Happy Halloween

We have just commenced the Trick or Treat adventure for this year and have successfully put the children to bed. Now the candy is all ours!!!! We had a great time. The girls were Raggedy Anne and Andy thanks to grandma's sowing. Thanks grandma. They were a hit. They got lots of compliments and we heard many times that they were the cutest of the night. We thought so, but they're just our kids. The Wizard of Oz clan, otherwise know as the M. Family, joined us yet again for this year's trick or treating. It is always great to have an older one around to help steer the children the right way. Katie fell so many times in her quest for candy that I lost count. She kept right on going. We've decided that next year we will have to come up with a theme for all three of them. (this is the third year we've done this with the M.s minus the mister since he has been unable to join us until this year.) Ms. K. and J. joined us again this year as well. Everyone had a blast, but we did freeze our little tooshies off this year....

Helen, GA

We went to Helen this weekend because Chris had to speak at a GSHP(pharmacy) conference. We left on Friday night around 8:45 and arrived around midnight. We took the girls on a frog pond nature walk on Saturday. The walk was a little muddy because of all the rain, but not too bad. The girls enjoyed riding on daddy's shoulders. Saturday afternoon we ventured over to BabyLand USA. This is the home of the original cabbage patch kids. We got to view the 'birth' a cabbage patch and hear the 'story' of the cabbage patch kids. The girls enjoyed it, but were disapointed that we didn't buy them a baby doll. To the tune of $175 for a bottom of the line original baby, I think not! They had the 'knock offs' but we already have one of those. The girls both fell asleep in the car on the way home and so Chris and I thought we might venture into Helen to see what there was to do. Unfortunately we turned the corner out of the state park and were immediately met by a line of traffic. Oktoberfest is going on right now so the traffic was tremendous. We decided that this was not the time to try that. We'll have to go back again some time. We had a nice dinner at the lodge, provided by GSHP, on Saturday night. Chris stayed and watch part of a football game and I ventured back to try to get the girls to sleep. The hope was that they would be asleep by the time he came back...no such luck. So the two of us sat in the corner with the bathroom light on until they fell asleep. The things we'll do to get kids to go to sleep! Chris did his talk on Sunday and did a great job(so I hear) Someone stopped on the way out and said that he had the most questions of any speaker and did a great job. I'll take their word for it as I am sure he did. We headed out after the talk and ate at an awesome bbq place in Helen for lunch and then headed home for AWANA. It was a quick trip, but good to get away. Enjoy the pictures!!!

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Live and Learn

This is one of those wonderful recipes that you make one time and then never attempt again. I found this recipe in the Family Fun Magazine(love that magazine). You use prepared pie crust and cut out your shapes. You then are supposed to fill the middle with mini chocolate chips or whatever you choose(marshmallows etc). Then brush the edges with an egg mixture and place another cookie cut out on top and then pinch together. They turned out great and tasted wonderful, but there were two problems. First of all, one shell only makes about 10-11 cookies. Second, they took forever to make. I think that if I ever try this again I will use bigger cookie cutters. It was just really hard to get the candy to stay in such a small place. Everyone raved about them though so maybe it was worth the effort.

Riding Bikes

Now that fall is upon us, at least for a few days, the girls have been enjoying riding their bikes outside. They have had a blast. Stephanie likes to ride down the hill(that is all we have here--no flat ground in this neighborhood) screaming. Katie just looks funny with her little legs just a peddling. She is pretty good at it too.

Sorry the picture aren't that great. I really to read up on how to find/use the sport setting on my camera. Mabye there will be time tomorrow. In the mean time, hopefully you can get the picture.

Visiting with Oma and Opa

The girls and I went to my dad's house Saturday night for a visit. The girls had a great time. They ventured upstairs with Uncle Jonathan and had a great time hollering down from the upstairs(it overlooks into the living room). They each picked stuffed bear out of the toy pile and Oma drew a picture of it for the to color. She had a rainbow crayon and so she taught them how to use it. That thought that was very cool! Oma helping Katie with the rainbow crayon. Katie listening intently to Opa.

The 'Pumpkin Patch'

After we left the scarecrows, we headed over to the pumpkin patch. Now for anyone who has a true pumpkin patch, this is not really a patch. It is more like a church parking lot, but this is our rendition here. The wind wasn't quite as brisk so I was able to actually get the girls with their cute pumkin shirts(hairbows and all--thanks J.H.). We plan to go to another one here at home and I'll post those pictures soon too.

Main Street Scarecrow contest

We went to mom's this weekend and did our traditional fall stuff. Every year in the center of town they have a scarecrow contest. Different companies set up scarecrows and they leave them on display. It has been a tradition of ours to go ever since Stephanie was a baby. The scarecrows were fun, but we were not prepared for the brisk wind that would hit us. It was 87 degrees on Friday and when we road by the bank on Saturday it said 57 degrees! Something is wrong with this weather! Anyway, here are a few of the pictures. It's a little chilly! Okay, here is the story behind this one. This a picture of a scarecrow next to a toilet. Mom had to replace the toilet in her bathroom. She put the old toilet in the back of her truck and headed off to work with the intention of going to the dump after work. Well, she arrived at the dump 5 minutes too late. So she left with the toilet in the back of the truck again. This time she had to carry it around for the next 2 days because the dump was closed the next day. So, trip number one for the girls after arriving at grandma's was to go to the dump to get rid of the toilet!

The gymnastics pose!

This is the scarecrow rendition of Obama and McCain.

Making biscuits

Katie helped mom make homemade biscuits this weekend. She was a real trooper and didn't complain one bit about the mess that she was getting all over her hands. Stephanie on the other hand politely declined the offer to help make biscuits.

Katie's chores

Recently Chris and I developed a chore chart for the girls to keep track of what they did. The chores are all things that they had been doing all along, but it was time to keep a record of it so that we could reward them with there 'allotment' money. We have done a terrible job of checking it off the chart, but I keep track and make sure that they do what they are supposed to in order to earn their money. They are too excited to get their money and to have it divided up so that they can give their tithe and then put the money in their piggy banks. I must do a better job at the checking off on the chart, but the girls are doing great with their part.

Here is a picture(I know it is rather bland-no pun intended), but I wanted to show you what a great job Katie does at setting the table. Mind you she does all the counting etc...I'll take pictures soon of Stephanie making her bed and post them too.

Missing church

Things here have been crazy as you probably have guessed by my absence in blogging as well as any other event that I am normally involved in. Let's start back at the beginning of October... I went to Kansas City to visit my friend J.H. While I was gone, Katie and Chris were both sick with the stomach virus. I thought that I had escaped it, but when I got back I came down with it too. So, that took me out of church again. This past weekend I had a trip to my mom's planned and I couldn't cancel it because it took a lot of rearranging(work, babysitters etc.) to be able to get it together. So, I missed church again. This coming weekend, we are traveling to Helen, GA where Chris will be doing a talk on Sunday at a conference. We plan to take the girls to the Cabbage Patch Hospital(or whatever it is called) on Saturday, but we will miss church again Sunday morning. I am sorry to be absent from church and I do miss my church family as well as sitting under the teaching of our pastor. However, I know that there are times when you just can't help it. I will be back after next week and hopefully I won't have any more month long absences. To my credit, I have been attending services on Wednesday each week.

My Never Bothered/never phased Katie

I went away for the weekend this past weekend and while I was gone Katie and Chris had the stomach bug. Katie started it and so in an attempt to keep Stephanie from getting sick, Chris wouldn't allow them to sleep together(a reasonable request in my opinion) Anyway, upon putting them to bed Chris left, but not really...he was listening outside their room. Here is how the conversation went... 'Stephanie, will you sleep with me?' No Katie because daddy said I coudln't. Stephanie, please will you sleep with me? Okay.' As Stephanie climbs in the bed and gets comfortable, Katie discovers that daddy is watching and says, 'Stephanie, look who is looking at us'. ... This is so Katie. Never phased, bothered or otherwise upset. She just goes with the flow and doesn't seem to be too concerned with whatever comes her way....Even a spanking!!!! Kids are so different.