags!

And then there's this . . .
Aidan: Mommy. I hurt my winas.
Mommy: (knowing that we call all our 'parts' by the appropriate names) You hurt your WHAT?!
Aidan: My WINAS, mommy.
Mommy: Hmmmm. (hesitantly, I ask . . .) Show me what you mean.
Aidan: (Wiggling his FINGERS) Here mommy, my WINAS.
Mommy: (WHEW.)

"Look Mommy, I buttoned it by myself!"

Here's Aidan, all dressed up like Papaw and Uncle Matt. Underneath, he's even wearing camo-underwear!!!

Juliet had cereal for the first time last Friday night.

This was all Daddy.

Uh . . . . what just happened?

Raegan's assignment: Create a turkey using whatever materials you want.
I present to you . . . TRASH TURKEY.

Please note turkey's wings made of coffee filters, feet made of old Christmas decorations and feathers made of a cereal box.

AnnaBeth's assignment: Disguise your turkey so he'll be safe on Thanksgiving Day.
I present to you . . . . TINKER TURKEY.

Please note turkey's toenails are painted pink and her "Tinkerbell" wings made from a pink feather.

I'm not sure of the educational value in all of this, but it sure was alot of fun!!!

Here's our little piglet. Juliet's costume was a little too warm for the 80 degree weather we had . . . so part of the evening she dressed up as a baby in a onesie.

Aidan was Batman. Here he is in full attire . . . which lasted about 5 minutes. Most of the evening he was 'just Aidan.' Although he did at least wear his mask when we went out trick-or-treating.

AnnaBeth was Tinkerbell. Deciding not to spend $20 on a cheaply made costume from WMart, I put my newly-purchased sewing machine to work that afternoon and we made it ourselves. Since we already had the wings and the t-shirt, it only cost us $4!

Raegan was Princess Leah. Here she is getting ready to defend the galaxy against evil.

For the past few years CityView has hosted bounce-houses for kids and hot chocolate for the adults in different neighborhoods in our community. We got to host one in our front yard again this year. It's such a great way to get to meet and talk to our neighbors and also let people know about our church. I love that we can redeem something like Halloween by using it to love on our neighborhoods!!! One of my favorite parts is getting to hang out with our amazing family that is CityView. (I also had a blast jumping!) If you look closely you can see Aidan in there!