Happy Halloween ^-_-^

Robby made us a special Halloween pizzaKimberly the football player, Lindsay the pumpkin (her face is the stem and her pigtails were painted green for leaves), Garrett the mummy and Cynthia the cowgirl.

CRAZY BOYS

Garrett had three friends over Friday night. Let me just say-Boys scream just as loud as girls! We turned all the lights off and gave each child a mini flashlight. The older girls crawled around and jumped out and scared them. I'd bet the screams could be heard for miles (did you hear any screaming Friday night Jeff?)

What do you think of Garrett's glasses??

When it was time to wind down the boys went to Garrett's room (which was clean before the party-I promise!) and played video games.



The girls curled up on the beanbags and watched a movie

It was fun, but I sure am glad it's over!

Oldies but Goodies

These are from our trip to Cincinnati to pick Lindsay up from her summer trip to Grandma's (in Pitt). I don't know why I never posted them because I absolutely LOVE the face painting the kids had done at Cheeseburger In Paradise. Of course, Kimberly was too cool for it.

These are Lindsay's BEST friends-the frog band. Although they are supposed to be lawn decorations they spend most of their time in her room playing school or providing back up music for her beautiful singing. They missed her greatly while she was gone and designed their own "WELCOME HOME" sign to let her know just how much! She was pretty shocked --but not fooled.

Garrett's Birthday Lunch

Garrett's birthday was actually Saturday, but we had his lunch/family party today. Grandma Lulu was able to come in from Pittsburgh (on her way to a conference in Indiana) which was a huge surprise for Garrett. Grandma Helen and Grandpa Norman were here and Kestin and Jeni brought Sophie for her first visit to our house. It was a nice, calm afternoon of fun. The WILD party will be next weekend when Garrett has about 4 of his friends sleeping over! I think the girls and I might go hide out at Grandma Helen's and leave Robby

here to deal with all the craziness!

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Garrett's "special request" cake- Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (we also had chocolate ice cream!) That's MY boy!

Grandma Lulu holding Baby Sophie

Lindsay enjoyed the cake, she even got some IN her mouth!

Sometimes all the excitement is just too much

WORDS

While sitting at KFC with my mother and two youngest children Garrett overheard a conversation that he didn’t quite understand.

My mom had sent Garrett and Lindsay shorts for soccer and Garrett had his on. My mom was commenting on how long they were and how she almost bought a longer style because at the store she thought they looked really short. I went on to tell her how the kids had been wearing their basketball shorts for soccer. I said “They really looked bad. The basketball shorts are so long that they come down below their knees. When they wear them with their shin guards and long soccer socks they look like knickers!”

Garrett’s head spun around so fast I’m surprised he doesn’t have whiplash! He looked at me wide eyed, with disbelief. A few seconds passed and he continued to look at me as if he was anticipating a response from me. I asked him why he was looking at me that way and his reply was “WHAT did you just say?” It only took a second to realize what he thought he heard so I repeated as clearly as possible “knick-ERS. KniCK-ers.

With a most serious look on his face Garrett looked me square in the eyes and said “Speak more clearly next time!”

What would I do without a 10 year-old to keep me in line!

Happy Birthday Garrett !

Garrett, you are the most loving, caring, tender-hearted person I know. You bring joy to my heart each day. I know sometimes it’s tough for you being the only boy, but you handle it all so well. You are a superb big brother and your big sisters appreciate you more than they want to let on.

I’m so proud of you for all that you do with school and sports and Bible Drill. And even though you say you don’t like being in choir, I love to hear you sing! I admire the hard work and dedication you put into everything you do (except maybe homework and cleaning your room! :) You make me so proud.

I am impressed with the young man you are and look forward to seeing you continue to grow (both in stature and in wisdom). I hope you never lose your sense of adventure and quest for knowledge (one day you might need to know all those “facts” you like to collect!).

Your spirit never ceases to amaze me and your smile never leaves me unmoved. You are an extraordinary young man. God has a very special plan for you, I’m sure of it!

Happy 10th Birthday Garrett!

I Love You!

Jesus Doesn't Need Our Crayons !

OK. Lindsay is mad at me. I laughed at her. Not because I was trying to be mean (what she said was hilarious!). But it hurt her feelings. She said I was making fun of her. Of course I didn’t mean to upset her. But sometimes she says things that are so cute and so funny that I can’t control myself. Here’s how it went. . .

We were dusting and sweeping and cleaning the bathrooms. We had the radio on to keep us motivated. Lindsay is an excellent duster (she has her own Swiffer!) I like to turn several radios on so we can hear the music all over the house, and we usually listen to 105.9 (which is a Christian station). The song “We Fall Down” by Kutless came on the radio and Lindsay was singing as loud as she could. She really gets into her singing, but about halfway though the song she stopped. Looked at me with concern. And said “I don’t think that song is right.”

I wasn’t sure what she disagreed with, so I had to ask.

She threw her hands up onto her hips and tilted her head to the side while she explained. . . “If we fell down and dropped our crayons at the feet of Jesus he would just pick them up and give them back to us. He doesn’t need our crayons! He makes color with his hands!”

You have to chuckle, don't you!

(If you haven’t heard the song, the line she was trying to quote is “We fall down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus”. She was close!)