Halloween!

Well, we made it through another Halloween. We still haven't figured out exactly what our game plan has been for this holiday so I have tried to avoid it as much as possible. We had plans to go to our MOPS church's Fall Festival this evening. Thirty minutes before it was time to leave, I find Peter and Emma happily digging in the dirt. I let them know that if they want to wear their dress-up clothes to the festival they need to come inside and change. Neither one of them wanted to leave their dirt digging to change clothes. I was fine with that so we went with out costumes. Peter did end up changing his clothes because his had gotten dirty so he put on his camouflage pants and brown shirt and called himself an "army man". We had a good time at the Festival: hot dogs, pony rides, games, a cake walk, kettle corn, spicy water (sprite) and of course candy. Pictures will come when the computer gets fixed....

After the Festival we drove to friends' house hoping to score on some "good" candy. Having found none there and the sugar high becoming out of control, we went to her neighbors house but again we found no "good stuff". Philip was quite upset that we didn't "score" any candy bars this year. Finally, we came home and ventured next door to our neighbors. We were their 3rd and 4th trick or treators for the evening. Again, to Philip's disappointment only Smartees at this house.
All in all it was a fun evening to spend with the family!

Technical Difficulties

Well, it appears my blog may become a bit boring over the next little while. Philip's laptop has malfunctioned and it won't read my memory card...we thought the problem might have been the adapter so we took it to Walmart in hopes of getting a new adapter. My memory card and adapter worked perfectly in their photo machines leading us to the unfortante discovery that it has to be Philip's laptop. We are hoping that it is still covered under his "hardwared" warranty. It may take some time for Philip to call the company and work it out. He of course has other priorities right now - silly him!
So I will have to make my posts without pictures - sorry....but when it's fixed I promise to have a grand "reopening"!

Dinner?

It's that time of month when we are cleaning out the pantry, freezer, and fridge in preparation for payday!!! So I found myself asking Peter, "What do you think I should fix for supper". I was hoping he could give me something creative to make with our final 1lb of ground turkey, potatoes....or if he would suggest going out to eat! Without much thought he said, "You know those wonderful peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you make? How about those for dinner". I responded, "you mean like what we have for lunch (everyday)". He confidently said, "Yes"!

What a sweetheart!

I found a can of Sloppy Joe mix in the pantry and I happen to have an over abundance of hamburger rolls so that might be what's on tap!

Firemen!

We arranged for a fire crew and truck to come to our MOPS meeting this week. It was a big success. The fireman did a fire safety lesson in the classroom and then allowed the children to come outside, look at the truck and get inside. The first time Peter was this close to a fire truck was when he was at a 3 yr. old birthday party. He hid under the table when "Sparky- the fire dog" came out. So I requested that Sparky not join the firemen today.

When we got home from MOPS. Peter was very vigilant in telling me to "check the batteries of our smoke detectors", "never leave the stove unattended", "children shouldn't play around the oven...it's very hot" and others. It was great to hear him talk about it. Of course there were several safety things that we had discussed but apparently coming from a fireman they are much more memorable.

Now Peter wants to be a fire man when he grows up or at least for Halloween. I haven't really had the heart to explain that we really aren't celebrating "Halloween". We'll probably go to a local church's fall festival so he can dress up for that!

sweet moments

You may want to read our "Unforgetable Fair" entry first. Sorry, I got a bit out of order....

I was able to capture this truly precious moment between Ryan and Emma. We were sitting at a picinic table eatting our lunch. I am not sure what brought it on but Emma put her arm around Ryan and started rubbing his back. So like every good mom- I quietly got out my camera to capture the moment!

By this time they see my camera and start "cheesing" it up. Although not quite as spontaneous, this picture captures Ryan putting his hand on Emma's leg- again- just precious!

The unforgetable Fair!

We took off first thing this morning for our 2nd annual Chryst family fair day. We've been talking about this with the kids for a while so the anticipation was quite hight. Since I grew up a few miles from the fair grounds, going to the State fair was an annual event for me. Being able to go as a family now is quite special for me!


Peter was able to try out the first ever working model of a ship crane. Some men who work at the ports in Wilmington created the model!







We had a hard time deciding which rides to go on. We got them tickets for 2 rides each. So this was their second choice. It's a bit hard to see but Peter and Emma are both holding little stuffed cows. They won them at the fishing pond. Unfortunately, Peter's made it all the way to the van and then I somehow lost it at that point. I'm not quite sure yet how I will reconcile this because he is very upset that his cow is gone....

Emma in the National Guard tank!

New Videos!!!

I just figured out that I can upload my videos from my cell phone to the blog...
I was trying to capture Ryan saying his newest word " Peeder" (Peter). I'l l have to keep trying



This is Peter reciting John 3:16 and the Pledge of Alliegance.


Emma of course wanted to be on video. Unfortunately she doesn't talk fast enough to get the entire Pledge out within the 15 second time frame

Pumpkin carving

To round out our Saturday, we dug into some of the pumpkins we got from our friend's pumpkin farm. Peter has been anxiously awaiting roasting pumpkin seeds and cooking the pumpkin.
This is our friend Branden who was over for dinner and got recruited to help us with the project!

Relay for Life - Kid's Walk

Relay for Life is a very important event in Person County and this year we attended the kids walk on Saturday morning! It isn't often that all 3 kids have the same shirt at the same time!

After we did our two laps around the track, the organizers of the event had moonwalks, fire trucks, face painting, bubbles...all kinds of kids stuff for us to enjoy!

When things slowed down, I finally decided to let Ryan get in the Moonwalk thing with Peter, Emma and Carson (a friend from church).

In a tree

Many times on Fridays, the kids and I will head to Duke after naptime to hang out on campus with Philip. This last Friday we carried on our tradition. I took the opportunity to head to the library and print of some papers for our school for the next few weeks. When I was through I head out to find the crew. This is where I find them...don't worry- Emma is quick to assure me that she is holding on to Ryan (by his shirt)!

Room time....

Well, I had begun to realize that my schedule for HS (homeschooling) wasn't working. We were doing the bulk of our learning while Ryan napped which is usually 12-2pm. The problem was that all of us were a bit groggy during this time so getting lessons done (with positive attitudes) was becoming a struggle. Having heard of the infamous "room time", I thought I'd give it a try. Peter and Emma's room and Ryan's room are connected by a small hallway with a large opening. I wanted them to have access to both rooms during this time so I jerry-rigged a gate! I used our coffee table to block the opening.
Day 1: The first attempt was made with Ryan and Emma sequester. Ryan stood at the coffee table and cried for a good 15- 20 minutes. Peter and I finished our lesson rather quickly and let the gates open! I quickly went to my HS forums and posted a plea for help...how do you room train a toddler. Now armed with reassurance and the confirmation that "Yes" Ryan will cry but that will diminish, we tried again.
Day 2: Amazing- Ryan cried for maybe 3 minutes then he and Emma happily played (together, might I add) for 25 minutes. I was even able to swap Peter for Emma and bring Emma to the table for another 15 minutes of schooling for her! I was excited but not fully sure it would last. So today- Day 3- again a success. We were able to school for about an hour this morning! I feel like a new person and school feels like a refreshing time. It was so successful that I'm going to start to look for more things to do during this time with both Peter and Emma!
We stilled use Ryan's nap time to do our FIAR books and that works great! Who can resist a good story before naptime anyway.
Now I need to see if I can try the room time with all 3 while I fix dinner.....maybe next weeks project.