Sleepover Silliness

It's been a while since we've kept Philip overnight with out the other two. The boys had such a good time. Philip is starting to play more with Noah and they chase each other all over the house doing silly things. It is so much fun to see them interacting and learning from each other. Philip can also say Noah clearly now so he love to chase Noah calling his name.

Here are a few pictures that we took right before bedtime. Are they not the cutest things you have ever seen?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Snow Globe Toy & MySpace Layouts at pYzam.com

13 & 3

I can not believe that these two will be three and thirteen by the end of next month. We not only have one maturing into a teenager but then our toddler is becoming a VERY independent preschooler. They could not be any more different if they tried really hard. Talk about starting over. We are so blessed to be allowed to parent these two beautiful children. Most days it feels as though we are doing it all wrong and that one day we will have to fork out big bucks for a therapist...for theirs and ours. Life is certainly challenging with the 10 year age span but we reap so many blessings through all of it.

One day I want to post about life with our little Noah, but for now I am at a loss as to how to put it into words. Please just pray for patience and wisdom as we (okay more so I) try to parent this handsome bundle of energy. I think that my next read needs to be Bringing up boys.

Cookies With Mom

No Joke...Noah had no idea that he looked like this. He was disgusted when we showed him that he had flour all over his face. His first clue was when he saw sissy with flour on her nose. She put it on her nose so that they would match for pictures. When he turned and saw her face we captured his face. See the picture below this one.
What is that one sissy's face?
The next two pictures were captured before he saw his sissy's face.
They are just too cute for words!

Catching up on post

I did not get pictures of the kids in their costumes this year. I also did not get pictures of our very exciting night. I took a picture of Noah's pumpkin but not of Kayla's. I was able to get Noah's before I went to bed that night but James and Kayla were still working on hers when I checked out for the night. The only time I would remember it was still to light to get a good picture. I did get a few pictures of the carving event if that counts. It just blows my mind that we can be so busy. It feels like we move from one thing to the next with no break.

This year our church decided to do a "trunk or treat." Most people have heard of this event but we decided to take it to a new level. Instead of hosting it at the church we held it at a sports warehouse that had a HUGE parking lot. This location was across form a Walmart so we knew to expect a lot of traffic. Instead of just having open trunks with candy, every trunk had a game or purpose. The kids would play a carnival type game and then receive candy. We even had a trunk that you could put your name in for a free bike. We had tattoos (fake of course), popcorn, face painting, hot dogs and lemon aid. We also had three inflatables along with 60 plus trunks. We even had a "BIG" screen set up that played Veggie Tales and random Christian music videos. We have been told that we had more than 2000 people come through this event. Of those 2000 at least 200 families claimed to be "un-churched." It is our desire to now reach out to those families and see how we can minister to them.

When the church told us that each Adult Bible Fellowship class needed to host at least two trunks and that in a way this was a competition to see who could get the most trunks together and be as creative as possible we knew that it was on. We love our group of people but let me just say we have a very competitive group. When our group heard this one of our guys that drives OTR said "How big can the trunk be?" With that said we ended up with a semi truck and trailer as one of our booths. The problem came when were not sure how to get the kids in and out of the truck and then what do you do with all that space. Well...you rent stairs (that the company ended up not let us pay for) and then you set up cosmic bowling. So we went on line and purchased a huge inflatable bowling set. The ball was as big as the kids and the pins were over two feet tall. Then we set up black lights, a strobe light, and a fog machine. Everyone in the truck wore black with white gloves. One of our guys made this awesome banner for the side of the truck. When you entered the truck it was like walking onto a giant bowling lane. The kids had a blast and our people never stopped. It took about 15 of us to man our two booths for the few hours we were there. We took turns taking our own kids around and working our two booths. James actually never left the semi truck becasu he was so busy. I have to say it was actually more fun to work than to play. Needless to say there just wasn't time for pictures. The other booth that we had was cool too. We set up an electronic basket ball shoot where people could compete. We had two Harley Davidson bikes as our trunks. We decorated with a Razorback theme and then handed out candy and razorback tattoos. Both trunks seemed to be a big hit.

Volleyball is going pretty well. We have playoffs this week. One of our guys injured his back and we really miss having him on the floor. He was kind of our secret weapon. We are up against some good competition this year so we are having to play a lot harder. I am really feeling the lack of being in any kind of shape to play. It is not that I am not able to play I just feel the pain when it's over. I have an old knee and shoulder injury that acts up when I do crazy things like play volleyball and other more intense physical activity. I am ready to be able to not be in pain every time I try to lift my arm; but I will miss playing. This is our favorite sport and James and I actually play well together. This past week we had an amazing play together and it was so exciting.

Other items to report...School is going pretty well. Noah is changing so much and I really want to post about him soon. He is such an interesting little fellow. Kayla and I got our flu shots this week. Kayla had a lot of pain in her arm but I did not feel mine. She is feeling better now but I have experienced really bad muscle spasms since the shot. It started at the injection site and has moved to other places as well now. It is actually happening as I type. It is rather bothersome. James has been sick but is feeling a little better now. We are all so very tired and I am looking forward to Christmas vacation. James and I did have a great date night Saturday and even had an entire evening with out kids. They spent the night with their aunt Ber. Thanks so very much, we really needed that. It's your turn next.

I still want to post about our trip to Texas for my Grandfathers funeral. I have some priceless photos and stories but I have jsut been too tired and too emotional to put that post together. Still processing that trip. I also what to share some Noah stories so that I will have them later.

I do have to give an insight as to what I am up against during the day with our little man. This afternoon I was quizzing Kayla on her school work and she got kinda of snappy with me. I gave her the look and said, "that was rude"! Noah quickly came to my chair and climbed up in my lap. He looked me in the eyes and said "maybe you should just spank her!" I replied with a "maybe you should go sit on your bed." When I was done quizzing her I went to check on him and he was sound asleep. That is the first time I can remember him just laying down and going to sleep. I figured that he was playing in his bed. He was all covered up and out like a light. I have to admit it was kind of nice. I just closed his door and I was able to get some chores done.

I guess I am going to try and get the rest of my chores done so that I can go to bed before midnight tonight. Fingers crossed!