Our Halloween 2010

We're not HUGE Halloween celebrators....

We really enjoy our church's Harvest Festival on Saturday night.... always a great time with church members and meeting new members from the community;)

We (or maybe it's just me! LOL!!) enjoy carving pumpkins!! Scooping all the seeds out, baking the seeds and then carving pictures and faces into our pumpkins (this year the 1st night we'll display them is actually on the 31st... I usually like it done a little earlier... ).



But we're not big on dressing up.... in fact, this year only 50% of us dressed up:) LOL!!

Anna wore a snow White dress from Little Dress Up shop


Brian wore a shirt he picked up off a clearance rack for $1!

And Nate was the cutest little Skeleton:)



That was all Friday and Saturday.... SUnday was a whole new day!!

We spent the morning at church, enjoying our church family and participating in our various classes/studies;) Except we had a surprise visit from the leader of the VBS crew that came down for VBS... so nice to see them!

Then we had a quick lunch and everyone napped (hmmm, everyone but Nate and I, he's in an awful nap schedule... grrrr... waiting for him to go to 2 predicable naps a day!)

During the late afternoon, we had a "stick incident" outside which resulted in Lydia getting hurt! After an EMT friend came over we decided to drive to our peditrician's after-hours clinic!

After an hour appt, Brian and Lydia emerged smiling (with candy!!). She didn't need stitches (although, not sure if they could have even done stitches how close to her eye the injury was)! In fact, the cuts had already started healing... our bodies are amazing!

And the best news was that they checked her eye for scratched on her cornea and didn't have any! She is just a VERY lucky girl and is very fortunate to have people praying daily for her! We were soo thankful!

Got pics on the way home!


Trying to be "happy".


We rounded out the evening sitting on the side of the road...

no, it wasn't us!! Thank goodness!

But we passed a car stopped in the middle of our lane. After passing them, Brian turned around to help.... it was a young mom traveling with a 2 month old. And her car was totally broken down and she was at least a couple of hours from home!!

We spent a good amount of time there... Brian checking her car and us waiting for some local friends to pick her up.


I hate to even mention this....

but my kids did complain about having to sit in the car and wait. And while we were hungry, it was LATE so we were all tired and having to use the potty (LOL!!) It was a great opportunity to remind them about the Good Samaritan- who was ready to help and go beyond the initial help to be sure the one needing help was ok!!

And I was soo glad Brian decided to turn back when it would have been soo much easier to drive by and care for his own family!! he kept saying that he would have wanted someone to show us the same kindness, if I was ever stranded on the side of the road!

So we've had some FULL days this weekend!! Ready for a QUIET week to recover and for Lydia to heal!!

Baby Details

I've mentioned that when Erica visited with her awesome dream camera, it inspired me to pull out Andrea's Rebel to take some pics (while my computer wasn't working). And now I'm finally getting to share them:)

One fun "session" was to stick Nate on a blanket during a warm afternoon and "snap" away!!! Nate LOVED the attention:) And I LOVE the photos that came out of it....

soo much baby cuteness caught!!

Erica is very artistic!! She is an amazing violinist, but I've noticed that she's got an eye for artistic details that comes out in her home decor, wardrobe and now in her photography:)

I'm just loving the DETAILS that she captured of Nate...





And I also love the "creative auto" setting on her camera!! Just awesome;)

Just Feed Me Already....

For weeks now Nate has been reaching for food.... sticking his hands in our food, grabbing our plates and the WORST... making eating noises while watching us eat.

There is no doubt in my mind that at almost 6 months and sitting up alone (some tipping over) that he has been ready to eat for some time. Why hold him off???

While researching and talking to our allergist and pediatrician, the 6th month mark is the magic age for introducing foods to help delaying food allergies... over and over and over I've heard it and read it.

We have found that delaying the introduction to the problem foods in our older kids HAS made their sensitivity to it lessen, we think! (Lydia seems to be alot less sensitive to milk/egg products than Chris and Anna!)

Or maybe it's just a different kid, with a body that reacts to foods differently.

Welcome to the Uncertain World of Food Allergies!! Where we may know A Whole Lot more than we Used to Know, but it's still NOT Enough to answer the simple questions like "will my child grow out of her milk/peanut allergy?"

or for us right now "Is it ok to start feeding Nate a week or two early (since he's about to grab the food off our plates and help himself)??

This week we had a funny situation that helped us with an answer....

Remember we had our sweet friends visiting with us - the parents and their crew of 5! They have learned that major events like meals and snacks should be done together to tame the choas:) LOL!!!

So that's what we did!! Here's our 2 crews at a neighbor's house enjoying a quick snack together!!
Nate was awake and ready to join in the fun:) He loved the twins (and the dirt)!!!

And then as I was snapping pics.....

I saw the "hand off"!!!

And what did my little boy do with the apple slice?????

He stuck the corner in his mouth and started to gum it.... of course! He's been watching us for weeks AND he does that to everything he can pick up right now... LOL!!!

(just so no one freaks out... I was totally watching him and if he got any pieces off.... while handing a baby an apple slice isn't the smartest thing in the world, I was watching him, checking his progress with each toothless chomp and I had eaten some the apple myself so I knew it was a very sturdy textured apple!!)

I went to show Brian and Nate was gumming away ( totally MY bite mark in the apple)!

Up the nose!

And you gottta love his expression here;)

So this week, I just went ahead and started feeding him more foods that aren't on the most common allergy lists!!

He was ready.

You can find some other picture posts at Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom and Go Graham Go!!!

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Around the dinner table (our 1st meal without the Coopers) we were having a silly conversation about exchanging kids with their family. They had jokingly said that they would take Lydia - they had asked their daughter!!

So we asked our kids who we'd like to take in exchange for Lydia. Anna spoke up first and I really, really thought she was going to say their sweet daughter, Orli.

But instead Anna said, "I think we should take Elliot. I like him. While he was at our house all I could do was stare at him. I think he's like my boyfriend!"

WHAT!!! LOL.... good thing they had already left!! I think her Daddy would have kept her in the bedroom. So funny and cute:)

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I had Anna trying on all the pants from her drawer.... the whole warm clothes sort! Anyway, she tried on some jeans and then stood in front of the mirror.



She gave a funny face.

Then said," I don't really like these jeans. I don't think they look right with my new missing tooth!!!"

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While playing "Bible school" Anna gave Chris the directions to tell the class about
David and Goliath.

Christopher confidently started the story,"Joseph's dad gave him a coat of many colors..."

LOL!! Since I was in the room, I did stop him and help him start again with David. Although it would have been great to see how he connected the coat of many colors to fighting Goliath:)

Two of My Favorite Guys